Pirates Placing Closer On Trade Block; Will Red Sox Pursue All-Star At Deadline?

Boston reportedly is looking for backend bullpen help

Scott Neville | Jul 25, 2023

Pirates Placing Closer On Trade Block; Will Red Sox Pursue All-Star At Deadline? /

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The Boston Red Sox are seeking upgrades to their pitching staff. Why not kick the tires on acquiring the best reliever in Major League Baseball?

The Pittsburgh Pirates reportedly are shopping an elite, young and controllable closer -- an extremely rare occurrence.

"Pirates are telling teams they’d listen on All-Star closer David Bednar but the understanding is that he’d be difficult to move since he isn’t a free agent until 2027," the New York Post's Jon Heyman tweeted Monday. "The Pittsburgh native (another plus for the Bucs) has a 1.15 ERA."

The 28-year-old hurler has an insane and aforementioned 1.15 ERA this season with a 47-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .199 batting average against and 0.95 WHIP in 39 innings this season.

While he is on an unsustainable pace, the young star's career numbers aren't super far off. Bednar has a career 2.56 ERA with a 31.1% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate, .211 batting average against and 1.08 WHIP in 151 1/3 innings across 144 games.

The Red Sox reportedly have interest in a right-handed reliever at the trade deadline to pair with Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin and John Schreiber (being activated Tuesday) as the backend of the bullpen.

Admittedly, Bednar certainly will go for a higher asking price than the Red Sox would ideally be seeking but Bednar could be a lockdown reliever in Boston for years to come, possibly the next decade.

The odds of Bednar actually being dealt with three more full seasons of team control are unlikely, and the odds of Boston being seriously involved are even lower but he would alter the franchise's outlook for this season and beyond.

More MLB: Red Sox Linked To All-Star Caliber Pitcher In Potential Reunion At Trade Deadline

Published Jul 25, 2023

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu