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 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!!”