The Red Sox and Brad Keller have evidently reunited on another minor league deal, as he started for Triple-A Worcester yesterday. He had elected free agency last week after being designated for assignment but seems to have signed a fresh pact. If the deal was formalized prior to September 1, he will be postseason eligible with the Sox.
Keller, 29, has been on and off the Boston roster for the past few months. He actually started the season with the White Sox on a minor league deal. He was added to that club’s roster in late April but lasted about three weeks before being designated for assignment, clearing waivers and electing free agency.
He then signed with the Sox and was on their 40-man roster for a few months but elected free agency in mid-August when they attempted to option him to the minors. As a veteran with more than five years of service time, he can’t be optioned without his consent. He went to the open market but quickly re-signed on a new minor league deal. He was added back to the roster last week but designated for assignment one day later, which led to another trip to free agency and this new minor league deal.
Around all of those transactions, Keller has managed to throw 41 1/3 innings over 16 appearances on the year, allowing 5.44 earned runs per nine. His 16.7% strikeout rate is below average but he has limited walks to a 7.8% clip while getting grounders on 50% of balls in play. He’s also logged 51 Triple-A innings on the year with a 4.06 ERA and similar peripherals.
Keller was once a strong rotation member with the Royals but his recent years have been fairly similar to his 2024 campaign. By the end of 2020, he had a 3.50 ERA in 360 1/3 innings but he has a 5.18 ERA in 360 frames from 2021 to the present.
The Red Sox recently lost James Paxton to the injured list for the rest of the year, putting him on the list of guys who won’t return to the club this season, next to Lucas Giolito, Garrett Whitlock and others. They currently have a rotation of Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Cooper Criswell. There are some workload concerns in there, as Houck, Crawford and Criswell have already set personal highs in terms of innings pitched in a season. Quinn Priester is another option on the 40-man roster but he has an 8.10 ERA in five Triple-A starts since being acquired from the Pirates.
If they need a spot start at some point this month or someone in that group needs to go on the injured list, Keller should be good to go since he pitched five innings yesterday. The Sox also have Josh Winckowski and Rich Hill on the roster but Hill hasn’t gone more than an inning and a third with the club so far. Winckowski has had plenty of multi-inning outings but hasn’t gotten into a game since August 23, so it might be hard for him to suddenly throw five or six innings on demand.
I called it! Like a bad penny… and we all know how the Sox feel about pennies. Lol!
But how do they feel about Brad Penny?
Canuck – Great minds think alike, I thought about him too as I wrote that! Man did he suck for the Red Sox in 2009.
Used to be Boston would only keep around 1 Ryan Weber-esque pitcher of dubious use (at best) whose only use was to eat innings during blowout situations.
This season, whether it’s Cora, Breslow, some combination of the Sox have run a myriad of useless types, good for nothing, except blowout games, yet continually thrown in with tied and close games and performed as expected. By those I mean Keller, Bailey Horn, Chase Anderson, Wingenter (finally gone), Rodriquez (hopefully finally gone). these people in charge are showing no chops pitching wise, nor in Cora’s case, when to bring it in during a game and whom to go to.
john – Cora’s self-admitted approach to bullpen management is to pull pitchers as often as possible for matchups and multi-game availability. Because of that philosophy, his “style” requires several *innings eaters* ….. and we know that’s code for crappy pitchers who aren’t used in high leverage situations unless Cora runs out of options.
Mark my words, if MLB does go down to a 12-pitcher roster limit, no manager will be more negatively affected than Cora.
Yes, exactly. They are in effect running a 9 man bullpen by cycling crappy relievers through the 8th spot, using each for a few innings, then DFA and on to the next. Always crappy relievers available, so you can keep this strategy going a long time.
Better to find ways to get more innings out of your better relievers, but that requires eschewing matchups.
Fever, I chuckled within the article. If he re-signed with the Sox prior to 09/01, he’s playoff eligible. White Sox or Red Sox this year there’s no difference. This club is again tanking down the stretch. Team needs to build defense first. Defense saves pitching innings, pitches and runs allowed. Next year’s middle infielders have to be defense first. I really believe in Yoshida’s bat but not with this club. If he’s gone next year, either Devers or Casas could DH some if a solid two way corner right handed bat infielder is secured.
dewey – I totally agree. However the Twins (4-6), Royals (6 losses in a row), Mariners (5-5 and just lost to Oakland) and Rays (3-7) have also been tanking and the Tigers can’t possibly continue winning with their awful offense …. so I do think the Red Sox still have a chance at the postseason, especially with the 3-game series against the ChiSox coming up.
