Justin Haley returned to Red Sox from Twins

This past winter, the Red Sox opted to not protect right-hander Justin Haley from the Rule 5 draft. That proved to be a mistake, as the starter was selected by the Angels and eventually traded to the Twins. He made a good enough impression for Minnesota that they opted to keep him on the roster coming out of spring training. After spending some time in the bullpen, Haley went down with injury and has spent most of the season on the disabled list.

He started his rehab assignment about a month ago, and on Monday his 30-day clock on that rehab assignment had run out. The Twins were expected to make a move to make room for him on the active roster, but after trading for Jaime Garcia of the Braves they decided to outright Haley off the roster altogether. With him being a Rule 5 selection, that puts him back in the Red Sox organization.

Haley was drafted by the Red Sox in the sixth round back in 2012 and steadily made his way through the system from there. The now-26-year-old had his best season in 2016, a season he split between Portland and Pawtucket. He began the year in Portland and pitched to a 2.20 ERA over 12 starts before being promoted to Pawtucket and pitching to a 3.59 ERA over 15 appearances (14 starts). This year, he tossed 18 innings over 10 relief appearances for the Twins and pitched to a 6.00 ERA before missing time with a shoulder injury.

I’d suspect the Red Sox will place Haley into Pawtucket’s rotation, a place that has been holding a spot for Edgar Olmos lately. He won’t jump to the top of Boston’s depth chart, but he is certainly an intriguing piece to add to Brian Johnson, Hector Velazquez and Jalen Beeks. Haley rejoining the Red Sox organization likely won’t have much of an impact on the 2017 Red Sox, but with another name added to the rotation depth chart it could make the team more likely to move on from Doug Fister.