The Boston Red Sox are in dire need of pitching help and with free agency just a few months away, they’ll get their chance to go shopping for some arms.
This season hasn’t gone according to plan for the Red Sox and many of the headaches are coming from the pitching staff. Often this year we’re seeing the starters getting pulled early due to high pitch counts while giving up runs. Then the bullpen has been getting overworked and will find themselves unable to hold leads late in games.
This was a known issue going into the season with setup man Joe Kelly and closer Craig Kimbrel both departing Boston via free agency. The issue that stemmed from those departures was the lack of action in replacing them in the lineup. In what was one of the deepest free-agent markets in regards to pitching the Red Sox were silent.
Boston also found themselves totally inactive heading into the trade deadline and instead opted to run the table with the team they have. On the surface that seems a noble task but as these games become more important the lack of pitching support will be felt heavily.
Luckily for the Red Sox, this upcoming free-agent class is riddled with starting and relief pitchers that can aid in the 2020 campaign and beyond. After looking over those soon to be on the market I narrowed it down to a handful of pitchers that I think could really help Boston in the future.