The Red Sox announced that left-hander Richard Bleier, who was designated for assignment on Monday, has been released.
Bleier, 36, came over to the Sox in the offseason deal that sent Matt Barnes to the Marlins. That transaction hasn’t worked out especially well for either side, as Barnes allowed 5.48 earned runs per nine innings before undergoing hip surgery in July that he seems unlikely to return from this season. Bleier, meanwhile, made 27 appearances for Boston this year with a 5.28 ERA and has now been cut from the roster.
The southpaw had signed a contract extension while with the Marlins prior to the 2022 season, a pact that followed his 2.95 ERA over 68 appearances the year prior. The two-year, $6MM deal covered 2022, which was supposed to be his final arbitration season, as well as 2023 and came with a club option for 2024. He was paid $2.25MM last year, is earning $3.5MM this year with the 2024 option valued at $3.75MM with a $250K buyout.
Bleier went on to have a solid 3.55 ERA last year before this year’s disappointing results. There’s still over $1MM left to be paid out on that deal, as well as the buyout on the option. The combination of that money and his struggles this year meant that no club was going to claim him on waivers and take on that contract. But he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while retaining the money, so the Sox have simply skipped the formalities and sent him to the open market. They will still be on the hook for the remainder of the contract.
He’ll now be free to sign with any club, who would only be responsible for paying him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay. Despite his 2023 numbers, he will likely still garner interest. He had a 3.09 ERA over 144 appearances in the 2020-2022 period and his peripherals this year aren’t drastically different. His 55.2% ground ball rate in this season is shy of his 60.5% rate in the previous three years, but not by much. His 3.8% walk rate is right in line with the 3.9% mark from the preceding seasons. His 12.1% strikeout rate is certainly low, but even in the more successful 2020-2022 period he was only at 16.9%.
Bleier’s inflated ERA this year is likely due to a couple of factors. His 65.8% strand rate is shy of his own career rate and league average, pushing some more runs across. On a related note, his 17.9% rate of fly balls leaving the yard is a career high. He has a 4.25 SIERA on the year that’s over a full run better than his ERA and closer to his career marks.
Now that the trade deadline has passed, teams have few options for adding talent and depth to their systems. Since Bleier has a track record of success and comes with virtually no financial cost, he’s likely to latch on somewhere.
“That transaction hasn’t worked out especially well for either side” I mean you can’t really say it didn’t work well for either side if they were both bad – it is just a neutral swap
Nooooooooo! We have nothing to show for Barnes now!
And nothing to show for Mookie,, Xander, JD, Nathan Eovaldi etc, etc,etc,
Bloom/Henry has cobbled together a gaggle of mismatched league average coulda, shoulda woulda roster with zero leadership attributes or team culture.
I was being sarcastic. Barnes was hot garbage
Eovaldi was offered 4/$68 and turned it down. He’s with the Rangers on 2/$34 with a vesting player option of $20 ($2 buyout) based on Innings Pitched. Eovaldi played himself, that’s not Bloom’s fault.
Signing him probably prevents Yoshida, as well
For everything he hasn’t done, Nasty Nate is not his fault
Your post is just plain wrong. We have two starters to show for Mookie plus an open 40 million salary slot to find another guy who’s not 5-10, 30 years old and doesn’t want to be in Boston. The same could almost be said for Xander bogaerts. They have an open $30 million salary slot to give to someone else. Maybe someone better? It’s all a crapshoot anyway.
Looking at it in a different way we have Justin Turner to show for JD martinez. One leaves plug the other guy in and there you have it.
The only guy we didn’t replace was Nathan eovaldi and that’s because the Red Sox did not want to sign a 40-year-old free agent or one of the marginal guys that might get hurt if you look at their track record, sort of like Nathan. Maybe this winter there’s a couple of free agent starters available? So tough to find that’s why I don’t understand why teams don’t draft pitching early on in the draft. By the time they’re free agents and hit 30 and 1 major dollars they break down. Not enough exceptions to that.
Sox signed the ghost of Corey Kluber instead of Nate. That’s worked out so well.
