On paper, it appears the Red Sox bullpen is short on lefties.
Outside of closer Aroldis Chapman, the Red Sox currently have only two true left-handed relievers on their 40-man roster. One is Jovani Moran, who only appeared in two big league games last season and missed all of 2024 due to injury. The other is Tyler Samaniego, who was recently acquired from Pittsburgh in the Jhostynxon Garcia trade and has never pitched in the majors.
It’s a stark contrast from last season, when the Red Sox could call on Justin Wilson, Steven Matz, Brennan Bernardino or Chris Murphy at any given moment. Yet asked if the club expects to add any more southpaws before Opening Day, both chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and manager Alex Cora indicated they might not.
“We feel really good with the guys that we do have,” Breslow said. “We saw Jovani throw really well in Puerto Rico this winter and feel like there’s more he can accomplish as he’s fully healthy at this point. Bringing in Samaniego from Pittsburgh as a guy we had identified early on and targeted.”
Beyond having faith in Moran and Samaniego, Cora and Breslow also explained that as the game continues to evolve, traditional bullpen roles are changing too. That means re-thinking how bullpens are built and focusing more on each individual’s strengths versus only on whether they’re a lefty or righty.
“It’s not about lefties getting lefties out, it’s lefties getting righties out, and righties getting lefties out, because as soon as they bring in a lefty, what do we do? We pivot,” Cora said.
“We have right-handed relievers who are pretty effective at getting lefties out,” Breslow said. “Whether it’s (Garrett Whitlock), (Justin) Slaten, guys with repertoires that are pretty platoon neutral and have weapons versus both, it’s really easy to say we need left-handed relievers, what we need is relievers who can get left-handed hitters out.”
The numbers support Breslow’s point.
Though Whitlock dominated just about everyone, he was actually better against lefties than he was against righties. The standout set-up man held lefties to a .197 average and a .518 OPS on the season compared to .214 and .564 against righties.
The same was true for Slaten, Greg Weissert and Zack Kelly, all of whom performed better against lefties than against righties last year too.
As for the lefties, Moran has posted similar splits against both lefties and righties throughout his MLB career. And while Samaniego was better against lefties than righties in the minors last season, his numbers against righties were respectable, holding them to a .244 average and .683 OPS.
Given the relative lack of depth at the position, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Red Sox ultimately add a veteran option anyway. But one thing the Red Sox would prefer to avoid? Drawing from its wealth of young lefty starters, a group that includes Connelly Early, Payton Tolle, Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan.
“I believe the kids, they’re starters until they’re not,” Cora said. “Their upside is as starters so we’re going to develop them as starters.”
