The Red Sox were relatively quiet on the afternoon of MLB trade deadline day as their biggest move came the night prior. Late Monday night, the Sox added second baseman Ian Kinsler – who has had success in the postseason and should prove to be another veteran leader that the Sox’ young, untested players can look up to.
“We think he makes us a better ball club, because he goes into second base and is in a spot where he can play basically every day,” Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski said. “He’s a good offensive player and a good defensive player, so we think he makes us a better club.”
Kinsler should see the brunt of the time at second base during the postseason as the jury is still out on whether or not Dustin Pedroia will return, and Eduardo Nunez has been inconsistent this season.
David Price, who played with Kinsler while a member of the Detroit Tigers, says that Kinsler is something of a Pedroia clone.
“He’s the closest teammate I’ve ever had to Dustin Pedroia,” Price said. “He brings that intensity, that fire, every single day. He’s a gamer. He’ll make any team better and I’m definitely happy we got him.”
Like Pedroia, Kinsler is multiple-time All-Star and a former Gold Glove winner (2016). The 36-year-old is hitting just .239 this season but has picked things up over the past month with a .393 OBP in the month of July.
Standing pat in the ‘pen
Much of the buzz heading into trade deadline day was regarding the Red Sox’ bullpen but the Sox stood pat on Tuesday. The thinking is that their relief staff has a respectable ERA (sixth in MLB) and that closer Craig Kimbrel and Matt Barnes have been phenomenal. Nathan Eovaldi, who the Red Sox picked up last week and who was outstanding in his first appearance as a member of the team, could also get a relief role this October.
