Red Sox Have Reason To Inquire About Athletics' $10 Million Reliever

The Boston Red Sox would be wise to keep an eye on the trade market for late-inning relievers.

Justin Slaten is beginning to show signs that he could be Boston’s closer, but nothing is set in stone. Aroldis Chapman began the season as the closer but hasn’t been outstanding (Chapman allowed a home run on Monday), and Liam Hendriks’s capabilities in 2025 are still impossible to predict.

If Boston is serious about contending — as it should be with its current roster — chief baseball officer Craig Breslow needs to ensure that the Red Sox bullpen is supplied with enough talent to close games in October.

For that reason, Breslow could be tracking the availability of potential trade chips like St. Louis Cardinals’ Ryan Helsley, Washington Nationals’ Kyle Finnegan, and even recent Red Sox Kenley Jansen.

Another guy who could end up in a Boston uniform is Athletics reliever José Leclerc. According to a new report from Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller, the Athletics might be in the business of moving Leclerc, who is making $10 million this season but becomes a free agent at the end of the year.

“The A's likely are going to be mostly inactive (in trade talks) this summer,” Miller wrote on Tuesday. “The one potential exception to the rule is José Leclerc, though the $10M reliever will need to bounce back from what has been a rough start.”

“From 2018-2024, Leclerc logged 299.2 innings pitched with a 3.26 FIP and a 3.24 ERA. Only a handful of relievers during that window pitched at least 250 innings with a sub-3.30 mark in both of those departments, and we're mostly talking about upper echelon closers like Josh Hader, Emmanuel Clase and Edwin Díaz.”

“However, early returns in West Sacramento have been rough. Leclerc has only entered the game in a save situation three times, blowing two of them and loading the bases before getting yanked and bailed out by a different reliever in the third. But he has plenty of time to turn things around.”

Leclerc has an ugly 6.23 ERA through 8 2/3 innings pitched in 2025, but as Miller noted, there’s still ample opportunity for Leclerc to shape into form.

If he does, Leclerc could be one of the arms that Breslow inquiries about this summer.