Red Sox reportedly re-sign Craig Breslow for $2m

I wouldn't have offered him much more than the major league minimum, but I think Britton should bounce back and could be a league-averagish reliever this year.

My guess at the counter-move would be Britton DFAed.

No comment. If we dfa Britton that's a mistake. That kid deserves a shot. I must be missing something when he was up with the Sox I liked what I saw. The problem with Breslow is Farrell loves the veterans and he will use this guy as much as possible.

I think Craig is gone as the move

I would highly assume Butler being DFA'd is the corresponding move.

While I know this re-signing will irk a lot of people, the team did not have a proven left handed relief pitcher. Tommy Layne and Drake Britton do not have the track record that Breslow has. Breslow was not great last year, but posted impressive numbers the two years prior and is still young enough to bounce back.

I prefer this signing immensely over signing a top RP name for a multi-year contract.

Just a hunch.

Man I really wanted to see Cotts or Britton.

As far as Breslow goes, I'll always be thankful for what he did in 2013, not only in the regular season, but against Tampa (Game 4) and Detroit.

He ran out of gas against St. Louis and seemed to have never recovered in 2014. I'm afraid the guy is toast and I wish the Sox would find another left option instead.

I hope Breslow proves me wrong. He certainly is a likable guy who is easy to root for.

That kind of says the Sox are working on something. Strange that they specified a date.

LOL, how do you find out if the Mariners signed any draftees on June 27th ?

Well, that's obvious nonsense at the logical level, at the general level of evidence, and at the specific level of Layne's performance last year.

He faced 28 RHB and indeed got pounded at .318 / .429 / .500 (his PawSox splits suggest he can do somewhat better). But he also faced 48 LHB and held them to .159 / .229 / .182, including 3 GDP. Overall, .212 / .303 / .288. And, yeah, that's who is: your classic lefty specialist.

His 0.95 ERA is nonsense, because he was bad at inherited runners and got generous unearned runs, when he deserved half the blame. Adjust for those (something I don't think anyone does, amazingly enough), and you get a 2.89 ERA to go with his 3.08 FIP.

That's a valuable reliever who can be even more valuable if used in a strict LOOGY role. Now, whether he comes out of ST as one of the 12 most valuable relievers on the team is indeed a good question. But a deadly LOOGY would be a more valuable 12th man in the pen than a mediocre setup guy.

So I posted before reading the thread... I know I know... My bad.

To those who said he was out of gas, I call BS. First he was good until the World Series. As a relief pitcher who throws an inning or so, you wo t run out of gas between the ALCS and WS. It was the giant load he crapped in his pants, which he admitted to in post game interview. He couldn't throw strikes or to bases. The game " sped up on him was what he said. Then Farrell stopped using him because he could t handle it.

I'd pass unless it was a deal that was a minor league contract with camp invite. I wouldn't even use the 40 spot on him.

This is one of those signings where to me, there isn't a whole lot to get fired about about either way. The Sox needed another LHP for the bullpen, and on a quick look at Cots the other names out there on the FA market included Phil Coke, Joe Thatcher and Scott Downs (who had a similarly awful year last season, and is 5 years older than Breslow, so not a singing I would have been even "meh" about). If he goes back to being the (very rough math) 3.35 FIP pitcher he was his first season and a half in Boston, great. If he stinks through June, he's gone for very little monetary "risk".

There also isn't a lot of opportunity risk here. Drake Britton just simply isn't ready to pitch in the major leagues. Sure, he looked fine in 7 games last season up in Boston, but minor league numbers count too - especially once taking familiarty of the hitters he's faced into account. In Pawtucket he had a 5.86ERA (from a 5.83FIP), and he also walked more batters per 9 (5.86) than he struck out (5.71). There is no universe where the Sox should have even remotely thought of depending of him as someone to break camp in the major leagues.

For the record, I'm guessing that another outfielder packaged with another of the "Pawtucket depth" pitchers is the corresponding roster move, and hence why they're talking about not announcing it for over a week.