Red Sox Begin Cleaning House to Prepare for Free Agency
With MLB free agency officially underway and the annual GM meetings kicking off today, baseball's offseason is ramping up. Teams have already begun preparing their rosters for next year by extending qualifying offers and releasing players who won't be back.
The Boston Red Sox in particular have a lot of work to do this offseason. After finishing in last place for the second straight season last year, they need to move on from a number of Chaim Bloom's mistakes and re-tool the roster for 2024.
That all falls on new Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow, who started cleaning house on Monday.
The Red Sox outrighted Justin Garza from their 40-man roster on Monday. The right-handed pitcher is now a free agent.
This move comes as no surprise, as Garza was absolutely terrible last year. In 17 appearances for Boston (1 start), he went 0-2 with a 7.36 ERA, a 5.66 FIP and a 1.85 WHIP, He got hit hard and struggled with his command, yielding 22 hits (including 3 home runs) and 12 walks in just 18 1/3 innings.
The Red Sox had claimed Garza off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels in late April, but he didn't pitch again after July 22. He completely fell apart after a strong first month with the team, allowing at least 1 run in 7 of his last 9 appearances.
The 29-year-old struggled as a rookie with the Cleveland Guardians in 2021 (4.71 ERA, 1.57 WHIP) and didn't show much improvement after spending all of 2022 in Triple-A (4.64 ERA), so it's hard to see what Bloom saw in Garza. All too often, Bloom filled out his rosters with fringe players like Garza who had no business being in the big leagues, hence the poor results and Bloom getting fired.
As a former pitcher himself, Breslow knows the difference between a good one and a bad one, and that's why Garza is no longer with the team.
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