Where Do The Red Sox Turn For Bullpen Help Now?

Left-handed reliever Tanner Scott signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday morning. Insert surprised Pikachu face here. Scott and the Red Sox had been connected to each other throughout the offseason, and for good reason. On paper, bringing in the All-Star closer made sense after the departures of both Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen. Earlier in the offseason, the Red Sox inked Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson, both left-handed relievers, to one-year deals to help solidify the bullpen, but there’s still work to be done. Where can the Red Sox turn for bullpen help now that the free-agent market has gotten incredibly thinner since this time last week?

Two free agents on the market, David Robertson and Kirby Yates could still offer a decent upside for Boston. Both offer a decent amount of upside in a few different ways should they end up with the Red Sox. Robertson posted a flat 3.00 ERA in 2024 while going 3-4 over 72 innings pitched with 99 strikeouts and a 1.11 WHIP. Yates came in at a 1.17 ERA in 2024 while going 7-2 over 61.2 innings with 85 strikeouts and a 0.83 WHIP, all while notching 33 saves.

If the Red Sox were to bring Robertson in on a one-year deal, he is entering his age 40 seasons in 2025; he would likely be used as a set-up reliever for whoever is manning the closer role during the season. In truth, the Red Sox already have enough of those pitchers in the bullpen. His ability to still get strikeouts is impressive, but with Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten both slated for middle relief roles, there likely isn’t much room to bring in someone like Robertson on a short-term deal.

Yates, on the other hand, makes a bit more sense. The Red Sox are relying on Liam Hendriks to close out ball games this season, and while that seems like a fine idea in theory, in practice, they are relying on someone who has missed the bulk of two full seasons to step into one of the most demanding positions on the team and just hope that everything still plays like it did when he was with the Chicago White Sox. In short, that’s a very big ask of him. Bringing in someone like Yates would give the Red Sox a recently proven closer and allow Hendriks and the other bullpen arms recovering from injuries to ease into the season and work underneath a closer with a recent successful track record.

The Red Sox find themselves in a bit of a bind regarding relievers left on the free-agent market. There are a couple of decent options left, with Yates being a better fit than Robertson, but expect both of them to sign fairly quickly now that the top two relievers on the market, Scott and Jeff Hoffman, are locked into contracts.