The Boston Red Sox were a wagon in 2018 and will return much of the same lineup in 2019.
But that doesn’t mean they’re void of reasons to look outside the organization for some help in defending their World Series title.
With Joe Kelly off to Los Angeles Dodgers, Drew Pomeranz to the San Francisco Giants and Craig Kimbrel still un-signed, the most glaringly obvious area that could use some help would be the bullpen. The Red Sox will have plenty of quality options returning from last year’s squad, while others will come into spring training as non-roster invitees. Regardless, you never can have enough quality options out of the bullpen.
So does president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski expect to make a move? He shed some light on his thought process on ESPN’s Buster Olney’s podcast.
“I don’t really (expect to make a move),” Dombrowski said. “I would gather that if we did anything they would be bullpen-oriented, that’s where we lost a couple guys, but we do like some of the people that we have in our ‘pen, some guys coming back. And I think the rest of the club is pretty well-stabilized, so I don’t really see where we would make any moves, so (the bullpen is) the one area where you keep an open mind to. I don’t anticipate a large expenditure there — I think it’d be more big league roster invites and see if they make the club — but of course you keep a pulse on everything taking place and if there was one area that would be it.”
Dombrowski has remained steadfast in that approach pretty much all winter, which is part of the reason a reunion with Kimbrel — who reportedly is seeking a lengthy, lucrative deal — seems unlikely.
For now, it appears Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier will duke it out in camp for the closer spot, with Tyler Thornburg being a possible outside candidate.
