Red Sox, Athletics Complete Trade Shipping 9-Year Veteran Out Of Boston

Rather than getting nothing, the Red Sox got cash

Apr 23, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox pitcher Sean Newcomb (19) pitches against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images | Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox had already removed left-handed pitcher Sean Newcomb from the roster, but his exit from the organization is now official.

Newcomb, the Massachussetts native and nine-year major league veteran, was designated for assignment on Saturday for the Red Sox to make room in their exhausted bullpen. That roster spot, which initially went to Luis Guerrero, will have already changed hands twice more by the end of Tuesday.

In theory, Newcomb could have stayed with the Red Sox if he had cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A. Instead, Boston found a trade partner.

On Tuesday, the Red Sox announced they had traded Newcomb to the Athletics, his most recent major league team before signing with Boston this spring, for cash considerations.

Newcomb's Red Sox tenure was a confusing one. He made the Opening Day rotation due to a slough of injuries and wound up making five starts before shifting to the bullpen. There, he became a sacrificial lamb, throwing 18 2/3 innings in seven games that were mostly blowouts one way or the other.

On the whole, Newcomb tallied a respectable 3.95 ERA and 3.41 FIP in 41 innings with Boston. However, his 1.75 WHIP and .327 opponent batting average show that if you were actually tuned into his outings, you were watching long, high-stress innings.

There's not much a team can hope to get for a player once they're designated for assignment, so although fans won't have much of an insight into the effect on the team's budget, getting cash back for Newcomb was really all Boston could have hoped for.

Meanwhile, the Athletics recently suffered an 11-game losing streak, so they'll take all the innings they can get from even somewhat-proven major league pitchers.

Newcomb was a fun story for the Red Sox coming out of spring training, and he's already thrown more innings in the majors than he had in any other season since 2019. He'll look to capitalize on this new opportunity to keep his journeyman career alive a while longer.

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