Fresh off the biggest signing of the offseason so far, landing oft-injured starter Walker Buehler on a one-year, $21 million contract, the Red Sox figure to remain active in the coming days, as they seek to finish off the work of bulking up the back end of their bullpen while also trying to find a righthanded power bat they can drop into the middle of their lineup.
There are two relief arms of notable value on the market, and the Red Sox may be in position to land one of them. Already, the Red Sox have added Aroldis Chapman to the bullpen, who joins Justin Slaton and Liam Hendriks as the team’s likely top late-inning options. The Red Sox have been frequently connected to Marlins closer Tanner Scott, and there could be some momentum to pursue him now with the starting rotation pretty well set.
But at Bleacher Report, the prediction is that the Red Sox will, indeed, land a star reliever–but that they’ll add Jeff Hoffman from the Phillies, not Scott.
Jeff Hoffman an ‘Underrated’ Option
On Monday, Zachary Rymer of B/R listed “underrated” remaining free agents, and has Hoffman on the list, predicted to land with Boston on a hefty three-year, $36 million contract. The 31-year-old Hoffman pitched 68 games last year, and struck out 89 in 66 innings, with a 2.17 ERA.
Wrote Rymer: “Jeff Hoffman was an All-Star this past year, so it’s not as if he’s some kind of mystery man.
“All the same, it’s worth acknowledging just how terrific the righty has been over the last two seasons. We’re talking a 2.28 ERA and a 33.4 strikeout percentage, figures that rank sixth and eighth among right-handed relievers.
“Hoffman is this good precisely because he has two pitches that hitters just can’t hit. One is an upper-90s fastball against which hitters batted .198 in 2024. He also has a slider that has limited hitters to a .136 average over the last two seasons.”
Red Sox Seeking Velocity, Swings-&-Misses
At the outset of MLB free agency, Red Sox chief Craig Breslow spoke about the need to upgrade the team’s bullpen.
“Especially when you’re bringing guys in with runners on base in leverage situations, the ability to get outs without putting the ball in play is really, really valuable,” Breslow said (via MassLive). “So I think pushing velocity on the development side and then also seeking relievers that have the ability to get swings and misses is going to be a priority for us …
“In the first half, we rode Bernie (Brennan Bernadino) pretty hard and he was really good for us,” Breslow said. “There were times when (Cam) Booser was really effective, when Bailey (Horn), when Zach (Penrod) (were effective). But I think generally as we think about improving the bullpen, adding to that group with a left-handed reliever is something we’re very open to.”
