In just his first offseason on the job after being lured over from the Chicago Cubs, new Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow had officially made his first move involving a former player of his.
It’s just that this Cubs-to-Red-Sox connection will not appear for the club in the 2024 MLB season.
Forever on the hunt for affordable pitching depth, Breslow and the Red Sox found that ahead of the weekend, with the signing of ex-Cubs reliever Michael Fulmer to a two-year, minor-league contract. Boston’s signing of Fulmer comes three and a half months after Fulmer underwent ‘UCL revision surgery’ in his throwing arm, a surgery considered similar to Tommy John, and with a timeline that rules him out for the entire 2024 MLB season.
The contract will come with a $1.5 million salary, and could max out at $2 million in 2025, but that requires Fulmer landing on the MLB roster, according to MassLive’s Christopher Smith.
Mar 30, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Michael Fulmer (32) celebrates with catcher Yan Gomes (15) team’s win against the Milwaukee Brewers at Wrigley Field. (Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports)
In Chicago, Fulmer operated with a repertoire that includes five pitchers, with a sweeper and four-seam at the top of his arsenal, along with a cutter, sinking, and changeup. Per BaseballSavant.com, Fulmer’s average exit velocity (86.4) ranked in the top eight percent of the league in 2023, while his HardHit% (30.3) was top five in the MLB.
Batters also had a tremendously difficult time when it came to hitting Fulmer’s sweeper, with opponents batting just .183 against that pitch, and with an expected batting average of .156.
Fulmer’s fastball and sinker still has some juice, too, with each pitch checking in at over 94 miles per hour on average, and with that sinker nearly hitting 95 miles per hour.
Aug 12, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Chicago Cubs relief pitcher Michael Fulmer (32) looks on against the Toronto Blue Jays during the sixth inning at Rogers Centre. (Kevin Sousa/USA TODAY Sports)
For the Red Sox, this is essentially Breslow’s play at replicating Chaim Bloom’s James Paxton move, which ultimately paid off for the club in 2023 when Paxton finally got healthy and proved to be a reliable option in Boston’s rotation. And when they needed it, really, amid injuries and inconsistencies in the rotation.
Fulmer has some notable history, too, as he was the American League Rookie of the Year with the Tigers in 2016, and earned a trip to the All-Star Game in 2017. Those accolades may have come prior to Fulmer’s transition from a starter to a reliever, but the talent in the arm is clearly there.
And the hope for the Red Sox is that a lost 2024 campaign will lead to a steal in 2025.
