Thank goodness this one is over.
The legendary Tyler Thornburg era has come to a close in Boston. That's right, over the All-Star break the team had to decide what they wanted to do with him. It turns out, the Red Sox did not want the guy anywhere near their big league roster.
Why would they? He pitched like a guy who did not belong in the big leagues this season AND last season.
This season was obviously worse (7.71 ERA in 16 big league outings this season). He had a phony DL stint just to kind of get him away and off the roster for a bit.
But then the Red Sox had a decision to make. They wanted to outright him to Triple-A Pawtucket, I believe, but he refused Minor League assignment. So, instead, the two sides compromised--and the team released Thornburg.
So, in hindsight, the Travis Shaw trade was a disaster. Dealing Shaw, who had a 30 home run season, and Mauricio Dubon, who the Brewers recently called up, for Thornburg, a reliever, was a trainwreck.
Thornburg didn't follow his workout sheet properly in the offseason where the team got him, so he got hurt and missed the entire 2017 season. Then, he was also hurt for much of last year and posted an ERA above 5.00.
In other words, the Red Sox waited too long to cut their losses, admit it was a bad trade and move on.
It happens sometimes, but the best thing to do is tell the truth and move on. Don't lie and pretend it's going to work out. Dave Dombrowski needs to admit the bullpen is a problem and apologize for not really doing anything to address it this offseason. He needs to apologize for trusting Thornburg for this long as well. It was not a good look.