The Red Sox were reportedly interested in acquiring the services of San Francisco Giants reliever Will Smith, but found the asking price for the left-hander to be too high, per The Boston Sports Journal’s Sean McAdam.
Smith, 30, would be a rental for the Red Sox, as he is set to become a free agent this winter.
Through 46 appearances with San Francisco in 2019, Smith has posted a 2.72 ERA and 2.41 xFIP over 46 1/3 innings of work. He has converted 26 of a possible 28 save opportunities as well.
Given how the Giants currently sit just 2 1/2 games back of the second wild card spot in the National League, it’s tough to determine whether they will be buyers or sellers come the 4 PM EDT deadline on Wednesday.
The Red Sox could certainly use Smith out of the back end of their bullpen, that much is evident by how they have blown the second-most saves in the American League this year at 19. However, if the asking price for the 2019 All-Star is too high, perhaps president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski would be wiser to purse cheaper, maybe even more controllable bullpen arms.
Names such as Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Andrew Chafin and Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Daniel Hudson have been linked to the Red Sox.
The trade deadline is at 4 PM EDT on Wednesday. Stay tuned if any Red Sox-related move goes down.
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