Red Sox bullpen may not be a giant mess again in 2023

BOSTON -- We're still waiting for the "big" move of the offseason from the Boston Red Sox. But in terms of secondary signings, Wednesday's two-year pact with Kenley Jansen is a pretty good one.

The Red Sox bolstered the back end of their bullpen by bringing in the NL saves leader from last year. Jansen slammed the door on a Braves win 41 times last season. He saved 38 games for the Dodgers two years ago, and had at least 30 saves in eight of the last nine seasons. The only outlier was the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when Jansen notched 11 saves in 13 opportunities and earned the only World Series ring of his career.

The 35-year-old should provide stability to the end of the of a bullpen that had no stability in 2022. All the streetsweepers in Boston couldn't clean up the mess that was the 2022 Red Sox relief corps, a group that had fans reaching for antacids on a nightly basis.

Matt Barnes, who received a two-year extension worth $18.75 million after getting his first career All-Star nod in 2021, has been anything but an All-Star closer since the ink dried on that contract. His struggles led to him being left off the ALDS roster in 2021, and he never really regained his form until late in 2022. That threw everything through a loop and had the Red Sox continuously searching for a closer last season.

Basically, anyone who had an arm (it didn't even have to be a functioning arm) was given a shot at closing games. Some of those arms were on the big league roster. Some came from the minors. Others came from the scrap heap.

It was not a recipe for success. More times than not, the ninth inning left a horrible taste in everyone's mouth, as Boston relievers blew 29 saves during the season while posting a 4.59 ERA.

Garrett Whitlock was supposed to be a multi-inning ace-in-the-hole, but his season started with a blown save on opening day against the Yankees when he surrendered a solo homer to D.J. LeMahieu in the eighth inning. Boston blew another one-run lead in the bottom of the 10th when Jake Diekman and Ryan Brasier struggled to get outs, and the Yankees walked off with a win in the 11th.

A short time later, the Red Sox tried to turn Whitlock into a starter, which made the mess in the bullpen even worse.

There were a few fleeting success stories at least. Tanner Houck had some good moments as Boston's closer, notching eight saves in his nine chances, but a back injury ended his season early. John Schreiber scattered eight saves throughout the year to go with his 22 holds. And even Barnes finished eight saves to only two blown chances, though half of those saves came in September when the Red Sox were far out of the playoff picture.

Eleven different relievers blew saves for Boston in 2022, with Hansel Robles leading the charge with six. Matt Strahm had five to go with his four saves, and Brasier blew four. There were a lot of issues with the 84-loss Red Sox, and the bullpen was right at the top of the list.

So you can understand why Chaim Bloom has placed an early emphasis on the team's relief corps this offseason. In addition to adding Jansen, Boston has signed lefty Joely Rodriguez and reportedly added right-hander Chris Martin, making the group unquestionably stronger for 2023. Those additions will allow Houck, Schrieber, and Barnes to shift to earlier innings, or in Houck's case, into the rotation. The Red Sox can also continue to experiment with Whitlock as a starter, though he's always been much more valuable as a Swiss Army reliever.

Of course, the Red Sox will need to build leads in order for this revamped bullpen to be of any use. Bloom has yet to add a bat this offseason, with all of Boston patiently awaiting a resolution to the Xander Bogaerts situation.

The 2023 Red Sox may still have a bunch of question marks at this early point of the offseason. But after some solid pickups, the bullpen doesn't appear to be one of them anymore.