By Nate do you mean the same guy who’s on the IL with a forearm strain? Color me not so shocked that he barely made it through half a season before landing on the IL again.
The Sox have Verdugo & Wong to show for Mookie. Xander is hitting 265/340/389 for his $25 mil, JD was replaced by JT and is either a wash or JT has the advantage as he gives actual positional value, Nathan has had a great year but is injury prone. Bloom/Henry aren’t doing amazing but they have a great young core and are just coming out from under DD’s bad signings.
Championships won: Dombrowski 1, Bloom County 0.
Yes Milt and Red Sox fans win. We got the ring and since we were so top-heavy under DD, now we’re fixing the foundation. Guarantee that won’t be the last championship the Red Sox win.
Boston can put a 95 win team on the field when the young guys are ready if they all pan out, and then with the big Market the Red Sox can pay for the four guys who will put them over the top. Done deal. Just hoping a great fee agent class happens in the next year or two to match the maturing youth time frame.
Serious question, is this not an accurate Outlook or frame of mind? Is this totally off base?
It’s about right.
DD inherited Vazquez, Betts, Bogaerts, JBJ, and ERod, then signed Price and traded for Sale and Kimbrel to put us over the top,
It feels like we have a decent core, and now it is a matter of adding.
Gary – Your perception of building a franchise is backwards. Your foundation was the part you called top heavy. You need 1/2 dozen all-stars that are going to be expensive supporting all the other players like Dombrowski did. That is the proper architecture to win and has been proven to be for a long time..
Bloom has built an upside down pyramid. The point sticking into the ground as it’s base is Devers ONLY. The pyramid teeters left and right dramatically thanks to no other all-star quality players acting as the rest of the base.. The next couple of solid players are Yoshida and Turner. Then comes the third level, the DD farm system guys who look to be all-stars in the future – Casas, Duran, Houck and Bloom’s Rule 5 steal Whitlock
Until the bottom of the structure is as solid as the old days with Betts, Bogey, Benny, JD, Devers, Pedroia, Sale, Price, Eovaldi and Kimbrel this team will continue to teeter back and forth winning 8 in a row then losing 8 in a row. The outstanding foundation was destroyed and replaced with one of the weakest designs imaginable, the inverted pyramid.
SO to answer your question – Your comment was off base BUT things can be fixed quickly once Bloom is gone and an experienced successful GM is hired. The Devers foundation will need company and hopefully Yoshida can grow into a bottom layer guy along with Story. Then Casas, Duran, Houck, Whitlock, Crawford, and the upcoming crop of potential stars in the farm system can start filling in the area above the foundation. That allows guys like the ancient Turner to be a transition guy along with Verdugo, Duvall and several other non long-term players.
The future can look good if a replacement can be found quickly and fix all that Bloom broke. Flip the pyramid back to having a wide base and slender top. Lets watch the Bloom inherited farm system continue to prove that it was perfectly fine. Hopefully Bloom got a few draft picks right that will eventually prove to be as valuable as the group from Dombrowski.
The current problems shouldn’t be that hard to fix for someone with experience and the ability to procure quality players.
Needs include – A right Fielder (speed/power guy with a good glove)
A temp middle infielder until Yorke or Mayer arrives.
A legitimate catcher with an arm and a bat so Wong can be the back-up.
A top of the rotation starting pitcher that was needed at the deadline.
Easy things for a new GM to procure during the off season. Also, the new GM will need a massive dumpster for all the players Bloom picked-up based on his poor perception of potential. Face it, his trades and acquisitions for the farm system were terrible but let’s hope at least a few of his draft picks will turn out to be MLB all-stars so the drop off from Dombrowski’s picks to Bloom’s picks aren’t as dramatic as the massive drop-off in winning by Bloom compared to Dombrowski.
more nonsense word salad from you KD17/zerocool/crashnburn/pulledabloom. seems like you settled on a screen name this time and are just copying me. Aside from Casas none of the other guys you mentioned as DD young guys are going to be allstars anytime soon. Good players yes but not all stars
KD17 et al. boy you’re either the worlds most simple minded troll or just delusional. I haven’t changed my name once. unlike you I Don’t need to.