NESN guys hit on the defensive struggles recently, Cora is playing too many players out of position. Wong starting for the first time ever at 2B, and playing LF for the first time ever? This is NOT the time to experiment if you’re *supposedly* trying to win games. What’s even crazier is carrying Gasper on the active roster to accommodate Wong playing multiple positions …. not only is the defense suffering because of it, Wong’s bat no longer is a must in the lineup because his hitting has totally crashed.
It would benefit Rafaela and the team if he played every day in the OF, as Tyler & Ref have proven to be poor outfielders. Tyler reminds me of Stanton, too stiff to play the field because of his muscles on top of muscles. Ref is simply clueless.
They demoted their best defensive catcher and Wong has been atrocious.
Romy is not Ben Zobrist, he can’t handle all the positions he’s been playing.
Next year a hopefully healthy Story will help the infield defense, and hopefully Campbell and/or Mayer will finally be promoted. So there is hope for the future, but not much for the present.
It would be one thing if the offense was producing runs like they did earlier in the year, but when we can’t get more than 2 or 3 runs in a game we are not going to win unless we have the best defense and pitching in the game and we are not even close. I don’t know if the offense is just burned out or what, but without runs we are not going to win with the bullpen we have.
Uncle – The offense is a combination of things. You had Wong and Refsnyder performing way over their heads. Ref had a career .698 OPS coming into this season, and his OPS on August 3rd was .892 …. absolutely unsustainable.
Wong had a career .670 OPS coming into this season, and his OPS on May 20th was .902 … also unsustainable.
Devers led the offense most of the season, but his severe injury has totally ruined his game. I guarantee once the Sox are eliminated Devers will be shut down for the season and likely have surgery.
Those are the three biggest reasons why the offense has crashed.
I’ll make a bold prediction now ….. I predict the Sox will go on a 4-game winning streak starting tomorrow. And with both the Royals and Twins playing like crap, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sox are 3 games out by Sunday.
I agree Devers slump is a major reason why the offense is not getting the job done. I did not realize the injury was that significant and was still an issue. If Casas and Duran get hot again that would help. At one point it seemed like the entire offense was getting the big hits that allowed them to win games. Abreu and Rafaela are two others who are not hitting the way they had been. Jansen has not been the upgrade over McGuire that he was supposed to be. I hope you are correct and they start winning again, but they need to win some games against teams like the Mets to contend.
Uncle – Yeah he’s grimacing after every big swing, and the announcers have been talking about it. He shouldn’t be playing, but with nobody capable of replacing him he’s trying to play through the pain. And he’s really bummed out about it, after last night’s game he sat in front of his locker for half an hour staring into space while holding his bat and he didn’t even take his uniform off. It’s so unfortunate because he was having such a great season.
Duran is fine, he hasn’t really cooled off at all. Casas is another story, the guy is totally lost after missing all that time and he’s probably experiencing some pain himself. He didn’t want to return but the team kinda forced him to gut it out.
Abreu has been sensational, .842 OPS in July and .896 OPS in August. I wouldn’t judge him on his 6 September AB’s.
Rafaela was overachieving on his little hot streak, as long as he continues to swing at everything he’s basically a .666 OPS guy.
Jansen was a horrible trade, but he was cheap and that’s all that matters to the Red Sox.
Maybe the Red Sox demolishing the White Sox this weekend will create a spark and get the offense going in the right direction. But I’m afraid when Story returns it will be yet another dead bat in the lineup. They already said he would hit near the bottom.
Oh geez… give me a break already!
Sox should just bring up Campbell and Anthony and let them play, the way Darrell Johnson handed left field and center field to Jim Rice and Fred Lynn in ’74. See how they do. It’s all Boston fans have to cheer about.
let – Assuming you don’t mean Isaiah Campbell, I totally agree with you!! That monthlong cup of coffee in the final third of a season has been invaluable to so many rookies in the past. I’m thinking it’s a service time manipulation thing now, the top prospects probably won’t be promoted until mid-season next year.
Fever- Campbell has been out most of the year, for what “think” has been some kind of shoulder impingement issue. Remember he pitched in a few games early on, then got hit in a cpl, went on the DL with the shoulder issue, was doing nice in his woo-sox rehab, now has been on the IL for like 2m again, with what recall was his shoulder again and have not heard squat of late about him.
It was a steal getting him at all for DFA material Urias over the winter and now am afraid, with how this team has been operating all year roster wise they will DFA him when think he’s a very effective reliever.. When healthy.
Previously the AAA season wrapped up the first week in September, which is part of why you saw so many called up after that. Now it finishes just one week before the majors.
tff – I think the September 1st roster limit expansion was the biggest factor in September callups. But the list of top prospects who were called up in August over the years is quite lengthy.
