The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves this morning. The club activated right-hander Zack Kelly from the 60-day injured list, and in corresponding moves optioned righty Nick Robertson to Triple-A while designating fellow right-hander Kyle Barraclough for assignment.
Kelly’s return, while not necessarily unexpected, is surely a major relief for both the Red Sox and Kelly himself. The 28-year-old righty has been on the 60-day injured list for most of the season to this point thanks to an ulnar nerve transposition revision in his throwing elbow he underwent at the beginning of May. Despite battling injuries to this point in his big league career, Kelly has been effective on the mound when healthy, with a career 3.86 ERA in 21 innings of work that includes a 3.68 ERA across six appearances this season. In returning for the final games of the season, Kelly should have the opportunity to test his arm ahead of the offseason and prepare himself for a typical offseason regimen with an eye on returning to the club’s bullpen in 2024.
The move spells the end of Barraclough’s tenure with the Red Sox. Once a quality reliever with the Marlins who posted a 3.21 ERA (122 ERA+) and 3.45 FIP to go with a 29.8% strikeout rate from 2015-18, Barraclough has struggled in limited big league opportunities ever since. In 63 1/3 innings of work since the start of the 2019 season, Barraclough has seen his strikeout rate dip to 23.1% despite an elevated 12.7% walk rate. As a result, his ERA has ballooned to 6.11 with a 6.45 FIP during that time. To make matters worse, Barraclough’s strikeouts have all but evaporated this year: he’s punched out just four of the 46 batters he’s faced with Boston.
While Barraclough’s results at the big league level have been rough for several seasons at this point, he figures to look ahead to the offseason with a solid chance of landing a minor league deal somewhere, should he choose to do so. After all, the veteran righty has a track record of past success in Miami and has never stopped performing at the Triple-A level, with a career 3.44 ERA in 170 innings of work at the level. Robertson also figures to look toward translating success in the minors to big league production headed into 2024, as the 24-year-old hurler sports a brutal 6.33 ERA in 21 1/3 career innings as a major leaguer despite a sterling 2.98 ERA in 51 games at the Triple-A level.
Now I’m hungry for a bear claw…
Just need to pair him with Tyler Danish to get your baseball sugar fix.
If youre gonna give me a Barraclough and a Danish, Im gonna need an Isaac Coffey to wash it down.
1.10 Whip, 155k in 117 inns >>> Seriously can we promote Coffey to the Sox right away.
Lord – Speaking of fix, here’s the updated numbers everyone is waiting for:
Sox need to go 3-3 to finish with a better record than last year
Yanks need to go at least 5-2 to guarantee the Sox finish last again
If the Sox finish last again it will be the 6th time since 2012, most in MLB.
If the Sox go 1-5 or 0-6 it will be their worst full season record since 2014.
Fever – just imagine how rough it’d be without the ‘balanced schedule’ bump
But, the schedule should be balanced. Or are you saying it shouldnt?
I am saying the 2023 red sox are worse than the 2022 version thanks to poor roster construction. (This also means harder to build contenders going forward than it would’ve been had the team chose to move on to a more talented PBO in ’22)
They got a free bump over last year’s team based on the schedule alone, and yet, struggle and are likely to fail to even reach last year’s win total.
Had this season followed the format of decades past, this team could quite likely be among mlb’s absolute worst as some very bad teams would’ve played more games within their comparatively weak divisions, while the red sox would’ve faced stronger competition.
Has nothing to do with the idea of whether a degree of greater balanced schedules, are good or bad.
GAsox- Absolutely! They’d probably lose 90+ with last year’s schedule.
BTW – I got out of surgery 20 minutes ago, hows my typing? Lol
GASox – I get what you’re saying, but I think this year with the Sox going 20-15 against Baltimore/NYY/Toronto they would have probably had a better record if they played each divisional rival 19 times like they used to do. Only Tampa has owned them this year.
It’s all situational. NYY were hot, and not, with spurts and fits of injuries. Boston racked up a bunch of wins against a judge-less and pitching starved variant of the ball club who currently sits above the redsox. Likewise, if a few guys were healthy on the sox, or punching above their weight for a bit, that gave an outsized result.
That’s a long way of using just one example instead of saying that with fewer games and smaller sample sizes, also typically bunched together in brief windows, health issues on ball clubs skewed head-to-head results in a lot of divisional matchups around the league to not be the bellwether they used to.
He’s probably just happy to get away from cora
I am convinced that if Cora’s head split open you would see an alien inside running things.
