On Wednesday, two AL Central teams made almost back-to-back signings of a pair of relievers, swiping two upgrade options from the Boston Red Sox, who are still looking for bullpen help this late in the offseason.
The Tigers signed former Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle to a one-year, $7.75 million deal, and the Royals took Angels All-Star Carlos Estévez for two years and $22 million, with a club option for a third season. The Mets and Reds also saw some action on the bullpen market, when New York re-signed Ryne Stanek for $4.5 million and Taylor Rogers was traded from San Francisco (along with cash) to Cincinnati.
Earlier in the week, the Dodgers made their signing of Kirby Yates official, and Ryan Pressly went to the Cubs as the reliever market really started to pick up steam.
The Red Sox, for some reason, have been completely missing from these conversations. The last notable addition they made to the bullpen this offseason was Aroldis Chapman in December, following Justin Wilson's one-year deal in November. Plus, they're expecting Liam Hendriks back this season. A few of the other guys in the bullpen had decent enough 2024 campaigns (when they were healthy), but that shouldn't stop Boston from seeking upgrades. Plus, there's at least one more totally open spot that the Red Sox shouldn't just leave open for an NRI to potentially break into.
But with six relievers off the board in rapid succession, do the Red Sox have any plans to add at all?
The bullpen market in last 24 hours:
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 30, 2025
Carlos Estevez ($22M) signs with Royals.
Taylor Rogers ($12M) traded to Reds
Tommy Kahnle signs ($7.75M) w/ Tigers
Ryne Stankek signs ($4.5M) w/Mets
Kirby Yates signs ($13M) w/Dodgers
Ryan Pressly ($14M) traded to Cubs
Tommy Kahnle, Carlos Estévez come off the market on Wednesday as Red Sox continue to let opportunities slip away
Pressly and Rogers are carrying their salaries from the Astros and Giants over to their new teams, and Yates is a ridiculous outlier in terms of salary, but Kahnle and Estévez's contracts were completely reasonable. Kahnle has spent two seasons pitching over 40 innings for around a 2.50 ERA and Estévez maintained a 2.45 ERA with both the Angels and Phillies last season.
Either of those guys would've elevated the Red Sox's bullpen and probably would've been better signings from the get-go than Justin Wilson, who's projected to have a decent 3.88 ERA by FanGraphs in 2025 but is coming off a bad year with Reds.
Boston's been quiet on major league signings with they got Walker Buehler in December, but the bullpen isn't the only place that needs help. Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado could both still provide the righty pop the lineup needs, but the Red Sox seem to be waffling on both of them too. It's hard to tell exactly what's keeping them from any aggression whatsoever, but it gets more frustrating every time another attainable target comes off the board.