Past homophobic tweets resurface with Matt Dermody set to start for Red Sox Thursday night
BOSTON -- The Red Sox are calling up lefty Matt Dermody to start Thursday night's game against the Guardians in Cleveland. The move comes with a cloud of controversy surrounding the pitcher.
Dermody, 32, posted a homophobic tweet back in June of 2021, which he later deleted. Screen shots of the tweet and Dermody's responses to other users are still out there, however.
The Red Sox signed Dermody to a minor league deal in January. The team was unaware of his homophobic tweets because he had deleted them from his account, which raises some questions about the organization's vetting process.
Team officials did meet with the pitcher in spring training when they learned of those tweets, as reported by MassLive's Sean McAdam. Boston chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told McAdam that members of the Red Sox brass met with Dermody after learning of the tweets, with Bloom speaking to the pitcher personally.
"It's important to us that he had taken the tweet down and important why he had done it," Bloom told McAdam. "I talked to him personally about that and what he told me was that it really came down to two things. One, he didn't realize that his words would be hurtful and he didn't want to hurt anybody and when he realized that they were, he took (the post) down.
"He also understood that it's not the right use of his platform. He knows he made a mistake tweeting that," added Bloom. "That's why he took it down. Obviously, that doesn't mean that we endorse anything he said or anything he believes. But the fact of the matter is, if we're committed to creating an (inclusive) environment, it's not right for us to police what people believe."
The Red Sox considered cutting ties with Dermody after learning of the tweets, but ultimately decided to keep him after talking with the pitcher.
"People do make mistakes. I think it's important to understand whether they recognize them as mistakes and why," Bloom told MassLive. "And if that's in place, obviously then people get a chance to be judged on their behavior going forward."
Dermody has bounced around the minors, Majors, and Japan since 2016, spending 2016-19 in the Blue Jays organization. He played for the Cubs in 2020 before spending 2021 in Japan, and returned stateside in 2022 to pitch for the Cubs minor league system.
Dermody has made eight starts for the Worcester Red Sox this season, going 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA over his nine appearances. IF he gets a second start for Boston, it would fall on Tuesday, June 13 against the Rockies, which is Pride Night at Fenway Park.
