TONY WATSON
2017: 0.9 WAR, 10 Saves, 3.38 ERA, 66.2 IP, 7.2 K/9
Another left-handed reliever that the Red Sox should be monitoring is Tony Watson. The career National-Leaguer who split time with Pittsburgh and the Dodgers last season, found himself pitching quite a bit in the postseason. Watson found his way into 11 postseason games – five of them in the World Series – pitching to a 2.57 ERA.
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Watson, much like McGee, would add a full-inning, left-handed reliever to a bullpen that was desperately lacking such a pitcher. While he does not bring the same strikeout ceiling as McGee (Watson’s career K/9 is 7.9) he has shown the same ability to get both lefties and righties out. Left-handed hitters against Watson are held to a .216 opponents’ batting average, and righties to .226.
While Watson racked up 10 saves in 2017, he has shown far more comfort in the setup role in his career. In 228.2 8th innings pitched, Watson has a 2.56 ERA. The ninth inning is far less friendly, as in 79.2 IP there, his ERA jumps to 3.39. And that’s fine. Watson, like everybody else on this list, would not be coming to Boston with the expectation to close out games. His career comfort zone is, ideally, where the Red Sox would have him pitch.