"Taz has been a warrior for the past three years," said Red Sox interim manager Torey Lovullo. "Over 70 appearances for two consecutive seasons, was on pace for that this year. It was just our way to pay him back, let him get a jumpstart on the offseason, recuperate, get strong and focus on 2016. I want to make this perfectly clear: There is no injury; there is nothing behind this other than us giving him a rest."
In Tazawa's last 15 appearances of the season, he went 0-4 with a 9.22 ERA. In the 46 games before that, Tazawa had a 2.