Red Sox sign former All-Star, Rookie of the Year Michael Fulmer to two-year minor-league deal

The Red Sox signed free agent reliever Michael Fulmer to a minor-league contract last week, per the club’s MLB.com transactions log. According to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo, it is a two-year deal that will cover the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

As noted by Cotillo, the contract includes a $1.5 million major-league salary in both years. If Fulmer is selected to the 40-man roster in 2024 or 2025, his salary will be $1.5 million. The right-hander will also have the chance to earn an additional $2 million in incentives next year.

Fulmer, who turns 31 next month, is expected to miss the entirety of the 2024 season after undergoing UCL revision surgery on his right elbow last October. This comes after he previously underwent Tommy John surgery to repair that same ligament in March 2019.

Last year with the Cubs, where he worked with Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, Fulmer posted a 4.42 ERA and 4.15 FIP with 65 strikeouts to 28 walks over 58 appearances (one start) spanning 57 innings of work in which he held opposing hitters to a .235 batting average against. He ranked in the 95th percentile of all big-league pitchers in hard-hit rate (30.3 percent) and the 92nd percentile in both average exit velocity (86.4 mph) and whiff rate (33.5 percent), per Baseball Savant.

A former first-round draft selection of the Mets out of Deer Creek High School (Edmond, Okla.) in 2011, Fulmer first broke in with the Tigers in 2016 after being part of the same trade that sent former Red Sox outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to New York the previous summer. The Oklahoma native got his major-league career with Detroit off to a promising start, as he took home American League Rookie of the Year honors as well as a 10th-place finish in Cy Young voting in 2016 before being named a first-time All-Star in 2017.

From that point forward, though, Fulmer has been hindered by injuries on numerous occasions. After his 2019 was wiped out because of Tommy John, the righty struggled to a 8.78 ERA in 10 starts during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. He then moved to Detroit’s bullpen in 2021 and has primarily worked as a reliever for the Tigers, Twins, and Cubs since then.

Altogether, Fulmer owns a lifetime 3.94 ERA in 262 career big-league outings (94 starts). When operating in a relief role, the 6-foot-3, 224-pound hurler has pitched to a 3.43 ERA with 190 strikeouts to 70 walks across 175 2/3 total innings. He also converted 19 of a possible 30 save opportunities in that stretch.

Before going under the knife while with the Cubs last fall, Fulmer averaged 83.2 mph with his sweeper, 94.2 mph with his four-seam fastball, 89.6 mph with his cutter, 94.8 mph with his sinker, and 89.9 mph with his changeup. He has past experience throwing a curveball as well.

Fulmer will presumably spend most, if not all of the 2024 campaign rehabbing in Fort Myers. Barring a surprise, he should be at Boston’s spring training camp as a non-roster invitee around this time next year.

The Red Sox, for their part, are no strangers when it comes to rehabbing injured free agent pitchers. Most recently, right-hander Wyatt Mills was brought back on a similar two-year minors pact earlier in the offseason after undergoing Tommy John surgery last July.

Like Fulmer, Mills is unlikely to pitch in 2024, though there is always a possibility something could change later in the year. In the meantime, neither Fulmer nor Mills will count against the Sox’ 40-man roster.