Tag: pitching

Red Sox Claim Left-Hander Stephen Gonsalves off Waivers From Mets

The Red Sox have claimed left-hander Stephen Gonsalves off waivers from the New York Mets and optioned him to their alternative training site in Pawtucket, the club announced Saturday evening.

Gonsalves, who turned 26 earlier this month, was designated for assignment by the Mets on Thursday in order to open a spot on their 40-man roster.

A former top prospect of the Twins organization, Gonsalves last appeared in the majors in 2018, posting a 6.57 ERA and 5.71 FIP over seven appearances (four starts) and 24 2/3 total innings pitched for Minnesota.

In the minors, Gonsalves only made eight appearances between three different levels in 2019 as he was hampered by elbow issues or more specifically, a stress reaction in his left elbow/forearm.

The 2013 fourth-round draft pick out of Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego was let go by the Twins this past November before subsequently getting picked up by the Mets. Obviously, his tenure with New York only lasted a little more than eight months.

Per his Statcast page, Gonsalves operates with a four-seam fastball, a changeup, a cutter, and a slider. He will likely serve as rotation depth for Boston.

By adding Gonsalves, the Red Sox now have 38 players on their 40-man roster. Their player pool size has also reached maximum capacity at 60.

Orioles Rule Out John Means for Opening Day, Red Sox to Face Tommy Milone Instead

As Opening Day for the 2020 season draws ever closer, the Red Sox were originally planning on facing Orioles left-hander John Means this coming Friday night at Fenway Park.

Those plans have since changed though, as O’s manager Brandon Hyde announced Tuesday that fellow southpaw Tommy Milone will get the Opening Day nod for Baltimore in place of Means.

That being the case because, as Hyde noted over the weekend, Means is dealing with dead arm “fatigue,” something that plagued him last season as well, but should not be viewed as a serious concern in the long-term.

As disappointing as it is that Means will not be making his first career Opening Day start, it has to come as somewhat of a relief for the Red Sox that they will not have to face the 27-year-old hurler later this week.

On his way to finishing second in American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2019, Means posted a 2.89 ERA and 1.07 WHIP over five starts and 28 innings of work against Boston last season.

With Means now sidelined, the Sox can prepare to face his replacement in the form of Milone, a 33-year-old veteran journeyman who owns a lifetime 9.33 ERA in four career starts at Fenway Park.

Red Sox Reportedly Sign Right-Hander Zack Godley to Minor-League Deal

The Red Sox have signed right-hander Zack Godley to a minor-league deal, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and confirmed by The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.

As noted by Speier, any player signed to a contract, whether it be of the major or minor-league variety, is automatically added to their respective club’s 60-man player pool. That being said, Godley will be the 57th player added to the Sox’ roster pool.

Although all the details are not yet known because the deal is still pending a medical review, Godley is expected to the join the Sox at Summer Camp as a non-roster invitee and compete for a rotation spot.

The 30-year-old out of South Carolina was cut loose by the Detroit Tigers on Monday and was almost immediately linked to the Red Sox, which is understandable seeing how chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said on Friday that the team’s starting rotation is “definitely more unsettled than I think you would want.”

A former 10th-round draft pick of the Cubs in 2013, Godley had a nice run with the Arizona Diamondbacks for a little while there in 2017 and 2018, as he posted a collective 3.63 FIP over 59 appearances (57 starts) and 333 1/3 innings pitched over that span. However, the 2019 campaign was a different story for the former Tennessee volunteer, and he ended up getting cut by Arizona in August before landing with the Blue Jays.

There, Godley made just six appearances as a reliever with Toronto before again getting cut loose by another team in September.

The Tigers signed Godley to a minor-league pact in December, but after realizing he was not going to make their Opening Day roster, Detroit released the veteran righty earlier this week, as previously mentioned.

