Feb 26, 2023; Lakeland, Florida, USA; Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Logan Gillaspie (71) throws a pitch during the third inning against the Detroit Tigers at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and the Red Sox continued to comb the league for some pitching help, and landed on yet another waiver claim Monday, with reliever Logan Gillaspie claimed by the club.
Gillaspie, who was designated for assignment by the Orioles this past weekend, comes to the Red Sox in the midst of a 2023 campaign that’s come with 11 appearances at the MLB level.
In nine total innings for the O’s this season, the right-handed Gillaspie has surrendered seven run (six earned) and 14 hits (including two home runs), along with five walks, and fanned five batters. Gillaspie last appeared in an MLB game back on June 23, and comes to the Red Sox organization with batters hitting a whopping .350 off him this season.
Overall, the 26-year-old Gillaspie has appeared in 28 MLB games over the last two seasons, and has posted a 4.10 ERA and struck out 18 batters over 26.1 innings of work.
The Red Sox have already optioned Gillaspie to Triple-A Worcester, which leads to the idea that he’s simply another option for the Red Sox in the event of another ‘Kyle Barraclough’ situation for the club.
Gillaspie is just the latest pitcher claimed off waivers by the club in the last few weeks, with Bloom & Co. claiming pitcher Zack Weiss off waivers from the Angels back on Aug. 25.
It’s also worth noting that Gillaspie has another option year after this one, and that the club by all means had a roster spot to burn on their 40-man roster with Jarren Duran out for the season.
The best of Jarren Duran's 2023 season
Even with all the ups and downs of the 2023 Red Sox, there’s no denying that this season was a massive success for Jarren Duran.
It was unfortunately cut short on August 23rd, when he suffered turf toe climbing the left field wall at Yankee Stadium on a Gleybar Torres homer. At first, the injury seemed like nothing but a bruise as the team flew to Houston without any reinforcements, but when he landed in a walking boot 24 hours later it was pretty telling.
Heading into this season, Duran’s stock had never been lower. He had failed to establish himself as a big leaguer in back-to-back seasons, with 2022 including some ugly maturity moments for the outfielder.
First against the Blue Jays in a 28-5 beatdown on July 22nd, where he lost a Raimel Tapia flyball in the lights that led to a little league grand slam. He didn’t exactly chase after the ball either, which had many hot take artists questioning his work ethic and mentality. It only got worse when he was beefing with a Royals fan at Kauffman Stadium a few weeks later in the midst of even more defensive struggles.
There was no denying that the ups and downs of being a young ballplayer in Boston were weighing on him, and he revealed it in a powerful piece about his mental health with Chris Cotillo exactly a year ago. He’d spend almost all of September at Triple-A after being demoted, before embarking on an offseason full of stance adjustments and spending time with family and friends in California. That set the stage for a different version of Duran to show up at spring training in 2023.
While the signing of Adam Duvall left the Red Sox without an obvious spot for Duran on the 2023 roster, Chaim Bloom reiterated throughout spring training that the organization still had a ton of confidence in him. Duran flashed a new opposite-field approach down in Fort. Myers before leaving for the World Baseball Classic and Team Mexico, which seemed to stall some of the hype starting to build behind him again. Despite not making the Opening Day roster, everything changed on April 17th when he was recalled to help with the loss of Duvall.
From that point forward until suffering his season-ending injury, Duran finally showed why he was ranked the 29th best prospect in the sport by Baseball America in July 0f 2021. He slashed .295/.346/.486/.828 with 8 homers, 34 doubles, and 24 stolen bases in 26 attempts. Not to mention, significantly improved defense between center field and left field, as he finished in the 56th percentile for Outs Above Average and 98th percentile for Outfield Jump.
Before landing on the IL, Duran was working through some mental health struggles once again, but the team acted quickly to offer him support and try to avoid some of the pitfalls he experienced in 2022. Still, Duran continued to be available and seemed to be working out of a recent funk before going down. Losing him for any stretch was a tough blow to the 2023 Red Sox, but for the rest of the season is nothing short of brutal for an offense that has struggled with consistency.
So, let’s take a look at some of his best moments from the 2023 season and what the Red Sox will be missing down the stretch.
