Red Sox designate veteran reliever for assignment

The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve designated lefty Richard Bleier for assignment and selected the contract of veteran righty Dinelson Lamet from Triple-A Worcester.

Bleier, 36, came to the Sox in the offseason trade that sent righty Matt Barnes and cash to Miami. It was a change-of-scenery swap for the two veteran relievers that hasn’t proved particularly fruitful for either side. Bleier has missed time with a shoulder issue and has been tagged for a 5.28 ERA in 30 1/3 frames with the Red Sox when healthy. Barnes posted a comparable 5.48 ERA in 21 1/3 innings before undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a hip impingement.

Prior to his struggles in Boston, Bleier had a history of strong ERAs despite one of the league’s lowest strikeout rates. He’s still sporting a career 3.27 ERA despite just a 13.6% strikeout rate, thanks largely to a pristine 3.9% walk rate, a huge 60.9% ground-ball rate and a knack for avoiding hard contact. However, he’s seen his results gradually worsen each since opening his big league career with a trio of sub-2.00 ERAs from 2016-18.

Bleier is earning $3.5M this season, with about $1M of that sum yet to be paid out. He’s also guaranteed the $250K buyout on a $3.75M option for the 2024 season. Given his poor results, shoulder issues and that remaining salary, he’s all but certain to pass through waivers unclaimed. If he does so, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment while retaining the remainder of his salary. Because of that, Bleier appears destined for the open market, at which point any team could sign him and owe the lefty only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. That sum would be subtracted from the roughly $1.25M the Red Sox still owes him (including that option buyout.)

In Lamet, the Sox will turn to another change-of-scenery hopeful. The former Padres strikeout machine has seen his stock dwindle in recent seasons. Lamet was a legitimate Cy Young contender during the shortened 2020 season, but injuries have been a major issue for the 31-year-old righty in the seasons since. Lamet has encountered a biceps strain, a UCL sprain, forearm inflammation and a hip injury that required a “clean up” procedure in the years since that scintillating 2020 effort (wherein he posted a 2.09 ERA and 34.8% strikeout rate in a dozen starts).

Since that 2020 season drew to a close, Lamet has pitched to a collective 6.69 ERA in 105 innings between the Padres and Rockies. His 27% strikeout rate remains well above the league average, but Lamet has also walked a bloated 12.8% of his opponents. His 95.4 mph average fastball, while still impressive, has dropped noticeably from its 97 mph peak during that brilliant 2020 season.

Lamet signed a minor league deal with Boston earlier this summer, and since joining their top affiliate in Worcester he’s turned in a 3.72 ERA with a pedestrian 20% strikeout rate and a solid 8.8% walk rate that could be considered encouraging, given his longstanding command issues. The Sox figure to use him as a reliever, and it’ll likely be a short stay with the organization regardless of his results. If Lamet continues to struggle as he has since 2021, the Sox will presumably move on before long. And if he rights the ship, he’ll have enough service time at season’s end to reach free agency. There’s certainly a scenario where Lamet pitches well and re-signs in Boston, but there are quite a few hurdles for the big righty to clear before that’ll be a legitimate consideration.