Steven Wright released by Red Sox

The Red Sox can use all the help they can get in improving their pitching staff, but apparently, that need doesn't extend to Steven Wright.

The Red Sox announced that they had released Wright Friday afternoon. Wright had spent parts of the previous seven seasons with the club, going 24-16 with a 3.86 ERA in 81 games, 44 of them starts. His best season was 2016 when he was named to the American League All-Star team and went 13-6 with a 3.33 ERA over 24 starts.



Wright was eligible for salary arbitration, and it was expected that the Sox would non-tender him next month, rather than pay him the estimated $1.5 million he was projected to earn in arbitration. Instead, the Sox didn't wait and decided to release Wright outright before the tendering process began.

The 28-year-old, believed to be the lone remaining knuckleballer in the game, was involved in two off-field transgressions, both of which resulted in suspensions. Wright was suspended 15 games by MLB in 2018 for violating MLB's domestic violence policy in an altercation with his wife the previous winter.

Then, in spring training last March, Wright was suspended 80 games for violating the game's drug-testing program. Wright tested positive for human growth hormone, though Wright insisted he hadn't knowingly taken a banned substance.

Wright's disciplinary issues, coupled with knee and elbow injuries, limited his availability the last few seasons. After a career-high 156.2 innings in 2016, he was limited to just 84 innings over his last three seasons. He displeased the Red Sox when, after assuring them that he was healthy enough to be part of the ALDS roster in October of 2016, re-injured the knee in a pre-game workout, forcing the Sox into making a move to replace him on the playoff roster.

This past season, after returning to eligibility following the 80-game ban, he appeared in just six games -- all in relief -- totaling 6.1 innings. He experienced elbow problems and was placed on the IL at the end of August.