The Red Sox have released right-hander Ryan Brasier, per a team announcement. Brasier was designated for assignment by Boston last week after a brutal start to the 2023 season that saw him post a 7.29 ERA in 21 inning of work.
Aside from a nine inning cup of coffee with the Angels as a 25-year-old in 2013, Brasier has spent his entire big league career in the Red Sox bullpen. Prior to joining the Red Sox, Brasier pitched in Japan during the 2017 season, posting a strong 2.34 ERA in 50 innings of work for the Hiroshima Carp.
He was among the club’s best relievers in 2018, with a 1.60 ERA in 33 2/3 innings during the club’s World Series season, with a 1.35 ERA in an additional 6 2/3 frames during the postseason. Brasier struggled to a 4.85 ERA in a larger role during the 2019 campaign, but bounced back over the next two seasons with a solid 3.16 ERA in 37 innings of work.
Since the start of the 2022 season, however, Braier has seen his production take a noticeable downturn. He’s allowed a 6.16 ERA in 83 1/3 innings over that time, and while a 3.81 FIP indicates he may have pitched better than those top-line results, an 8.1% barrel rate and a 44.6% hard hit rate are both considerably above where they were when the 35-year-old Brasier was at his peak performance.
Despite his difficulties since the end of the 2021 campaign, Brasier seems likely to garner interests from clubs looking for bullpen depth. Brasier, who is still owed his $2MM salary for the 2023 season, can be signed in free agency by any club for only a pro-rated portion of the league minimum salary, and his previous dominance surely makes him of interest to clubs as a low-risk depth option.
Dodgers
It’s about time!!!
KD – What a great idea having the worst hitter in the lineup batting 3rd!
And with Kluber starting and Bleier relieving, what could possibly go wrong? This had “L” written all over it. Wacha was the icing on the cake.
FPG – LMAO!!!! hahahaha
OK, gained my composure…. Is it odd to drop a .180 hitter into the 3 hole? hahaha
Not to Cora!!!
Bloom….. so what do you think now – Wacha or Kluber? hahahaha
You know I mentioned after the Red Sox got swept by STL that they have a tendency to do the unexpected. Beating SD was unexpected. Beating LAA after taking 3 of 4 in Boston is expected so don’t be surprised if they do the opposite.
They are now 5-1-1 in series against good teams, 4-2 in series against average teams and 1-1 in series against bad teams. That shows how upside down their performances are. Good against the good teams average against the average teams and worst against the worst teams. Go figure.
My question is when will these guys walk past a mirror and realize who they are? McGuire hitting .306? Reyes hitting .320? Valdez hitting .283? Duran hitting .330? These guy at some point have to come back to reality.
Casas at .180 batting 3rd and Kiki at his ten-year average of .239 but playing daily shows Cora can still find things to do wrong when nearly everything is going right. Like in 2018. The players are overcoming Cora’s mistakes so announcers don’t talk about his errors. Kinda like when the score keepers cover up how bad Devers is on defense by not recording errors properly,.
the public is fooled and believes the opposite of the truth!!
I think Pivetta proved he’s not a reliever but he is a better starter than Kluber.
I love that Sale is Sale again. I love that Paxton appears to be the very old Paxton of many years ago. I hope it lasts. Houck and Bello will keep the team in games and put Pivetta back at the 5th spot in the rotation and things should be just fine. The pitching is outperforming expectations consistently and the hitting is outperforming expectations often enough to allow the pitching to win games for the team.
There have been a flurry of DFAs this weekend so Bloom is probably in the office dumpster diving right now!! hahaha
Also, what’s up with the NESN broadcasters? Are they allowed to say anything on their own is the whole game scripted for them. They get a set of que cards with phrases about the players, the manager and the organization and they try to select the most appropriate phrase to fit the action in the game?
How many times do you hear a home town announcer declare their shock that their perennial all-star pitcher who has been dominating as of late is going back out for the 7th inning. Dave O”Brien should have been fired for reiterating over and over again how shocked he was Sale was going out for the 7th, especially on a nationally broadcast feed.
Those clowns also speak to all of the Bloom points during every broadcast!! It’s so annoying!!!. It’s easier to put the game on mute and listen to another game or music. And the new guy? Did Bloom hire him during a dumpster dive? He’s terrible. I miss ECK.
KD – Awesome post! And nobody misses Eck more than me. I was a huge fan of both Eck the pitcher and the color commentator. I really believe he retired because he didn’t like the direction of the club and knew they wouldn’t be a legit contender this year.
Speaking of the Padres, the way FSG treated Orsillo was awful. He was the best PBP guy in my lifetime.
Yeah Orsillo, Rem Dog & ECK were a Tier One booth team.
It’s simply never been the same since the Sawx dumped Dan Orsillo as everything else seem to unravel after that.
Franklin – Couldn’t agree more.
