Red Sox starter Garrett Richards
Right-handed pitcher Garrett Richards is the newest toy for Alex Cora and will likely be the third man up. It is concerning that we are just on the third pitcher and will have to continue to talk about their injury history. Richards suffered a gruesome knee injury, ironically at Fenway Park, in 2014 when was having a career year. He owned a record of 13-4 with a 2.61 ERA in 26 starts and supported a dominant 8.8 K/9.
He did recover in 2015 and managed to start 32 games and hit double-digit wins once again with 15. He carried an ERA that inflated a bit at 3.65 in 207.1 innings pitched with a 7.7 K/9. After that Richards would go through a tough battle with elbow injuries which led to surgery. Since 2016, he has only pitched about 200 total innings which makes you question the move.
Despite the small number of innings pitched and the injuries, Richards did have a small bounce-back year with the San Diego Padres where he managed to stay relativity healthy through 14 starts and supported a 2-2 record and an ERA of 4.03.
Richards is under contract for just one year that worth $10 million with Boston. He can be a key piece carrying a high strikeout rate throughout his career. An extra day of rest can benefit a guy like Richards to remain fresh as he could be a steal for Chaim Bloom and company as long as he manages to stay on the field.