So let me ask you a question. Let’s say organic revenue drops again this year, which it certainly seems like it will based on empty seats and steep discounted prices etc …… do you think that will motivate John Henry to spend more next season? Or will it cause him to spend even less?
I do think his willingness to spend will be at least partially decided by his faith that the money will be spent wisely. So far, the money that he has allowed to be spent the past several years definitely has NOT been spent wisely.
Hard to say? When the Pirates are one of the most profitable clubs in the majors, you know that has to catch Henry’s attention,
tff – True, but there’s a big difference with the Pirates …. they are Revenue Sharing recipients, while the Sox will always be Revenue Sharing payers.
If Red Sox revenue were to ever really crash, no chance they become recipients.
If the Red Sox spend like the Pirates, they will be more profitable than the Pirates. No matter how bad things get, the “Fenway Experience” will still draw more than they do in Pittsburgh.
The Red Sox had the 8th highest operating income in MLB last year, and will likely rank even higher this year. Attendance is likely to be up slightly by the end of the season.
Fever- Correct. Revenue sharing, giveaways to select few, constantly increasing playoff teams in every bargaining agreement has slowly eroded the quality of the game last 15y and is making the game into a big joke. I stopped watching both the NBA/NFL like 30y ago when they went the everyone makes the post season route because of that. Knew it would ruin those sports. MLB took longer and it’s gone further steps in many ways towards ruinous behaviour.
I see no way of them taking back from giveaways given to select group of receivers within the owners, tho they should. not a single 1 (I imagine) of those people got to where they are expecting a handout from their direct competitors, so why should it be expected to in a sport. It’s wrong and definately un American, or the America I grew up in.
Well, a major media company recently sued advertisers for refusing to spend money on their platform. It is good to be rich and have the law take your side!
tff – Agree with you on profitability, as Fenway is always a popular draw with visiting team’s fans.
Attendance will be up this year? Not a chance. As of right now it’s slightly below last year, but with 12 end-of-season home games remaining and nothing to play for, expect to see massive amounts of empty seats for those final dozen games. And BTW none of those dozen games are against teams with strong road followings ….. no Yankee games, no Cardinals games, no Dodgers games, no Cubs games. The only good team coming in is Baltimore, but they don’t have a strong road following and the series is Monday night thru Wednesday night, all school nights.
Even still, revenue matters more than attendance. When you’ve got $60 seats being sold by the Red Sox for $20 each, obviously revenue will fall. And so will advertising revenue, NESN ratings, concessions, and merchandise.
john – MLB runs the sport like the gov runs the country, they are all about handouts but the handouts often don’t go to those truly in need and aren’t used the way they are meant to be used.
When teams with the biggest profits are all revenue sharing recipients with ultra-low payrolls, that’s a slap in the face to every owner that has to pay.
tff – True!
It’s also good to be an MLB owner and have the commissioner in your back pocket!
Adding Campbell and Anthony to the 40 man roster now would take away spots needed to protect people from the Rule 5 draft and to add someone in the Rule 5 draft. So, I doubt they get called up this year.
If any were going to get called up, it wouldve happened Sept 1st. Red Six shouldnt waste 40-man slots just to give 80 or so ABs to guys whove already played a long season. Let them show what theyve got in ST and decide then, based on health, ability whether they should get added to 40-man.
Mi Casas
Jansen is an FA at the end of the season. It doesnt seem you know the roster as good as you think.
So injuries dont play a factor in deciding a roster at the end of spring training? Tell that the middle infield of Reyes and Valdez in 2024. There are a lot of reasons for young players to get a nod at the end of ST and conversly, there are a lots of reasons you wouldnt want a minor leaguer not on your big league roster, draining a 40-man spot. Once you put these players on the roster they are stuck there, regardless of health or ability. And the roster is much more crowded that you think.
Mi Casas
Also, you would expose Isaiah Campbell? Huh? The guy was a 2nd round selection who’s pitched good to great in 4 minor league seasons as well as with the big league Mariners team, with a very good K/BB ratio. And you would dump him because of SIX bad innings with the Red Sox.
Lol, Red Sox fans are impatient, but this one takes the prize.
It has been a wasted year for Campbell, no question, but you give him a chance to pitch healthy before you cut him from the roster.
Well this site threw my first post out
Cora took out a pitcher with 52 pitches and puts in the over the “ Hill” pitcher who gave away the game to just 2 batters Now leaves a pitcher in for 4 runs so far.
He’s such a $&@$ manager
Whatever is going on, it is not Cora making decisions by himself. There are pitching coaches and an analytics department involved in these decisions.