One important note with this signing made by the Red Sox, per Cotillo is that, “Though the expectation is that Godley has a good chance to make the team at the end of camp next week, his contract includes an opt-out after the first week of the regular season if he’s not in the majors. Additionally, he has an opt-out clause at the end of July if he’s not in the majors by that point.”

Of course, if Godley does perform well enough to latch on with Boston, he will need to be added to the club’s 40-man roster prior to the start of the 2020 season.

 

Red Sox ‘Have a Chance’ to Sign Free-Agent Right-Hander Zack Godley, per Report

The Red Sox are one of several teams interested in acquiring the services of free-agent right-hander Zack Godley, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo.

Per Cotillo, “There are multiple teams interested in Godley, according to a source, but the Red Sox are believed to have a chance to sign him.”

Godley, who turned 30 in April, was released by the Tigers on Monday, nearly seven months after inking a minor-league deal with the club back in December.

Between the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays last season, the 6-foot-3, 240 lb. righty posted a 5.97 ERA and 5.20 FIP over 33 outings (10 starts) and 92 total innings of work.

A former 10th-round pick of the Cubs in the 2013 amateur draft, Godley, a native of South Carolina, is just three years removed from his best season in the majors in 2017; one in which he put up a respectable 3.37 ERA and 3.41 FIP over 26 appearances (25 starts) and 155 innings pitched for Arizona.

According to his Statcast page, Godley’s pitch mix consists of a curveball, sinker, cutter, changeup, and four-seam fastball.

It’s unclear whether the Red Sox would use Godley in a starter or reliever role, but the club could certainly use some pitching help regardless considering the current state their staff is in.

More specifically, Chris Sale is out for the year while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Eduardo Rodriguez’s status for the start of the season is up in the air due to his testing positive for COVID-19, and Collin McHugh has yet to throw a live bullpen.

In other words, Boston’s starting rotation would look something like this as currently constructed:

  1. Nathan Eovaldi
  2. Martin Perez
  3. Ryan Weber
  4. Brian Johnson
  5. Opener

Based off his struggles the past few years, Godley would be far from a sure thing, but the Red Sox are in need for some pitching help and Godley could potentially provide that as a low-risk free-agent signing.

The Red Sox currently have 10 open spots to work with in regards to their Summer Camp player pool, so adding Godley shouldn’t be too difficult if he is signed to a minor-league contract.

Red Sox Pitching Coach Dave Bush Tells His Pitchers to Maintain ‘Normal Throwing Programs’ While Awaiting MLB’s Return

At this point exactly one year ago, Red Sox pitchers had combined to throw exactly 411 innings through the club’s first 46 games of the 2019 season.

Flash forward to 2020, and that number of innings pitched on the same date stands at zero, and it appears that it will stay at zero until at least early July.

First-year Red Sox pitching coach Dave Bush, who was appointed to the position last October in place of Dana LeVangie, would be learning the ropes of his new post under normal circumstances. Instead, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has put Major League Baseball on hold for the time being, Bush, like many across the sport, have to find new ways to coach up his players.

In a recent conversation with The Athletic’s Peter Gammons, Bush, 40, said that he has told the Boston pitching staff to stick with “normal throwing programs” until they know when they can get back to a spring training setting and can “begin a supervised program for the season” from there.

This is the same sort of sentiment Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom echoed earlier this month in a radio interview with WEEI’s Ordway, Merloni, and Fauria regarding the pandemic-induced shutdown’s effect on players.

“Even if we have a spring training, however long that spring training is, guys will need to get ramped up well in advance of that to make sure they’re in shape and make sure they can safely get back up to ready to roll whenever the season does start,” he said. “We are so used to working backward from a specific start date and we can’t do that right now. So we’re trying to keep them at a level that is responsible where we’re not trying to get them at too high a gear and then ask them to hold. But we also want to make sure they don’t run out of time to get up to speed if and when we do get a specific start date. So we’re just trying to find that happy medium.”

