Tag: trade deadline

The Red Sox Bullpen Needs Some Help from the Outside

The Red Sox bullpen blew a 6-1 lead against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday with the help of four straight walks from both Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier in the eighth inning.

Per FanGraphs, the Boston ‘pen has been the fifth best in the American League so far this season in terms of ERA (4.00) and fWAR (2.9), but they also lead the AL in blown saves with 15 on the year. All this without a set closer.

Matt Barnes entered June with a 2.08 ERA on the season. Since then, the right-hander has posted an ERA of 7.15 while appearing in 12 of the 22 games the Red Sox have played this month. He is on pace to make 71 relief appearances in 2019, nine more than he made all of last year.

Brandon Workman has become one of the more valuable members of Boston’s relief corps after not making last season’s Opening Day roster and being optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket three times. He appeared in a total of 43 games in 2018 and is only five outings away from reaching that mark this year.

In those 38 appearances, the right-hander has really limited the hits he has given up, but walks remain a legitimate issue, as he is averaging nearly seven per nine innings.

Ryan Brasier, meanwhile, was not even up with the big league club at this point in 2018. He may have played an important tole in Boston’s success then, but, in what is now his first full season in the majors, it’s clear to see that the 31-year-old has regressed, which had to have been expected.

From July 8th to the end of the 2018 campaign, Brasier appeared in 34 games for the Sox, posting a 1.60 ERA and .171 batting average against over 33 2/3 innings of work.

This year, the right-hander has already made 35 appearances out of the ‘pen, and has yielded 12 earned runs on 25 hits and 10 walks in 31 1/3 frames of relief.

The bottom line here is that, at this rate, the big three of Barnes, Brasier, and Workman will be worked into the ground with the way things are going.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora has been given no other choice in order to give his club the best chance to win. Contributions from guys like Heath Hembree, Marcus Walden, and now Josh Taylor have helped, but the Red Sox bullpen needs some legitimate support from the outside.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski needs to go out and acquire a veteran reliever with closing experience. If a move is not made in the coming weeks leading up to the trading deadline, then it may be too late to think about clinching a fourth straight American League East title.

I will post a list of a few relievers I would like to see the Red Sox pursue before July 31st very soon, so stay tuned for that.

#RedSox get Addison Reed, Yankess get Sonny Gray, and more from Deadline Day.

At 3:06, the Red Sox officially announced the acquisition of Addison Reed via the team’s Twitter account. Reed, a 28-year-old reliever who has been with the Mets since 2015, owns a 2.57 ERA and a WHIP of 1.12 so far this season. The righty has been in the bigs since 2011, racking up 125 saves over that span. This will be Reed’s fourth big league team, and this is most likely the only addition that will be made to the Red Sox bullpen. He does have big game experience, as he pitched in five games during the 2015 World Series. In exchange for Reed, Dave Dombrowski and the Red Sox are trading three pitching prospects. Jamie Callahan, Stephen Nogosek, and Gerson Bautista are all part of the deal, Callahan probably being the most well-known out of three. I don’t think there’s enough evidence to really judge this trade yet, but if there was one thing, I would have to say it’s the fact that the Red Sox have traded five pitching prospects in the past week. I know none of them were that highly regarded, but it’s just something to consider. Reed is essentially a rental, but with the uncertainty Tyler Thornburg and Carson Smith will bring going into next season, I wouldn’t be surprised if an extension is considered.

At 3:15, the Yankees officially announced that they have acquired Sonny Gray from the Oakland Athletics. Gray, who was on the trading block for what seemed like an extensive amount of time, finally gets traded. Before David Price and Chris Sale made their way to Boston, Sonny Gray was definitely a pitcher sought out by the Red Sox, fans and executives alike. In return for Gray, the Yankees are giving up three of their best prospects, Dustin Fowler, Jorge Mateo, and James Kaprielian. With Clint Frazier in New York, Fowler was the best outfielder in the Yankees system. The value of both Mateo and Kaprielian has diminished a bit since the start of last season, mainly due to injury and other trades the Yankees made. All and all, the Yankees got a controllable arm and the A’s got three of their top prospects in return. With the additions of Gray and Jaime Garcia, the Yankees look like they have a legit rotation for a pennant race.

This was the biggest move as the day, everything else has been smaller, mostly. Tony Watson is going to the Dodgers, Francisco Liriano is going to the Astros, the Marlins aren’t moving Dan Straily, the Tigers aren’t moving Justin Verlander, the Orioles have yet to trade Zach Brittion, Brad Hand is still a Padre, etc.

I’m pretty positive the Red Sox are done making moves. Trades can still happen after today too, can’t forget that.

It is now 4:09 and nothing big is happening.

UPDATE: The Dodgers got Yu Darvish. A 74 win team has gotten a whole lot better today. Darvish, Tony Cingrani, and Tony Watson. I would say they’re not going to have any trouble getting to the World Series, but they haven’t been in one since 1988.

UPDATE AGAIN: The Nationals got Brandon Kintzler from the Twins. So they go from having a weak bullpen, to now having Ryan Madson, Sean Doolittle, and Kintzler, which is not half bad.