Elite Bullpen Arm Could Be Available, Are Red Sox A Fit?

The San Francisco Giants play in the best division in baseball, and they’re struggling.

They were 10 games over .500 when they acquired Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox and just two games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. As of Wednesday, they’re five games out of the National League Wild Card and nine games back in the division. With the trade deadline less than 48 hours away, they could look to sell pieces for future assets.

One of the pieces that teams are monitoring is closer Camilo Doval. Doval has 15 saves this season with a 3.15 ERA. He’s striking out 25.1% of the hitters he faces, while walking a shaky 12.88%

There’s no such thing as too much bullpen help, though, and there’s reason to believe the Red Sox might be interested.

Doval is in the mold of other pitchers the Red Sox have acquired since Craig Breslow took over the front office reins. Aroldis Chapman, Jordan Hicks and Jorge Alcala were all fireballers with control issues when they were acquired. The latter two are yet to fully put it together, but the Chapman signing is an overwhelming success so far.

Doval uses a slider/cutter combination to attack hitters. The slider is his most used pitch and sits around 89 mph. The cutter comprises about 40% of his offerings and averages 98 mph. He needs to throw more strikes, but the stuff is there.

On top of being in the mold of other Red Sox relief acquisitions, Doval has previously worked with pitching coach Andrew Bailey. The closer’s best two seasons both came under Bailey in 2022 and 2023. Doval posted a 2.73 ERA over 135 innings across those two seasons.

Where he fits in the Red Sox bullpen is a question. Chapman has the closer role held down, and Doval has primarily worked as a closer throughout his career. Fortunately, he’s performed well in non-save situations as well. His ERA is high at 4.26 in those situations, but he’s struck out more hitters and has a much lower WHIP.

Doval still has two years of control after 2025, so the Giants might not be tempted to sell. Still, he’s a high-leverage reliever worth monitoring until Thursday’s deadline.