Marlins All-Star Hurler Listed As Available; Red Sox Should Prepare Offer

Boston's bullpen is in need of reinforcements

May 22, 2018; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; A general view of Boston Red Sox hats and gloves laying in the dugout at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports / Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Red Sox could be adding bullpen depth to their list of needs before July 30.

Boston has blown one save after another in its four games since the All-Star break, leading to four consecutive losses for Alex Cora’s ball club. 

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has of late been tasked with filling two holes -- a starter and a righty bat -- but now Boston’s needs appear more dire and numerous than before.

Will a faltering Red Sox bullpen tip the scales in Breslow’s mind and weaken his buyer’s aggression? It’s more likely that Breslow has already committed to adding, and while he’s out shopping, he may want to give the Miami Marlins a ring.

Miami’s veteran reliever Tanner Scott is one of the 20 best players most likely to be moved by the deadline, according to a new report from The Athletic’s Tim Britton and Aaron Gleeman.

Scott has been one of the best late-inning arms in baseball over the past season and a half. His presence in Boston’s bullpen would do much to ease Kenley Jansen’s late-game workload.

“By FanGraphs’ WAR, the best reliever in baseball since the start of the 2023 season?” Britton and Gleeman said on Monday. “That would be Tanner Scott, with an ERA hovering around 2.00 in that time and a strikeout rate approaching one-third of opposing hitters.”

Scott, who just turned 30 on June 22, made his first All-Star team this season thanks to a stellar first half in which he compiled a 1.34 ERA and 27.6 strikeout percentage for the Marlins.

Scott becomes a free agent after the season, which means that adding him would be a low-risk, high-reward scenario for Breslow.

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