Background:
The 32-year-old made his MLB debut back in 2011 with the Angels and had several promising seasons before injuries really began piling up. However, Richards has always been good when healthy, as evidenced by his career 3.62 ERA.
Despite the strong results it's fair to wonder if Richards' organizations have ever maximized his talents. He has such strong "stuff" that if a team like the Rays had signed him this offseason, the rest of the baseball world would be wondering how good they're going to make him.
Richards' issue has been health. Incredibly, he hasn't made more than 16 starts in a year since 2015. His brutal health history makes him impossible to rely on for a full season, but he at least stayed healthy during the shortened 2020 campaign (appearing in 14 games, including 10 starts).
2020:
Richards underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018 and while he has more or less "recovered" from it, there's still one hurdle he needs to work through. The aforementioned "stuff" that Richards possesses includes a highly effective fastball-slider combo. The two pitches both possess good spin and work together to keep hitters off balance.
For Richards to reach his full potential, though, he'll need to regain the movement on his two-seam fastball. As good as the fastball-slider combo is, those pitches move in the same direction. If he can pair them with a two-seamer that generates more sinking action, that's how Richards will unlock his full potential. While pitching for the Padres last summer he noted that he didn't yet have that sinking action post-Tommy John.
Contract Situation:
The Red Sox signed Richards to a one-year, $10 million contract this offseason that includes a $10 million club option for 2022.
2021 And Beyond:
The signing was revealing in the sense that Chaim Bloom chose the upside of Richards over a more stable rotation option such as Jake Odorizzi. Perhaps this is a sign that 2021 isn't the all-in year for the Sox some of us thought it would be following the Mookie Betts trade. It seems as if Bloom is taking one more year to lay the foundation for a big winter entering 2022.
Of course, maybe that's me reading too much into things and the front office simply preferred Richards over Odorizzi. Either way, Richards' injury history means we can't rely on him for 30 starts in all likelihood, but a positive outcome for his season would be pitching effectively enough while healthy that we then pick up that '22 club option.
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