Trade deadline comes and goes without Red Sox acquiring bullpen help

With acquisition of Ian Kinsler Monday night, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski stands pat on deadline day, says "asking price" for middle relief help was too rich.

BOSTON - The final perceived wish for the Red Sox into Tuesday afternoon’s non-waiver trade deadline went unfulfilled.

There was no additional bullpen help acquired by Boston to go along with three veterans in other positions. Second baseman Ian Kinsler was the final piece brought into the fold by president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski late Monday night, joining first baseman Steve Pearce and starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.

The Red Sox are content to move forward with internal solutions to work to the sixth and seventh innings. Craig Kimbrel will close, Matt Barnes will set him up and Heath Hembree will be the designated man to escape jams while entering with men on base. Tyler Thornburg, Ryan Brasier and Joe Kelly will be the other short relief options for the club with baseball’s best record.

“I know people keep talking about it - you can always have more bullpen pieces,” Dombrowski said. “That is one thing about it. And there is no perfect club. We think, realistically, that our bullpen is pretty good.”

Brad Ziegler came from the Diamondbacks in 2016 and Addison Reed came from the Mets last season. This time Boston turns to two pitchers - Thornburg and Brasier - who have made a combined 19 big league appearances in the last two seasons. A red line of demarcation could be drawn through the middle of Kelly’s 2018 campaign — a 1.73 earned-run average in 25 appearances before June 1 and an 8.83 ERA in 22 appearances over the last two months.

“We had our hands involved in a lot of different things,” Dombrowski said. “We had conversations all over the place. We were watching everybody. There really was a combination of factors.

“Some of them we didn’t think there was an improvement. Some of them we didn’t like the asking price for a couple guys that we did think were an improvement. Thirdly, a couple times, they went in a different direction.”

Thornburg was brought in before the 2017 season in exchange for a package headlined by third baseman Travis Shaw and two prospects. The Red Sox believe the right-hander has shown enough promise in his 10 July appearances to be reliable going forward, as Thornburg has held his opponents scoreless in five straight.

Brasier was pitching in Japan at this time last year, but the right-hander has allowed just one earned run since May 12 in appearances split between Triple-A Pawtucket and Boston. Brasier has touched the 100 mph range with his fastball and pairs it with a slider to form a power combination.

Kelly’s last two outings have been scoreless, including one inning in Monday’s 2-1, 13-inning win over the Phillies. He’s clearly third among the group at this point, but the Red Sox refuse to quit on returning him to the form he showed earlier this season.

“Part of our conversations earlier before the All-Star Game, we said let’s keep an eye on how our pitching progresses and how these guys progress,” Dombrowski said. “If they would not have progressed as they have, we may very well have flip-flopped. But we really liked the progress.”

The returns of starting pitchers Eduardo Rodriguez (right ankle) and Steven Wright (left knee inflammation) could also reshape Boston’s relief corps. Eovaldi and Rodriguez would both represent power options in short stints, and Wright would represent a wildcard as a knuckleballer. The Red Sox only figure to use a maximum of four starters in any postseason series and could opt for three should Chris Sale work on short rest at any point.

"In our own internal conversations, we really felt the other areas of improvement were more significant for us,” Dombrowski said. “When we got Eovaldi, that was really the top for us - to get a starter who we can slide into the bullpen if we need to at a later time.”

Dombrowski also acknowledged for the first time publicly that Boston’s payroll has broken through the final luxury tax threshold at $237 million. The additions of Pearce, Eovaldi and Kinsler will cost the Red Sox a 62.5 percent tax on all overages and see them docked 10 spots on their first pick in the 2019 draft. Boston needs to hit on its future selections to rebuild a farm system generally ranked inside baseball’s bottom third.

“Penalties are not things you normally want to incur,” Dombrowski said. “I think it speaks a great deal to our ownership, that they’re willing to give us the financial wherewithal and pay the penalties that we are to help us win.

“This year, I don’t know what will happen, but we have a chance to win. So we’re all in.”