Will Middlebrooks Sees This As Potential Signature Addition For Red Sox

Sox Talk with Will Middlebrooks is a recurring content series on NESN.com. Middlebrooks, a former Red Sox player, and current NESN analyst gives his insight and opinion on pertinent Red Sox storylines throughout the season. You can read the latest stories from the series here.

The Boston Red Sox aren’t going to fix all of their bullpen issues, which plagued the second half of their season, with just one move.

But going out and signing Tanner Scott certainly would solve plenty of problems.

Scott turned into one of the premier relievers in baseball this year and was named an All-Star for the first time in his career. He was linked to the Red Sox at the trade deadline, but the Miami Marlins ended up sending the 30-year-old southpaw to the San Diego Padres. Boston missed out on an opportunity then, but still has a chance to get Scott in a Red Sox uniform as he’s set to his free agency.

And adding Scott to a Boston bullpen in need of major renovations is an easy move to get behind for Red Sox 2013 World Series champion and NESN analyst Will Middlebrooks.

“I would love that. For the bullpen, absolutely,” Middlebrooks told NESN.com. “He’s phenomenal. He was great in Miami, obviously he’s in San Diego now. … He was probably the most important piece added to San Diego and to that bullpen that I think is best built for a postseason run.”

Scott dazzled for a second straight season after an average first six years of his career. He posted a sterling 1.75 ERA in 2024 with a career-high 22 saves to go along with a 1.125 WHIP and 84 strikeouts in 72 innings.

The Red Sox need that type of shutdown arm — it’s a plus Scott is left-handed, too — in the back-end of the bullpen, especially due to their woes in that department. Boston recorded the second-most blown saves in MLB with 31 and led all teams in blown saves following the All-Star break with 18.

That left a sour taste for the Red Sox thinking about what could have been and with Scott, things could be different next season. Red Sox manager Alex Cora could deploy him as a closer or a high-leverage reliever in the later innings.

That versatility would serve a Boston bullpen well that could look much different in 2025. Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin are ticketed for free agency — Middlebrooks would like to see Boston re-sign Martin — and Liam Hendriks is expected to contribute after missing this entire season as he recovered from Tommy John surgery.

“(Scott) can give you anything from like a seventh-inning leverage arm or he can be a closer,” Middlebrooks said. “Flexibility, being able to pitch in different roles, especially once the postseason gets here (is important). I’m not getting ahead of myself with this Red Sox team for next year, but you get to important games in September. The Red Sox were playing important games in August this year trying to stay alive. They played up until the last week of the season where games did matter — they weren’t mathematically eliminated.

“But how many games did they blow, where you’re looking back saying, ‘Man, if they just played .500 baseball, had they not blown even half of those games in the second half, they would have had a chance at the postseason.'”

Scott could very well be the missing piece to the Red Sox bullpen and prevent any what-if thinking from happening next season.