Red Sox Notes: Zack Godley, Jeremy Wu-Yelland

Red Sox getting close to signing Zack Godley

There were a couple of smaller news stories with the Red Sox Tuesday night, the first of which is a continuation of one from Monday night. According to Chris Cotillo of Masslive, the Red Sox are closing in on a deal with right-handed pitcher Zack Godley. It should certainly be noted that the report cautions that a deal is not yet a sure thing, but it sure seems like Boston is the favorite to end up as the landing spot for the former Tiger, Diamondback and Blue Jay. We discussed this possibility Tuesday morning, the day after he was released by the Tigers.

We won’t go too deep on Godley in this space since we just discussed him yesterday and obviously things haven’t really changed with him in the span of one day in which he was unemployed, but I will just reiterate that this signing makes all the sense in the world. Right now, the Red Sox have a rotation that will likely consist of Nathan Eovaldi, Martín Pérez, Ryan Weber, Brian Johnson, and TBD long man after an opener. That is simply not going to cut it, and while there is no sure thing to be acquired in free agency right now getting as many options together as possible and seeing what sticks would appear to be the best strategy for now. Godley qualifies there despite coming off a pretty terrible 2019. Before that he was solid in 2018 and very, very good in 2017.

If the Red Sox can get this deal done and find a way to get his curveball command back to an acceptable level, Godley could theoretically be as good as the number two in this rotation. That clearly says more about the current group than Godley, but either way the Red Sox need help and this is the best current option.

Jeremy Wu-Yelland signs

The Red Sox have been among the slowest to sign their draftees from June’s class, officially signing just one player before Tuesday night, though Blaze Jordan was also reportedly signed way back in late-June. That one has yet to be officially announced, though. Well, another reported signing has taken place with fourth round pick Jeremy Wu-Yelland agreeing to a bonus worth $200,000, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com. The slot value for Wu-Yelland’s draft slot was $487,900.

The underslot deal here is not a big surprise as Wu-Yelland was the lowest rated prospect selected by Boston in this year’s shortened draft, though that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be excited about. The left-handed pitcher out of the University of Hawaii has shown an ability to miss some bats at the collegiate level, but his control has been an issue as well. He’s likely going to get a chance to start, but if there’s a major-league future here it’s more likely out of the bullpen. The savings from this deal will likely be used to ink fifth rounder Shane Drohan to an overslot deal. This deal with Wu-Yelland, assuming the aforementioned deal with Jordan becomes official, leaves the Red Sox with $736,395 to sign Drohan without going more than five percent over the draft pool threshold.