Red Sox Bullpen Has Significant Hole That Needs To Be Addressed

The Boston Red Sox have a little under three months to go until Spring Training games begin and there's a lot of work to do before then.

Boston will face the Northeastern Huskies in its annual Spring Training tradition on Feb. 20th followed by its first Spring Training game against a big league opponent on Feb. 21st against the Minnesota Twins. These next few months are going to be a sprint and go by very quickly, even with no baseball to watch.

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We're at a point in the offseason where rumors outweigh actual moves getting done. That should change in the near future with December almost here. For Boston, adding a No. 2 starter and power bat have been the two most talked-about areas of the club, but there's more work to do. The Athletic's Jen McCaffrey noted that the Red Sox have "signaled" that they will be adding to the bullpen in some way after cutting ties with Brennan Bernardino, Chris Murphy, and Luis Guerrero.

The Red Sox will be looking to add

"In three separate deals last week, the Red Sox signaled that they will be adding to the bullpen at some point this winter to fill out their middle relief depth, particularly left-handed relievers," McCaffrey wrote. "In Brennan Bernardino, Chris Murphy and Luis Guerrero, Boston traded away three relievers who had roles in Boston over the last two years. In return, they received Low-A catcher Ronny Hernandez and two utility players in Tristan Gray and Braiden Ward.

"The flurry of trades means Aroldis Chapman is the only true lefty reliever currently on the 40-man roster. The team has a few other lefties like Payton Tolle and Kyle Harrison who could see time in the Red Sox bullpen. But as it stands, they are in need of a higher leverage lefty arm, with Bernardino dealt away and lefties Justin Wilson and Steven Matz departing in free agency."

If the Red Sox are specifically in the market for a left-handed reliever, a reunion with Matz or Wilson would be an easy fix. Both pitched well for Boston in 2025. Matz had a 2.08 ERA in 21 appearances for Boston while Wilson had a 3.35 ERA in 61 appearances.

If the Red Sox want to look elsewhere, a few lefty relievers out there in free agency right now are two-time All-Star Gregory Soto, Andrew Chafin, and Jalen Beeks, among others.

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