Red Sox reportedly sign Zack Godley to minor-league deal

With the Red Sox rotation looking extremely weak with just seven days remaining before Opening Day, there has been speculation that the team has been looking outside the organization for some help. Not long after right-handed pitcher Zack Godley was released by the Tigers at the start of this week, rumors of the Red Sox being interested and close to a deal with the former Diamondback started popping up. It seems those rumors were indeed true, with Chris Cotillo of Masslive reporting on Friday that the Red Sox did agree to a minor-league deal with Godley.

There are a few notes we need to make here, starting with the fact that this is a minor-league deal. Presumably he will fill the final available slot on the 60-man player pool, but since this is a minor-league deal he does have to be added to the 40-man if he makes the Opening Day roster. At this point, it would be a surprise if he is not part of that roster and in the rotation to start the season. The Red Sox’s 40-man currently sits at 39 if you include Eduardo Rodriguez, Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor. Those three technically are not on the 40-man with thier placement on the COVID IL, but with their recovery coming quickly Boston may keep their spots open. This is important because along with Godley, Jonathan Lucroy and Brian Johnson look like other probable additions to the 40-man, so look for some more roster moves over the next week.

As for Godley, another key part of all of this is the opt outs, which Cotillo details in his report. The righty has an opt out a week after Opening Day, meaning the Red Sox don’t have a whole lot of time to watch him work out to make a decision.

Godley is coming off a very rough 2019 in which he fell out of the Diamondbacks rotation and eventually ended up in Toronto to finish off the year. All total, he tossed 92 innings with a 5.97 ERA. He was very good in 2017, though, when he finished with a 3.37 ERA, and even in 2018 he had peripherals that were much better than his 4.74 ERA. It’s been a few years since Godley looked like the up-and-coming pitcher he appeared to be in 2017, but given the state of the Red Sox rotation right now this is the kind of additions they need to be making to have any sort of outside shot at an interesting season in 2020.