Boston Red Sox DFA World Series Champion Pitcher

The Boston Red Sox have designated reliever Ryan Brasier for assignment, meaning there are just two members left from the 2018 World Series winning team.

After getting swept by the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night, the Boston Red Sox re-worked their roster, designating reliever Ryan Brasier for assignment.

This means that the Red Sox have removed him from the 40-man roster. They'll have seven days to trade him, release him or have him accept an outright assignment to the minors.

With his exiting the 40-man roster, there are two only members of the 2018 World Series team still on the roster: Rafael Devers and Chris Sale.

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe put this on Twitter:

Say this for Brasier: He always took the ball, he always was accountable and he pitched his butt off in the 2018 playoffs. 16 career playoff appearances, 13 of them scoreless.

Say this for Brasier: He always took the ball, he always was accountable and he pitched his butt off in the 2018 playoffs.

16 career playoff appearances, 13 of them scoreless. https://t.co/FqgdUrEgEv

— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) May 15, 2023

Brasier had been a hot-button topic for Red Sox fans for years. He was a stalwart of the 2018 World Series team, pitching to a 1.60 ERA in 34 regular season games, earning him plenty of good favor. 

But since then, he really struggled and fans called for him to be released. He continuously survived the roster to their bewilderment, even as someone like Matt Barnes was traded. Brasier had a 4.85 ERA in 2019, a 3.96 ERA in 2020, then spent most of 2021 in the minors, had a 5.78 ERA in 2022 and owned a 7.29 ERA through 20 appearances this year.

Brasier is a good story of perseverance regardless He made his major league debut in 2013 with the Angels and then didn't get back until the magical 2018 season with the Red Sox.

Lifetime, he's 7-8 with a 4.45 ERA.

The Red Sox open up a series with the Mariners Monday night at 7:10 p.m. ET. It's likely that reliever Joely Rodriguez gets activated from the injured list to take Brasier's spot.

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