Red Sox Free Agent Target: $16 Million Lefty Reliever Would Shore Up Leaky Pen

Getty A.J. Minter

The Boston Red Sox fielded one of the worst bullpens in baseball last season, placing 24th of the 30 Major League teams in ERA, at 4.39. The Boston bullpen blew 31 saves, second most in MLB behind only the hapless Chicago White Sox, while overall the staff gave up 39 leads — tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for third-most overall.

The Boston bullpen allowed 79 percent of inherited runners to score, 11th-worst of the 30 teams.

Those numbers would have likely been worse if not for closer Kenley Jansen who blew only four saves in 31 opportunities. But Jansen completed his two-year contract with the Red Sox and at age 37 has shown no interest in returning to Boston.

Red Sox Need Bullpen Help, Badly

So it appears that the Red Sox will target bullpen help in the free agent market as the current offseason progresses. In fact, the team’s lone free agent signing as of Thanksgiving Day, 2024, has been a left-handed relief pitcher. The Red Sox signed 37-year-old former Cincinnati Reds hurler Justin Wilson on November 14.

Lefty relief was a particular problem for the Red Sox in 2024. Of the four left-handed relief pitchers who appeared in at least 10 games for the club, only Cam Booser — who had retired from professional baseball in 2017 and had never made a big league appearance before last season, posted an ERA under 4.00.

But baseball observers believe that the Red Sox are not finished yet with their quest to add more bullpen help, and especially help from the left side — and that they could target the Atlanta Braves veteran lefty A.J. Minter.

Minter’s Price Could be as Low as $5.4 Million Over 2 Years

Minter suffered an injury-plagued season in 2024, finally shutting down in August to undergo hip surgery. But when he was on the mound, he put up some of the best numbers of his eight-year career, all with the Braves who picked the native Texan in the second round of the 2015 draft out of Texas A&M University.

In just 34 1/3 innings, mostly in a middle relief role, Minter struck out 35 batters and allowed just a 2.62 ERA. That was the second-best ERA of his career for the six seasons in which he has pitched more than 25 innings. His 26.1 percent strikeout rate is above the Major League average of 22 percent, and his 28.4 percent swing-and-miss percentage is the best among available left free agent relievers.

Red Sox pitchers have struggled to miss bats. The staff’s 21.9 percent K percentage ranked 23rd overall last season. Boston head of baseball operations Craig Breslow has stated that getting more swings and misses is a priority in assembling the Red Sox staff going forward.

But how much would Minter cost the Red Sox as a free agent acquisition? He avoided arbitration last year, signing a $6.2 million contract with the Braves. The 31-year-old has also made public his desire to stay in Alanta. Nonetheless, the sports business site SpoTrac assigned him a suprisingly low market value. According to the site, Minter — due to his injury history — is worth no more than a two-year contract at a total price tag of $5.4 million.

Other baseball experts consider the SpoTrac valuation unreasonably low, and project Minter to cost around $16 million over a two-year contract.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. Vankin is also the author of five nonfiction books on a variety of topics, as well as nine graphic novels including most recently “Last of the Gladiators” published by Dynamite Entertainment. More about Jonathan Vankin