The Red Sox announced they’ve selected reliever Silvino Bracho onto the major league roster. Righty Connor Seabold was optioned to Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding move. Boston had a vacancy on the 40-man roster after placing Jarren Duran and Tanner Houck on the restricted list yesterday.
Bracho is headed to the big leagues for the first time in two years. The right-hander made a lone appearance for the Diamondbacks during the abbreviated 2020 campaign, then spent all of last season in the upper minors of the Giants’ system. Bracho had missed the entire 2019 campaign rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, so he hasn’t logged meaningful MLB time since 2018.
A Venezuela native, Bracho debuted with Arizona back in 2015. He tossed 12 1/3 innings of two-run ball during his first season, but he followed that up with a pair of rough years. Bracho rebounded to post a 3.19 ERA with a solid 26.4% strikeout rate across 31 innings in 2018, but the subsequent Tommy John procedure threw his career off track. His velocity was down during his only MLB outing in 2020, and the D-Backs outrighted him off their roster at the end of that season.
After his year in the San Francisco organization didn’t result in a big league call, Bracho hooked on with Boston on a minor league deal in February. He’s spent the season with Worcester, working to a 3.16 ERA across 31 1/3 frames. That’s solid enough run prevention, but Bracho’s strikeout and walk rates (29.3% and 3.3%, respectively) have been downright excellent. His impressive showing against upper minors hitters earns him an MLB call, although it remains to be seen for how long he’ll stick on the roster.
As was the case with yesterday’s call-up of infielder Yolmer Sánchez, the Sox didn’t indicate whether Bracho was being selected as a designated COVID-19 substitute. Players with that designation — which can only be granted by the commissioner’s office — occupy temporary spots on the roster and can be sent back to the minor leagues without being exposed to waivers or optioned.
If Bracho is a temporary substitute, he’ll presumably head back to Worcester at the end of the Sox’s current series in Toronto, when Duran and Houck will rejoin the team. If not, he’d have to stick on the active roster or be designated for assignment and exposed to trade or waivers, since he’s out of minor league option years.
What a badass name.
still 29, club control… could be an underrated addition to the pen
Those numbers are good enough to give a real shot to. I’m not an Austin Davis guy, I wouldn’t mind seeing them cut him.
So many guys should go before Davis. Braiser, Sawa, Danish, Diek, Barnes (when he comes back) are what I get just from the top of my head. Davis is a decent middle innings guy and can go multiple innings.
Robles is the first guy I’d cut.
Mostly a new bullpen based on the above. Not easy to do. Sometimes the best moves are the ones not made.
Agree, Pearl. But Robles is one of Cora’s “boys”. He’s staying.
Completely forgot about him. He should go as well.
Basically, I agree with dewey. Anyone have a bullpen they aren’t using?
Peart – You beat me to it, Robles tends to choke in big situations.. And of course Cora is, at this very moment, bringing in Robles to face the heart of the Jays lineup with 2 runners on base.
Prove me wrong, Robles.
Edit: Well that didn’t take long. So Cora had Davis, Strahm (my first choice), and Diekman available … but instead he goes with his BFF.
Another great job managing, Cora!!!!!
Why the heck did Danish start the ninth???????
It’s like they’re deliberately losing the game.
Why? To make Houck feel guilty? Or something? Gahhhhhh.
why – Because Cora is an idiot, that’s why.
Schreiber threw only 11 pitches and hadn’t pitched since Saturday, he could have and SHOULD HAVE pitched the 9th.
And isn’t the whole Sabermetrics argument you’re supposed to have your best reliever face your opponent’s best hitters? But instead Cora has Danish and Robles face them? Are you kidding me?
Agreed. Robles needs to go. Can pitch fine in meaningless innings but coughs up the game when tasked with a Save.
Conversely, knowing this Cora is just as guilty for tonights loss as Robles. Danish never should have been left in to start the 9th and Robles should not have been brought in at all
FPG: Respect the heck outta you, RSox, Joe, & others here in this thread, but I’ve got to say, the more I see Cora work, the more I’m really starting to like him… lol.
Schreiber came in during the 7th to face the heart of the order when the game was tied.
Schreiber threw 11 pitches after not appearing in a game since Saturday. He should have gone longer. Or been brought in later in the game.
Clip – It’s Grady Little all over again.
Losing record in 1-run games.
2-6 record in extra inning games.
That points to the manager more than anything else.
And the suckup NESN announcers are blaming Houck instead of Cora, what a joke.
Danish never should have been left in to start the 9th and Robles should not have been brought in at all
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The problem was that all his options ranged from bad to worse (without Houck).
IMHO, I’d have saved Schreiber until the 9th. That said, having him face Vlad, Hernandez and Gurriel is perfectly acceptable, and many would argue the preferred move. We needed to keep the game 4-4.
I had no problem with Danish in the 8th either.
I was shocked when Danish came out in the 9th, but in retrospect, who else can he bring in. Diekman has been walking everyone, even facing lefties. He has a 9/9 K/W in his last 11 games, and a YTD OPSa of .887 against righties. He likely would’ve been lit up by TO’s all-righty lineup. Strahm would’ve been a slightly better alternative, but as we saw last night, his role isn’t really to face the TO righty lineup.
