Andrew Miller Revisited: Should Red Sox Pursue Reunion With Reliever?

The Boston Red Sox’s focus should be on finding the next Andrew Miller.

Miller has been trending upward for three seasons, and the summit of his incline will be a nice payday in free agency this winter. But while Miller deserves every cent he’s about to receive and the Red Sox need a left-handed reliever, the 29-year-old’s price tag should be enough for Boston to reconsider a potential reunion.

One glimpse at Miller’s career proves bullpen help often can be found where you least expect it. The lanky southpaw was a first-round bust before joining the Red Sox in 2011. Even his first season in Boston was underwhelming, with Miller never quite finding himself until former Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine — yeah, that guy — converted him into a full-time reliever in 2012.

This isn’t to suggest the Red Sox can go out, sign some scrub off the street and turn him into Miller 2.0. Such an expectation would be unreasonable, if not bone-headed. But the performance of most relievers across Major League Baseball fluctuates so greatly on a year-to-year basis that making sizable, long-term commitments to bullpen arms often is fruitless. It’s especially counterproductive for a team like the Red Sox, who are entering the offseason with a ton of money but also a ton of holes, most notably in their starting rotation.

A good bullpen can be the difference between winning and losing in October. Building a good bullpen can be done a number of ways, and dishing out hefty free-agent contracts isn’t a requirement.

Wade Davis, Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland have formed a lights-out trio at the back end of the Royals’ bullpen en route to an American League pennant. Davis, like Miller, is a starter-turned-reliever who at the time was a footnote in the James Shields-Wil Myers trade before the 2013 season. Herrera signed with K.C. as an undrafted free agent in December 2006. Holland is a homegrown former 10th-round pick.

As the Red Sox seek to build the best bullpen possible for 2015 and beyond — something general manager Ben Cherington already acknowledged is on his offseason to-do list — the club should assess which cost-controlled, internal options have similar potential. Lefty Tommy Layne pitched very well done the stretch, and right-handers Rubby De La Rosa and Brandon Workman are two starters who eventually could wind up in the bullpen.

Bringing back Miller obviously would bolster the Red Sox’s bullpen. It would be an especially impactful move if closer Koji Uehara exits in free agency, as Miller has the type of swing-and-miss stuff to hold down a ninth-inning role. The question the Red Sox must ask themselves, however, is if the reward outweighs the risk. And given Boston’s current roster construction, it’s hard to justify the team allocating a large chunk of cash — say, $21 million to $27 million over three years — to a free-agent reliever.

Even one as good as Miller.