The Boston Red Sox have agreed to a trade that will send Clay Buchholz to the Philadelphia Phillies for a minor league prospect.
The starting rotation for the Boston Red sox just got a bit less crowded.
Boston will send right-handed pitcher Clay Buchholz to the Philadelphia Phillies, reports FanRag’s Jon Hayman. The Philly Inquirer’s Matt Gelb confirms that the Red Sox will receive minor league second baseman Josh Tobias.
Philadelphia will pick up the entirety of the $13.5 million Buchholz is owed in the final year of his contract, allowing the Red Sox to trim their payroll in an effort to duck under the luxury tax threshold.
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Buchholz finishes his roller coaster of a career in Boston with a record of 81-61 and a 3.96 ERA. The two-time All-Star has been brilliant at times, but could melt down at the drop of a hat. He was either dominant or utterly lost on the mound, with very little in between. This Jekyll and Hyde routine drew the ire of a fan base that tired of his inconsistency.
The 32-year old has also had a laundry list of injuries piled up over his career. He has never been able to manage 30 starts in a season or reach 190 innings, topping the 170 inning mark only three times since becoming a mainstay in the rotation in 2009.
Buchholz hit rock bottom this season. By mid-May his ERA hovered above 6.00, costing him his spot in the rotation. The Red Sox would turn to him a few weeks later to make a few spot starts when injuries forced their hand, but the results weren’t any better.
Buchholz eventually found his groove in the bullpen, posting a respectable 3.57 ERA over 22 2/3 innings as a reliever. His time in the bullpen allowed him to find a new approach that he managed to carry with him when he once again returned to the rotation late in the season. Buchholz finished the season going 3-0 with a 3.14 ERA in five September starts, earning him the No. 3 starter spot in the postseason.
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A strong finish provides optimism that Buchholz can still contribute as a starter, while the move to the lighter-hitting National League should help. A strong season in Philadelphia wouldn’t be too much of a surprise, but the acquisition of Chris Sale left Boston with a loaded rotation that no longer has room for Buchholz. A Red Sox team intent on avoiding the harsh third-time offender tax penalties implemented in the new collective bargaining agreement can’t afford to pay him that much money to pitch in long relief.
The trade is essentially a salary dump for Boston, given that they receive only a low level prospect in return. Tobias wasn’t ranked among the Top 30 Phillies prospects by MLB.com or Baseball America, but he adds a bit of depth in the lower levels of the farm system with some potential upside. The 10th round pick in the 2015 draft has hit .301 with an .801 OPS in 188 games split between Single-A Lakewood and High-A Clearwater.
Tobias is nowhere near major league ready, but a prospect that won’t take up a spot on the 40-man roster is exactly what Boston needed in return for Buchholz. By not taking back any salary that would count toward the luxury tax, Boston should now be comfortably below the threshold.
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Some will say that the Buchholz era has mercifully ended, yet we can’t forget that he was at times a valuable contributor. The second-longest tenured player on the team went through both good times and bad, but leaves with two World Series rings that symbolize his impact on the franchise.