Hot Stove Lunch: Relievers starting to come off the board for Red Sox

Slowly but surely, the reliever market is starting to show signs of movement.

Late last week, Joe Kelly got a three-year deal with the Dodgers and Jeurys Familia got the same with the Mets. On Thursday, Joakim Soria agreed to a two-year deal with the A's and Andrew Miller was said to nearing a multi-year agreement with the Cardinals.

This type of activity on the free agent market isn't unusual for late December: players and agents see the holidays about to arrive and knowing that the industry effectively shuts down between Christmas and the New Year, many want to get a deal done now.

It wouldn't be a surprise for a few more deals to get done between now and the end of the weekend.

So where does all of this leave the Red Sox? There are plenty of options still on the market. including David Robertson, Zach Britton, Kelvin Herrera, Cody Allen and, of course, Craig Kimbrel remains.

But they're starting to dwindle, and the with the Red Sox making it clear they're not interested in committing big dollars to a reliever, their choices may be somewhat restricted. Certainly, Britton would appear too pricey for them. Robertson remains on the Red Sox' radar, and vice versa, given his home in Rhode Island.

Some still believe that the door has not been shut on a reunion between Kimbrel and the Red Sox. Jon Heyman reported Thursday that Kimbrel had lowered his demands from $96 million to $86 million, but that's still way more than the Sox want to spend for a closer.

It's still possible that the Sox fill the closer's role internally with Ryan Brasier and Matt Barnes as in-house options. But at some point, the Sox are going to need experienced relievers to fill out the staff.

Maybe the Sox are waiting to see what Kimbrel does before committing themselves elsewhere. And there's no evidence that Kimbrel is nearing a deal anywhere; if that were true, why did he just lower his asking price?

Still, that sound you hear is the clock ticking. And the choices narrowing for the Red Sox.

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