The Boston Pink Sox haven’t absolutely satisfied Main League Baseball insiders of their commerce deadline state of affairs this season. Whereas they’re 7.5 video games again within the American League East divisional race, they’re within the Wild Card race and will play themselves into the second spot.
The truth that they may find yourself enjoying postseason baseball raises questions concerning their nearer. Will Kenley Jansen be in Boston all through the season or will he be traded?
Bob Nightengale of USA Right this moment thinks it’s a risk that he’s traded and it could possibly be to the Dodgers or one other AL East crew.
“It’s a risk for positive,” Nightengale advised Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain. “What hurts is that the Pink Sox are nonetheless within the race. They might wish to add. They’re nonetheless hanging round, so I’m unsure they’d commerce Jansen. Clearly the Dodgers would make plenty of sense, simply because they know him, they know what he can do, they know he can step up in crunch time. I’d assume a crew just like the Baltimore Orioles could be in on Jansen, too. They don’t wish to depend on Craig Kimbrel, they’d wish to have a more in-depth.”
Jansen is within the final 12 months of a two-year, $32 million cope with Boston, and at 36, he’s nonetheless among the best closers within the recreation. He has 17 saves this season for the Pink Sox with a 2.08 ERA and is averaging a little bit greater than a strikeout per inning.
A survey of 35 baseball executives confirmed Jansen because the third almost certainly reliever to be traded earlier than July 30, in line with The Athletic’s Jim Bowden.
Bowden wrote on June 26 that it was “laborious for me to imagine they’d commerce their nearer on the deadline. Nonetheless, rival execs jogged my memory there could possibly be a number of ‘purchaser to purchaser ’-type trades this 12 months and that Jansen could possibly be expendable in the correct swap.”
If the Pink Sox deal Jansen, they may need a starter in return and the Dodgers don’t have the depth to offer a reliable starter within the cope with so many on the injured record. If Boston is in placing distance for the playoffs then why would they wish to do away with their nearer?
Any questions will likely be answered over the subsequent few weeks.
Picture Credit score: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports activities
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