Former Rays All-Star signs minor league deal with Red Sox

Matt Moore, by golly that's a name Rays fans haven't heard in quite some time.

But this season expect to hear it a bit more, as Moore signed a minor-league deal with the Boston Red Sox to try to make the major-league roster as a reliever.

Obviously for Moore his 2024 season did not go as planned, as he was a below-replacement-level pitcher for the year.

However, his 2022 and 2023 seasons with 3 different teams went exceptionally well.

Prior to his 2023 season, he signed a 1-year, $7.55. million deal with the Angels.

He then bounced around between the Angels, Guardians, and Marlins, being claimed a couple of times after the Angels blew their roster up to try and manage payroll in the 2023 season.

Following his successful 2023 campaign, he signed a 1-year, $9-million deal with those same Angels.

In 2023 Moore had one of the highest chase rates in baseball and posted a 3.95 xFIP.

His fastball sat around 94 for the 2022 and 2023 season while featuring a relatively evenly used mix of a changeup and curveball, with his fastball being his most used pitch.

2022 was also a productive year for the former All-Star, as he limited hard contact with tremendous barrel rates and hard-hit rates allowed to contribute to a sub-2 ERA over 74 innings.

Unfortunately in 2024 Moore's fastball took a dive off a cliff in terms of MPH, coming in at around 92 for the season.

His Stuff+ marks have remained relatively consistent, with his curveball and changeup both managing to hover at being solidly above-average, but his fastball was rated as 86, a sharp decline from his 100 in his successful 2022 season.

He did flirt with a cutter in 2024, only throwing it 6 times for the season.

That could be something Boston leans on, especially as his already apparently weakening fastball is something the Red Sox don't like to emphasize in terms of pitch usage.

Moore could be another pitcher in the Red Sox organization that goes to the majors and puts together a fine performance due to mostly abandoning their fastball.

If Moore figures it out he could be a valuable piece for the Red Sox bullpen, either as they put it together and compete for a playoff spot or if they decide to sell a bit at the deadline and he becomes a trade target for buying teams.