10:17pm: Kendrick’s contract comes with a $1MM base salary and multiple opt-out dates, according to Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald (Twitter link).
4:20pm: The Red Sox announced that they’ve signed veteran right-hander Kyle Kendrick to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training.
Kendrick, 32, was a fixture on the Phillies’ pitching staff from 2007-14, totaling 1138 2/3 innings of 4.42 ERA ball with 4.9 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 46.1 percent ground-ball rate. Upon reaching free agency for the first time, the durable innings eater inked a one-year deal with the Rockies that proved to be ill-fated. In 142 1/3 innings with Colorado that year, Kendrick was rocked for a 6.32 ERA. Unsurprisingly, he struggled more at home in Coors Field (7.62 ERA) than on the road (5.24).
Kendrick signed a minor league deal with the Braves last offseason but was cut loose late in camp and ultimately latched on with the Angels in late April. He went on to spend most of the season with the Halos’ Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake, tossing 93 1/3 innings with a 4.72 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9. While Kendrick is a long shot to crack the Opening Day roster, he could head to the minors and serve as a depth option that can surface and make spot starts and long relief appearances as needed. (Boston deployed fellow right-hander Sean O’Sullivan in that role last season.)
if he was a reliever, he could turn around his career as Joe blanton
Oh please, Joe Blanton sucks (see playoffs). Dude tosses BP fastballs galore.
Blanton averaged 91.2 MPH on his fastball in 2016. That was only .8 MPH off league average.
Location location location!!!
Youre going to use a sample size as small as the postseason to say a guy sucks? You must’ve hated what he did in the regular season
Blanton was great all season and only struggled after he was over used. Roberts basically had only Blanton and Jansen that he could trust out of the bullpen.
So you saying kershaw sucks? (See playoffs)
You can’t judge a guy who’s had a terrific season on two pitches he threw that happened to be in the playoffs
Maybe but the Red Sox have no space for him
He’s gonna spend most of his year in Pawtucket. He’ll be called up for spot starts and in case anyone goes on the DL. I’d rather see him come up until Henry Owens or Brian Johnson can get their stuff together.
I think we’ve seen enough of Owens, I mean I hope that he makes it, but he has not shown much yet
To me, Owens is destined to be a LOOGY
It will be cool to see Kendrick bounce back after struggling with the Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies too.However, I believe that he can be effective in the bullpen and with a pitching coach he can get back to pitch well again even in the rotation as a fifth starter.Good signing Red Sox, it is always beneficial to add depths.
what is the basis of your opinion that he could be effective in the bullpen?
I smell another Ryan Cook.
dude had a 4.45 ish ERA when he was “good”. that’s 5th starter at best stuff.
Every game he used to start my dad and I would say to each other, “Why bother watching.” Can’t believe his era from that time was 4.42, seems low.
Obviously you can never turn your nose up at minor league signings or pitching depth. Last year Sean O’Sullivan got called up for four spot starts when Boston’s pitching was at it’s thinnest, and he was literally just a warm body throwing nothin but strikes. By some divine miracle the Red Sox won all four games (Boston averaged 9.75 runs/game for him). When you have an offense like that, sometimes all you need is for someone to just come up and give you 5 innings of strikes.
Could a useful pickup for the rSox, But he can’t be any worse then Owens or Johnson who I think they r both done.Only time will tell.
The Cubs visit Boston in April, I wonder if we’ll see a Kyle Kendrick – Kyle Hendricks match up?
that dreaded term, “innings eater”. not much of a winner, but he can throw lots of innings. big deal, give me a winner.
Dreaded term? So you’d rather leave leave one of our legit arms in a game that they get shelled early? Then tax their arms with pointless innings so they can have a better chance at being fatigued for the final stretch of the season/postseason. An “innings eater” is a very important piece to a World Series puzzle.
With only 3 seasons with 180+ IP, I would’t classify Kyle Kendrick as an “Innings Eater”. This could be one of the better off-season acquisitions. Kyle Kendrick isn’t a strike out pitcher but, he doesn’t walk many. He fields his position well too. He might be a good RH compliment to hard LHs Chris Sale and David Price.