The conventional version of spring training was suspended by MLB on March 13th. The majority of Red Sox players left Fort Myers at the time to return to their respective homes, but it appears that some individuals, such as Alex Verdugo and Chris Sale, have returned to work out at the Fenway South complex in recent weeks. More could return relatively soon, too, considering how Florida has been loosening its COVID-19-related restrictions across the state.

According to Gammons, MLB clubs are currently terrified of two things. The first being a potential second wave of the coronavirus and all the ramifications that come with it, and the second being “that the re-ramping-up process, coming four-plus months after the initial ramping-up process, will result in a rash of injuries.”

To add on to that, Gammons writes, “Two prominent orthopedic surgeons with significant baseball experience have predicted waiting lines at the doors of Dr. James Andrews, Dr. Neal ElAttrache and the many other physicians who have preserved so many careers.”

The re-ramping up process that Gammons mentions should be a concern for pitching coaches and general managers across the league. I can’t say for sure, but it seems like these guys went into ‘prepare for the season mode’ around the same time they are accustomed to and then all of a sudden were told to go into ‘offseason mode’ just like that. I’m no pitching guru, but disrupting someone’s routine like that has to have negative connotations, right?

For now, it will be fascinating to see how Bush continues to coach his pitching staff without being in the same physical location as them.

Former Red Sox Ace Jon Lester Open to Reunion With Organization He Began Career With

Former Red Sox ace and current Cubs left-hander Jon Lester is open to a potential reunion with Boston this winter, he said in a radio interview with WEEI’s Rob Bradford.

Lester, who turns 37 in January, is entering the final year of the six-year, $155 million deal he signed with Chicago back in December 14. That contract includes a $25 million vesting option for 2021 if Lester were to pitch 200 innings this year or 400 innings between the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Even if those numbers wind up getting prorated due to the coronavirus-induced shutdown, it seems unlikely that he would reach that mark, thus making him a free agent later in the year.

“We’ve got a lot of what-if’s going on right now,” Lester told Bradford. “For me, I don’t know what is going to happen next year. I know I have the team option, the player option, that sort of thing. We’ll figure that out one way or the other. I will either be here or be a free agent. Obviously everything is open. I’m open-minded to anything.”

Drafted by Boston in the second round of the 2002 amateur draft out of Bellarmine High School in Tacoma, Wa., Lester won two World Series titles and made two All-Star teams in his first go-around with the Red Sox.

As you may recall, Sox brass famously low-balled Lester in the spring of 2014 as he was nearing free agency and coming off a 2013 campaign in which he was an All-Star, helped Boston win another World Series, and finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting.

At that time, principal owner John Henry and Co. offered the lefty a four-year, $70 million extension, good for an average annual value of $15 million.

Even after publicly expressing that he’d be willing to take a discount to keep the Red Sox as competitive as possible, that offer was still downright disrespectful, to be blunt. Especially when Lester had just seen the Yankees sign international free agent Masahiro Tanaka, then 25, to a seven-year, $155 million contract that January.

So after botching those extension talks, the Red Sox wound up dealing Lester to the Oakland Athletics prior to the 2014 trade deadline, and the Washington native went on to sign that aforementioned six-year deal with the Cubs a few months later.

As productive as Lester has been since joining the North Siders, his 2019 campaign was not the most memorable.

Starting 31 games, Lester posted a 4.46 ERA and 4.35 xFIP over 171 2/3 innings of work. Not terrible numbers by any means, but it certainly would appear that the southpaw is on the decline at this stage in his career.

Preferably, Lester would like to prove that last year was just a blip and not the way things are trending for him, but his chances to do that are growing slimmer and slimmer as each day passes with no plan for a 2020 season in place.

“On a personal level, this hurts me,” he said of the shutdown. “I’m not getting any younger and coming off a year like I had last year, this isn’t going to help me.”

