Red Sox trade pitch ships 7-time All-Star to AL East rival
The Red Sox have not played well since trading away Rafael Devers. Despite Craig Breslow's desire to add at the trade deadline, if they are too far out of the postseason picture, they may have no choice but to trade away some assets. One of the players they could move is Aroldis Chapman.
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Chapman will be a free agent after this season. The 37-year-old is having one of his best seasons, and many contenders would happily add him to their bullpen. FanSided's Christopher Kline suggested the Toronto Blue Jays trade for Chapman to pass the Yankees in the American League East.
"Toronto's bullpen is a decidedly mixed bag right now," wrote Kline. "Jeff Hoffman began the season on a heater, but has since regressed to well below his career standards. His cumulative impact will probably land somewhere in the middle of the two extremes, but Hoffman's 4.84 ERA does not exactly peg him as a lights-out closer. The Blue Jays could use another late-relief heavyweight to ease the pressure on Hoffman. Look no further than their division rivals in Boston. If the Red Sox keep slipping out of contention, there's no reason not to trade a 37-year-old Aroldis Chapman midway through a one-year contract."
Chapman is a seven-time All-Star, two-time World Series champion and former Mariano Rivera American League Reliever of the Year. He has a 1.32 ERA in 37 games. He has notched 14 saves with just one blown opportunity.
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The Red Sox have no use for a shutdown closer if they are out of contention. However, Breslow may simply not trade him to ensure his team continues to at least fight to make the postseason.
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USA Today
16 minutes ago
- USA Today
Is Tigers' bullpen good enough for World Series run? These stats say yes
Many of the Detroit Tigers' greatest teams have featured tremendous relief corps. The 1968 World Series-winning Tigers got a 2.26 ERA from their relievers – the second-best bullpen ERA in franchise history (at least since ERA became an official stat in 1913) and tops in the American League that season – behind a 1.49 mark from second-year swingman Pat Dobson in 60⅓ innings and a 2.32 ERA from John Hiller (in 50⅓ innings). Even lefty ace Mickey Lolich got into the act, with a 1.59 ERA in 17 innings over seven relief appearances. The 1984 World Series-winning Tigers likewise led the AL with their 2.74 ERA (fourth-best in franchise history) behind, of course, left-hander Willie Hernandez (1.92 ERA in 140⅓ innings en route to the AL Cy Young Award) and right-hander Aurelio López (2.94 ERA in 137⅔ innings). Even the 2006 Tigers, who made the World Series with a frisky 3.55 bullpen ERA – second in the AL that year – behind rookie Joel Zumaya's electric 1.94 ERA in 80⅓ innings, could point to the 'pen as a strength. And then you have the 2025 Tigers. TWO OF A KIND: Best thing about Detroit Tigers' closers? Kyle Finnegan, Will Vest put team first Look, there are still 36 games left this season to change the narrative, starting with the Tigers' game against the Houston Astros on Monday, Aug. 18. But the bullpen has been, well … <'Not Great – at least by ERA. Despite a nearly flawless road trip, Tigers relievers enter those final 36 games with a 4.04 ERA, good for 17th out of 30 MLB teams. That's still ahead of four likely postseason contenders: the Toronto Blue Jays (18th at 4.07), the LA Dodgers (20th, at 4.19), the New York Yankees (21st at 4.21) and the Philadelphia Phillies (22nd at 4.23 – a Dave Dombrowski bullpen ranking in the bottom 10? I'm shocked!). But it's not exactly reassuring, either. Potential ALDS (or wild-card round) opponent Boston (third overall, at 3.44), Seattle (seventh, at 3.66) and Houston (10th, at 3.75) all loom in MLB's top 10 for bullpen ERA. So, you might ask: Is the Tigers' bullpen strong enough to make a World Series