Red Sox Sign Garrett Richards
The Boston Red Sox have signed starting pitcher Garrett Richards to a one-year, $10 million contract per report from Jeff Passan of ESPN. Richards, 32, spent the last two seasons with the San Diego Padres where he made just 17 starts in that time. He spent the previous eight seasons pitching for the Los Angeles Angels. After missing out on Corey Kluber, Charlie Morton and J.A. Happ, Richards joins Enrique Hernandez, Hunter Renfroe and Matt Andriese as the biggest free agents Chaim Bloom and the Boston Red Sox have brought in this offseason.
Richards History
Richards owns a career 3.62 ERA but hasn’t pitched more than 77 innings in a season since 2015. His two best seasons came in 2014 and 2015 when he threw a 2.61 ERA going 13-4 in 2014, and 3.65 going 15-12 in 2015. Since that point he has averaged just eight starts per year with a combined record of 8-12 during that time.
The right hander has spent time on the 15- and 60-day injured lists over the past few seasons due to UCL damage in his right elbow along with getting Tommy John Surgery.
Red Sox Staff Filling Out
Richards will now join a group of starters including Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, Martin Perez, Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta and Andriese. While the team’s rotation is far from set, there is certainly more of a structure to the 2021 cast as opposed to last season’s. Eovaldi and Perez were the only solidified starters on the team a season ago despite spending time on the injured list. Boston got into the habit of relying on the “opener” in 2020 and certainly looks to be moving away from that.
Many expect Boston to be in the mix for another starter this offseason. After the recent signings of Happ, Jon Lester, Jose Quintana and others, Jake Odorizzi remains one of the top pitchers on the market outside of Trevor Bauer. Odorizzi has been on Boston’s radar all winter, as has been the case with a lot of pitchers this offseason.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
