MLB Rumors: Red Sox acquire a couple of pitchers for bullpen depth

In recent days, there has been a lot of reshuffling in the Boston Red Sox pitching rotation, as there has been all season long.

Both Tanner Houck and Corey Kluber have landed on the 15-day injured list recently. Houck had a line drive to his face in last Friday’s win against the New York Yankees. Kluber suffered shoulder inflammation that landed him on the injured list.

Besides Houck and Kluber, the Sox currently have Richard Bleier and Joely Rodriquez on the 15-day injured list. While recently moving John Schrieber and Chris Sale to the 60-day injured list.

In response, the Sox had to call up Kaleb Ort to start Game 1 of Sunday’s doubleheader sweep against the Yankees. After Kluber landed on the injured list, the Sox called up Brandon Walter who pitched six 2/3 innings in relief in his MLB Debut in the shutout loss against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.

Also, the Sox have gotten potential outside help to the rotation this week. On Monday, the Sox signed veteran Kyle Barraclough to a minors contract where he was immediately sent to Triple-A Worcester. Then on Thursday, the Sox traded for RHP Tayler Scott from Los Angeles Dodgers for cash considerations. Scott was immediately sent to Triple-A Worcester.

Today we will examine if these pitchers could help in the rotation when and if they’re called up to the majors.

Kyle Barraclough would be a nice piece to help in the Red Sox bullpen

Barraclough is a veteran in the majors where he’s pitched for the Marlins, Nationals, Giants, Twins, and Angels. He’s pitched 288 games, and all of them were in relief. He’s had an 18-15 record with a 3.46 career ERA.

In his opening outing with the Worcester Red Sox on Wednesday against the IronPigs where he had an impressive start. He tossed six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and four walks and struck out a pair of batters.

Prior to being signed he was on the High Point Rockers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball where he posted an impressive 1.00 ERA in 7 games (2 starts).

Barraclough would be a veteran piece to put in the Red Sox bullpen. However, if he would be called up he could be used as a starter like how Cora has tried to fill in holes in the rotation in recent weeks. He could also be used as a long reliever pitching multiple innings similar to how they used Walter and Chris Murphy who was called back down to Worcester after the doubleheader sweep against the Yankees.

Tayler Scott needs some reps for the Worcester Red Sox before being called up

As mentioned before, Taylor Scott was traded from the Dodgers on Thursday. Scott has made 27 appearances including 2 starts in the majors starting in 2019 with the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles, San Diego Padres, and the Dodgers. In his career he has an 0-1 record, where he lost on July 13, 2022 against the Colorado Rockies. He has a high 10.75 ERA while pitching in 34 1/3 innings.

Scott has made 6 appearances with the LA Dodgers this season pitching an inning in each with an impressive 8 strikeouts in those little innings. However, most of his action has come in Triple-A Oklahoma City where he’s made 19 appearances with an 3-0 record and a 1.37 ERA and 2 saves.

Looks like he will thrive in Worcester which means that he can be called up whenever the Sox will need a rotational arm in the bullpen, but he’ll need to make some appearances for the WooSox to prove himself.