Steven Wright has been a lifesaver for the Red Sox this season, but there was a time when the knuckleballer wasn’t guaranteed a spot on Boston’s roster.
The Texas Rangers apparently tried to take advantage of that uncertainty.
Wright was out of minor league options going into this season, making him a trade candidate for a Red Sox team that seemingly had its rotation in order and starting pitching reinforcements waiting in the wings. The Rangers thus targeted Wright amid their own quest to add pitching.
“We asked about him this winter and they did not want to move him,” Rangers general manager Jon Daniels recently told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford.
Wright, who never started more than nine games in a season before this year, has been fantastic in 2016, posting an American League-best 2.18 ERA through 15 starts. The 31-year-old’s success has been a pleasant surprise for Boston, but Daniels isn’t surprised the Red Sox kept Wright around.
“Cheap pitching. Versatile guy,” Daniels told Bradford of Wright, whose 2015 season was cut short by a concussion. “We didn’t know he was going to do this or we would have tried harder.”
Sometimes the best move is the one you don’t make.
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Jairaj/USA TODAY Sports Images
