Yankees Sign Ex-Red Sox Pitcher To Bolster Depth Amid Injury-Plagued Season
The New York Yankees are giving a former Boston Red Sox pitcher another shot on the big league roster after a brief stint last season.
There has seemingly been a steady rise of role players who have jumped from one side of the rivalry to the other, and that trend was amplified Thursday.
The Yankees signed right-handed pitcher Ryan Weber to a Major League contract and selected him to the active roster, the team announced.
Weber spent the beginning of the season with the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on a minor league deal.
The 32-year-old journeyman posted a lackluster 5.77 ERA with a 26-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio and .300 batting average against in 34 1/3 innings across seven starts for the RailRiders.
While those numbers are far from impressive, Weber did end his 2022 season strong. He recorded an 0.84 ERA with a .167 batting average against in 10 2/3 innings for the Yankees last season.
The Yankees are decimated by injuries at the moment and will have to hope that stretch was not a fluke.
Weber previously spent parts of three seasons with the Red Sox, from 2019 to 2021. He compiled a mediocre 5.54 ERA across 89 1/3 innings in 36 games (eight starts, 28 relief appearances).
Outside of Weber's strong performance in a small sample size last season, his only true strengths have been his versatility and command. Weber does not allow too many free passes but has a career .276 batting average against at the big league level and has never been able to surpass the role of mop-up duty.
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