I really struggle listening to O’Brien spew the marketing hype of the organization. To disrespect Sale as he did is unforgiveable. I hope Sale goes nuts this year and wins the Cy Young and requests O’Brien to be removed. It won’t happen but the booth needs to stop with the politically correct stuff and call the game as it happens.
Nothing I miss more than ECK watching Devers miss a routine ball and him proclaiming “Not sure how he missed that one” and O’Brien following his comment with “it’ll probably be a hit”.
The look on Eck’s face at that comment was priceless!!!
KD – Did you see the ball go right under Casas tonight for a double. Bad enough he had another hitless game, even his defense is suffering. Poor kid needs to be sent down.
Big part of the 2018 championship team but has been brutal the past two seasons. My only hope is he doesn’t latch on with the Rays and they somehow bring the 2018 version out of him
Why must mlbtr continue to rub salt in my wounds… I get it he’s not going to play for the Redsox anymore!!! Please stop torturing me…
Thank God
Brasier was solid for a time in Boston – I enjoyed watching him pitch. Good luck to RB.
Whitlock pitched 4 innings of shutout ball for Worcester today. Coincidentally, his spot in the rotation lines up perfectly with Kluber’s. Today against Pads might be Kluber’s Swan Song.
I don’t see them eating Kluber’s 10mil this soon.
I didnt say they’d release Kluber. Not sure where you got that. Whitlock would replace him in the rotation.
They’ve eaten more salary from useless players in the past. The money is spent either way. Why let it keep costing you chances at wins?
I could go either way (Bullpen, IL or Let Go). Red Sox have too much pitching (never thought I say that this year). Id shop him around, see if you can get a low-level prospect, or get someone else to eat some of his contract. He’s owed less than 7M at this point, someone will want to take a flyer on him.
Nobody wants to take a flyer on Kluber, his fastball is 88 that’s not going to cut it without pinpoint control and movement. He doesn’t have that anymore, and in the past he was at least around 92-93…..Right now I’d rather have my 30 year old brother out there who hasn’t played baseball since high school but threw 94. It’s that bad…..
Good observation. Maybe Kluber goes on the IL with something like shoulder inflammation.
Good point ‘all in’ you always seem to have logical solutions.
Kluber needs to be the next guy designated for assignment. Him and his 7.00 plus ERA. He cannot get hitters out anymore with his like warm fastball and off speed pitches. At this point in his career he is stealing money. Not a great pickup Chaim.
Kluber’s start today lined up on Pivetta’s normal rotation day because of the off day. I would guess he will replace Kluber at some point today.
I live in the San Diego area, and today was the only day I could go, but when I saw that Kluber was pitching I decided there was no way I would waste the trip to the park….
Can I propose a Rule Change: All runs attributed to an error by the pitcher should count as ‘Earned Runs’. Doesnt the pitcher earn those runs when he makes the error, and cant pitch out of the situation afterwards.
Klubers Line Today:
2.1 Inn, 5 Runs, 1 Earned Run, 1 Error that resulted in 4 Unearned Runs.
*His ERA will actually go down today.
Rsmith – even a lower ERA will not change his fate. The next turn through the rotation will include: Houck, Bello, Paxton, Sale, and Whitlock. Whitlock pitched today in a minor league rehab, so he will be able to step into Kluber’s rotation spot on normal rest!
I do not see a fit for Kluber on the Red Sox any longer either in the rotation or the bullpen.
“Whitlock pitched today in a minor league rehab, so he will be able to step into Kluber’s rotation spot on normal rest!”
Im pretty sure I said the exact same thing 4 hours earlier about 8 comments above.
It is weird that a passed ball would be unearned while a wild pitch would be earned, but a wild throw would be unearned. I think it’s because the pitcher becomes just another fielder.
And what if the pitcher balks because the fielder’s not on the base like he should be? Oh dear, this is complicated.
whyhayzee: I agree, I was thinking of that rule when I said it. Its the same logic. If its the pitchers fault for a wild pitch so it counts against him.
As far as Brasier goes, I usually wish a player well as he leaves if I liked him or I felt he got cheated out of opportunites while in the Red Sox organization. Brasier fits neither criteria.
Brasier, even when he had good times, always made me feel like something bad was going to happen. Robles was the same way. They both got WAY MORE opportunities than their talent suggested but Cora liked them and showed favoritism. Consequently, all I can say about Brasier is what I said about Robles. It’s about time you are gone and guys who have earned shots at being in games can be used now. It probably won’t happen while Cora is manager but hopefully that ends soon. Lots of worthy players have missed their chances to prove their worth thanks to Cora’s nepotism and every opportunity that went to Brasier when it shouldn’t have took away from a player who may have earned the opportunity to pitch. Like Robles, he’s no longer an issue for Boston fans. I can’t wait for the day I can say that about Cora and Bloom!!