Tag: zack godley

Zack Godley Works Three Scoreless, No-Hit Innings in Red Sox’ Final Exhibition Game Before Opening Day

In their final tune-up before the start of the 2020 regular season, the Red Sox only managed to play 4 1/2 innings of exhibition baseball against the Blue Jays on Wednesday night due to the weather. If games were official after only 4 1/2 innings, the Sox would have lost by a final score of 2-0, but it’s not like that matters too much anyway.

Zack Godley got the start for Boston in this one, and he made a solid case for a spot in the back end of the Sox’ rotation by working three scoreless, no-hit innings to go along with just one walk and two strikeouts on the night.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 35, 24 of which were strikes, the veteran right-hander turned to his curveball exactly 40% of the time he was on the mound Wednesday while also topping out at 91 MPH with his cutter, a pitch he threw 16 times.

If things align the way he wants them to, Godley could open the season as Boston’s No. 4 or 5 starter, meaning his first official start in a Red Sox uniform would come in next week’s interleague series against the New York Mets.

In relief of Godley, Brian Johnson was the only other Sox hurler to get some work in on Wednesday due to the weather, and he did not look his best given the fact that he served up a two-run blast to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a hanging, 3-2 curveball down the heart of the plate in the top half of the fourth.

Still, if there is any positives to take away from the left-hander’s rather rough outing, it’s that he tossed a scoreless fifth inning right before this game was going to be called.

On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup, fresh off plating six runs on Tuesday, was matched up against Blue Jays right-hander Trent Thornton to begin things on Wednesday.

As it turns out, the Boston bats were only able to muster one hit off of Thornton, a two-out single from former Blue Jay Kevin Pillar in the third, and another hit off of Toronto reliever Shun Yamaguchi in the fourth. That being a two-out single off the bat of Xander Bogaerts.

Other than that, not much to report on seeing how Mother Nature cut this exhibition contest short.

Some observations from this one:

Should Zack Godley start over Brian Johnson? The answer at this point seems to be leaning towards ‘yes.’

Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette is pretty good.

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Next up for the Red Sox, the games finally start to count. Opening Day is this Friday and a three-game weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles is on tap.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi will be making his first career Opening Day start for Boston, while lefty Tommy Milone will be doing the same for Baltimore.

The Sox won 63% of their games against the O’s last year. That would translate to six wins in 10 games against their divisional foes in 2020.

First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. eastern time on NESN. Real baseball is back, folks.

 

Red Sox Acquire Right-Hander Dylan Covey in Trade With Rays

The Red Sox have acquired right-hander Dylan Covey from the Tampa Bay Rays, the club officially announced Tuesday.

By acquiring Covey and adding him to their player pool while removing left-hander Bobby Poyner, the Sox now have 59 players in said pool.

Covey, who turns 29 in August, was originally a fourth-round pick of the Oakland Athletics in the 2013 amateur draft.

Listed at 6-foot-1 and 220 lbs., the University of San Diego product made his major-league debut with the White Sox in April 2017 after being taken by Chicago in the previous year’s Rule 5 draft.

Since that time, Covey has not had a simple time of things in the big-leagues, as he owns a career ERA of 6.54 and career FIP 5.56 through 63 outings, 45 of which were starts, and 250 1/3 innings pitched.

While he was consistently shuttled between the majors and Triple-A the past two seasons, Covey was ultimately designated for assignment by the ChiSox in January before he inked a minor-league pact with the Rays the very next month.

For what it’s worth, Covey was having a decent spring for Tampa Bay before things were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March. Through his first four Grapefruit League appearances of the spring, he had yielded just four runs (three earned) over 7 2/3 innings of work out of the Rays’ bullpen.

Per his Statcast page, Covey’s 2019 pitch mix included six pitches: a four-seam fastball, a cutter, a sinker, a slider, a changeup, and a curveball. He punched out 14.6% of the batters he faced last season.

With Covey, as well former Diamondbacks hurler Zack Godley, the Red Sox have added two intriguing rotation and/or bullpen options to their ranks in the past week.

As noted by MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, the acquisition of Covey from the Rays marks the first time chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has made a deal with his former employer in St. Petersburg.

Jonathan Arauz Again Making Case for Spot on Red Sox’ Opening Day Roster

Jonathan Arauz is one of a handful of players who are on the Red Sox’ roster bubble as the 2020 season nears. The 21-year-old was selected by Boston in last December’s Rule 5 draft, meaning he currently has a spot on the club’s 26-man roster.

Prior to spring training being shut down in March, it looked as though the Panamanian-born infielder had a legitimate shot to make Boston’s Opening Day roster as a utilityman off the bench. Flash forward four months, and it appears that much remains true as Summer Camp winds down for the Red Sox and Opening Day looms.

Starting at second base for the Home Sox in Saturday’s four-inning intrasquad game at Fenway Park, Arauz went 1-for-2 with the biggest hit of the night, as he greeted newest Red Sox hurler Zack Godley by taking the right-hander deep to right field for a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom half of the fourth.

That two-run blast gave the Home Sox a 2-0 victory, and it certainly improved Arauz’s chances of making his first career Opening Day roster as well.

Even before Saturday’s impressive showing, Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke sounded pleased with what he’s seen from the switch-hitter, who has never played above Double-A ball in the minors, thus far at Summer Camp when speaking to reporters earlier in the week.

“We like Jonathan,” the Sox skipper said via a Zoom call on Friday. “I’m liking what I see offensively being a switch-hitter. He’s patient. He sees the ball well. And on defense, he’s got good hands. He’s got a really good arm, an accurate arm. His mind doesn’t speed up on him. He’s pretty slow thinking, which you need to be. And for a young age, I would say he’s pretty advanced that way. We’re surprised that he’s handling being with these guys really well. So I’m hoping he can help us some this year. And certainly the future is also what we’re looking at. But those are hard questions. Hopefully we get through this and we’ll be really happy that we have him here for a long time.”

Arauz, formerly with the Astros’ organization, became the first player taken by the Red Sox in the major-league phase of a Rule 5 draft since Josh Rutledge in 2016.

Boston paid Houston $100,000 in order to make that happen, and if they feel as though Arauz is no longer worthy of a spot on the active roster at any point this season, they will have to offer him back to the ‘Stros for $50,000 if he clears waivers.

If Houston does not want Arauz back in this scenario, the Sox would then be able to option him to the minor leagues, which in 2020 would essentially be the club’s alternate training site in Pawtucket, I think.

It’s definitely a confusing process, but as a soon-to-be 22-year-old who is regarded by MLB Pipeline as the No. 30 prospect in Boston’s farm system, Arauz should be someone the Red Sox want to hold on to, even if it may be tough to find him playing time at the major-league level this year.

 

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.