Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Red Sox Sign Another Right-Handed Reliever In 31-Year-Old Zach Putnam

(Getty Images)
The Red Sox seem to be on a mission to stockpile marginal relievers—although the most recent (Zach Putnam) at least has some reasonable up-side. The 31-year-old right-hander has had Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2018 season—but he was solid before the procedure (2.71 ERA, 9.7 Ks/9 over 139.1 innings in the big leagues). He served well in the White Sox bullpen from 2014-2017. Putnam was signed to a minor-league deal—but, if healthy, probably has a good shot at landing with the big club out of Spring Training. Of course, these signings do not preclude Dave Dombrowski from still going out and signing some big name free agents to the bullpen—like David Robertson and/or Adam Ottavino. Also, don't count out Craig Kimbrel retuning to Boston, after a few more weeks of "crickets" in response to his "demand" for six years and $100 million. Stay tuned!