The Boston Red Sox and free agent relief pitcher Justin Wilson have agreed to terms on a contract, Robert Murray from FanSided reported Thursday.

When the deal is finalized, Wilson will become the Red Sox’ first free agent of the offseason. Boston didn’t sign a major league free agent until Dec. 13 last offseason.

Wilson, who turned 37 in August, has played for six other MLB teams since his big league debut in 2008. He has made 60 appearances for the Cincinnati Reds in 2024, going 1-5 with a 5.59 ERA, 1.457 WHIP, 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings and a WAR of -0.2.

Still, Wilson ranked in the 73rd percentile league-wide with an average fastball velocity of 95.5 miles per hour this season, according to Baseball scholargood for his highest mark since 2017. He also notably ranked in the 95th percentile with a 33.8% pursuit rate.

Wilson has thrown his four-seamer, slider and cutter at nearly identical rates in 2024, despite a mix of very fast pitches for most of his career up to that point. That fits perfectly with Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey’s philosophy, which had the team throwing far fewer fastballs last season.

Wilson’s addition comes a day after Red Sox hire Chris Holt, former pitching director of the Baltimore Orioles as the next bullpen coach. Boston’s last bullpen coach, Kevin Walker, was fired in October after four seasons on the job.

The Red Sox had All-Star closer Kenley Jansen and 38-year-old setup man Chris Martin enter free agency earlier this month, costing them two of their high-impact veterans most reliable levers.

Liam Hendriks is a candidate to take on some of their workload, but he missed all of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery. Garrett Whitlock, also returning from a torn UCL, could be moved out of the rotation and into the bullpen if Bailey and Holt want.

Greg Weissert, Zack Kelly, Justin Slaten, Cam Booser, Josh Winckowski and Brennan Bernardino – along with Wilson – currently make up the rest of the bullpen.

Wilson got his start with the Pittsburgh Pirates before being traded to the New York Yankees in 2015. The left-hander lasted just one year in the Bronx, before being traded to the Detroit Tigers the following offseason .

The Tigers dealt Wilson to the Chicago Cubs a few months later. After the 2018 season, Wilson signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the New York Mets.

From there, Wilson returned to the Yankees on a one-year contract worth $2.85 million, only to be traded to the Reds at the 2021 deadline. Wilson underwent Tommy John surgery in early 2022, and after trying to bounce back on a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves in 2023, he returned to the Reds in 2024.

Wilson went 32-22 with a 3.27 ERA, 1.279 WHIP, 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings and a 7.3 WAR between 2012 and 2020. He is 2-7 with an ERA of 5.34, 1.411 WHIP, 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings and a -0.1 WAR. Since.

Between 2013 and 2018, Wilson ranked sixth in all of baseball with 404 appearances on the mound, an average of 67 outings per year.

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