Red Sox Tweak 40-Man Roster By Swapping Out Relievers Amid MLB Playoffs

The Red Sox won’t be able to do any heavy lifting until after the World Series, but that isn’t stopping chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom from working in the margins with an eye toward improving Boston’s depth for 2023 and beyond.

The Red Sox on Thursday claimed right-handed reliever Jake Reed off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles. To make room on the 40-man roster, Boston designated fellow righty Eduard Bazardo for assignment.

Obviously, this development is unlikely to move the needle for the fan base with the Red Sox staring down a crucial offseason in which Xander Bogaerts can opt out of his contract and J.D. Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill are set to become free agents. But Boston’s bullpen was an obvious weakness in 2022, and it’s therefore incumbent upon Bloom and company to shuffle some parts in search of a better formula.

Perhaps the Red Sox see something in Reed, much in the same way they saw something in John Schreiber, a veteran castoff they plucked off waivers from the Detroit Tigers in February 2021. Schreiber was Boston’s most consistent reliever this season — his age-28 campaign — and it’d be unfair to saddle Reed with similar expectations, especially given the latter’s big league track record. But you get the point. Building a bullpen oftentimes comes down to being able to unlock something another organization couldn’t — and Reed sure has bounced around, now joining his fourth franchise of 2022 after posting a 7.36 ERA across 10 relief appearances (11 innings) this season in stops with the Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.

Reed, 30, has a 5.74 ERA, a 4.33 FIP, a 1.388 WHIP and a 2.30 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 28 career major league appearances (26 2/3 innings). The 2014 fifth-round pick recorded a 3.09 ERA in 20 minor league outings (23 1/3 innings) this season and generally has fared OK at the Triple-A level.

Bazardo, meanwhile, has flashed upside in the Red Sox system since signing as an international free agent in 2014. The 27-year-old Venezuelan has yet to carve out a consistent role in Boston, though. It’ll be interesting to see if he sneaks through waivers, after which the Red Sox could look to bring him back into the mix while trying to build a stable of major league-ready arms for next season.