Top 5 trade targets for the Boston Red Sox

2.  Kirby Yates

The Red Sox have one of baseball’s best closers, as Craig Kimbrel has 29 saves with a 1.86 ERA. But Jerry Crasnick of ESPN reported they are looking to add an impact late-inning reliever, perhaps with Kimbrel’s looming free agency in mind, and Orioles’ reliever Zach Britton has been a further rumored primary target.

The San Diego Padres are flush with bullpen arms, and Brad Hand, Craig Stammen and Yates are garnering a lot of interest from contending teams. Hand is the closer, with 24 saves and a 13.3 K.9 rate so far this season, and with multiple years left on his contract the Red Sox may put some focus on him as a trade deadline target.

But Yates is pretty much right next to Hand in peripheral numbers (11.4 K.9, 2.8 BB/9), with a 1.51 ERA and 16 holds as San Diego’s primary eighth inning guy.

Yates is also making just over $1 million this season, with two more years of arbitration eligibility left. So he has team control to further his appeal to Boston, and to this point he looks like a closer without the role if the Red Sox are worried about losing Kimbrel during the offseason.

How the pressure of pitching high leverage innings for a team with World Series aspirations would affect Yates is unclear. But he otherwise fits what the Red Sox are looking for, as an upgrade over Joe Kelly, Matt Barnes and anyone else in front of Kimbrel.