The Boston Red Sox had high hopes for James Paxton when he was acquired this season.
However, he was never healthy enough to pitch: he missed the first half of the year while recovering from his second career Tommy John surgery and then had to leave a minor league rehab debut in August with a Grade 2 tear of his left lat.
It has been the story of Paxton’s career: health issues usually get in the way.
His contract had a two-year, $26 million club option that the Red Sox recently declined.
As per his contract, if his option was declined, a $4 million player option would become available to Paxton.
The left-hander decided to exercise that player option and remains a member of the Red Sox roster.
Left-hander James Paxton exercised his $4 million player option to return to the Boston Red Sox.
— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) November 9, 2022
Not A Good Omen Considering His Health Issues
The fact he took $4 million for the 2023 campaign is actually not encouraging from a health perspective.
After all, Paxton has only 21.2 innings at the major league level since the beginning of 2020, when some of the pitchers who have stayed healthy have close to 400.
The 2019 campaign represented the last time Paxton was healthy enough to pitch something close to a complete starter’s workload.
He threw 150.2 innings with the Red Sox’s arch rivals, the New York Yankees, back then, with a 3.82 ERA.
He was solid, but not quite the ace he was in 2017 with the Seattle Mariners.
When healthy, Paxton is more than capable of putting up an ERA under 4.00 with more than a strikeout per inning.
That was before his second Tommy John and his lat issue, though: his current form remains a mystery, and he will have to prove his health on the field in 2023.
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