run? Again, there are still plenty of games to play, and plenty of chances for the Tigers to clean up their statistical résumé before the postseason. After all, when I started compiling the numbers for this piece, before the Tigers' loss to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday, Aug. 12, the Tigers bullpen had a 4.16 ERA, which ranked 19th. At the end of that game, after Tigers relievers allowed three earned runs in 3⅔ innings (did we mention 'P. U.?'), that ERA was up to 4.18 – still 19th in MLB, imperceptibly ahead of Miami's 4.18 by a lone extra out. But since then? Eight Tigers relievers have appeared and not allowed an earned run, over a 16-inning span, to drop the Tigers' bullpen ERA to 4.04. (Left-hander Tyler Holton is the only Tigers reliever to allow a run at all since Tuesday; it scored on his own catching error in the win over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday, Aug. 16.) That ERA is still in the bottom half of the majors – the league average for relievers is 4.09 after Sunday's games – but still more than a tenth of a run better than it was, and much closer to No. 16 Cincinnati (3.96) than still-No. 19 Miami (4.13). The answer to the Tigers' bullpen issues is clear: They should hire me to write about said relievers full-time. But barring that … well, Tigers relievers are probably going to give up runs again sometime this season, and probably in bunches. This is the nature of baseball: Even the greatest bullpen in MLB's wild-card era – the 2003 LA Dodgers, led by closer, French-Canadian and eventual National League Cy Young winner Eric Gagné – got shelled at times. Those Dodgers posted a 2.46 bullpen ERA over the full season, but had a bullpen ERA (3.55) more than a run higher over their final 36 games. (Well, not Gagné – his ERA over the final 36 was 0.00; he gave up his final earned run that season in Game 125, on Aug. 20, then made 15 more appearances.) Of course, those Dodgers didn't even make the postseason; they finished seventh in an NL that only sent four teams to the playoffs at the time. The Tigers, meanwhile, seem all but incapable of missing the postseason, with playoff odds that range from 98.5%-99.6%. We can argue, thus, that theirs is a bullpen strong enough, at least, for postseason play. But is it strong enough to carry them into the World Series – and perhaps to the franchise's first title since 1984? We won't go back that far, but let's check out how they compare to the previous 20 World Series champs and runners-up – 40 pennant winners in all – in three key categories. (All stats through Sunday's games.) ERA? Not great! The Tigers' 4.04 bullpen ERA is well off the average ERA of our 40 pennant winners, which came in at 3.65. Series winners averaged a 3.61 bullpen ERA, while series losers averaged a 3.69 ERA. Even within their own seasons, pennant winners tended to have top-10 bullpens; their average rank was 10.2 – another knock on the No. 17 Tigers. Of course, within any group there will always be outliers – the ones that make you feel a bit better about the Tigers' chances – and that's certainly true here. While the Tigers' 4.04 mark would be better than just four of the past 20 World Series winners, one such team they have the edge on should be fairly easy to remember: The 2023 Texas Rangers, who took a gaudy 4.77 ERA (24th that season) into the postseason before riding a hot offense and a marginally improved bullpen (4.08 postseason ERA) to a crown. Of course, they also faced one of the worst bullpens from a World Series loser, as the Arizona Diamondbacks took a 4.22 bullpen ERA into the playoffs. Two other Series winners should be pretty familiar to at least one Tiger: Manager A.J. Hinch, who won the 2017 World Series with the Astros despite the third-worst bullpen ERA of the past 20 champs. Those 'Stros had a 4.27 mark which ranked 17th that season, far worse than their opponent in the Series, the Dodgers, at 3.38 and fourth in the majors. Then there was