Red Sox: Hector Velazquez should be replacing Doug Fister

The Boston Red Sox have sent Doug Fister to the bullpen. The deserving player for long relief is Hector Velazquez and he may soon return.

Doug Fister is reportedly a solid baseball professional who just a year ago I wrote as a potential trade target for the Red Sox playoff push. Fister circa second half 2016 would have provided a degree of impetus that could catapult Boston into the second season with a serviceable arm out of the bullpen or spot starting. The Red Sox were a year too late.

Fister with the Red Sox is like the appendix – serving no useful purpose unless becoming an embarrassment while “saving the staff” has been suddenly raised to exalted status. I shed no tears for Fister, who…