Inside The Red Sox

Stealing Yankees High-Leverage Reliever Could Drastically Improve Red Sox's Bullpen

Could Boston receive a notable boost from a division rival?
Scott Neville|
Stealing Yankees High-Leverage Reliever Could Drastically Improve Red Sox's Bullpen
Stealing Yankees High-Leverage Reliever Could Drastically Improve Red Sox's Bullpen

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Boston Red SoxNew York Yankees

The Boston Red Sox have greatly benefitted from adding Ex-New York Yankees relievers to their bullpen in recent years, and should be prepared to do the same after a questionable move by their biggest rivals.

The Yankees designated left-handed reliever Lucas Luetge for assignment Wednesday following the addition of right-handed reliever Tommy Kahnle -- who was close to signing with Boston before re-joining the Evil Empire. 

Luetge went 4-4 with a 2.67 ERA, 60-to-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 1.40 WHIP in 57 1/3 innings last season. 

The 35-year-old has a career 3.38 ERA and could become the third proven commodity added to the Red Sox's bullpen -- alongside Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen.

Despite Luetge's fastest pitch being an 87.6 mph cutter, he ranked in the 97th percentile for average exit velocity and in the 100th percentile for hard hit percentage. In other words, he limits the damage as well as any reliever in Major League Baseball.

The southpaw is in just the third percentile for fastball velocity but in the 99th percentile for fastball spin rate, resulting in a unique challenge opposing hitters are not used to seeing. 

Luetge is nowhere near a perfect reliever, but he's far better than the majority of the options currently in-house. 

A dominant lefty would be a massive addition to the Red Sox's bullpen, which currently rosters newly-acquired project arm Joely Rodriguez, Josh Taylor -- who missed all of 2022 with a back injury -- and Darwinzon Hernandez, who allowed 16 earned runs in seven appearances last season. 

Luetge would be the best option from the left side by a mile, and a waiver claim would steal him away from the Yankees, who could harbor the veteran in Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre should he go unclaimed. 

A move for Luetge improves the major-league roster, hurts the Yankees' depth, and softens the blow of being outbid for Kahnle. He's also likely going to cost less than a million dollars following his arbitration hearing. 

Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom should be chomping at the bit to get Luetge to Boston. 

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Scott Neville
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

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