Red Sox must take advantage of relievers making noise in free agency
Cam Bedrosian is one of the most underrated relievers in all of baseball. The 28-year-old right-hander has improved his ERA in each of the last three seasons, and could be a lethal closer on numerous teams.
However, he has been trapped in Anaheim, underappreciated and frankly undervalued. Anaheim cut ties with Bedrosian, as they decided they were unwilling to pay the reliever $3.5 million next season. For a young reliever coming off of a year where he pitched a 2.45 ERA and looked great, Boston should be all over him for that price.
Boston’s bullpen was terrible last year, and in-house attempts at fixing the bullpen will only re-create the woes of last year’s team. If Boston can get Bedrosian at $3.5 million per year, I would genuinely argue he should be one of the team’s top priority signings. He is a little to no risk player with very high rewards.
Next on Boston’s should be free agency list is Brad Boxberger, the 32-year-old right-handed reliever of the Miami Marlins. Boxberger resurrected his career down in Miami last season, proving that he still has some of his 2014 self left in the tank.
After posting terrible seasons in 2018 and 2019, 2020 was seemingly Boxberger’s last chance to prove he still had what it takes to play big league baseball. He not only proved that, but had an extremely good season that went under the radar down in Miami. Boxberger posted an ERA of 3.00 in 18 innings for the Marlins in 2020, forcing fans to remember his days as an elite reliever up the road in Tampa Bay.
Boxberger has had his ups and downs in MLB, so his signing as a free agent does come with some risk associated with it. However, when he has had his ups, he has been a top of the league reliever. It doesn’t help that he will be going into his year 33 season in 2021, but with a projected contract of 1-year, $2 million, Boxberger is a low cost risk I think Boston needs to take in order to continue to boost the bullpen.