Eovaldi made four postseason relief appearances last October, allowing only one run in 9.1 innings. Caron writes that the Red Sox "believe bringing Eovaldi back as a reliever will get him back on the roster sooner, meaning they won't have to wait for him to get stretched out in multiple starts over a long rehab stint."
The team's bullpen ERA is 4.37, right in the middle of the AL pack, but it's 6.18 over the past two weeks. Boston blew eight saves in June, the most of any AL team.
For only a half-season, this does not seem like a bad move. Presumably, management discussed with Eovaldi and he's cool with it. If the Red Sox drop even further in the standings, they might go with someone else, but at that point, who will care?
Over at SoSH, many posters are either skeptical or disdainful:
LesterFan: This seems desperate. The rotation isn't looking too hot either with Porcello and the 5 spot. I hope this is just to ease him back in and limit his workload until they acquire someone before stretching him out down the stretch. If they do make the playoffs they're going to need his power arm in the rotation vs all the righties NY and Houston have.
SoxinSeattle: It's not desperate until he gets a police escort to the stadium. Hopefully this is a stop gap until they can trade for a closer?
AB in DC: I'm more worried about the condition of his elbow than anything else. The injury was originally advertised as needing 6 weeks of recovery, and we're now approaching 10 weeks.
RedOctober3829: This is awful. Eovaldi shouldn't be in a position where he is getting hot and cold in the bullpen. It's not good for his arm. He's on record as not wanting to relieve as well. This just speaks to how badly management screwed this all up. It was pure arrogance to think they'd be fine with what they've had and now they've had to do this. It weakens their starting staff because they can't add any more payroll.
BaseballJones: Not a fan of this move. Very much smells of desperation. Might work though. He was pretty amazing out of the bullpen last year.
CaptainLaddie: Well this is just terrible. They're paying him to start. I would have rather given Kimbrel $17M to close rather than the career starter to close.
LesterFan: Alex Speier@alexspeier: Two weeks ago, Dave Dombrowski said Red Sox weren’t considering Eovaldi for relief role. At that time, Sox viewed Eovaldi as close to return and 5th starter spot as most glaring hole
crow216: I think there's still a chance DD gets you guys a bullpen arm but if I'm reading the tea leaves right, the cost of a high quality arm may be too high to pay in a situation where management isn't sure about the team this year. There are a lot of games between the AL East over the coming 4 weeks that will probably determine whether or not the cost for those arms is worth it. If it is, maybe Nathan moves back to the rotation.
StuckOnYouk: Their bullpen is in shambles, he's needed there. For 2019, I like the move. Then next year move him back to starter and get some relief pitching in the offseason.
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