Red Sox Select Contract of Pitcher Jack Anderson

[Nick John]

UPDATE: Johan Oviedo is hitting the 60-day IL to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Anderson; Tyler Samaniego is being optioned to the minors to clear a spot on the active roster.

Original post as follows.

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In need of bullpen assistance after Monday night’s loss to the Minnesota Twins, the Boston Red Sox have selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Jack Anderson from Triple-A Worcester, per Ari Alexander of 7News Boston.

Anderson, who was a selection in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft back in 2024, spent most of 2025 with the Portland Sea Dogs before making three late season starts for Worcester.

2026 has been an up-and-down year so far for the 26-year-old after pitching for Great Britain during the World Baseball Classic. Since the minor-league season began, he’s made two starts for Worcester tossing 9 2/3 innings. In that span, he’s allowed four runs on eight hits (one home run) and three walks. He also struck out nine.

There has yet to be a corresponding roster move; both the active roster and the 40-man roster are currently full and will require reconfiguring to make room for Anderson.

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[mvp 78]

Casas 60 day IL? 

Oviedo 60 day IL? 

Kelly to AAA? 

DFA Watson? 

 

[notin]

So this is solving the lack of high leverage arms in the bullpen?

[moonslav59]

Wow, I mentioned this a few days ago. MVP shot me down.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Wow, I mentioned this a few days ago. MVP shot me down.

pew pew

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

pew pew

🤣

[mvp 78]

4 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Casas 60 day IL? 

Oviedo 60 day IL? 

Kelly to AAA? 

DFA Watson? 

 

Oviedo 60 day wins out.

[drewski6]

20 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Oviedo 60 day wins out.

That escalated quickly.

[mvp 78]

15 hours ago, drewski6 said:

That escalated quickly.

They said it lines up with when he'll be "ready" again. 😎

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They said it lines up with when he'll be "ready" again. 😎

Hope when Oviedo returns he's ready to hit homers.

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

They said it lines up with when he'll be "ready" again. 😎

Im not going to hold my breath.  Seems like this dude has a lot to figure out.

[ocaladick]

I have never seen such managerial incompetence. By the time he decides that a pitcher just doesn't have it, the game is so far gone, they can never come back. 11 runs in 2 innings? He needs to be Captain Hook, not Captain Wishy-Washy.

Why can't we ever get hitters? Or is it that we don't have a hitting coach? I love Duran, but keep him batting leadoff, CWW - and sit your saviors Anthony and Durbin. 

Oh wait - I know - lets have our closer come in when we are behind 6-0. that's always smart......

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, ocaladick said:

I have never seen such managerial incompetence. By the time he decides that a pitcher just doesn't have it, the game is so far gone, they can never come back. 11 runs in 2 innings? He needs to be Captain Hook, not Captain Wishy-Washy.

Why can't we ever get hitters? Or is it that we don't have a hitting coach? I love Duran, but keep him batting leadoff, CWW - and sit your saviors Anthony and Durbin. 

Oh wait - I know - lets have our closer come in when we are behind 6-0. that's always smart......

Tonight will be the night they'll need Chapman too. 

[JoeBrady]

On 4/15/2026 at 10:07 AM, ocaladick said:

I have never seen such managerial incompetence. By the time he decides that a pitcher just doesn't have it, the game is so far gone, they can never come back. 11 runs in 2 innings? He needs to be Captain Hook, not Captain Wishy-Washy.

Oh wait - I know - lets have our closer come in when we are behind 6-0. that's always smart......

1-Every team does this.  Pulling an SP in the 1st or 2nd inning is a recipe for disaster.  You use 7 RPs for one inning each, then maybe have to use 4 of them the following night, and you have no one left.  In addition, there is an argument in favor in favor of leaving an SP in long enough to get his full workout.

2-Every team does this.  Just because there is no game to be won, doesn't mean you never have your closer pitch.  It had been a week since Chapman had pitched.

[JoeBrady]

23 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Tonight will be the night they'll need Chapman too. 

It's unfortunate that we cannot predict the future, but you have to keep these guys on some type of routine.

[notin]

9 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

1-Every team does this.  Pulling an SP in the 1st or 2nd inning is a recipe for disaster.  You use 7 RPs for one inning each, then maybe have to use 4 of them the following night, and you have no one left.  In addition, there is an argument in favor in favor of leaving an SP in long enough to get his full workout.

2-Every team does this.  Just because there is no game to be won, doesn't mean you never have your closer pitch.  It had been a week since Chapman had pitched.

Agreed.  No point in losing another game or two by burning out the bullpen chasing a game that’s 11-0!in the second…

[moonslav59]

Our 40 man roster AAA Pitching options are limited:

Samaniego (just demoted)

Uberstine

Tolle

Bennett

(Sandoval on rehab)

Others who would need to be added to the 40 first:

Kahnle

Guerrero

Song

Gamboa, Keller, martinez, Sweet & Webb

 

[mvp 78]

36 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Our 40 man roster AAA Pitching options are limited:

Samaniego (just demoted)

Uberstine

Tolle

Bennett

(Sandoval on rehab)

Others who would need to be added to the 40 first:

Kahnle

Guerrero

Song

Gamboa, Keller, martinez, Sweet & Webb

In order to add, someone would have to come off: 

Casas - 60 day

DFA/Deal an IFer (Seigler, Cheng, Sogard)

DFA Watson

Crawford - 60 day

 

[moonslav59]

10 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

In order to add, someone would have to come off: 

Casas - 60 day

DFA/Deal an IFer (Seigler, Cheng, Sogard)

DFA Watson

Crawford - 60 day

 

I'm not sure how fed up with Watson they are, but my guess is they chose an option that keeps as many people around as possible.

