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We are now somehow only 11 days away from the planned Opening Day for the Red Sox this season, which seems wild. It’s actually true, though, so it’s time to get ready for the year to come. The Red Sox have been playing intrasquad games, and behind the scenes they’ve also been working to fill up their 60-man player pool. According to Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic, there is a chance some outside names could be added as well. The biggest area of concern would presumably be the rotation, which was troublesome before camp started and has only become moreso with Eduardo Rodriguez still yet to report after testing positive for COVID-19.
Heading into the weekend there were 11 open spots on the player pool, but that number shrunk to ten with one pitcher who could factor into the rotation picture added to the pool. That would be Mike Kickham, who was added Saturday afternoon.
The #RedSox today added LHP Mike Kickham to their Club Player Pool. He will participate in Major League Summer Camp as a non-roster invitee.
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 11, 2020
Kickham is a former sixth round pick of the Giants from the 2010 draft coming out of Missouri State University. He has pitched part of two seasons in the majors, though that was back in 2013 and 2014 and was for only a combined 30 1⁄3 innings. Over that time, he pitched to a 10.98 ERA, a 5.99 FIP and a 3.95 DRA. Since then, he’s bounced around a few organizations, most recently pitching in the minors for the Marlins. Last season he tossed 86 1⁄3 innings split between the rotation and the bullpen at Triple-A, pitching to a 4.27 ERA, a 4.74 FIP and a 4.01 DRA.
Kickham was a minor-league signing by the Red Sox this past winter. The lefty is not likely to be a major factor in the rotation equation given his lack of track record, but consider that there are a lot of major question marks in that group right now. I wrote last week about the possibility of using a piggyback system, and Kickham’s history as a swingman would be conducive to that kind of role.
With this latest addition to the roster, the Red Sox now have ten more spots they can fill. They are expected to meet today to discuss how they will fill those final holes.