Red Sox Sign Left-Handed Reliever Justin Wilson To One-Year Deal

The Red Sox have signed a one-year contract with left-handed reliever Justin Wilson. While details about the contract haven’t been fully revealed yet, it is believed to be similar to his previous contract with the Cincinnati Reds: a one-year deal worth $1.5M with up to $1M in incentives.

Wilson is a 37-year-old reliever who has played for six different teams. Making his debut for the Pittsburg Pirates at 24, the former 5th-round draft pick spent parts of three seasons with the Pirates before being traded to the New York Yankees in November of 2014. Wilson would only spend a single season in the Bronx before being shipped to Detroit. Following a year and a half with the Tigers, Wilson was on the move again as part of a deal that sent Isaac Paredes and Jeimer Candelario from the Chicago Cubs back to the Tigers.

After a year and a half pitching for the Cubs, Wilson became a free agent following the 2018 season and signed with the New York Mets. He pitched for the Mets until 2021 he signed with the Yankees. He returned to the team for half a season before being shipped to Cincinnati. Since that trade, Wilson has pitched on and off for the Reds. He dealt with injuries in 2022 and 2023, which forced him to miss the entire 2023 season.

This past season, Wilson pitched the most innings in a season for him since his 2018 season, throwing a total of 46 2/3 innings across 60 games. The lefty won one game and lost 5 for the Reds while striking out 51 batters and walking 13 in those 46 2/3 innings. Though his ERA was 5.59 for the season, it was bloated by allowing eight earned runs in just six innings pitched during September. Last season, Wilson also had a walk percentage of only 6.2% while striking out batters at 24.4% and chase percentage of 33.8%.

Wilson throws four pitches, mainly relying on his four-seam fastball, slider, and cutter for 99% of his pitches last year. Rarely would Wilson throw a splitter that made up the remaining 1%. His fastball averaged 95.5mph last season and could be an interesting weapon for the veteran lefty when paired with his slider and cutter.

Wilson will look to earn a spot in Alex Cora’s bullpen during Spring Training with competition from last year’s team consisting of Cam Booser, Bailey Horn, and Brennan Bernardino, along with Chris Murphy, who looks to bounce back from missing all of last season.