Dave Dombrowski on Noah Song: 'If he is to make our 26-man roster, it's going to have to be in the bullpen'
Noah Song made his return to professional baseball on Thursday when he makes his debut at Phillies camp.
Phillies president of baseball ops met the media on Thursday morning and was asked about Song.
"If he is to make our 26-man roster, it's going to have to be in the bullpen," Dombrowski said. "There's no way we'll be able to stretch him out to be a starting pitcher. But we have another spot. Who knows? People get hurt. We just thought it was worth the upside and risk."
Dombrowski also referred to Song as a gamble, but one the club is willing to take. The former Red Sox front office leader viewed him as a potential top of the rotation starter.
"We thought he had the potential to be a top of the rotation type starter," he said.
Song was taken by the Phillies in the Rule 5 draft back in December, has been transferred from active Naval duty to select reserves. This allows him to resume his professional baseball career.
The former Red Sox fourth-round pick was not pitched since 2019. His last season of professional baseball he posted a 1.06 ERA in 17 innings for Low-A Lowell.
Prior to last year’s Rule 5 draft, Song was not granted a waiver to return to baseball. Boston elected to not place the righty on the team’s 40-man roster.
According to Baseball America, the Red Sox could have added Song to their 40-man roster then placed him on the military service list, which would have made him ineligible for the Rule 5 draft.
Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom elected to not go that route, citing that he didn’t think Song was ready for the 40-man roster.
“Anytime you leave somebody unprotected, there’s always a chance they get picked,” Bloom said in December. “He’s a high-profile guy for a reason. Obviously, such a unique situation. You don’t ever want to lose anybody. Given his situation, we felt that when he returns from his commitment, being on the 40-man roster would not be an ideal situation to have. That’s a risk we were willing to take.”
Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHenrique
For additional Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, MLB and NFL content follow Beyond the Monster on Twitter @BeyondtheMnstr.
For Song’s sake — not just for Boston’s — let’s hope he’s returned to the Sox.
He hasn’t pitched in 3 years, and essentially losing a 4th as a rarely used 13th pitcher is far from ideal.
Boston could send him to Greenville or Salem and give him the starter’s innings he needs