Red Sox Claim Righty Ralph Garza Off Waivers, Designate Kyle Tyler For Assignment
BOSTON (CBS) -- Kyle Tyler, we hardly knew ye. Two days after being claimed by the Red Sox off waivers, the righty reliever has been designated for assignment so Boston could bring in another righty reliever.
That new reliever is Ralph Garza, whom Boston claimed off waivers from the Minnesota Twins on Thursday. Garza was optioned to Triple-A Worcester, while Tyler was designated to make room for Garza on Boston's 40-man roster.
The 27-year-old Garza broke into the majors last season, making 27 relief appearances between stints with the Houston Astros and the Twins. He threw 11 innings of relief for Houston, allowing six runs (five earned) off 11 hits while striking out 14, before being claimed by the Twins in early August.
Garza was much more effective for Minnesota, allowing seven earned runs over 19.1 innings with 15 strikeouts. He did not allow an earned run in 13 of his 18 appearances for the Twins, and tossed multiple innings on five occasions.
The Texas native, a 2015 26th-round pick out of the University of Oklahoma, has made 74 relief appearances at the Triple-A level and went 11-3 with a 3.82 ERA while holding opponents to a .198 batting average.
Garza is no guarantee to be part of the Boston bullpen, and who knows if he'll still be on the team by the weekend, but Chaim Bloom is doing all he can to build up the organization's bullpen depth ahead of the 2022 season.
