{"id":38005,"date":"2025-04-03T02:30:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T02:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=38005"},"modified":"2025-04-03T02:30:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T02:30:12","slug":"red-sox-urged-to-trade-for-struggling-2-time-all-star-closer-to-solidfy-bullpen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=38005","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Urged to Trade for Struggling 2-Time All-Star Closer to Solidfy Bullpen"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2206775163-e1743637697901.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2206775163-e1743637697901.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2206775163-e1743637697901.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2206775163-e1743637697901.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Boston Red Sox\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"384\" data-dom-ready-time=\"495\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Red Sox linked to trading for All-Star closer.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Boston Red Sox\u00a0added Aroldis Chapman and Liam Hendriks in the offseason to bolster their bullpen. However, one analyst believes Boston should look to add another star to reliever to bolster the bullpen.<\/p>\n<p>MLB analyst Zach Pressnell of FanSided believes\u00a0Boston should look to trade for David Bednar of the\u00a0Pittsburgh Pirates. Bednar was recently optioned to the minor leagues after a rocky start to the season, but Pressnell believes the Red Sox should explore a trade for him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis move has a lot of baseball stirring a bit,\u201d Pressnell\u00a0wrote. \u201cCould the Pirates trade Bednar? Is that what the future holds for the former lockdown closer? At this point, it\u2019s too early to tell, but if the Pirates do opt to trade him, the Boston Red Sox could take a shot at the former star closer.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\">\u201cThe Red Sox have next to zero options at closer this season,\u201d Pressnell added. \u201cThey could be in the market to take a chance on just about any closer who becomes available on the market in the near future, and this now includes Bednar. While the righty doesn\u2019t have the same trade value that he would have two years ago, the Red Sox may be willing to part ways with a small return in order to land the struggling righty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bednar was an All-Star in 2022 and 2023, as well as the NL saves leader in 2023. However, to begin the 2025 season, he appeared in 3 games,\u00a0pitching just 1 inning while allowing 4 runs, 3 earned.<\/p>\n<p>Bednar\u00a0is making $5.9 million in 2025 and is under team control\u00a0for the 2026 season before becoming a free agent in 2027.<\/p>\n<h2>Red Sox Named Chapman Closer<\/h2>\n<p>Boston entered spring training with no clear answer as to who would be the team\u2019s closer.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Sox had a completion with Chapman and Hendriks, but it was Chapman who won the job.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Chappy has been amazing,\u201d Cora said ahead of\u00a0Opening Day. \u201cBut if Corey Seager leads off the eighth, he could be used in the eighth. And there\u2019s certain times he\u2019s gonna pitch the eighth, but most [often], he\u2019ll pitch the ninth inning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Justin Slaten and Garrett Whitlock are also options to close games, along with Hendriks, if Chapman needs a day off.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Sox signed Chapman to\u00a0a one-year, $10.75 million deal\u00a0in the offseason. He\u2019s a seven-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion. To begin the 2025 season, Chapman\u00a0is 1-0, pitching one scoreless inning.<\/p>\n<h2>Pirates Focused on Getting Bednar Right<\/h2>\n<p>Pittsburgh optioned Bednar down to Triple-A Indianapolis after a disastrous start to the 2025 MLB season.<\/p>\n<p>After making the move, Pirates manager Derek Shelton said it was a tough decision to make. But, it is one that was necessary to try to get Bednar back in form.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a challenging conversation just because of who David is as a person and what he\u2019s done over the course of his time with the Pirates,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cBut more importantly, I think it\u2019s important for us, we\u2019ve got to get him right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bednar struggled in 2024, and it has carried over into 2025. Shelton believes a lot of it is his pitch mix so that is a focus on fixing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seems like what the pitch mix is, pitch locations, whether it\u2019s a delivery thing, all those things are what our pitching group will focus on and talk to David,\u201d Shelton concluded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Red Sox linked to trading for All-Star closer. The\u00a0Boston Red Sox\u00a0added Aroldis Chapman and Liam Hendriks in the offseason to bolster their bullpen. However, one analyst&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Red Sox Urged to Trade for Struggling 2-Time All-Star Closer to Solidfy Bullpen - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=38005\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Red Sox Urged to Trade for Struggling 2-Time All-Star Closer to Solidfy Bullpen - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty Red Sox linked to trading for All-Star closer. 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