5 relievers the Boston Red Sox need to target this trade season
By Sean Basile
The Boston Red Sox limped their way to the end of the first half after a 28-9 run that stretched from mid-May to late-June.
They currently sit outside of the playoff picture, but they’ve been marred by injuries to the starting rotation and they just finished playing 11 games against the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays.
The Red Sox, objectively, need to make upgrades to the starting rotation with Chris Sale going down once again, and they also need another big bat in the lineup like Josh Bell, C.J. Cron, or even (dare I say) the great Juan Soto if they can put together a package.
But there’s nothing more the need at this point than a reliable back-end of the bullpen arm. The Sox have blown the second-most saves in baseball this year of 20 (courtesy of Fox Sports).
There is a strong case to be made that if not for such a shaky bullpen, the Sox would be right there with the Yankees for first place right now. Yes, I said it.
They have a loaded lineup and their rotation has been surprisingly productive once again with the emergence of Michael Wacha and Nick Pivetta. What they need is a big-time reliever/closer and here are the pitchers I think they should be aggressive in going after as the trade deadline approaches.