You think eh.
When a pitcher has command of his pitches and has a prefect game going on. Let him lose the game
F$&@ Cora and whatever you think.
No wonder this team doesn’t have any chemistry. Cora takes the wind out of their sails every chance he gets. By very poor management.
Due he only threw 52 pitches. Bello has thrown 78 for 4 runs. But ya see him in. Yet for for more no doubt.
Geez
Do you really think Cora never takes the advice of the many people giving him advice?
I believe Cora has primary control over bullpen moves.
So, are the Red Sox wasting a lot of money employing pitching coaches and analytics people to give advice to Cora or is Cora taking some of their advice? I would bet he takes some, if not a lot, of their advice. We can’t say for sure from where we are.
I would have thought that the primary purpose of a pitching coach was to coach the pitchers?
Analytics is just a fancy name for rich data. It doesn’t make decisions for you and it doesn’t absolve a manager from making the right decisions. I can sometimes guess at why Cora makes the decisions that he does, but there is a flip side to every decision that also needs to be considered.
If managing were merely communicating decisions made by others to the umpires, they wouldn’t get paid any more than the bat boys.
With so many people involved, I find it hard to put all the blame on one person.
You are right, an organization is always larger than one person, and all its members contribute to the success of the whole. However it is traditional for a manager to take ultimate responsibility for his team, even if the entire team contributes.
Cora is the field manager. Thus in-game decisions ultimately land on his desk. The buck stops here.
Breslow owns similar responsibility for the roster decisions, even if they are also a collaborative process.
Well, I guess we disagree and that’s ok.
This is the same organization which kept Dave Bush in charge of it’s MiLB pitching development for years. Saw 1st hand how that went to some degree at Ft myers. his way was to sit in the stands and yak, rather than watch and focus on his pitchers. Took the team years to can the guy.
Criswell has tended to loose his stuff in the 5th inning, and has done so in almost every stat that he has lasted that long for the entire 2025 season! That said with a pitch count of 57, I would have left him in another inning (1 inning only regardless of the perfect game). Bello has tended to go 6 and 7 innings regularly, and threw 157 innings last year. Different pitch limit for different pitchers!
They had Sale and didn’t think he would be great.They had Wacha.They had Eovaldi.People complained about them until they see what crap they got now.If their younger guy such as Bello,Crawford,Houck,Whitlock are not good enough so we could trade or release them.Then see what else you bring in.We still have no prospects that will be ready for years.Fitts was over in a trade is arguably the best of the bunch.
This team just does not develop pitching on a big scale like other teams do.
TB – Another brilliant performance by Sale tonight, 7 shutout innings.
In a way I feel bad for Grissom, he could go down in history as part of the worst trade ever.
Put a fork in this team, they are over cooked! They over achieved and we have cheap ownership now and a 5th rate GM who is in way over his head. Brad Keller should put us over the top with his 5 plus ERA and 0 win record!!!! I am esthatic over this pick up. Do anyone have any confidence in Breslow’s ability to get free agents or players who can help this team next year? I don’t ! With Henry in “Cheap Mode” I doubt he allows Breslow to pick up anyone but bargain basement crap. Fans don’t get your hopes high with another “Full Throttle” like they did last offseason. Should be a great offseason with Chaim Bloom 2 in Breslow. Players agents know Breslow is in way over his head too.
Cut Cora some slack. He only has a few games left this season to keep his strut on to the mound. Same with his after game interviews which his accent has gotten heavier year after year. No lights , No cameras for a few months. Poor guy!
Yes, Cora talks in a fake accent. You’ve figured it out.
Troll: Friendly question. You have pointed out how many games Dever’s defense has cost them. What’s your take on how many games has Cora blown with his pitching changes and lineup ?
B dog – The thing that amazes me the most, Cora doesn’t even realize how idiotic he sounds when he tries to explain his decisions.
“He (Criswell) gave us enough” which translates to “I don’t want my pitchers going more than 4 innings”.
“We had a pocket of lefties coming up” which translates to “Carpenter is a lefty, I didn’t think Cooper could get him out after striking him out earlier. I didn’t think Cooper could get out Jung again, who is hitting .208 with a .559 OPS.”
“We thought Rich was a better matchup” which translates to “I didn’t realize the third hitter that Hill would face is Torkelson, a righthanded batter who slugged 31 homeruns last year”.
What an idiot Cora is, actually admitting that he ignored everything that was happening because he had made up his mind before the game even began to pull Criswell for a lefty reliever.
I feel bad for his wife, he probably has everything planned out before he even gets in bed because he’s incapable of thinking and making decisions during developing situations.
