Mike Gonzalez Rumors: Red Sox Monitoring Lefty Market

Nick Carfado of the Boston Globe tweeted this morning that, due to their “less than desirable lefty reliever options”, the Boston Red Sox are “monitoring” the market for free agent Mike Gonzalez.  The Scott Boras client is hands down the best available reliever on the open market.

The Red Sox seemingly reinforced the back-end of their bullpen this offseason, acquiring late-inning relievers Mark Melancon and Andrew Bailey.  While Boston is hoping the duo will provide a potent one-two punch this season, the team continues to lack a true lefty specialist.

Boston hoped Rich Hill would develop into such an option.  While he’s shown promise, the veteran continues to struggle with health issues and has yet to pitch in a spring training contest.

Andrew Miller and Franklin Morales are other left-handed options, but both are fairly inexperienced.

Morales, who was acquired from the Colorado Rockies last May, posted impressive numbers last season (3.69 ERA, 1.273 WHIP) but boasts uninspiring career marks of 4.61 ERA and 1.475 WHIP.  Miller, a former top prospect who’s been converted from starter to swing man/reliever, has even worse career totals (5.79 ERA, 1.750 WHIP) and wasn’t much better in his first season with the Red Sox.

The only other lefties on Boston’s active roster are Jon Lester and Felix Doubront.  Lester’s obviously not an option for the ‘pen, and it’s rumored that Doubront has a legitimate shot at cracking the Red Sox starting rotation.

Due to their lack of alternatives, the Red Sox are poised to be real players for Gonzalez.  Though he’s struggled in recent years, Gonzalez still profiles as a solid lefty specialist.

For more on the Red Sox, be sure to check out BoSox Injection.

You can follow Call to the Pen on Twitter at @FSCalltothePen or like us here on Facebook.