Relief market may take a while to sort out for Red Sox

LAS VEGAS -- A year ago, relief pitchers dominated the free-agent market in the early going.

While big names at other positions waited until January and February to secure deals, Brandon Morrow (two years, $21 million), Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee (each got three years, $27 million), Tommy Hunter (two years, $18 million) and Juan Nicasio (two years, $17 million) got multi-year deals done before Christmas.

This year, however, is a different story.



The market is flooded with some big-name relievers -- many with closing experience -- and yet few have been snatched up. Among those available: Zach Britton, Andrew Miller, Kelvin Herrera, David Robertson, Jeurys Familia, and, of course, Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly.

None has signed midway through the winter meetings, which may be a reaction to the fact many of the relievers who came off the board early last winter had poor seasons. Or it may reflect the glut of quality arms. Or, alternately, it could be because a number of those veterans have red flags attached to them because of physical issues.

Britton missed the first half of last season recovering from an Achilles injury. Miller battled shoulder and knee issues and posted the highest ERA since 2011. Herrera was shut down late in the season with a foot injury. And on and on the list goes.

"I think it's going to take a while for (the market) to sort itself out,'' said one major league evaluator.

That, in turn, could help the Red Sox.

Having sent a strong message Monday Boston isn't about to lay out the kind of long-term deal being sought by Kimbrel, the Red Sox are intent on filling their bullpen vacancies with shorter-term deals. And the longer it takes for the relief market to take shape, the better the chances of finding an inexpensive solution to their late-inning role.

Although some teams have splurged on a big deals for established closers (Wade Davis got three years, $51 million plus a fourth-year option; Aroldis Chapman got five years, $86 million; Kenley Jansen five years, $80 million), the prevailing philosophy across the industry is it's not a wise allocation of resources to pay $16 million or more annually to pitch 65-70 innings.

That's especially true, in an era when even the most elite teams frequently change course at closer over a season. In point of face, from 2011 through 2017, the vast majority of World Series champions ended the season with a different closer than the one which began the year.

(The 2018 Red Sox, with Kimbrel, were the exception. But even then, in their Series clinching game, the ninth-inning duties went to Chris Sale rather than Kimbrel).

The Red Sox have exhibited little panic over not yet having a proven ninth-inning man with which to defend their title. Both Dave Dombrowski and Alex Cora said Monday they would be entirely content with going to spring training without a definitive closer in place.

"I don't know where (the search) is going to take us,'' admitted Dombrowski. "We're just really exploring. I think we're in a good situation (with the rest of the roster) compared to most clubs. I don't feel like we have to rush into anything. We'll just sort of wait to see what happens and what's the best thing to do.''