Because of that uncertainty, I’m sure Lester has had more time to think about different things while waiting this pandemic out from his Georgia home, and it certainly seems like returning to Boston has crossed his mind more than once.

“Absolutely it would be cool to go back and finish my career where it all started,” he said. “But, I’ve got a little time before I really have to sit down and weigh that decision, even if it’s something where they want me back. Hopefully, I’m still a good enough caliber pitcher that the want of my services will still be out there for people. We’ll see.”

We will have to wait and see. I mean, who knows what the market for a veteran 37-year-old left-hander with 2,500+ innings under his belt will look like come free agency? How much would Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom be willing to dish out for someone like that if he feels like Lester fits a team need? Both are unknowns at this point in time.

Red Sox’ Chris Sale Speaks on Tommy John Surgery for First Time Since Undergoing Procedure Last Month

Red Sox ace left-hander Chris Sale spoke with the media on Tuesday for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery late last month.

Speaking via a conference call with several reporters, the 31-year-old said that he’s “really happy” with where he’s at right now and he’ll get his cast taken off sometime on Thursday.

From there, Sale said that he will “probably” begin the rehab process at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, but if worst comes to worst in regards to the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic, he could start working out again at his own house in nearby Naples.

“We could have done this six months ago,” Sale said in regards to the procedure. “But I’m okay with that. I didn’t want to jump the gun, I wanted to make sure this was something that needed to be done.”

After being shut down last August due to inflammation in his left elbow, Sale was eventually given the go-ahead to begin throwing again right around Thanksgiving.

Heading into the start of spring training, Sale was completely healthy outside of a bout of pneumonia he dealt with earlier in the year.

“I truly thought I was in the clear,” the hurler said. “I had all the confidence in the world coming into spring training that my arm was going to be as good, if not better, than it was my entire career.”

That turned out not to be the case though, as Sale experienced soreness in his left elbow in early March, shortly after he faced live hitters for the first time since before he was shut down last August.

Later diagnosed with a flexor tendon strain, Sale was prescribed a two-week period of rest and did not begin throwing again until the middle of March.

Even after that period of rest, Sale again experienced discomfort in his left elbow while throwing and that’s ultimately how the decision for the Florida native to undergo Tommy John was reached.

“It was a punch to the gut,” he said. “It was tough to let my teammates down.”

As tough as it may have been, Sale did say that he “sleep[s] easier knowing we did everything we could. We turned over every stone.”

Sale’s rotation-mate Nathan Eovaldi has undergone Tommy John surgery twice in his career. When seeking advice from Eovaldi, Sale was advised to “set little goals” for himself and to not look at the recovery process as a year-long endeavor, but instead focus on two weeks at a time.

“I have a chip on my shoulder,” Sale said. “Well, I guess I have a chip in my elbow, too.”

The typical recovery time for Tommy John surgery is usually 14-15 months, so we probably won’t see Sale on a big league mound again until June 2021 at the earliest.

On a positive note, Sale did say that he throws a “mean” right-handed cutter with a wiffle ball to his sons, so that’s pretty neat.

Red Sox’ Brian Johnson Outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket After Clearing Waivers

After placing him on outright waivers on Monday, the Red Sox officially outrighted Brian Johnson to Triple-A Pawtucket on Wednesday, meaning the left-hander went unclaimed.

Johnson, who turns 29 next month, is no longer a part of Boston’s 40-man roster after posting an ERA of 6.02 and FIP of 5.32 over 21 total appearances (seven starts) and 40 1/3 innings of work in an injury-filled 2019.

A former first round pick out of the University of Florida in 2012 and a Florida native himself, Johnson can still provide the Sox with pitching depth, and he’ll still probably get an invite to major-league camp in the spring, but he is no longer one of the top two or three choices to make a spot start for Boston when needed. That much was made evident when 27-year-old left-hander Kyle Hart was added to the Sox’ 40-man roster last week.

Speaking of 40-man rosters, the Red Sox currently have 38 players on theirs.