You know that in your previous conversations it re tags your posts with the new name right? Obviously you are it’s just really funny that you think any of what you’re saying makes any kind of sense regarding screen names.
also calling Duran and Houck good players is hardly insulting them. Maybe in your twisted world calling players good is an insult. You must not be a fan of the sox if can’t stand behind your takes and are too embarrassed to keep your original name don’t have the self confidence to do so.
Stop being childish and get a clue.
It’s just ridiculous, it is also dishonest. Changing your name because you don’t want to admit how often you wrong is cheap and weak. Copying someone else’s name is a form of plagiarism.
you’re obviously the one focused on names and you’re clearly obsessed with me otherwise you wouldn’t have changed it to mimic mine which again is a terrible troll job.. I get that you’re jealous of me because I obviously make sense. Perhaps instead if you focused on actually following baseball instead of being a terrible troll you’d actually have a clue when you comment on posts. It’s gotten beyond dishonest to the point of being objectively creepy.. Again it’s fine if that’s how you want to act and I’m not terribly bothered by it but but know that it’s creepy.
You always end up accusing others of the same behavior and like every bully you can’t handle it when people step up to you.
From now on focus on baseball and stick to one name. No need to mimic people simply because you’re jealous or insecure.
The fault has always lied with you KD17. Again you don’t like pushback. When presented with counter points you resort to name calling, bickering insults, and claims of harassment especially when presented with logic counterpoints. for example why would you change your name to the person who allegedly trolls you so much (false) if you weren’t trying to get my attention? If you really wanted to go into witness protection and not draw attention to yourself changing your name to mimic mine isn’t the way to do it. I do appreciate that you’re dropping the ruse but at least be real about your intentions.
As to the name changes it was so obvious who you were that even a person who’s second language is English knew it was you. Your writing style, tone and demeanor are obvious. You made it worse by switching screen names in between to compliment yourself without realized it updated on early posts. I did point that out because it was so obvious.
And I’m not the only person who you have this type of behavior with either. disagreeing with your viewpoint isn’t trolling. Changing your screen name to mimic someone else is. If you don’t like people standing up to you then don’t bully them in the first place.
I am equally as happy to “leave you be” if you accept that you are wrong from time to time and it’s ok to admit that and not resort to harassing and bullying people for doing nothing more than disagreeing with you.
I’m glad you took my advice and changed your handle to something original.
But why do you keep changing? Everyone knows who you are.
My name changing was much like when U. S. Marshalls
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So you are comparing your weekly name changes to someone being the WPP? More amusing by the day.
Joe – Again, you really shouldn’t try to speak for everyone. You are not the leader of MLBTR.
I for one didn’t know who it was, I thought perhaps it was that PulledABloom guy from last offseason. Quite honestly I have no time to try and identify whenever someone is using a different name, that’s why I’m glad the very few people who I’ve muted remain muted no matter what name they change to.
Joe – You use acronyms waaaay too much.
What is WPP?
There’s been a couple people here who act like WAP, but I’ve never heard the term WPP and I’m …. not young. LOL!
And 3000 miles away RB smiles .. ( though that’s how long HIS leash was in Boston)…… wait … is that Rod Sterling….. never mind .. thought I saw something on the wing….
Bleier was with the O’s when Buck was there so I could see the Mets picking him up.
Not sure if he wants to play at CitiField and re-live the time he had three straight balks.
Ok, for my fellow Sox Sox Nation citizens. It is just about time to ask:
1. Do you think the Sox make a serious run for Ohtani?
2. Do want the Sox to sign Ohtani?
This question break brought to you by: Flatline Deadlines. When boredom dictates the hijacking of a topic. Flatline Deadlines. We are here for you in these troubling.. erm, I mean, boring times!
No they aren’t going after Ohtani. Their target this coming winter will be Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He’s a better pitcher and they will have enough other options for filling DH.
Interesting. Is he due to be posted? I know nothing of this guy
That’s the guy I’d go after. Ohtani is crazy good, but teams will probably start the bidding at $500M.