Hinch's final season in Houston, which ended with a loss to the worst pennant-winning bullpen of the past 20 seasons: The 2019 Washington Nationals, who in 500⅔ innings had a 5.68 ERA – ranking 29th, half a run worse than No. 28 Colorado. If your pitchers are worse than the Rockies' crew in any season, you've really hit a new low. And yet, in the World Series, the Nats bullpen got it to a manageable 4.03 ERA to take the Series in seven games. Actually, those Nats had the worst championship bullpen – ever. That 5.68 regular-season ERA was more than half a run worse than the next worse squad, the 1987 Twins (5.11). (The '87 Twins, of course, used just four relievers in the ALCS – accounting for a 2.25 ERA over 16 innings – to beat the Tigers en route to their Series win.) Other notably woeful Series winning bullpens: The 1935 Tigers, who had a 4.04 ERA (though that ranked fifth among 16 teams) ahead of the franchise's first World Series title, and the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, whose bullpen had a 4.06 ERA (14th in the majors) during the regular season then posted a 1.00 ERA in nine innings of a five-game World Series victory over the Tigers. Then again, ERA isn't always the greatest measure of bullpen production. There's also … Save percentage? Getting better! A run given up by a reliever in the sixth inning of a blowout loss can mean a lot less than one by a closer in the ninth inning of a nail-biter. The good news for the Tigers: They've been among MLB's best this season at closing the door on close wins, once they get the lead. Tigers relievers have converted 68% (34-for-50) of save situations, sixth out of 30 teams in 2025. That mark would put the Tigers 25th among our 40 pennant winners, whose average save percentage was 69.2%. But just two of the past eight World Series winners have had a better save percentage – the 2022 Astros, at 76.8% and the 2018 Red Sox, at 69.7%. And, of course, both the Tigers' 2006 and '12 Series losers had better save percentages than the current iteration: The '06 Tigers entered the postseason having converted 74.2% of their save chances, only to lose to a Cards team at 66.7%, while the '12 Tigers hit the playoffs at 71.4% before falling to the 2012 Giants at 79.1%. Those closers are the stars, though. They (generally) can't get their saves if the guys in the middle didn't pick up the starters (and their fellow relievers) beforehand. And so we have one final stat to examine. Celebrate 125 seasons of the Tigers with our new book! Odds and evens Mark your calendars Closing time Inherited runners? Lock 'em down! The entire goal of pitching, of course, is to prevent runs, and that includes the ones on base when relievers enter. And by one measure, the Tigers are among MLB's best; just 27.4% of Tigers relievers' inherited runners – 52 of 190 – have scored in 2025, good for sixth in the majors, and well under the league average of 31.6%. (Your top Tiger at not allowing runners to score, among the seven with at least 10 inherited runners? Right-hander Tommy Kahnle, at just two of 20.) That 27.4% is better than each of the past nine World Series winners – including, you could probably guess, the woeful 2019 Nationals relievers, who allowed 41.6% of inherited runners to score in the regular season, then just two of nine (22.2%) in the Series against the 'Stros (sorry, A.J.) – while all 20 Series winners averaged 30%. Of note in our 40-pennant group: Both the Tigers' 2006 and '12 Series losers had worse inherited-runner-score percentages than the current iteration, with the '06 Tigers checking in at a 37.4% that's second-worst among all 40. The '12 squad, meanwhile, hit the postseason at 31.1% and then allowed just two of nine inherited runners to score in their four-game sweep by the Giants. All of which brings us back to our big question: Is the Tigers' bullpen good enough for the World Series? Well, we probably don't know right now – and we might not know until November, either.
