Red Sox Bullpen Move Says A Lot About Bostons Current Problem

As the Red Sox bolster their bullpen depth, 27-year-old Raymond Burgos steps up to fill a critical role, highlighting the team's strategic roster adjustments this September.

The Red Sox are back in motion on Wednesday, and this time the shuffle is all about the bullpen.

Raymond Burgos is expected to return to Boston and take Jedixson Páez’s roster spot as a long man out of the bullpen, according to MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. Páez had been promoted to make a spot start in place of Sonny Gray, who was pushed to the weekend to get more rest, but he’s now headed back to Triple-A.

Burgos has already made four big league appearances for Boston this season after the club signed him from the Guerreros de Oaxaca in the Mexican League back in May. His overall line in the majors sits at a 5.84 ERA over 12 1/3 innings, though that number got dragged up by one rough outing against the New York Yankees on Aug. 29, when he gave up five runs in 2 1/3 innings. Before that, he had been much steadier, posting a 2.70 ERA across his first three outings and 10 innings for the Red Sox.

The left-hander has also done plenty of work in Worcester, where he’s appeared in 17 games with 15 starts and put up a 5.14 ERA across 70 innings. Boston is looking for innings right now, and Burgos fits that need. The bullpen was leaned on heavily Tuesday, when Páez only gave the Red Sox 3 2/3 innings and the relievers had to cover the final 5 1/3 to finish the game.

That need is even more obvious with Wednesday’s series finale against the Seattle Mariners set for the afternoon. Patrick Sandoval is scheduled to start, and he hasn’t gone six innings in a start since Aug.

  1. In his nine starts in 2026, that’s been his only outing of six innings or more.

For Boston, Burgos offers length when the club needs it most. And when another arm gets healthy, such as Justin Slaten, he’s the kind of pitcher who can be sent back down without much trouble.

At this point in the MLB season, bullpen moves are everywhere, and Boston has been right in the middle of that churn over the last few days.

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