Red Sox Reportedly Swing Trade For Right-Hander To Bolster Pitching Depth
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The Boston Red Sox have made it a habit to designate pitchers for assignment and then trade them days later.
The trend continued Friday afternoon.
The Red Sox traded right-hander Franklin German to the Chicago White Sox for fellow right-hander Theo Denlinger according to MassLive's Chris Cotillo.
German was designated for assignment Monday to make room for left-handed reliever Richard Bleier on the roster.
The 26-year-old allowed eight earned runs in his four innings with Boston last season but had a great season on the whole, showing high-leverage reliever potential.
German logged seven saves in eight opportunities with a 2.58 ERA, 46-to-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .154 batting average against and 0.94 WHIP in 38 1/3 innings with Triple-A Worcester last season.
Now, he'll be replaced by Denlinger, a 26-year-old who will not be on the 40-man roster.
The right-hander went 2-2 with a 4.47 ERA, 66-to-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .231 batting average against and 1.32 WHIP in 48 1/3 innings between High-A Winston-Salem and Double-A Birmingham last season.
The good for Denlinger:
The newest member of the Red Sox's organization can dial up some high heat, registering in the upper 90s. The high strikeout rate and low batting average against are quite encouraging.
The bad for Denlinger:
At 26 years old, Denlinger is quite old to be just coming off his first taste of Double-A. The only level he truly excelled at was in Single-A during the 2021 season. Outside of that, his ERA has been high and his most-promising metrics have not yielded much production.
German appears to have a much more promising outlook of the two players in this trade but Boston could not retain him after designating him for assignment -- so they chose to get something instead of nothing.
This offseason alone the Red Sox have designated and then traded Darwinzon Hernandez, Connor Seabold, Matt Barnes and now German.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom added strike throwers in a completely revitalized big-league bullpen but shed a lot of depth along the way.
More MLB: All-Star Pitcher Felt 'Blindsided' When Red Sox Designated Him For Assignment
