The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Justin Garza off waivers from the Angels, per an announcement from both clubs. The Red Sox had an open spot on the 40-man roster so a corresponding transaction isn’t necessary. Garza has been optioned to Triple-A Worcester.
Garza, 29, was designated for assignment a week ago when the Halos selected the contracts of Chad Wallach and Austin Warren. He didn’t pitch for the Angels at the MLB level this season but opened the year with their Triple-A club, where he tossed 8 1/3 innings with four runs allowed on six hits and four walks. Garza’s stay with the Angels organization was rather brief. The Guardians outrighted him off the 40-man roster back in November, at which point he elected free agency and signed a split Major League contract with the Angels, thus placing him on their 40-man roster.
In 2022, Garza made his big league debut with the Guardians, pitching to a 4.71 ERA with a roughly average 22.7% strikeout rate against a bleak 14.1% walk rate. Garza sits at 95 mph with his heater and has missed bats at a high level in Triple-A (29.2% strikeout rate), but command has been an issue for him even in the minors (12.2% walk rate).
The Sox rank 13th in the Majors with a 3.58 ERA from their bullpen, though it’s a decidedly top-heavy unit. Kenley Jansen, Josh Winckowski, John Schreiber and Kutter Crawford have all gotten out to excellent starts, but the rest of the group has been severely lacking. Ryan Brasier and Kaleb Ort, in particular, have been hit hard. Offseason signee Chris Martin, meanwhile, is on the injured list and Zack Kelly’s season is in jeopardy due to elbow surgery. Garza will give the Sox some depth with good life on his fastball, but for now he’ll head to Worcester and look to refine his command while awaiting an opportunity.
This just in, Garza.
Cartrow – As long as he doesn’t do that spitting thing on the mound that he always does …. oh, wait a minute … nevermind. Haha!
Ort needs to go. 5 runs in a third of an inning the other night would have cost this team the game a year ago not having a shut down Closer like Jansen this year
Constantly claiming other team’s rejects makes you an analytics “genius”. If you doubt this, just ask the SF Giants’ Farhan Zaidi.
Eh, with relievers it can work. Bloom basically pulled Schreiber out of thin air last year
rois – Bloom acquired him in Feb 2021, not last year. And Schreiber was extremely good in the minors in 2019.
Does not change my point at all
And had an ERA over 6 in the majors in both 2019 and 2020, hence the Tigers DFAing him in February 2021.
Garza’s MLB debut with Cleveland was in 2021.
Garza is worth a look at AAA.
He strikes out batters.He walks a lot too.But i would guess he throws hard.People like velocity though.
That’s not how you use “meanwhile.” It has to come at the start of the sentence, not in the middle.