Troll: Agreed Sale definitely didn’t get handled right. Happy for him now . Even though I think we got the short end of that deal with his trade .
B dog – Last offseason is widely regarded as the worst in Red Sox history.
Not just because of the Sale trade.
The signing of Giolito.
The lowballing of Imanaga.
The lowballing of Flaherty.
The lowballing of Lugo.
The lowballing of Manaea.
The lowballing of Fedde.
The lowballing of Wacha.
The lowballing of Severino.
Last offseason was such a strong class of starting pitchers at reasonable prices, the Sox knew they desperately needed pitching help, and the only guy they sign is the one with the 5 ERA over the past two years who had a bunch of injury flags?
Trading this year’s Cy Young & Triple Crown winner AND paying $17M AND getting zilch in return thus far is just icing on the cake.
Signing Flaherty, Lugo, Fedde and Wacha were rarely, if at all, talked about on the Red Sox MLBTR page last winter. Yamamoto, Snell and Montgomery were constantly talked about. And after 3 seasons of very little out of Sale, no one was saying “Noooo!” when the trade happened. Far more “Meh”s. No one expected Sale to put up these kind of numbers.
Cherry picking and Monday Morning Quarterbacking. A double treat only found on Red Sox MLBTR page.
Trading him was fine if they got something descent in return. Paying $17 million of Sale’s salary was ridiculous. Obviously Atlanta saw that he had something left in the Tank . They immediately extended him for 2 years.
A) We dont know what we got in return yet, since Grissom has been injuried and has only 81 ABs in Boston. And, we still have 5 more years of control.
B) Atlanta is very close to getting to WS and needs short-term veterans to compete with the Dodgers. The Red Sox, on the other hand, wont contend until next year or the year after that. Its a case of a much better fit for both teams, than something “Atlanta saw”.
C) Would a healthy Sale alone have done much for the Red Sox? They needed much more help than one SP.
———–
I countered your points. Why didnt you counter mine? Where was your outrage when Sale got trade? I dont see your name in the comments, at all, on the Sale trade page from back in January, yet now you have plenty of opinion. After silently watching Jeopardy, you watch it a second time, and amazingly have all the answers.
Yeah, the offense is great. I got lambasted by severals for saying our offense needs work. It does.
After listening to reporters, we have
-a club record for striking out 12 times and more in 38 games
-our top three hitters have not hit with RISP effectively since the All-Star break (Devers, Duran)
-we’ve lost a bunch of games lately where we have pitched well but the offense hasn’t come through
-against lefties, we are 8 games under .500
And yet you all want to say there’s nothing wrong with our offense? We all know pitching is the elephant in the room, but the offense isn’t looking better, no matter how many runs we score in total
I came here just to say this. Now I’m leaving again because I don’t wanna waste my time with a bunch of snowflakes who always think they are right.
Aww, You’re mad.
Actually, I’m free. I don’t have to worry about this place and can focus on my real life. Just wanted to plead my case because I felt I needed to.
So, now you’re leaving again?
at least you got the rhyme right this time
Rhyme might be right, but the meaning was better before with the “near” rhyme. Still, I took the critic’s feedback
no. it was stupid. Isn’t it time for you to go away again
Okay, you can get muted
so mute me then. or a least come up with a more clever way to insult me in your screen name
You don’t like cute names. You find problems with them, so deal with it
Honestly, I don’t know why you hate me so much. I defended you with Fever Pitch Guy too and all you do is blatantly attack me. You made the first move on my name. I tried to be nice
At least the attempt was creative. I have no clue on yours
You’re not that bad. Honestly, I’m offended you called out my name for no reason but I’m not trying to spread hate, so I just changed my username. I kept it generic but you’re free to give suggestions. I don’t want to be like Fever Pitch Guy.
I think it’s actually pretty sad you’re asking to be muted rather than cooperate, especially when you were the one who attacked me over my name. I actually liked you a lot before.
I’m gonna keep replying, just so you know
I still don’t see why you hate me so much. I didn’t do anything to you. I actually tried to get along.
ACELL
ACELL WHY
WHY YOU SO MEAN ACELL?
WHY DO I WANT TO MUTE YOU? DO YOU LIVE IN A CELL?
Cmon, I’m just getting started friend
CLAY DA GOAT
WHY SHOULD I LEAVE?
No, you got it wrong, living in a cell
I defended you too
And you just want to come after me?
Go ahead block me
Living in a cell
I don’t mute. You’re the one that’s going to mute if you can’t take kindness
What’s behind your name?
Anyone who disagrees is a troll?
Just because I said the offense was bad you called me a troll?
CLAY DA GOAT
What’s your story?