The Red Sox announced Friday that they’ve recalled left-hander Bailey Horn from Triple-A Worcester for his big league debut. They had an open spot on the active roster after optioning Isaiah Campbell yesterday, and Horn is already on the team’s 40-man roster. Andrew Parker of Beyond the Monster first reported yesterday that Horn would be called up for his MLB debut.
Boston picked up Horn in an April deal with the ChiSox, sending cash back the other way after he’d been designated for assignment. Originally a fifth-round pick by the South Siders in the shortened 2020 draft, Horn bounced between the two Chicago clubs in a pair of trades, first going to the Cubs in exchange for Ryan Tepera in 2021 and then going back to the White Sox this past February in exchange for minor league righty Matt Thompson. The White Sox designated Horn for assignment about two months after reacquiring him.
Horn was hit hard and battled alarming command issues in his brief return to his original organization. In 10 1/3 innings with their Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte, he was rocked for 13 runs on 14 hits and 10 walks with 15 punchouts. Since landing in Worcester, he’s turned things around, however. He’s still walking too many hitters (13.8%), but Horn has fanned 29.2% of his opponents through 16 innings en route to a tidy 1.69 earned run average.
Overall, the Auburn product has a 4.37 ERA in exactly 200 minor league innings. He’s missed bats at every level, punching out 30% of his career opponents, but Horn’s command troubles date back to High-A. He’s issued a walk to 13% of his opponents in pro ball. Horn operates with a low- to mid-90s heater that he pairs with a curveball and a slider. He made 14 starts with the White Sox’ Class-A affiliates back in ’21 but has pitched exclusively in relief since (with the exception of a lone two-inning “start” this year in a bullpen game for Worcester).
They will sell at the deadline
Happy for him as a cubs fan watching him in spring training he has some nasty stuff.
Sons of Bailey Horn
Welcome to the majors! He’s got great stuff, if he can stay in the strike zone.
tff – Why do you think the quick demotion for Campbell?
Because he completely lost his composure on the mound? It’s one thing to throw a bad pitch, but he then proceeded to toss one meatball after another. Even worse than Bello’s meltdown IMHO.
Not sure how much of this is the club wanting to get a look at Horn in the majors (he has been pitching well) and how much is the unavailability of Criswell, Booser, and Keller? Those three are still serving their 15 day sentence, can’t be recalled before then unless there is an injury. But you can bet that Cora gets Horn into the game, tonight or tomorrow.
Campbell looked bad the game before he went down early on with the shoulder impingement and didn’t look really good after coming back at AAA. Why booser was optioned to begin with was a head scratcher, one of the solid guys all season and a huge find by the organization in general, literally out of nowhere.
Some reason, Cora seems to prefer 2 unstable guys in the pen all year long with only the names changing. variously have been Anderson, rodriquez, keller and we’ll see if horn is yet another who can’t be counted on.
They wanted to bring up two fresh arms, and Booser was one of the few candidates with options available. We wouldn’t like it any better if Kelly were optioned out. I expect Booser to be back when his 15 days are up.
If you look at the usage of Anderson, he has been strictly mop-up (except for the one game they used him as a spot starter, which he promptly lost). He is tied with Slaten for the most innings of any of the relievers, and his major purpose on the roster is to prevent the good pitchers from having to burn pitches in slop time.
Can’t say I love it, but that is what the game has come to these days. It is a bit like the way that Brandon Walter was used last year. Eat slop to keep the effective arms fresh.
Horn is a legit prospect. Not sure how good, as his command is shaky, but he has nasty stuff. The exact opposite of Anderson.
tff – Of course I agree he was awful in the game, but my point is how often does a pitcher who is viewed as a key team member gets sent down after just one brief appearance? Not very fair to him, is it? Certainly doesn’t help the guy’s confidence when the team shows so little faith in him.
Remember, this is a guy the Red Sox *claimed* to value so much that they pissed off Bernardino by sending him down because they believed Campbell was good enough to pitch against LHB in the majors.
So either the Red Sox analytics on Campbell were total garbage, or they were lying through their teeth (again) when they hyped him up so much in the early months of the year.
Campbell had some good innings with the Mariners last year, so not surprised that he opened with the team. Clearly his stock has fallen since then. Can’t tell you whether that is entirely fair or not, but that meltdown was pretty bad.
I was myself surprised when Bernardino didn’t open with the team. Did they really need to see Joely? But I don’t recall them “claiming” anything.
Analytics aren’t the full story, and nobody believes they are.
John – Cora wants at least two long relievers on the active roster at all times. It was Keller and Anderson for a while, until Winck came up. I imagine if Cooper gets recalled then Anderson might be next to go.
