Red Sox manager Alex Cora explains why reliever was optioned to Triple-A

The Boston Red Sox have been making a ton of moves over the last week with the MLB trade deadline on Tuesday.

In order to make room for all their acquisitions, Boston had to move some players off of the big league roster, including reliever Greg Weissert, who was optioned to Triple-A Worcester.

After it was decided, Red Sox manager Alex Cora explained why they sent him down.

“For how good his slider is, he wasn’t getting swings and misses,” Cora said ( via. MassLive ). “He wasn’t getting ahead. He threw strikes but there’s a few things they’re going to work on. This is not going down and if you’re dominating Triple-A hitters, it means you’re back here. It’s more about making some adjustments with his slider.

“He knows it. It was a really good conversation with Bails (Andrew Bailey) and Bres (Craig Breslow), the way they presented it to him. He agrees. He’s better than this. His fastball is good, his slider is good. Work on a few things and hopefully, he can join us whenever we feel he can contribute here. He’s part of this. We know that. And he’s better than what we saw.”

In 45 games this season, Weissert has tossed 46 2/3 innings, posting a 4.24 ERA (4.18 FIP) and a 1.436 WHIP while striking out 47 batters.

Prior to this season, he had never thrown more than 20 innings in a big league season.

“From my end, the way the season was going, it was hard for me to find a lane,” Cora said. “I was comfortable with him but he’s not a two-inning pitcher. He’s not a guy who comes in up seven or down seven. The reality is that where we were bullpen-wise, it was hard for me to find a lane for him in a high-leverage situation against righties. But he’ll be back, he’ll contribute. He’s a good one and he’s got good stuff.”