Moving Crawford to the 60 can be done retroactively, I believe, so they could time it just about right.

Casas seems to be no closer now than a month ago, so same with him.

We could deal an everyday player to make room for a pitcher, but I think the 60 Day IL seems the most likely.

[mvp 78]

13 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not sure how fed up with Watson they are, but my guess is they chose an option that keeps as many people around as possible.

Moving Crawford to the 60 can be done retroactively, I believe, so they could time it just about right.

Casas seems to be no closer now than a month ago, so same with him.

We could deal an everyday player to make room for a pitcher, but I think the 60 Day IL seems the most likely.

I was just listing several options available to them. 

Ryan Watson has been fairly disappointing. I don't know if there are different expectations for him, but I think the Sox can do better than just holding onto one roster spot for a clear mop up guy. Unless they seem him as a future 7th/8th inning guy, the years of control don't make sense. Who cares? His statcast page gets worse every time he pitches. 

 

[notin]

37 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

In order to add, someone would have to come off: 

Casas - 60 day

DFA/Deal an IFer (Seigler, Cheng, Sogard)

DFA Watson

Crawford - 60 day

 

I might be wrong but i don’t think Watson can be DFAd.  I think he just gets returned.  There are no options for his assignment, so a DFA might not be appropriate…

[mvp 78]

19 minutes ago, notin said:

I might be wrong but i don’t think Watson can be DFAd.  I think he just gets returned.  There are no options for his assignment, so a DFA might not be appropriate…

No, he gets put through waivers. Any other team can claim him prior to him going back to whatever his previous team was. He would keep the Rule 5 rights if claimed.

[mvp 78]

That's how it worked if you go through the transaction log for Bastardo and Paez. There were questions on if the Sox would strike a deal with the other teams so that the players could be returned in order to bypass the waiver claim process. It eventually didn't matter. 

 

[notin]

31 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

No, he gets put through waivers. Any other team can claim him prior to him going back to whatever his previous team was. He would keep the Rule 5 rights if claimed.

Thank you for that update…

[notin]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

I was just listing several options available to them. 

Ryan Watson has been fairly disappointing. I don't know if there are different expectations for him, but I think the Sox can do better than just holding onto one roster spot for a clear mop up guy. Unless they seem him as a future 7th/8th inning guy, the years of control don't make sense. Who cares? His statcast page gets worse every time he pitches. 

 

Well, the Sox recent track record with Rule 5 picks does suggest they were due for a miss…

[illinoisredsox]

4 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

1-Every team does this.  Pulling an SP in the 1st or 2nd inning is a recipe for disaster.  You use 7 RPs for one inning each, then maybe have to use 4 of them the following night, and you have no one left.  In addition, there is an argument in favor in favor of leaving an SP in long enough to get his full workout.

2-Every team does this.  Just because there is no game to be won, doesn't mean you never have your closer pitch.  It had been a week since Chapman had pitched.

Totally agree.  This was an early season marathon thinking type game, not a September sprint one.

Not to mention the hits that caused the fatal damage all occurred within a span of 7 pitches (the ABs took 9 pitches).  After Keaschall walked to load the bases (which is when you might start warming a guy up with a Crochet on the mound):

Jeffers singled home 1 run on the 3rd pitch

Bell doubled home 2 on the 1st pitch

Caratini hit a 3 run homer on the first pitch

Wallner grounded out on the 2nd pitch

Lee flied out on the first pitch

Kreidler homered on the first pitch

6 batters, 9 pitches, 2 outs and 4 run scoring hits.  Relievers warm up fast, but not that fast.

 

 

 

 

[mvp 78]

43 minutes ago, notin said:

Well, the Sox recent track record with Rule 5 picks does suggest they were due for a miss…

Heading in the wrong direction. Whitlock > Slaten > Watson 

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Ryan Watson has been fairly disappoin

I thought Samaniego was better, but I understood the roster manipulation.    But some point, Watson's potential as a #6/7/8 is secondary to having the better BP.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, illinoisredsox said:

Not to mention the hits that caused the fatal damage all occurred within a span of 7 pitches (the ABs took 9 pitches).

I mentioned that on the game thread.  I'll rotate through different games, box scores, etc.  It was well less than 5 minutes from the time I switched (and we were already in trouble) to where it was completely over.

[moonslav59]

59 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I thought Samaniego was better, but I understood the roster manipulation.    But some point, Watson's potential as a #6/7/8 is secondary to having the better BP.

Agreed. Although Samaniego had 3 BBs in 3.2 IP, he did not allow a hit.

He'll likely be back at some point.

Watson must be close to the end of his look-see.