Grnmt- The stench of Bloom is slowly fading away.
Fever- Is…is that the faint scent of winning baseball starting to break through the bloom stank? Maybe, just maybe…
grnmt – I’m glad some of Bloom’s dumpster dive players are going away, but I will reserve judgement on a winning record until I see who is hired to replace the former POBO (and it feels so good to say “former”!!)
Fair point, Fever! Hopefully the endless stream of dfa’s, castoffs, injured and reclamation projects becomes a much smaller and reasonable part of roster building.
Grnmt – From your fingers to John Henry’s eyes!
I swear Mauricio Llovera could give up 8 runs and 8 hits in 0.1 innings and Cora would still keep him on the roster. That clown has to go. And take your new man-love, Llovera with you.
I’ll bet a dollar Llovera makes it to Fort Myers next year
No bet
Remember when most of this board said the same thing about Brasier?
And how happy they were when he was waived?
Enjoy Llovera.
Icon… I wouldn’t say everyone…..Lol…oh sorry you said most… fair enough….
It was pretty much me and you that stook up for him.
Ha.
Icon: I gotta admit I was pretty happy when Braiser was gone. Can’t say I’m any less happy despite his success with the dodgers. Good for him for finding it but letting him go was the right call. For some reason I chose that sports hill to die on so I’ll be consistent.
Imagine if fans didnt ride him 24/7. He probably wouldve found it here. I mean he became an quality reliever overnight when he left. Clearly he has the tools, he just needed to get away from Boston to find it.
All he found was a 3rd pitch. For some reason it never occurred to any of the Red Sox coaches to suggest this.
The problem with Red Sox pitching is the coaching!
res;pectfully disagree Joe. He’d been terrible for over a year and half and got many chances. Again good for him that he figured things out but I completely fine with the DFA.
milt – Just the other day the Sox announcers were stay trashing Cora for the August 28th game when the Sox were leading the Astros in the 6th and Cora inexplicably left BearClaw in to give up 10 earned runs in just 4 innings. And BearClaw was still on the roster even after that performance.
One thing the Sox announcers said recently, the Sox need to stop adding mopup/inning- eaters guys to the pitching staff because inevitably Cora will throw them into high leverage situations. The announcers said the new POBO should acquire only pitchers capable of pitching effectively in high leverage situations. They are 100% correct, they are the Boston Red Sox not the Oakland Athletics.
Fever – another option would be for the PBO to start with a clean slate as has been known to happen. Coaches? Manager? No guarantees to return.
That’s what it SHOULD be, not necessarily will be. But there’s hope that the new hire may demand that latitude as a condition of joining. We already saw them open up the GM role alongside the PBO one.
GASox – I’ve never been an advocate of throwing away the baby with the bathwater. Just because Bloom was a complete failure, it doesn’t mean everyone below him is too. A great worker should never pay the price of others who are poor workers.
As for the GM position, these days it’s the equivalent of what the ONE Assistant GM position used to be.
Agreed. But, much of the coaching staff could use shaking up, and certainly Cora, wouldnt you agree?
SOME guys have proven their abilities, but, for many of them, I dont see why they ought to be ‘protected’
It’s just nice to hear the sweeping sound after the mess Bloom left. The clean up will be massive but it will get done!!
They should have fired Bloom in May like you predicted!!
Braiser developed another pitch in LA. That’s the reason for his uptick . Obviously someone in LA saw something they could fix . Unfortunately not this staff.
B dog – Pitching in LA vs BOS accounts for the difference. Give him that pitch in Boston and he still stinks. All his pitches in LA play better due to the field and conditions. Nobody should ever be surprised by better pitching in LA or worse pitching in COL.
I have to respectfully disagree, that one pitch made all the difference in the world. The coaching staff under Cora is among the worst in Red Sox history, far too many players have left the Red Sox after performing poorly and ended up performing very well elsewhere. Meanwhile the Red Sox announcers have pointed out that nearly every time the camera shows Cora he’s next to his BFF Vazquez laughing it up. I can’t recall any Red Sox manager in my lifetime who seems to care about winning or improving the team as little as Cora does.
Look at Diekman’s numbers in Tampa, Kimbrel’s numbers in Philly, Strahm’s numbers in Philly, Spring’s numbers in Tampa. Even veteran pitchers such as Eovaldi and ERod have had career years after leaving the Red Sox.
The one exception is Wacha, whose 2023 numbers are eerily similar to last year’s numbers.
