The Red Sox announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Nick Burdi. Fellow righty Cooper Criswell has been optioned as the corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man spot, righty Kutter Crawford has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Burdi, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the offseason. He has since been putting up some good numbers for Triple-A Worcester. Through 16 2/3 innings, he has only allowed one earned run, leading to a 0.54 ERA. He has struck out 38.5% of opponents while only giving out walks 7.7% of the time.
Throughout his career, the question has been more about health than talent. A former second-round pick of the Twins, he has twice had Tommy John surgery, once in 2017 and the second time in 2020. He also had a thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in between those two, in 2018.
He understandably didn’t pitch much from 2016 to 2022 but has been able to log some innings more recently. In 2023, he only pitched three big league frames but also got to 21 innings on the farm, with a 3.86 ERA and 35% strikeout rate. He also walked 15% of opponents that year, perhaps understandably rusty after so much missed time.
Last year, he pitched 9 2/3 major league innings for the Yankees with a 1.86 ERA as well as 17 Triple-A innings with a 2.65 ERA. At both levels, he had high strikeout totals but also a lot of walks. He missed time with a hip injury and was outrighted off the roster late in the season, which allowed the Red Sox to sign him.
It’s a small sample but Burdi’s start this year still features the same strikeout stuff but seemingly with better control. He’s averaging 96 miles per hour on his fastball while also throwing a slider and changeup. The Sox will add him as a fresh arm, at least for a few days. They only have a four-man rotation right now with Walker Buehler expected to be reinstated from the IL in the coming days, perhaps on Tuesday. Burdi has options, so it’s possible he’ll be sent down when Buehler is ready, depending on how things go between now and then. If he manages to stay healthy and post some big numbers in the majors, he can be retained beyond this season via arbitration if still on the 40-man roster.
As for Crawford, this doesn’t change anything with him. The 60-day count is retroactive to his initial placement on the 15-day IL. He landed there to start the campaign due to right patellar tendinopathy. He will be eligible for reinstatement in late May, but that doesn’t seem likely anyhow. He has been throwing lately but hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment. Even if cleared to start that assignment soon, he would surely need a few weeks to ramp up as a sort of delayed spring training.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
Did you find that out for yourself
OR
Did a little BURDI tell you??
Maybe it was in a tweet!
Meow – If it was from someone using Bluesky, it would be called a skeet …. but whatever you do, don’t use that word when you’re rapping!!!
Did Criswell pitch?
Nope
Gotta root for this kid… he’s had some nasty luck with injuries!
Nasty luck, indeed!
“…he has twice had Tommy John surgery, once in 2017 and the second time in 2020. He also had a thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in between those two, in 2018.”
I am surprised the Stankees cut him to begin with,
My comment was before they expanded the article to include details about his injuries. But definitely a kid you want to root for (unless he’s pitching against your squad).
Turning point.
hayzee – Let’s just hope he doesn’t get thrown into the 10th inning of tonight’s game after Cora uses Chapman in the 9th with the score tied.
And KC is batting 5th despite being on a 4-for-43 streak, good grief.
Let’s hope Crochet can man-up and give us at least 7 solid innings.
Won’t matter who pitches when the score is tied. One of the best defensive catchers in the league, who is also hitting, will be pulled so Cora’s puppy Wong can air-mail one to center again.
Fever – Why isn’t Sox Nation on the team’s case to jettison Cora and Fatsy. I don’t care what their bullpen issue is, Cora has totally messed up everything this year. He obviously has learned nothing about managing and Henry looks the other way.
Let – The answer is resignation… we are resigned to the fact Cora will be all-powerful as long as Henry is in control.
There’s been a debate about whether Cora can do less damage as GM or as manager… I say GM. He wants to be in the front office and Henry wants him to as well. Might as well get it over with.
Let .. before you called for the hitting coach to be fired did you consider they have scored the 3rd most runs in the AL and 6th most on all MLB? You can attack cora for the questionable moves and management but the number 1 job of a hitting coach and offense is to score runs ..last time i checked the team that scores the most runs wins..every time. So lay off Fatse his group is scoring thats thier job and doing it well.
Now now Pool Hall, don’t be bringing evidence into the discussion…
Although, the strikeout rates are abysmal. Part of me thinks, “that’s the modern game” but the other part thinks, jfc, hit the ball.
Pool Hall – 3rd most runs? Geez, I’m old but even I find that stat prehistoric. Subtract the number of runs they scored in blowouts and then factor in things like runners left on base. Leave the results on my desk.
Let..Well prehistoric or not you cant win without runs in case you forgot and this team is pathetic in close games. “Blowouts” lol whats that ? I think you might be giving bailey and the pitchers too much credit . Doing a quick scan they had 5..so 5 games out of all of them where they were so far ahead it was a blowout do the rest yourself ..bottom line they didnt score so much in those 5 to skew the only stat that matters when determining wins and losses
Welcome to the endless revolving door of relief pitchers. Third straight year
Number of pitchers used in 2024 (includes when position players pitched):
Bos 34
Bal 34
Tor 34
NYY 33
TBR 30
I only looked at the AL East, but Boston seems pretty typical.
Allin – Agreed! MLB teams are limited to 13 pitchers on the 26-man MLB roster, so to combat burnout teams are forced option pitchers back and forth from AAA. It may look like a team does not like a pitcher that it options or that it he is not an MLB quality pitcher. That is not the case many times as teams simply need a fresh arm.
Pitchers with options are more valuable to teams than pitchers who do not have options, because having no options means the team must DFA the pitch who can then be claimed by another team. Craig Breslow has done a good job of signing players who have options to avoid loosing depth when the spot is needed.
But is it quantity over quality? I’m assuming those with options have less experience
Cora – 30 teams x 13 pitchers = 390
No, there are definitely not 390 experienced, MLB quality arms to go around! There are plenty of ‘AAAA’ pitchers in the MLB. That said, some late bloomers, often injured, or retreads make good and become legitimate MLB pitchers many don’t.
Hey boy. You got a Burdi mouth. Pitch like a pig.
He’s been lights out in AAA this year. I’m interested to see if he can translate it to the majors.
I loathe the Sox, but I’ll root for Burdi. This dudes been through the meat grinder twice. He looked good on the Yanks when he put it over the plate.
Kristian Campbell was taking ground balls at 1B tonight before the game and Mayer is playing 2B tonight in AAA.
They should move Story to 2B when Mayer comes up. Story has been mediocre at short so far this year, but was a gold glove caliber 2B a couple years ago. Campbell at 1B, Story at 2B and Mayer at SS.
Makes sense to me. We will likely have to endure some mistakes by Campbell at 1B as he learns.
The Burdi brothers are resilient if nothing else. It feels like they’ve each been around for 15 seasons but they’ve combined for less than 50 appearances in their career. Keep on keeping on guys.