Red Sox claim another pitcher off waivers

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.

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.

A little over a week after making his return to the big leagues, Duran capped off a red hot start to the season with the first grand slam of his career. It also marked his first start of 2023, coming against a guy in Kyle Bradish who has been one oft he better pitches in the American League this season.

One of the most concerning parts of Duran's first few stints in the big leagues was how bad his defense in center field looked. While he was far from perfect this season, it was clear how much his jumps had improved after working with Kyle Hudson. No chance he could've replicated this grab in previous seasons.

Before Duran's 4 double day against the Twins, he went 3-for-3 with 3 doubles against the Twins before being pinch-hit. Another big moment as he chased down the top names on the doubles leaderboard at the time.

One of the best parts of Duran's 2023 season was how much he improved as a base-runner. In past years, he struggled to use his speed to consistently steal bases and create problems for opposing defense. This was the perfect example of him manufacturing runs out of nothing.

Duran smoked his 5th homer of the season against the A's, where he ended up finishing the day 3-for-5 with 3 RBI and just a triple shy of the cycle. This swing was a perfect example of his ability to use the Green Monster to his advantage.

For as much success as Duran was having, it somehow took him until the Fourth of July to hit his first triple. One of the most electric things in baseball is watching him round the bases at full speed.

As the Red Sox looked to be on the verge of falling out of the Wild Card race going into July, Duran played a major part in sweeping the Blue Jays with a 5-for-5 day that included 4 doubles. It marked the second time he had four doubles in a single game in 2023. He also made a nice grab in the series opener on a Vlad Guerrero Jr. flyout to the warning track.

Going up against a future Hall of Famer and hitting a leadoff homer was just another impressive moment in Duran's 2023 season. Even if Max Scherzer isn't the guy he used to be, it sparked an 8-6 win for the Red Sox as he scored 2 runs on the night.

This was the first 3-double day of the season for Duran. Even after being out the last 10 days, he's still tied for the 7th-most doubles in baseball with Christian Walker.

While there were plenty of moments where Duran's speed made an impact this season, his 3 steals against the White Sox were a career-high. It didn't lead to a win as the Red Sox lost to the White Sox 5-4, but was another key moment in a year where Duran cemented himself as part of the club's future.

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Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.