In 2002, Howry was traded to the Red Sox at the trading deadline for minor league pitchers Byeong-Hak An and Frank Francisco. Francisco would go on to a 10 year Major League career, mostly with the Rangers. He was a closer for a few seasons himself. Howry was expected to help out in the bullpen, but he ended up 1-3 with a 5.00 ERA. He did have 14 strikeouts as compared to just 4 walks in 18 innings, but he was definitely not the bullpen savior Boston had hoped for.
In 2003, Howry was one of the players expected to fill out the disastrous bullpen-by-committee experiment at the beginning of the year. But after four bad outings in which he blew a save on April 1 and had a 12.46 ERA before being hurt. He did not make it back to the Majors with the Red Sox.
Howry's career continued for several seasons with five more teams. He never had a chance to close again but he did not have a few productive seasons, particularly with the Cubs.
