The Red Sox are bringing a familiar name back stateside, agreeing to a minor league deal with right-handed reliever Kyle Keller. The contract includes an invite to Spring Training, and if Keller breaks camp with the big league club, he’d earn a $1.9 million base salary. That’s not your everyday minor league flyer - Boston clearly sees some potential value here.
The deal also comes with multiple assignment clauses, including a key checkpoint in mid-April. If Keller hasn’t been added to the major league roster by then, the Red Sox will need to expose him to other teams.
Should another club come calling with a spot on their 26-man roster, Boston would have to either promote Keller or let him walk. It’s a mechanism that gives the veteran righty a clearer path back to the majors - and puts some pressure on the Sox to make a decision early.
Keller’s return to affiliated ball comes after a four-year stint in Japan, where he quietly put together a strong run. He spent two seasons with the Hanshin Tigers and two more with the Yomiuri Giants, carving out a 2.42 ERA over 152 1/3 innings in Nippon Professional Baseball. Last season, he posted a 3.11 ERA in 46 1/3 frames, striking out 26.3% of the batters he faced - a solid mark - though his 12% walk rate shows there’s still some command refinement needed.
This isn’t Keller’s first rodeo in the majors. He pitched in the big leagues from 2019 to 2021, logging innings with the Marlins, Angels, and Pirates. His 5.83 ERA over 46 1/3 innings during that stretch doesn’t jump off the page, but there were flashes - a mid-90s fastball and a serviceable curveball gave him the tools, even if the command wasn’t quite there yet.
Now 6-foot-4 and with a bit more polish after his time in Japan, Keller returns to a Red Sox bullpen mix that’s still taking shape. He’s not guaranteed a roster spot, but the structure of the deal - and his track record overseas - suggests Boston believes he could be more than just organizational depth. If he can harness the strike zone and carry over the swing-and-miss stuff he showed in NPB, Keller could be a sneaky addition to the Sox’s relief corps early in the season.