I don’t think Weissert is very safe either, especially after tonight’s performance against a weakened Padres lineup (no Xander or Tatis).
tff – I know this is hard to believe, but they will pay Joely $2.5M this year!!! That is the reason why they felt obligated to put him on the active roster. It’s crazy how despite the incredible cheapness last offseason, when they DID spend it was basically pissing away millions (Joely, Gio, Anderson, Bello, Uwasawa, Campbell, Sale trade, etc).
I don’t believe Rodriguez is receiving that full $2.5M. RosterResource shows him with a $285k payout for this year, as well as a $500k buyout from his prior contract.
Agreed on the long relievers. Anderson has done a pretty good job of filling that role, as he did last night. I don’t even care if he gives up a run or two, but the ability to finish four innings without making another call to the pen is key.
Their front five relievers if you look at the usage are Jansen, Martin, Slaten, Kelly, and Bernardino. I like Booser, but he has been sheltered and isn’t really as good as the front five. The rest are looking pretty suspect…
Because he cost Houck a win
Bass – No, it was Cora who cost Houck a win.
And if not for the Jays dropping an easy popup and KK dropping a ball he usually always catches, Cora’s decision would have cost the Sox a win too.
I’m curious why Campbell’s demotion wasn’t reported yesterday.
The Wong/Heineman/Campbell transactions were all processed yesterday, and it was known at the time that Horn would be coming up. Guess no reason to activate him on an off day?
Not sure why it wasn’t more publicly reported. Maybe the beat reporters took the day off as well?
tff – I think the Sox were well aware they were doing Campbell dirty, and therefore wanted to keep the move under the radar.
That’s how they operate, and why so many players don’t want to play for them if they don’t have to.
The Red Sox have built up a bad rep, making false promises to Jansen when he signed among other things. A lot of stuff in MLB happens with handshake deals, so standing on legalities is a lame excuse.
That said, Campbell has a 16.20 ERA and has melted down in three straight games. You don’t see guys like that getting a long leash anywhere. (And Campbell himself likely wants to get his game right so he can have a meaningful ML career.)
Did you see the link to the Houck interview in the other thread? Always love listening to guys talk their craft.
blogs.fangraphs.com/an-east-to-west-slider-is-tann…
tff – You’re counting 2 of those last 3 games even though they were in mid April and he was injured? That’s what we call number manipulation ;O)
Look I’m not a Campbell fan by any means, but the dude got a raw deal being sent down so quickly (unless he was told in advance, which I haven’t heard anywhere).
Thank you for the Houck interview, it was good! He’s a fascinating guy, and from his in-game interview a few days ago it was obvious he’s a true fan of the game who really loves the game. So I’m not surprised he referred to himself as “old school” with regard to the use of analytics.
I think without question Houck, Duran and Casas are the most interesting players on the team. They could become the new version of Pedro, Damon and Manny …. which would be a VERY good thing!
I wouldn’t presume to say what does or doesn’t count! I totally agree that management isn’t showing any faith in him right now, just don’t know why. Conceivable that they identified a mechanical issue in his most recent appearance that they want him to work on?
I suppose it is also possible that Cora and Breslow are idiots and making a huge mistake, but I’m not in a position to make that call and prefer to give the professionals the benefit of the doubt for most part.
Check out the number of pitchers the Yankees have run through this year? Or that the Red Sox did last year? I’m thinking (hoping) that the top five arms are secure in their jobs, but even there Bernardino and Kelly were sent down for a spell.
That kind of roster churn is key to making the numbers work in the modern game. The median ML team in 2023 used 595 relief innings, or roughly 75 innings per relief slot. There are just ten pitchers in all of the majors last year who threw 75 relief innings.
Thus teams cycle a dozen or more relievers through the last few slots on the roster, in an attempt to squeeze extra innings out of those slots. That allows them to carry guys like Jansen and Martin who are dominant but only throw 50-60 innings a year.
There were 727 pitchers who threw 5+ innings in the majors last year, or an average of more than 24 per team. Churn, baby, churn!
On the key players, I love Houck, Duran, and Casas. Rafaela has a chance to be special as well, though he needs to improve his plate discipline to get there. Devers has immense natural power. He isn’t the most disciplined hitter, and he’ll never be a good fielder. Think “baseline power” like a nuclear plant, a guy you can plug into the lineup and know what you will get.
Beyond that? Lots of more limited talents in the majors, a handful of higher end talents in the minors. Need to see who can step up over the next few years.
Lol! Liking the Manny/Casas comparison, there’s something to that one even if I never thought about it before.
Campbell is almost making Sox fans pine for Hansel Robles or Joely Rodriguez.
Careful what you wish for, Joely Rodriguez is still in the system and has started pitching again.
