Regina CarmichaelCould the Boston Red Sox start a bidding war between two National League West rivals for one of their more valuable trade assets at the July 30 deadline?
At 43-37, Boston appears to be closer to buying than selling this summer but there has been wide-reported interest in one of their impending free agents that could make Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow contemplate trading an asset away from the big-league roster.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman had an interesting note regarding the pitching market and noted that closer Kenley Jansen is drawing interest from some teams on the other side of the country.
“(Boston is) contending so a trade is no certainty now,” Heyman wrote regarding Jansen. “The (Los Angeles) Dodgers and (San Diego) Padres like him.”
Jansen has a 2.30 ERA with a 32-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .189 batting average against and a 1.06 WHIP in 27 1/3 innings this season. Most importantly, he’s converted 15 of 16 save opportunities.
It would make sense that just about every contender would have some level of interest in the four-time All-Star closer amid another very strong season.
With that said, the Red Sox are in position to add at the deadline and likely will retain Jansen, Tyler O’Neill, Nick Pivetta and Chris Martin should they remain in the American League Wild Card race in July.
Hopefully there will be a lot more talk about who Breslow could bring in versus who to shop in the coming weeks. That’s up to manager Alex Cora and his players to keep the momentum going.