If it was me, I’d have brought in Sawamure, but he had pitched the previous night, IIRC. At the end of the day is that we carry 3 LOOGY’s. That has its advantages, and Cora uses them well, but they are fairly useless against a team like Toronto.
the more I see Cora work, the more I’m really starting to like him
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I’ve been saying this forever: if I want an opinion about the RS, I am best off asking a Yankee fan.
That flew right over your head.
Joe – your analysis is spot on! Who else was there to use?
Houck will be back at closer on Friday, and Whitlock will be back in the bullpen when he comes off the DL.
Masslive:
“The Red Sox are expecting Chris Sale and Nathan Eovaldi back in their rotation soon, and with Michael Wacha, Nick Pivetta and Rich Hill pitching well, there wouldn’t seem to be much room for Whitlock.”
“Whitlock has also been better as a reliever (0.93 ERA, 0.621 WHIP in 9.2 innings) than he has been as a starter (4.15 ERA, 1.256 HIP in 39 innings) this year.
“We saw what he did last year. We saw what he did early in the season,” Cora said.”
“If he returns to the bullpen, Whitlock would likely serve a multi-inning role similar to the one he served last year and in April. Lining up Whitlock, Matt Strahm, John Schreiber and de facto closer Tanner Houck in the late innings would give Cora a fair amount of weapons in relief.”
– Adding Houck and Whitlock moves everyone else down a couple spots and makes the entire bullpen much stronger.
– Last, people posting can not just say the Red Sox should get rid of Robles, Diekman, Sawamura….. Those spots need to be filled by someone! Like it or not they are better than the options they currently have. We will see who they obtain closer to the end of the month if Houck and Whitlock are not enough.
Spot on, imo.
I have no problem with the depth of the BP.. We have 7 guys that can get outs, but I trust none of them in the 9th. I actually think we can do well in the 5th-7th innings, but that’s mostly based on L/R matchups.
But we need Houck as the closer and Whitlock to provide those two-inning shutdowns that he’s becomes famous for. I think Hill is more than capable as the #5, and Wink/Seabold/Crawford as the spot starters in case of injuries, DH’s, etc.
“Woke” Obrien gets a bonus every time he mentions Covid. Guy is a repetitive ass clown
Braiser & Sawa pitching pretty well.
Sawa is terrible. He lets every single inherited runner score. His ERA is very deceiving. Braiser has been good lately, but I don’t trust him with the ninth.
Keep in mind that Josh Taylor is getting ready to return as well so this is most likely just a Covid call up for Bracho. If Taylor returns to the team, that would give them 4 lefties in the bullpen. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chaim looks to trade Davis, Diekman or maybe even Strahm for a RH bullpen pitcher or perhaps include one of them as a piece of a package for an established first baseman. They all have value since they are lefties and all have fairly decent ERAs on the season. Some of their peripherals aren’t as strong but they all have decent trade value. Robles has to be on the chopping block soon as well. He has morphed back into Minnesota Robles somehow. Robles came up big for them last year in the playoffs (until the end of the Houston series) so I was rooting for him this year but he’s just not getting it done.
Dotty – You know, I know, and pretty much everyone here knows Robles should be the one let go. But Cora putting him into a 9th-inning save situation against the heart of the Jays lineup despite the availability of guys like Diekman and Strahm tells us Cora still views Robles as a high leverage option capable of closing..
What a disgusting way to end what would have been a huge, great comeback win for the Sox. Cora needs to manage a mid-payroll or small-payroll team so that he gets exposed for the lousy manager he is.
Robles is this season’s Marwin Gonzalez. Cora will keep putting him in games until he is no longer on the roster
The problem is Robles really has Closer “stuff”, but not between the ears which makes his “stuff” useless accept for when there is no pressure in the 6th or 7th inning and they are either up or down by 4 runs.
Sounds like a Mafia hit man.
His dad was definitely part of Whitey Bulger’s crew back in the day.
With a name like that I’m 99.9% certain this guy appeared on at least one episode of “The Sopranos”.
It was an offer they couldn’t refuse
Do players get paid while on the Covid restricted list?
No unless the team volunteers.
Beans – No, players do not get paid while on Covid restricted list.
Thanks JC. Good looking out.
No doubt, the pen needs an upgrade.
After last night, the Red Sox better be making plans to pick up a bullpen arm with closing experience (a la David Robertson). If Houck gets injured or, ya know, can’t pitch somewhere because he doesn’t have a certain vaccine, that will cost the Sox. Like it did, last night.
The answer is “Two”. Thats the number of losses Red Sox need after a a 32-12 run for the haters to come out. No other team on this site has this problem. Why not talk about how wrong you guys were about the Wacha pickup or Rich Hill? Even Cordero and Winckowich are playing nicely (Go back to ‘mlbtr Red Sox sign Wacha’ post, from Nov 21, its loaded with so much hate). Nah, just more hate at Bloom and Cora.
This site should needs to become a psychology study in extreme human behavior, and how people won’t change their opinion even when presented with concrete facts that contradict them. Human nature is scary.
LOL! Why do you think you haven’t seen KD, Parks, AL34, Randy, et al, in the past 6 weeks? Virtually everything they said was wrong. We will eventually hit a rough patch, and they will be inhere every day for a while, but honestly, it’s been like this ever since I invented the internet.
And you’re right, this should be a Psyche 101 AND an ECO 101 required course. some of the RS trolls are a great example of True Believers. And fans of every team are great examples of valuing current day stars over prospects (l/t v s/t investing strategies).
They’re here, just using ghost names.