Maybe I should have said Mauricio Llovera?
let – Probably best to say Austin Maddox. At least with him there’s zero chance he would ever pitch for the Sox again, considering he’s in prison and all.
lol us full throttle folks have eased off with the team actually looking decent so far
Check the standings
Check the scoreboard the pitching has sucked except for houck 9-1 Bailey the fraud
RS fans don’t like checking the standings. Or most data FWIW.
It’s not a recall
That’s the official terminology… He was added to the 40 man ML roster when he was acquired, then optioned to Worcester. Officially he is still on the ML roster, just not the active roster. When guys on the 40 man roster are called up, the transaction is phrased as a “recall”.
We’ll they should change it. Debut and recall seems like a contradiction
Lol! Good point.
Totally agree. On a different topic, how about the player who gets a single at bat and walks. Never gets another shot and has no official at bat….
Eddie Gaedel? Was 3’7″ and did just that. Might be others, but he is the only one I know of. 🙂
Died just 10 years later, sadly, a very short life.
I see what you did there.
You can’t “sell” a player (even though it’s his contract and not the person you’re selling) nor can you say he’s disabled. But you can call back a player who was never there in the first place.
let – Every player who is with a MLB team in spring training is either kept on the active roster to start the season, placed on the IL, sent down, or let go.
So yes, if a player who participates in ST is sent to the minors he is “recalled” to the major league team.
Half true – it depends on whether the player is on the 40-man roster or is in Spring Training as a NRI. The key is the 40 man roster. Once placed on that (either because a player is called up to the majors or to protect them from the Rule 5), they can’t be sent down without options and they can’t be removed from the roster without waivers.
tff – You’re right, thank you! I should have excluded NRI as their “contract is selected” rather than being “recalled”.
The best part of last night’s game was the return of Xander, it was awesome how they showed a highlight package of him on the jumbotron and the fans gave him a thundering ovation. Such an iconic player for the Red Sox, and such a tragedy they didn’t extend him. He’s due back within a couple weeks, hopefully fully healthy so he can resume his great career.
Red Sox are lucky they don’t have to face him or Tatis this weekend.
People will differ, but I’m happy for Bogaerts that he was able to get a $280M deal, and simultaneously happy that the Red Sox aren’t on the hook for that one. He’s a great guy and did so much for the Red Sox, but I believe that contract will be a financial millstone.
I miss that part of the steroids era. I couldn’t care less for the hulking sluggers, but the various PEDs helped a lot of aging stars maintain their games into their mid and late 30s. You just don’t see that today. (Pitchers, yes, but not position players.) Just four players in all of MLB age 35+ with qualifying AB last year. There were 12 in 1998, and some of them were very successful.
Tried to edit, but think that got lost…
Just four position players in all of MLB age 35+ with qualifying AB for a total of 5.5 WAR. In 1998 there were twelve, and Edgar Martinez managed that WAR all by himself.
I don’t miss the hulking sluggers from the steroids era, but the various PEDs helped a lot of aging stars maintain their games into their mid 30s. These days the attrition is fierce past the age of 31 or so.
Pitchers age better (or differently), but the position players have gotten a lot younger.
tff – Of course, even huge Xander fans like me agree the $280M contract was absurd.
But that’s what happens when you let a player become a free agent, they almost always sign for a lot more because of the competition for his services.
Not many people here realize, a close relative of Xander confirmed the many reports …. all he wanted was $20M more than Story’s $140M contract. I’m sure you’d have been fine with giving him $160M back then (prior to the 2022 season).
Time will tell, and Xander has plenty of time left to return to the elite player he was before the injuries.
I dunno, I was hearing $200M+. Might have been at different points in the negotiations. I absolutely agree that giving him a $160M contract instead of signing Story would have made sense. Not saying it made financial sense to somebody like Kennedy with no understanding of baseball, but the continuity and leadership count as well.
I suspect you will agree that once the Red Sox signed Story, extending Bogaerts made less sense. Only so much $$$ that you can reasonably tie up on aging middle infielders.
There were 39 players who were age 27-29 in 2018 and put up a +2 WAR in that year. Of those 39 players, just *6* managed to repeat the feat five years later. Bogaerts would be as good a bet as any, but attrition is hugely fierce for players in their early 30s, and a vanishingly small number are successful after the age of 35.
Note that Devers’ deal runs through the age of 36. Odds are against him making it that far, as much as I would love him to mature into the next Big Papi.
Unlikely that either Bogaerts or Story will ever return to being the players they were in 2021. Nothing specific against either one, just betting the odds there.
Homer Bailey is back?!?
If it’s his major league debut, how is he being recalled? Isn’t he just being called up?