Ex-Red Sox Reliever Opts Out Of Deal; Should Boston Bolster Bullpen Depth?

The right-hander played a big role for Boston in 2022

Scott Neville | Jul 16, 2023

Ex-Red Sox Reliever Opts Out Of Deal; Should Boston Bolster Bullpen Depth? /

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Boston Red Sox

Should the Boston Red Sox call upon an old friend to improve the team's bullpen depth?

The back end of the bullpen has been superb but the middling options have been tough to watch at times -- Jake Faria's season debut against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday being a prime example (five earned runs with four hits allowed, four walks and three strikeouts over just two innings).

With Chris Sale, Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock's absences, the Red Sox's rotation features two openers which has led to a taxed bullpen that needs to shuffle arms in and out just to stay afloat. The bottom of the roster currently features players who should not be in the big leagues, much less on a playoff contender.

One option to try out for a depth role is right-hander Tyler Danish, who just opted out of his deal with the Washington Nationals according to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand.

Danish played for the Red Sox last season and had middling numbers but started off red-hot.

In his first 19 games, the 28-year-old went 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA, a near-perfect 21-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and a .205 batting average against across 24 innings of work.

The journeyman mellowed out and finished the season with a 5.13 ERA, 32-to-12 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and a .255 batting average against in 40 1/3 innings across 32 appearances.

This season Danish posted a 3.72 ERA with a 20-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .264 batting average against and 1.52 WHIP for Triple-A Rochester.

Is it worth adding Danish to the Red Sox organization for a second run? He could find lighting in a bottle in Boston, as he did last year and it couldn't hurt to sign him to a minor league deal. That said, at this point, Boston should be active in the trade market to make much more notable moves for successful big leaguers.

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Published Jul 16, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu