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Boston Red Sox: Why Joe Kelly should become team’s next closer

By Oliver Gold

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Joe Kelly #56 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates after retiring the side during the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: Joe Kelly #56 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates after retiring the side during the eighth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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The Boston Red Sox bullpen may look very different next season, as Craig Kimbrel, Nathan Eovaldi, and Joe Kelly will all be free agents. Kelly should be the team’s next closer.

The Boston Red Sox bullpen was outstanding during the team’s 2018 World Series championship run.

After many people were very critical of the team’s bullpen heading into the postseason, relief pitchers were 4-2 over the postseason with a 3.43 ERA in 63 innings pitched. Without including Brandon Workman, who was terrible during the postseason as he gave up five earned runs over just one inning, the team’s ERA was 2.76. Joe Kelly, Nathan Eovaldi, Matt Barnes, and Ryan Brasier were tremendous over the postseason, as each of their ERAs were 1.04 or less.

Craig Kimbrel, however, was not so great. Although he converted on all six of his saves, his ERA was an ugly 5.91 and his WHIP was 1.59. Kimbrel seemed to make every game close at the end and he was not nearly as reliable as he was during the regular season.

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During the regular season, the Red Sox bullpen had a 3.72 ERA. Kimbrel had a tremendous year as he had a 2.74 ERA while converting on 42 of 47 saves.

This will be a very big offseason for the Red Sox bullpen. Kimbrel, Eovaldi, and Kelly are all set to become free agents. Carson Smith has already elected free agency after being outrighted, but Tyler Thornburg could have a chance to contribute to the Red Sox bullpen next year.

Time to say goodbye to Kimbrel

Craig Kimbrel has been fantastic during the regular season during his time with the Red Sox. Over his first three seasons with Boston, the right-hander is 12-7 with a 2.44 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP and has converted on 108 of 119 saves over 184.1 innings.

However, over the postseason, Kimbrel has not been nearly as effective. Kimbrel has a 5.14 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP over his career with the Red Sox.

Kimbrel will be a free agent this summer, and will likely ask for a big deal after seeing some of the deals other relievers have gotten recently. Wade Davis and Aroldis Chapman have both signed multi-year contracts over $17 million per season recently, and their numbers are similar to Kimbrel’s.

The Boston Red Sox have a lot of contracts that will be expiring soon that are much more important to the team. Chris Sale, Xander Bogaerts, and Rick Porcello will all be free agents after next season while Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., and J.D. Martinez (if he opts out) will all be free agents after the 2020 season.

Extending these players will require a lot of money and it will be much tougher to extend all of them if Kimbrel is signed to a big contract. Many think that Betts will be signed to an extension this winter and is the team’s main focus.

Kimbrel’s demand will almost certainly exceed $15 million per season, and the Boston Red Sox would be silly to give it to him based off his postseason success.

Next Red Sox closer?

The question now becomes who the next Boston Red Sox closer will be, as Kimbrel took over for Koji Uehara in 2015, who was also a fantastic closer for the Red Sox.

The clear answer here is Joe Kelly. The hard-throwing righty has the velocity to be a closer on his fastball and also has a superb slider that would be very effective as a closer. Kelly had a terrific start to the season but struggled during the middle of the season. He finished the season with a 4.39 ERA despite having a 3.09 ERA in April, a 0.63 ERA in May, and a 1.42 ERA in August.

Kelly had a great year in 2017, as he went 4-1 with a 2.79 ERA in his first season as a full-time reliever. The right-hander was terrific during this year’s postseason as he went 2-1 with a 0.79 ERA and had 13 strikeouts over 11.1 innings.

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Kelly’s contract demand won’t be nearly as much as Kimbrel’s. If the Red Sox are able to resign Eovaldi as well, it is unclear whether he’ll serve as a starter or reliever. The Red Sox will need a guy to rely on daily in the ninth inning, and Kelly can be that guy.

Even if Kimbrel leaves, with Hembree, Brasier, Barnes, and Kelly all still in the bullpen, the Boston Red Sox will continue to have one of the better bullpens in baseball.

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