What is the strongest asset to a good baseball team? There are multiple different answers here, such as having good hitters that can put up runs on the board or having an amazing starting pitcher that can work deep into games and keep their team alive.
The Boston Red Sox have both of those, with players such as Xander Boegaerts and Rafael Devers able to produce great hitting numbers as well as Chris Sale, when healthy, and Nathan Eovaldi able to keep hitters off the base path.
However, they lack something crucial: a deep bullpen. Now, yes, they do have guys such as Matt Barnes and Garrett Whitlock who can pitch shutouts out of the ‘pen, but other than that, they do not have any other relievers that can do what those players do.
If they do not make a change before the playoffs, Boston and their fans could see an early end to their World Series dreams, disappointing many. That is why the Red Sox should go out and trade for some relievers that can hold up the middle-end of the bullpen so that Whitlock and Barnes can get some rest.
Let’s talk about two teams in the same division as Boston: the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees.
For the Blue Jays, they have been able to assemble possibly the best hitting lineup we have seen in recent memory. They have not only been able to develop prospects such as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, but they also made offseason moves, such as trading for Matt Chapman, a third baseman formerly of the Oakland Athletics.
Not only that, but they also have filled out their bullpen nicely, with pitchers such as Adam Cimber and Tim Mayza able to come into games and take some heat off of Jordan Romano, their closer.
For the Yankees, they have Gerrit Cole, who is one of the best pitchers in the league, able to start the game off right by blowing fastballs by hitters and keeping runs off the board.
They also had a deep bullpen, with Chad Green, Lucas Luetge, and Jonathan Loaisiga able to take some stress off of their closer, Aroldis Chapman. That is the exact bullpen that successful teams have.
Let’s turn back the clocks a little to 2018. The Red Sox won the World Series that year against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
En route to that championship, they not only had a solid pitching core with Sale, David Price, and Eovaldi, but they also had a reliable bullpen.
Outside of their closer, Craig Kimbrel, who racked up 42 saves that year, they also had reliable middle relievers such as Steven Wright, who posted a 2.68 ERA in 53 innings pitched, Hector Velazquez, who had a 3.18 ERA in 85 innings pitched, and Barnes, who had a 3.65 ERA in 61 innings pitched. Not only did Boston have great hitting that year, but they also had great pitching that was able to keep them in games late.
Since their World Series-winning campaign, Boston has ranked in the bottom half of the league in team ERA for the regular season, finishing as the 12th worst team in 2019, third-worst in 2020, and 15th worst in 2021. To add to that, since 2018, Boston has only had two relievers who have had lower than a 2.00 ERA out of the bullpen in 50 or more innings pitched.
To further hammer home how bad the bullpen has been, they also finished in the bottom half of team batting average allowed, on-base percentage allowed, hits allowed, and walks. This all came in 2019, just one year after they finished in the top half of all those categories.
However, after that 2018 season, Boston lost key pieces of their bullpen. Kimbrel ended up going to the Chicago Cubs in the offseason, Joe Kelly, a key piece in the middle of the bullpen, went to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Drew Pomeranz, another piece, went to the San Francisco Giants.
Also, Velazquez, who was one of the top pitchers in terms of ERA, really fell off from 18-19, registering a 5.43 ERA in 54.3 innings pitched.
Overall, since their 2018 season, Boston has struggled with finding reliable guys in the middle of their bullpen to hold it down. The 2022 season just started, and cracks are already starting to show with their pitching.
To fix this, one of the pitchers they should pick up is Tyler Rogers, a reliever for the Giants. He posted a 2.22 ERA in 81 innings pitched in 2021, making him just one of the pitchers that would be great additions to this bullpen.
Works Cited
“MLB Team Pitching Stats 2018 - Era, Strikeouts, & More.” Covers.com, https://www.covers.com/sport/baseball/mlb/statistics/team-pitching/2018.
“MLB Relief Pitchers Stats | 2021 Season Stats | FantasyPros.” FantasyPros, https://www.fantasypros.com/mlb/stats/rp.php?range=2021.
“MLB Stats, Scores, History, & Records.” Baseball, https://www.baseball-reference.com/.
Baseball Almanac, Inc. “2004 Boston Red Sox Roster.” Baseball Almanac, https://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=2004&t=BOS.
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