Eventually -- honest! -- the current labor mess will get sorted out, and the winter of discontent will end. Major League Baseball will find a solution, agree on a new collective bargaining agreement and get back to the business of getting ready for the 2022 season.
When we last heard from Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, mere minutes before the lockout was instituted, he cited finding a righthanded bat and improving the club's bullpen options among his biggest remaining priorities.
Obviously, nothing's changed since then. Teams are forbidden to so much as discuss major league players, much less trade or sign them. And a sizable hole remains in the pen.
For now, the Sox have Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, Josh Taylor, Darwinzon Hernandez, Austin Davis and Hirokazu Sawamura in line to return as relievers, with the roles of Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck still undefined. It's possible one or both could serve as multi-inning relievers in 2022, or one or both could graduate to the starting rotation.
But what's clear is that the Sox have a need for at least two experienced high leverage relievers, preferably including one who with some closing experience. Barnes filled that role well for the first three and a half months in 2021 (2.61 ERA, .0895 WHIP, but post-All Star break, it was a vastly different story (6.48 ERA, 1.620 WHIP).
Barnes recently told the Boston Globe that he was encouraged by some work he did last October to fix things.
"We had a really good base, felt like we made some good strides, especially at the end, on stuff to carry over into next year,'' said Barnes. "We'll be back and ready to go, for sure.''
Barnes is entitled to his optimism, and chances are, he will turn things around. But the Sox can't go into spring training with him as their lone closing option.
There's still help available on the free agent market, though not everyone has handled the ninth inning before.
Kenley Jansen is the best reliever still unsigned, and he bounced back nicely from a couple of sub-par seasons to post a 2.22 ERA and a 1.043 WHIP. But Jansen is 34, is probably looking for a big, multi-year deal and has some troubling injury history. He hardly sounds whose profile would interest Bloom. The Sox are not about to get into a bidding war in order to pay a closer an eight-figure annual salary.
Here are some potential targets for the Sox:
1) Ryan Tepera. Tepera would be a nice power arm for the late innings, though he has just 12 saves across seven major league seasons. Last year, splitting time between both Chicago teams, Tepera pitched to a 2.79 ERA with a career-best ,0880 WHIP while averaging 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings. If Barnes can reclaim his closer's role, Tepera would be the perfect eighth-inning option. If Barnes remains in a set-up capacity, Tepera could join him to provide depth at that spot.
2) Andrew Chafin. In Dave Dombrowski's final season at helm in Boston, the Red Sox were engaged with the Arizona Diamondbacks at the trade deadline on a deal for the lefty. It never materialized. But Chafin has continued to pitch well in a variety of stops, splitting the 2021 season between the Cubs and Oakland A's. Like Tepera, Chafin has virtually no closing experience -- though he did post a career high in saves last year with five -- and the fact that he's lefthanded is less than ideal. With Taylor, Hernandez and Davis, the Sox already have three lefties on their roster. Still, a quality arm is a quality arm and Chafin has compiled a 1.021 WHIP over the last two seasons.
3) Collin McHugh. Technically, McHugh was a member of the 2020 Red Sox -- for a time, at least -- though he never appeared in a game for them. At the time, he was coming off a flexor strain injury from the year before and wasn't ready to contribute when the 2020 season got underway. After suffering a setback in his rehab, McHugh ultimately decided to opt-out of the 2020 season. He then signed with Tampa Bay and pitched brilliantly for them in 2021, appearing in 37 games and posting a 1.55 ERA over 64 innings. McHugh did a little bit of everything for the Rays, from serving as an opener to providing multiple innings to closing out games. If the Sox are intent on having either Whitlock or Houck move to the rotation, McHugh would make for the perfect replacement.
4) RIchard Rodriguez. Rodriguez was surprisingly non-tendered by the Braves last fall after being acquired at the trade deadline from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Looking for a guy with some significant closing experience? Look no further -- Rodriguez saved 14 games for the Pirates before being dealt. He's also compiled a 1.088 WHIP over the last four seasons.