Red Sox with No Cards: 2021

The 2021 Red Sox were a bit of a surprise.  After a brutally bad 2020 season, they retooled with some short-term free agents and caught one of the Wild Card slots.  Then, they went on a run that got them to within two games of the World Series, knocking off the Yankees and the Rays in the process.  The team mixed and matched quite a bit through the season, and had a COVID outbreak that led to a lot of very random players wearing Red Sox uniforms.  Among the short-term players that got cards were Jack Lopez, Austin Brice, Ryan Weber, Eduard Bazardo and Colten Brewer.  The next several guys were not so lucky.  

MATT ANDRIESE

Andriese was originally drafted by the Padres but was traded to the Rays prior to making it to the Majors in a deal that included a lot of spare parts.  He made his debut with the Rays in 2015 and filled a variety of roles.  He started 19 games in 2016, but also relieved in ten and saved a game.  He set career highs in wins, innings pitched, strikeouts and several other categories.  He was traded to the Diamondbacks in 2018 in a minor deal, but struggled.  He was with the Angels in 2020 and had a 4.50 ERA.  Boston brought him in as a low-risk role player in 2021.  He was used exclusively as a reliever and appeared in 26 games, throwing 37.1 innings.  He had a 2-3 record with a 6.03 ERA, striking out 38 while walking 11.  He did save a game.  The Red Sox released him in mid-August and he finished out the season with the Mariners.  He has not pitched in the Majors since.

BRANDON BRENNAN

Joining the list of players who appeared in just one game with the Red Sox is former Mariners pitcher Brennan.  Brennan was originally a draft pick of the White Sox, then moved on to the Rockies before being selected by the Mariners in the Rule 5 Draft prior to 2019.  Given the nature of the rules of the Rule 5 Draft, he had to be kept on the roster the entire season, and he was.  Brennan appeared in 44 games with the Mariners as a reliever.  He threw 47.1 innings, striking out 47 and walking 24.  He had a record of 3-6 with a 4.56 ERA.  He appeared in just five games in 2020, but had a 3.68 ERA.  Boston grabbed him off of waivers in May and he spent most of the season in the minors, but appeared in his one game, throwing three innings of three-hit, no-run ball.  He walked two and struck out one, but that was it.  He was released in September and caught on with Atlanta the next year, but has yet to appear in the Majors again.

AUSTIN DAVIS

Nicknamed "Big Fudge", Davis proved to be a fairly reliable southpaw out of the bullpen for the Red Sox after being acquired in a deadline deal with Pittsburgh for former top prospect Michael Chavis.  Davis was originally drafted by the Phillies and made his Major League in 2018.  He had varying levels of success.  He was traded to the Pirates in 2020 and started to establish himself as a lefty reliever.  He had a 5.59 ERA when he was traded to Boston.  Davis appeared in 19 games for the Red Sox, throwing 16.2 innings.  He had a 4.86 ERA, a 1-1 record, 17 strikeouts and seven walks.  Davis appeared in just one postseason game, getting one out with a walk in a game against the Rays.  Davis will be seen in the 2022 post of Red Sox with No Cards, so I will not get too much in to what he did after the 2021 season, but he pitched for the Red Sox again, before Boston lost him on waivers to the Twins.

RAYNEL ESPINAL

Like Brandon Brennan, Espinal appeared in just one Red Sox game.  Espinal was originally signed to an international free agent deal with the Yankees and spent several seasons in their organization.  Boston snagged him in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft in 2019.  He made his Red Sox organization debut in 2021 and had a nice season, going 11-4 with a 3.44 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 117.2 innings pitched.  He made his Major League debut, starting a game against the Rays during the COVID outbreak, when Boston was able to call players up without them being on the 40 man roster in order to field a complete team.  He pitched just two innings, giving up two runs and two hits and walking one.  He was granted free agency after the season and spent 2022 jumping between the Cubs, Reds and Giants organizations.  He appeared in two games with the Reds.  He has not pitched in 2023.

MICHAEL FELIZ

Feliz has had one of the lengthier careers in this post.  He was once a well-regarded prospect in the Astros system who turned in to a serviceable reliever for the team.  He appeared in a lot of games for Houston in 2016 and 2017 and compiled some pretty impressive strikeout numbers (165 in 113 innings).  He was good enough that he was part of the package shipped to Pittsburgh in the Gerrit Cole deal.  He continued to be a decent middle reliever for the Pirates over the next three seasons, but injuries took their toll in 2020 and he appeared in just three games.  2021 saw Feliz bounce around quite a bit, going from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati to Boston to Oakland back to Boston.  He pitched in just four games for the Red Sox, throwing 5.1 innings, striking out five and walking just one.  It was good enough for a 3.38 ERA.  He was back in Boston in 2022, so he will appear in the next post.

STEPHEN GONSALVES

The southpaw Gonsalves was the fourth-round pick of the Twins in 2013.  It took the big lefty until 2018 to make his Major League debut.  He appeared in seven games that season, starting four of them and finishing with a record of 2-2 with a 6.57 ERA.  He struck out 16 and walked 22 in 24.2 innings.  It was no surprise then that it took awhile for him to make it back to the Majors.  In that time, he went from Minnesota to the Mets and then landed in Boston.  Boston brought him up as COVID relief and he appeared in three games.  He threw 4.1 innings, giving up two hits, two runs, a walk and striking out four for a 4.15 ERA.  After the season, he signed a minor league free agent deal with the Cubs, but has not been back to the Majors since.

