David Bednar
Maybe a bit of a pipe dream as, from what I’ve heard on the streets, the Pirates aren’t very much interested in moving Bednar this season. They have a very young team in Pittsburgh that’s looking like a nice young core is starting to emerge with Bednar anchoring down that bullpen.
Perhaps they want to keep that nucleus together, but if they do decide to move the All-Star closer, I struggle to find many better targets for the Red Sox this trade season.
Bednar has 57 strikeouts this season in 43.2 innings of work with a 3.13 expected ERA in addition to his 16 saves. Not only has he been pretty lock-down this season closing out games, but he’s also shown the ability to work two or more innings in four of those 16 saves this year.
This year, 10 of his 38 appearances have been outings of over an inning. For a guy who throws as hard as he does and exerts as much energy as he exerts, the gas tank is beyond impressive. I think if you’re the Red Sox who’ve been having issue after issue this year holding leads, it’s a big upgrade to bring on a guy like Bednar who can work six-out saves for you as we move into the dog days of August.