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Game 127: Orioles at Red Sox lineups and notes
Tomoyuki Sugano will start for Baltimore. The righthander's presence could mean that Advertisement The left-handed batter made his Sox debut as a pinch hitter Monday night, drawing a walk in the ninth inning and scoring a run. Manager Alex Cora said the veteran will be used as part of a platoon with Abraham Toro. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'He's excited to be here,' said Cora. 'We'll use him against righties, certain lefties, pinch-hit him late, and use him to maximize the roster.' Here is a preview. Lineups ORIOLES (58-67): TBA Pitching: RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (10-5, 4.13 ERA) RED SOX (68-58): TBA Pitching: RHP Walker Buehler (7-7, 5.43 ERA) Time: 7:10 p.m. TV, radio: NESN, WEEI-FM 93.7 Orioles vs. Buehler: Dylan Carlson 3-5, Colton Cowser 1-3, Gunnar Henderson 1-4, Jackson Holliday 0-5, Adley Rutschman 0-5 Advertisement Red Sox vs. Sugano: Nathaniel Lowe 1-3 Stat of the day: Baltimore's 3.89 ERA is the American League's fourth-best since the All-Star break. Before the break, its 4.92 ERA ranked next-to-last. Notes: The Red Sox have recorded 59 quality starts, second most in MLB behind the Phillies (68). … Jarren Duran has 22 extra base hits and 30 RBI in his last 36 games, batting .294 with a .991 OPS in that span. … Buehler is 1-1 with a 2.16 ERA in three career starts against Baltimore, Follow Andrew Mahoney
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Red Sox Make Expensive Bet On Roman Anthony Becoming One Of MLB's Best
Before you even take the Boston Red Sox 2025 strong team performance into account, that has them sitting comfortably in wild card position in the American League, it's been an incredibly eventful season in Beantown. Franchise icon Rafael Devers - gone, to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for little more than salary relief, in terms of how it affects the present major league unit. Large sums of money have been committed to not one, but two youngsters in Kristian Campbell and Roman Anthony, with the former already dispatched to Triple-A due to significant struggles against major league pitching. When you think about it, it is kind of amazing that the club is sitting as pretty as it is despite the turmoil. Anthony, 21, has been a big part of the excitement since his arrival in the majors earlier this season. The club's 2nd round pick in the 2022 draft, Anthony was a dominant performer throughout his minor league tenure. Each season I prepare a list of top minor league position player prospects based on performance relative to league and level, adjusted for age. It's purely statistically based, and has no adjustments for position or ball park. I always recommend that the rankings be taken with a grain of salt, and use them as more of a master follow list, a starting point from which other, more traditional evaluation methods can be used. Anthony ranked #8 and #5 on my 2023 and 2024 year-end rankings, and #17 on my 2025 midseason list. That's pretty heady stuff. I've been doing these rankings since 1993, and it's very rare for a player to average a Top Ten ranking per minor league season. It's actually a pretty good bellwether for future MLB excellence. And it better be, for the Red Sox sake, as they have locked up Anthony for eight years, with $130 million in guaranteed money. His deals peaks in 2033, when he is guaranteed $29.625 million. This is a whole different animal than the contracts signed by Campbell (eight years, $60 million guaranteed, peak salary of $16.25 million in 2032) and even Brewer standout Jackson Chourio (eight years, $82 million, peak salary of $17.25 million in 2031). Sure, the MLB salary structure stands to change quite a bit by the early 2030s, but guaranteeing nearly $30 million a season to a player with barely any MLB experience is quite a leap of faith. Let's evaluate Anthony both objectively - using batted ball data from his limited MLB experience - and subjectively, comparing him to the list of players who exhibited similar levels of minor league excellence. Anthony started his MLB career 2 of 27, and has since hit .308-.429-.467, with an overall line of .276-.398-.434 with a 134 wRC+ through Sunday's games. The lefthanded hitter has a pretty minimal platoon split at this early stage in his MLB career. That's a very good sign, as that has been a weeding-out factor for many top lefty bat prospects in the past. His K/BB profile is pretty decent for a 21-year-old. His 25.8% K rate is over a half standard deviation higher than league average, but that's acceptable given his excellent 14.8% BB rate, which is over two standard