Games Started:
Last year 23
This year 23
Innings Pitched:
Last year 127.1
This year 127.1
ERA:
Last year 3.32
This year 3.39
WHIP:
Last year 1.115
This year 1.194
Hits Allowed:
Last year 111
This year 110
Defensive abilities of your LF, 3B, SS, et al also make a difference….
GASox – Very true, but some of their stats such as strikeouts and walks wouldn’t be impacted by defense.
Usage is also a factor. Some pitchers are more effective when used more often, which is never the case with Cora.
And heard singing…. “ when I gone when I’m goneee… you’re gonna miss when I’m gone… kudos to commentator who said we could have kept Brais as 99% of relievers brought in we’re just as bad or WORSE!!! And let’s face it… HE was a fan( one /maybe two icon /possible three FPG) favorite!!
Well it’s coming to a close… already put in my Christmas list with family… doubt they’ll be a run on xxxl # 70 jersey’s over the winter.. every year ( lately) I look at the construction of the team and believe ( want to) that it could be a ‘13’ team.. we knew out of the gate it was probably last place but hey I try to be positive ( see brasier) it started with no ss/ weak at 2b poor infield defense and revamped bullpen.. few pluses there. I hope we spend but wisely… I’m still hurting from the Crawford/ price/ A gone/ you get the drift… so let me start my Caleb Ort grandstanding right now!!!! Unlike Brais I never met him but there’s a reason.. there’s always a reason… my pastor knows I’m Redsox fan and he’s giving me a bulk discount on candles next year…
Olmtiant – Did you hear Cora’s comments the other day? He made it quite clear the continuous carrying of fringe pitchers on the active roster will not continue, and Ort is a prime example of that so I would be surprised if he even breaks camp with the team.
BTW – I was never a Price fan, but I was all in for Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez. That was such a frustrating time period in Red Sox history.
FPG… well I better tell story now then!!! Date 9-29… last game I saw at Fenway.. damn it on west coast trip graduation weekend this year… anyways JD hits bomb to give Redsox lead.. who comes in to pick up first career save??? You guessed it Brais… sorry habit.. Ort!!! Fast forward only GAME I see this whole year was Joliet Slammers( previously jackhammers) who is fat headed across entrance to gift shop?? You guessed it RB!!! Damn it old habits die hard!!! Caleb Ort!!! Telling his first appearance with MLB club… after getting picture by was asked who is he by members of group I was with… only the second best reliever in Redsox history I stated!!! One guy said Dick Radatz?? Let’s say I was the youngest person in the group!!LOL!!! Wife rolled eyes/ daughter shook her head and I knew it was divine intervention that brought me to this one and only game this year… Cue Paul Harvey….
Olmtiant- Clearly you never saw Remmerswaal pitch for the Sox. He was so good every time he pitched there was a Win in front of his last name!
FPG!!! My God this stuff writes itself!!!
Joe – Wasn’t your prediction 79-91 wins? How is that looking?
The mid point of that range is 85 wins. Just a bit outside!!! Of the range according to Bob Ueucker!! Don’t worry though, unlike the one year you got things more correct during Bloom’s tenure I won’t announce over and over how wrong your estimate was like you did to me. I’ll only mention it now so the 4 years tour by Bloom ends 3-1 in my favor..
The prediction by series was very reliable this year.. After 50 series 16 were exactly right, 14 were 1 too many wins and 14 were 1 too few wins. Perfect symmetry. Only the early series against the Yankees and Blue Jays prevented the system from hitting the number exactly.
My guess is our forecasts will be closer now that Bloom is gone. I hope you stay as optimistic as you were during Bloom’s reign. It was NOT right but it was loyal of you.
He predicted 86 wins and bragged about it in July/August. I feel bad for him, he made the exact same mistake as last year … didn’t take into consideration the strength of schedule for the remainder of the year, or the fact other contenders improved at the trade deadline while the Sox didnt.
I knew they would fire Bloom after another last place finish. He might be okay to replenish a minor league system and get them back on track but no way with a major league roster. This team needs two front line starters next year, some help defensively, and bullpen help. Whitlock should be left in the bullpen and leave Houlke as a starter. Sale is a number 3 at best at this point in his career. Paxton will go to the highest bidder and I doubt he stays here. Pivetta is a 4th or 5th guy at best or a long reliever. The new GM has his work cut out for him but at least the dumpster diving will stop with Bloom gone.