Plus it is a well-known fact that the RS have a high degree of success with players named Yoshi*.
Ohtani won’t play on the east coast unless the Yankees back the Brinks truck up to his door. Bloomers won’t touch him. He’ll go after a utility infielder and a 3rd-string catcher. His explanation will be that the A and AA players are thisclose to bringing a championship to Boston.
How could they let go of Richard Bleier? He was such an underdog!
Bloom’s a little late to the clearing house party.
It would really suck if we lose the series to the Royals tonight.l, but not like it makes a difference anyway now.
The Yankees had the bases loaded and nobody out and didn’t score. Bummer. Yup.
I’m here all week.
I’m reading people say we have a good young core, but I disagree with that. Our prospects are mostly positions players with the exception of Bello. In order to win you need good pitching, which the Sox don’t have in the pipeline. If Bloom is here we will be worse next year as I find it unlikely we resign Paxton. So next year’s rotation will be Bello, a often injured Chris sale and nothing else. I’m guessing Bloom signs another cluber type that sucks.
Soxfan – I feel your frustration but I think you underestimate the young pitchers. You left Houck, Cutter Crawford, Whitlock, Pivetta and Mota off your list and all of them have excellent potential to be Starters for the Red Sox in the future.
Sale is often hurt but he’ll be back in 2024 and I agree based on recent history Bloom will perceive Paxton’s year as an up year and will expect a down year in 2024 so he won’t sign him much like he did with Wacha and others. For the same reason it’s likely Duvall will be gone like Renfroe and Schwarber.
Bloom will only sign someone he believes to be under priced. It’s an odd approach for a big market team and I can’t explain why ownership allows this to continue but they have and they have given this GM four years and he’s now 7 games over .500 since the beginning of 2020 as opposed to the 104 games over .500 achieved by Dombrowski in his slightly less than four years at the helm.
Bloom’s results are miserable, especially considering he started with a championship team and Dombrowski started with a sub .500 team and turned them into Division Champs immediately and WS champs in 3 years. It’s a head scratcher!!
The problem I see is Houck and Whilock appear to be really good bullpen arms. I don’t think they are good enough to make up a good rotation. They both haven’t shown me enough to be starters and they seem to be injury prone, although keeping them in the bullpen might help that. Cutter is a number 5 guy to fill out the rotation or a swingman in the bullpen. We don’t have enough dependable starting pitching and I don’t see anyone coming from the minors that are 1,2 or even 3 in the rotation. Bloom should be prioritizing pitching in the draft but he spends early round picks on SS and second basemen. Unless we bring in top rotation guys then the Sox will continue to be mediocre at best.
Soxfan – That’s fair based on your evaluation of Whitlock and Houck. I think you are wrong about Houck. I think he’s a rock solid starter for many years to come. Whitlock showed a skill that is hard to find so I prefer him in the bullpen putting out fires when starters hit a rough inning. Stranding runners is an art and he seems good at it. We have plenty of late inning guys so his greatest value is bailing out SPs so the team keeps the lead when a starter hits a rough patch.
Sale, Houck, Bello, Pivetta and Paxton is decent starting staff but one more top of the order SP that is left handed would make things much better. There would be lots of depth, a strong bullpen and the new GM could sign some long term young players with hitting AND fielding skills.
I would go hard after Julio Urias and try to steal him from the Dodgers. Next year’s free agent class has only 1 lefty under 30 years old and that’s Urias at 27. The next youngest is E-ROD and nobody should want him back. Been there done that, didn’t work. Too expensive for his lack of talent.
The other pitcher that would make sense would be Flaherty. He’s young enough to sign to a 5 year contract ending when he’s 32.
I think Houck has potential to be a starter if he can add another pitch to his arsenal. He struggles with the third turn through the order. Paxton won’t be back next year and I’ve given up on Sale. Sale will never stay healthy for a whole season. I consider anything Sale gives you a bonus. Bloom should have traded Verdugo and a couple prospects to Seattle for some of their young controllable pitching. Seattle has a lot of good young pitching, but not much in terms of good young hitting. I think Seattle and Boston match perfectly in a trade.
