Red Sox sign former Yankee reliever Nick Burdi

Red Sox, Nick Burdi Agree To Minor League Deal - MLB Trade Rumors
Burdi threw 9 innings for the Yankees last year. Brad Penner, USA Today

 

    The Red Sox signed 32 year old veteran reliever Nick Burdi to a minor league contract on Friday. Burdi appeared in 12 games last year, and was impressive when he pitched. The problem is he does not pitch often. Due to a myriad of injuries, Burdi has only appeared in 25 MLB innings in parts of 5 seasons and has already had 2 Tommy John surgeries.

    When healthy, Burdi has some great swing and miss stuff (14 K/9) but has really struggled with command, leading to a higher than average walk rate. He has some great raw stuff, his fastball averaged 97.5 MPH last year, with his slider sitting around 88. Fangraphs loves both pitches, as shown by his 114 Stuff+.

    Burdi will likely start the year in AAA, where he will need to develop a third quality offering and stay healthy if he wants to contribute at the big league level. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cora talks Kristian Campbell's early struggles and Connor Wong's offseason changes

Image
        Kristian Campbell's Early Struggles     Kristian Campbell, MLB's Minor League player of the year, came into camp this year with lofty expectations and a starting spot on the MLB roster within reach. So far, he has not lived up to those massive expectations. In todays Spring Training contest against the Orioles, Campbell snapped an 0-13 start, notching his first spring hit in a 1-3 game.      Alex Cora, when discussing the young prospect, showed his confidence in Campbell's ability to turn things around. "I think the good thing is we have a pretty good idea of what he needs. We talked to him, [telling him] you need to swing less."      So far, Campbell has 8 strikeouts in his first 13 at-bats. Cora cited his swing decisions and his 2-strike approach as something for them to work on. Campbell's 19% K-rate across A, AA, and AAA was in line with league averages. His outside zone swing percentage was also well below league a...
Read more

Analyzing the candidates for the last bullpen spot down the stretch

Image
        All in all, the Red Sox bullpen has performed well above expectations this season. Anchored by offseason acquisition Aroldis Chapman turning back the clock a decade or so, the Sox have gotten good performance from a number of relievers, with Garrett Whitlock, Greg Weissert, Justin Wilson, and Steven Matz all performing well. Despite this, the Red Sox bullpen has seemed rather top heavy at times. While there is reason for optimism, such as the imminent return of Justin Slaten and the hope Jordan Hicks can find something, too many times has the Red Sox bullpen depth cost them games. A prime example comes in the form of Saturdays 7-5 win over Miami. With a 5 run lead in the 9th, Isiah Campbell could only record 2 outs while allowing 3 runs and forcing Cora to turn to Chapman with the tying run at the plate. This led to Chapman being unavailable to pitch in Sunday;s game, where the Red Sox blew a 3-2 lead in the 9th in a game they would lose 5-3. We've ...
Read more

Could Marcelo Mayer be the answer at second?

Image
       On Wednesday, the Red Sox optioned Vaughn Grissom to minor league camp, seemingly leaving the second base position down to 2. Instead, a potential new option has emerged in the form of top prospect Marcelo Mayer. Mayer made his second base debut as a substitute on Tuesday, before getting the start on Wednesday. The 22 year old has been on fire from the plate this spring, hitting .355 with a 1.025 OPS. In 77 AA games, Mayer hit .307 with an .850 OPS.      Although he has never played second at the professional level, Mayer is confident he can adjust. "Everything is backwards compared to short and third base. But I'm athletic, I think I could figure it out pretty quickly."       Mayer has never played anything other than third base or shortstop. Due to his bigger frame and below-average speed, some evaluators picture him as a long term third basemen. Mayer's quick first step and athleticism should make the transition across the...
Read more