5 Red Sox non-tender candidates with uncertain futures

Who will the Boston Red Sox non-tender at the November 18 deadline?

By November 18, MLB teams will decide which pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible players will be tendered contracts.

For arbitration-eligible players, such as Rafael Devers, the actual salary will be determined later. In cases like his, it’s simply a formality to protect players.

Several Boston Red Sox players are locks to be tendered, including Devers, Christian Arroyo, Nick Pivetta, and Alex Verdugo. Other players’ futures are murkier and quite uncertain. There were several underperformers on the 2022 team who are taking up valuable roster spots.

Here are five non-tender candidates:

Ryan Brasier

Ryan Brasier is like a cat, except instead of nine lives, it feels like he’s had nine seasons.

Brasier was a standout in 2018 but never got even remotely close to that level of dominance again. It’s also worth noting that he only pitched 33 2/3 regular-season innings that first year. Between 2019-22, he has a 4.82 ERA over 169 appearances, including 29 games finished and eight saves. He barely pitched in 2020 and 2021, totaling 37 somewhat passable innings of work, and 2022 was his worst season yet; over 68 appearances, he posted a career-worst 5.78 ERA, and opposing batters hit .280/.312/.481 against him.

While Brasier improved in his final appearances of the season, the Sox were already dead and buried. They needed him to be able to pitch in high-pressure situations, and he struggled with that all year long.

This is Brasier’s final year of arbitration and he’ll be 35 next year. He’s only projected to earn $2.3M, but is that affordable salary worth the roster spot? No. It’s long past time to cut the cord and raise the standard for Boston bullpen arms.