deviations higher than league average. Anthony crushes the baseball - his 94.5 mph average exit speed is over two standard deviations higher than league average, and his 98.1 mph average fly ball exit speed is also over two standard deviations higher. He hits his liners (98.7 mph average) and grounders (91.5 mph) hard as well - almost two standard deviations higher than league average on both counts. He does slightly exceed my threshold for extreme ground ball pulling, but given all of the other positives I'm not sweating it. This could act as a drag on his batting average if not addressed. His batted ball frequency profile evokes a young, Marlin version of Christian Yelich. His 5.7 degree average launch angle is almost two standard deviations lower than league average. His 28.9% fly ball rate is over a standard deviation lower, and his 52.6% grounder rate over a standard deviation higher than league average. His 0.7% pop up rate is almost nonexistent. I don't look at this as a bug - I look at as a feature, an opportunity. Once the fly balls come, and they will, watch out. All of that said, Anthony has been a bit fortunate thus far in his MLB career - he 'should be' hitting .242-.357-.410, with a 117 'Tru' Production+ that lags his wRC+ by a bit. The Yelich comp is a solid one here - with Anthony possessing a lower floor but a higher ceiling than the former MVP that is still going strong in his mid-thirties. About those players who had similar rankings on my minor league lists……here are the guys who averaged a Top Ten ranking over three minor league seasons: - James Wood (actually ranked 10.3, but I bent the rules to let him in) - Yordan Alvarez - Eloy Jimenez - Carlos Correa - Freddie Freeman - Giancarlo Stanton - Jay Bruce - Billy Butler - Adrian Beltre And here's some guys who averaged a Top Ten ranking but blew through the minors in two seasons: - Jackson Holliday - Wander Franco - Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. - Ronald Acuna - Kyle Schwarber - Mookie Betts - Miles Head - Mike Trout - Jason Heyward - Evan Longoria - Pat Burrell - Andruw Jones - Vladimir Guerrero - Alex Rodriguez (#1 in both 1994 and 1995) Pretty impressive group. You might be wondering who exactly is Miles Head? He was an unathletic, bat-only Athletics' prospect who ranked #12 in 2011 and #7 in 2012. Nice to see Vladdy father and son both in this exclusive club. Looking at the former group, the one to which Anthony belongs, it gives you some idea as to both the upside and the risk of Anthony's contract. Locking up the first eight seasons of Adrian Beltre/Freddie Freeman/Carlos Delgado/Giancarlo Stanton's contract with an Anthony-esque deal would be a clear winner for the Bosox. But even, Alvarez and Correa have had blips that give some cause for concern. Jay Bruce is an interesting one - he was a power-before-hit guy, like Anthony might be if things don't go optimally, and started to run out of steam right about the time he would be guaranteed the biggest money in Anthony's deal. Butler was an unathletic, bat-only guy - I don't see Anthony as a legit comp. Eloy Jimenez is a scary name - like Anthony and Yelich, he was a low launch-angle guy - but his lack of complementary skills and poor plate discipline explain his poor development. Normally, I love these early 'lock him up' deals from the team perspective, but the calculus has begun to change. 'Great player/prospect at affordable dollars' contracts, like the Braves' Acuna/Albies deals are becoming rarer. The players signing them are either getting less great or getting more dollars, or both. Anthony is a really good player/prospect getting big dollars. (Campbell isn't as great, and is getting way less money, and Chourio is great, and getting way less money.) As a Red Sox fan, I'd be happy - Anthony is a really good player/prospect, and will be on the home team for a good long while, in part thanks to the departure of Devers. The Sox invested their savings promptly in a homegrown stud. But the risk here must be acknowledged - even the best prospects aren't sure things, and as good as Anthony is, there been have prospects of his caliber that have fallen short of expectations. And the money is real - if Anthony develops a la Yelich, no one is complaining. If it's more of a Jay Bruce arc, I guess that's OK, too. But Jackson Holliday was arguably even more highly regarded as a minor leaguer than Anthony - how would you feel about a future $30 million salary commitment in the early 2030s if you were an Oriole fan, even with his 2025 improvement? The cost of an unlikely Anthony washout would not be nominal, as it would have been for most of the other young players signing so early in their respective careers.
