In a flurry of roster moves made on Tuesday, the Red Sox agreed to a one-year contract with Ryan Brasier for the 2022 season, did not tender a contract for 2022 to Tim Locastro, and tendered contracts to all 27 remaining unsigned players on the major-league roster.
The club made all of these transactions official earlier Tuesday night.
By signing Brasier to a one-year pact for the 2022 season, the Red Sox have avoided salary arbitration with the right-handed reliever.
According to FanSided’s Robert Murray, Brasier will earn $1.4 million next year, which is the exact same amount MLB Trade Rumors projected he would receive in what would have been his second season of arbitration eligibility.
This past season marked Brasier’s fourth in the Red Sox organization since originally inking a minor-league pact with Boston back in March 2018, and it was certainly a hellish one.
After breaking his pinky finger over the winter and straining a calf muscle during spring training, the 34-year-old was struck in the head by a line drive during a simulated game in Fort Myers in early June.
Brasier was left with a concussion, but the veteran righty made his way back to the major-leagues by September and wound up posting a 1.50 ERA with nine strikeouts to four walks over 13 appearances spanning 12 innings pitched out of the Boston bullpen.
Brasier, who does not turn 35 until next August, put up those numbers while making $1.25 million in 2021, so the $1.4 million he is slated to earn in 2022 represents an increase from that amount.
On the flip side of retaining Brasier, the Red Sox non-tendered Locastro, the speedy outfielder they claimed off waivers from the Yankees in early November.
Locastro, 29, tore his ACL last season and is just months removed from the season-ending surgery he underwent in July.
While he is on track for a full recovery, the Sox ultimately decided against tendering Locastro a contract for the 2022 campaign, thus bringing the size of their 40-man roster down to 37 players as he becomes a free agent.
That being said, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports that the Red Sox are already trying to re-sign Locastro on a new deal. The New York native was projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $700,000 in his first year of arbitration eligibility, but could be brought back to Boston on a minor-league deal.
Besides Brasier and Locastro, the Red Sox tendered contracts to all remaining unsigned players on their major-league roster. That group also includes arbitration-eligible players such as Alex Verdugo, Christian Arroyo, Kevin Plawecki, Rafael Devers, Hunter Renfroe, Nick Pivetta, and Josh Taylor.
As noted by MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith, Verdugo, Arroyo, Pivetta, and Taylor are all first-year eligible, while Devers and Renfroe are in their second year of eligibility and Plawecki is in his third.
(Picture of Ryan Brasier: Elsa/Getty Images)
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