TAYLOR MOTTER

If nothing else, we can say that Motter had some great hair.  The only position player in this post, Motter originally came up through the Rays system and made his Major League debut with them in 2016.  He was dealt to the Mariners in the deal that brought Andrew Kittredge to Tampa and appeared in a career-high 92 games with them in 2017.  He hit .198/.257/.326 with seven home runs and 12 stolen bases and displayed his versatility.  The Twins claimed him off of waivers in 2018 and then he went back to the minors until popping up with the Rockies in 2021.  Boston claimed him in September and he appeared in just three games with the Red Sox.  He made the most of those three games though, hitting .333/.429/.833 with a double, a triple, an RBI and a walk.  He played second base for the Red Sox.  He appeared in a couple of games with the Reds in 2022 and has played a chunk of time as a utility man for the Cardinals in 2023.  

BRAD PEACOCK

Peacock was once a very successful pitcher for the Astros who filled in a variety of roles.  He was a late-round pick of the Washington Nationals and made his Major League debut for them in 2011.  He was traded to the Athletics as part of the package that brought Gio Gonzalez to Washington and then was sent to the Astros in the deal for Jed Lowrie.  Peacock found a home in Houston for awhile, but was injury-prone.  He had his best season in 2017 when he went 13-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 34 games (21 starts).  In 132 innings, he struck out 161 batters and walked 57.  The next season, he was almost exclusively a reliever, pitching in 61 games with a 3.46 ERA over 65 innings pitched.  He notched the only three saves of his career.  2019 saw his numbers slide to a 4.61 ERA and then injuries reared up again in 2020.  Peacock started the 2021 season in the Cleveland organization, but did not make it to the Majors.  Boston purchased his contract and he was brought back during the COVID outbreak.  He pitched in two games, starting one and finishing one, but had a brutally bad 15.19 ERA in 5.1 innings pitched.  He struck out three and walked three and had a record of 0-1.  Peacock has bounced around between organizations since, but has not made it back to the Majors.

YACKSEL RIOS

Rios started his professional career after being drafted by the Phillies in 2011.  He made his Major League debut in 2017 and had some success.  After a rough 2018, in which he pitched in 36 games, but had a 6.75 ERA, and an even rougher start in 2019, Rios was claimed off waivers by the Pirates.  He pitched through the 2020 season in Pittsburgh then found himself in Seattle to start the 2021 season.  Boston purchased his contract in June and Rios ended up being used quite a bit.  He pitched in 20 games for the Red Sox, throwing 24.1 innings.  He struck out 21 while walking 14 and had a 3-0 record with a 3.70 ERA.  Not bad numbers at all.  Rios was granted free agency after the season and bounced around a bit.  He popped up in Oakland in 2023 for a few games.

HANSEL ROBLES

Robles was one of the bigger trade deadline acquisitions for the Red Sox in 2021.  He started his career as a fireballing arm out of the Mets bullpen.  There was always a thought that he had the potential to develop into a closer.  After a few years of uneven results, the Mets waived him and he found a home in the Angels bullpen.  In 2019, he had his first taste of sustained success as a closer.  That season he was 5-1 with a 2.48 ERA and 23 saves.  He notched 75 strikeouts and 16 walks in 72.2 innings pitched.  Unfortunately, he was horrific in 2020, pitching to a 10.26 ERA in 16 innings pitched over 20 games.  He was non-tendered after the season and started out the 2021 season with the Twins, saving ten games with a 4.91 ERA before the Red Sox sent a pitching prospect to Minnesota for him.  Robles was mostly decent for Boston in 2021, appearing in 27 games with a 3.60 ERA in 25 innings pitched.  He struck out 33 and walked 13 and saved four games with a 0-1 record.  He appeared in six games in the postseason, but did not have much success.  Robles started the 2022 season back in Boston, but that will be covered in the next post.

JOHN SCHREIBER

I will probably spend a lot more time in the next one of these posts talking about Schreiber.  I am still holding out hope that he will get a card made soon after his incredible performance in 2022.  So, perhaps by the time I am doing that post, he will join Rich Hill as players who got cards made later.  Schreiber was a Tigers draftee in 2016.  He made his Major League debut with the team in 2019 and for the next two seasons had an ERA over 6.00 over nearly 30 innings pitched.  It was not surprising that the Tigers waived him.  Boston picked him up and he spent all but one game in the minors, pitching to a 2.71 ERA in 33 games.  In his one game in Boston, he threw three innings, giving up one run and one walk, while striking out five.  It was a harbinger of things to come for him in 2022, but I will get to that in the next post in this series.

PHILLIPS VALDEZ

This is the second time Valdez has appeared in one of these posts.  After a very good rookie season for the Red Sox in 2020, Valdez spent a chunk of the 2021 season in the Red Sox bullpen.  The results were somewhat mixed.  He had a 2-0 record, appearing in 28 games and throwing 40 innings.  His strikeout numbers declined from almost a strikeout an inning to 35 in 40 innings.  He walked 19 and had a 5.85 ERA.  Valdez did notch his first, and thus far only, Major League save.  He had a bit more success in the minors.  Valdez will appear again in the 2022 post.

Once again, this post is overloaded with pitchers, particularly relievers.  There are a few notable names here, players with some impressive success in the Majors.  Brad Peacock and Hansel Robles in particular had some good years.  If I had to pick one player from this post I would most want to see get a card, I would probably pick Robles due to the impressive numbers he put up for Boston and his role in helping Boston to the postseason.