Red Sox, lefty Josh Taylor avoid arbitration

The Red Sox and left-hander Josh Taylor are in agreement on a contract for 2023, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Taylor will earn a salary of $1.025M in the upcoming campaign.

It’s been a roller coaster for Taylor over the past few seasons. He made his MLB debut in 2019 and made 52 appearances with a solid 3.04 ERA. However, he went to the injured list multiple times in 2020 and was only able to get into eight games, posting a 9.82 ERA in those. He was able to get back on track in 2021 by getting into 61 games with a 3.40 ERA, 28.7% strikeout rate, 11% walk rate and 43.4% ground ball rate.

He reached arbitration for the first time as a Super Two player and agreed to a salary of $1.025M for 2022. Unfortunately, a low back strain kept him on the injured list for the entire season. Since the arbitration system is designed so salaries effectively never go down, Taylor and club agreed at the exact same price point for the upcoming campaign.

Taylor will look to get back to health and back on track in 2023 before going through the arbitration process two more times, slated to reach free agency after 2025. Despite the modest price point, he might be a key member of the club, as he and Joely Rodriguez are the only southpaws that currently seem likely to be in the Boston bullpen.