Red Sox Rumors: Easy free agent target, Marcelo Mayer mashing, Tanner Houck shuffle

Red Sox Rumors: Angels gift Boston bullpen help with Ryan Tepera release

Ryan Tepera was one of the hottest trade commodities of the 2021 season at the end of his contract at the time. After that year, though, he ended up with the Los Angeles Angels on a two-year deal prior to the 2022 season. Last year, though he was inconsistent, he still ended the year solidly with a 3.61 ERA, 113 ERA+ and a 1.081 WHIP.

It’s been a disaster this year, though, as he’s posted a bloated 7.27 ERA and 2.077 WHIP over 10 appearances, which led to his being DFA’d by the Angels. On Saturday, the club announced he’d cleared waivers and is now a free agent.

And now he should be on the Red Sox radar.

Look, no one is ignoring the fact that Tepera has been downright bad this season. But in many instances, so too has been the case for the Red Sox bullpen.

As mentioned with Houck, Cora seems to be looking to experiment with moving some guys around into long relief roles as we’ve seen past starters like Kutter Crawford and now Nick Pivetta take that route recently. But in terms of back-end guys that could come in, there are few outside of Kenley Jansen who inspire a ton of confidence.

Subsequently, with the low, low price the 35-year-old Tepera, a righty with an established track record prior to this season, could make him a worthwhile gamble and cost-effective option for Chaim Bloom to explore to help fortify the bullpen, an area the Red Sox have notoriously been unable to rely.