A former Phillies reliever will replace one of the arms they recently acquired on the Red Sox roster
A bit of irony surrounds the Philadelphia Phillies recent multi-player trade of right-handed relievers with the Boston Red Sox.
During Friday evening’s series opener against the Atlanta Braves, it became official that the Phillies acquired Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree in exchange for Nick Pivetta and minor leaguer Connor Seabold.
The trade came a little more than five years after Pivetta was dealt from the Washington Nationals to the Phillies for franchise saves leader Jonathan Papelbon. Now, both Pivetta and Papelbon will have played for the Nationals, Red Sox, and Phillies in their respective careers.
But that is only the first example of irony.
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One of the roster cuts the manager Joe Girardi‘s squad made prior to the July 24 season opener against the Miami Marlins — right-handed reliever Robert Stock — will replace one of the two Red Sox relievers dealt to Philadelphia on the big-league roster. The Red Sox announced his promotion Saturday afternoon along with left-hander Jeffrey Springs.
The Red Sox claimed the 30-year-old Stock off waivers after the Phillies designated him for assignment last month— deciding he would not make the Opening Day roster. After being claimed, Stock was sent to the Red Sox alternate training site in Pawtucket, and had made one outing in the majors since before being sent back down.
Stock had joined the Phillies in October 2019 off the waiver wire from the San Diego Padres.
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In that one appearance, Stock tossed 1 1/3 innings, allowing two hits, one unearned run, and three walks, while striking out three of his nine batters faced.
Now, Stock could remain on the Red Sox major-league roster for the remainder of the season, with both Workman and Hembree now set to don red pinstripes.
Entering the 2020 season, the Washington native had a career 4.11 ERA and 53/21 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 50 1/3 innings as a member of the Padres from 2018-19.