Is the Search on for a New Closer?

 Joel Hanrahan was obtained from the Pittsburgh Pirates this past offseason to become the Red Sox closer.  On May 7^th, he was placed on the disabled list to undergo Tommy John surgery; and more than likely, his career with the Red Sox is over.  He was 0-1 with 4 saves and a 9.82 ERA in 9 games.

The Red Sox then decided that Andrew Bailey would be the closer, as he was obtained from the Oakland Athletics the previous season for that purpose.  Unfortunately, Bailey has struggled mightily with the Red Sox for the past two seasons.  Last year, he couldn’t stay healthy enough to build a rhythm in the closer roll, and Alfredo Aceves spent much the season as the Red Sox’s closer.  This season, he’s struggled to in the closer role.

While Bailey has 8 saves this season, he’s been struggling as of late.  In last night’s game Bailey came in after for the save Doubront pitched a tremendous 8 innings of shutout ball (and, in my opinion, should have closed out the game since he was still only at 93 pitches and had retired 17 in a row).  It was a 1-0 ballgame, and Bailey gave up a home run to Kelly Johnson.  The Red Sox won 3-1 thanks to a 2-run home run by Jonny Gomes in the bottom of the 9^th inning.  Bailey earned the blown save and the win.

The last week, Bailey has given up 2 of his 5 home runs.  If you recall Saturday’s game against the Orioles, the Red Sox had a 5-2 lead heading into the 9^th inning.  Bailey gave up 3 hits, 2 earned runs, and 1 home run in his outing, having the Red Sox win 5-4.  I don’t know if this is a mechanics issue, an injury issue, or a confidence issue for Bailey, but the Red Sox need an effective closer.  Someone needs to figure it out though, and decisions need to be made.

The AL East is a tight race.  The Red Sox are 2.5 games up on the Orioles, but only 8.5 games separate the first place Red Sox from the last place Blue Jays. 

Pitching has been an issue for the Red Sox (Lester’s ineffectiveness, Buchholz’s injuries, hit-and-miss starts from Dempster and Doubront).  When a pitcher like Doubront has the pitching game of his career thus far (like last night), you would hope your closer could come in and get the save without issues.  Bailey has not been doing this.

So, back to the title of this post: Is the search on for a new closer?  There have been some rumblings that the Red Sox are looking for a closer before the trade deadline, which is about a month and a half away.  If the Red Sox were to acquire a new closer, Bailey could be moved back to set-up or middle-relief, where he was pitching before Hanrahan’s injury.  Or, Bailey could be included in a trade.

There are rumors that the Phillies will make Papelbon available, but will the Red Sox bite at this?  Papelbon ran his mouth a little too much for my liking last season, but he attempted to redeem himself this year by saying how much he enjoys pitching from the mound at Fenway.  There are reports that three teams may be interested in Papelbon- the Red Sox, Tigers, and Cardinals, and the Phillies are supposedly scouting the three teams. 

If Papelbon is made available, it would make sense that the Red Sox would at least show interest in him.  He has 271 saves in his career, and 219 of those saves are with the Red Sox.  He is the all-time saves leader for the Red Sox.  He had a 2.33 ERA for the Red Sox (and currently has a 1.69 ERA this season).

Would Papelbon return?  I’m not sure.  Like I mentioned before, he did have some negative comments about the Red Sox before, but he’s recently said good things about pitching in Boston .  Papelbon’s a confusing guy, we all know this.  But, maybe reuniting with John Farrell and the Red Sox would be a good thing.

The Red Sox have other options besides making a trade for Papelbon.  They could use someone internally, like Tazawa, Uehara, or Aceves in the closer role.  They could also go after another, lesser known trade candidate.  Teams aren’t lining up at the moment saying they’re out of the playoff running at the moment, so trade targets aren’t prominent.

The Red Sox are currently 44-29, not a bad record to have at this point in the season.  They have the best record in the American League.  All I’m saying is if the Red Sox want to continue to play well, an effective closer is needed.  Farrell has options for now in his bullpen, but a professional closer might be on the Red Sox’s wish list by the trade deadline.

As you may have noticed, I didn’t post on Monday.  Monday, my family and I had to put down one of our family dogs, Sophie.  Sophie (and her brother Snooker) had been a member of our family for over 16 years, and she was such a wonderful dog.  I hope everyone will understand that I really wasn’t up to blogging on Monday.