DD had a much, much better core (Betts, Benintendi, Ortiz, Pedroia, Bogaerts, Parcello, E-Rod, Buchholz……), and management let him spend a whole lot more ($217,000,000 on the David Price contract, and $243,000,000 payroll which was about $40,000,000 over the tax threshold…). It is definitely not apples to apples when comparing DD to Bloom. You might even say management has much tighter constraints on Bloom BECAUSE of big spender DD…
JC – You do realize that listing entire contracts doesn’t make the spending bigger right? It’s still an annual spending and Bloom has grossly outspent DD per year. Also, DD inherited lots of great players but Ortiz retired after his first year, Pedroia was injured and never played full time again, Porcello not Parcello was a Cy Young winner, E-Rod sucked, Buckholz was past his prime so he got Sale, Price another Cy Young winner and most importantly he got JD Martinez to replace Papi. Brilliant moves that gave us 3 division titles and a ring.
Ownership has NEVER put constraints on any of it’s GMs. That’s a complete myth as proven by the spending history of the ball club especially under Bloom who has far exceeded DD’s spending.
It’s not apples to apples comparing DD to Bloom because DD is a HOF GM and Bloom is a wannabe that will never make it. It’s like comparing Ted Williams to Kiki Hernandez. There is no comparison. One is greatness personified and the other doesn’t belong in the majors.
Troll – BS
JC – Sorry for a response with facts. I know how much you hate that.
I agree with Acell11, Soxfan. Setting all thoughts of Bloom aside, Sale, Bello, Houke, Whitlock, Crawford… that is a good rotation.
I wasn’t expect anything from this season, predicted a last place .500 club. They did over perform, got me excited, and the deadline blunder deflated me agai. So I get where you are coming from.
But look at the good that get to come out of it. All those injuries that we were all fearing would happen, did happen. But it allowed the younger players to get some game time they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Duran? Yoshi? Casas? Could legit be the top of the line up next year. And we will still have Dever, Turner, Story.
Sox have a good head start on filling out the roster next year. Hopefully Bloom doesn’t blow it.
DBH – We don’t have Turner, he will opt out. I also have my doubts about Whitlock being a starter, especially with them making him a reliever when he returns even though they are desperate for starting pitchers.
Fever, I am fine with Whitlock in the pen. Still gives us 4 good starters.
DBH – I hope you’re right! I think Bello and Houck will be fine, Crawford still has to prove himself, and Sale? All about staying healthy, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets shopped this offseason.
Honestly, Fever, I hope they do shop Sale, simply because of his awkward, jerky delivery. The dude’a arm is going to fall off sooner or later. But they’d have to really pay it down. Not sure it is worth the return.
DBH – Yeah I don’t think they will do a salary dump with Sale, they might trade him only if they can get most if not all of his salary off the books. But keep in mind he has a full no trade clause. One good incentive, if he has a strong 2024 and doesn’t end the season on the IL then he’s under contract for 2025 at just $20M.
Bloom tossed this season in the toilet awhile back, no question!
“Meanwhile” has to start the sentence. It can’t come in the middle with commas on either side. MLBTR writers DESPERATELY need to learn how to use this word.
Why trade for a starter when Sale starts on Friday!
Starter ing rotation is now:
Paxton
Bello
Sale
Pivetta
Crawford
Which is better than a lot of MLB teams. The Red Sox need Turner back in the lineup .
PS. KD troll go back into hiding.
Could we have a contest? The first one to identify KD’s new user name gets a prize.
Joe – No need. Happy to give you the new name so Acell10 is happy. I’ve made my peace with him.
Somebody explain to JC what the word Troll means. It’s embarrassing that he constantly uses it incorrectly. My easy solution is to mute you and your conspirators and ignore the trolling so that’s what I’m going to do. You should feel proud that it only takes four of you ganging up on me to force me into muting you. It’s a travesty that the website allows this type of harassment but you know the old saying related to muting
“If a person trolls another person who has muted them is it really trolling? Or just people being petty because they can be!!”