Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is approaching a point in time where he'll be tasked with exhausting all options in order to improve the club in the present without hampering the future of the organization.
Boston holds the third American League Wild Card spot entering play Thursday and is shaping up to be a team that could do some damage as injured players return -- most notably star first baseman Triston Casas.
Despite this, rumors surrounding their cluster of impending free agents continue to swirl as potential fits for other teams. The Athletic's Jim Bowden surveyed 35 executives on who they believe will be the best players available at the trade deadline.
Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow talks with media at George M. Steinbrenner Field
Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen came in at No. 3 for the reliever group -- where Bowden suggested a unique move that could result in the four-time All-Star heading elsewhere.
"If the season ended today, the Red Sox would make the playoffs as the American League’s third wild-card team, which makes it hard for me to believe they would trade their closer at the deadline," Bowden wrote Wednesday. "However, rival execs reminded me there could be several 'buyer-to-buyer' type trades this year and that Jansen could be expendable in the right swap. Jansen has logged a 2.30 ERA in 27 appearances this year with 15 saves in 16 opportunities. He’s an impending free agent."
The Red Sox using Jansen as trade bait to go out and acquire other areas of need -- most notably some back-end starting pitching -- would be an interesting approach to filling some needs on the roster while keeping the farm system intact.
Breslow has been adamant that he does not want to give up future wins for current wins, meaning he could be frugal with his prospect capital.
With that said, removing a closer with just one blown save on the season in an effort to improve the club would be far from wise.
As Breslow's predecessor Chaim Bloom would often say: You don't want to rob Peter to pay Paul. Creating a need in the back of the bullpen just to improve the starting staff would at most be a marginal gain.
After years of watching Bloom try to thread the buy-sell needle and fail, I'd imagine the 2024 front office will either go with a full buy or full sale approach, depending on the team's record as the July 30 deadline approaches.
