This trade profile is going to be a little different than some of our recent ones.

It was reported that the Red Sox are looking to continue to shed salaries to make room for other free agents. This is wholly unnecessary because they’re the Boston Red Sox and one of the most valuable teams in baseball. But the Braves took advantage of this by taking a flier for Chris Sale, and other teams could look to make an impact by trading for Red Sox players with higher salaries.

Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin–two right-handed relievers for the Sox–are two who could fit the bill. So let’s do a quick rundown of both and look what it might take to acquire one of both of them.

Rundown

Kenley Jansen (36 years old, $16 million salary for 2024)

2023 Traditional Stats: 51 G, 3-6, 29 SV, 3.63 ERA, 1.276 WHIP, 44.2 IP, 51 K
2023 Advanced Stats: 1.1 fWAR, 3.66 FIP, 3.25 xERA, 27.7 K%, 9.0 BB%

Chris Martin (37, $9 million)

2023 Traditional Stats: 55 G, 4-1, 3 SV, 1.05 ERA, 1.032 WHIP, 51.1 IP, 46 K
2023 Advanced Stats: 1.5 fWAR, 2.44 FIP, 3.25 xERA, 23.1 K%, 4.0 BB%

Jansen and Martin joined the team the offseason prior to bolster a bullpen that was second-worst in the American League in 2022. The Red Sox gave them a combined $25 million per year over the next two seasons, and in 2023, the two individually performed pretty well for Boston–though Jansen left plenty to be desired.

Across 44.2 innings–not a ton for a guy you’re paying $16 million–Jansen compiled a 3.63 ERA and a career-worst 27.7% strikeout rate. There were worries before the season that Jansen would be affected by the pitch clock (he was a notoriously slow pitcher), but he had just three pitch clock violations all year. His struggles on the field came from being a 36-year-old in his 14th year in the league. He’s getting old! His iconic cutter got hit harder than it ever had, he’s missing less bats, and a poor defense–especially in the outfield–with the Sox didn’t help.

Martin is the opposite of Jansen in that he keeps the ball on the ground and kept contact weak. He didn’t allow a home run all season on his cutter and sinker/splitter, and he allowed just two across 51.1 innings. His 1.05 ERA across the season is nothing to scoff at, but it’s not something you’d expect him to repeat in 2024. But you do like to see that despite the frequency of contact, Martin kept runners off the bases with just a 4.0% walk rate and a 1.03 WHIP.

Both relievers, it ends up, had an xERA of 3.25. Martin got a bit lucky–as relievers can over a full season–that his contact typically landed where his infielders were, and Jansen certainly was hurt by his fly ball propensities and a weak outfield.

Acquisition Cost

What it takes to require one or both of these relievers probably partly depends on how much money the Mets are willing to eat–or, how much the Sox are willing to eat.

Boston reportedly is looking for controllable pitching while shedding salary, according to MassLive‘s Chris Cotillo. The Red Sox have shown a knack for getting good value out of their starting pitchers.

There are a range of names like Joey Lucchesi, Jose Butto, Justin Jarvis, and Tyler Stuart who could be used in various types of deals–all depending on if both relievers are involved and how much money the Sox are willing to eat.

The most realistic is that the Sox try to trade Jansen. He’s the more popular name, looks to clearly be regressing after over 800 MLB innings, and he’s owned the most money. They’ll need someone to close if Jansen’s gone, too, so trading away Chris Martin with him wouldn’t make much sense. So if the Sox ate $4 million of his $16 million salary, what would it cost the Mets? Probably not much.

My Thoughts

There’s one name in the Mets bullpen you can count on: Edwin Diaz. David Stearns is doing his best to build the bullpen from scratch, but you just don’t know what you’re going to get from the dozen players Stearns is giving a shot. These are the types of deals the Mets can afford. They can take on money for good players. And if all else fails, and the Mets fall out of contention before the trade deadline, you might be able to make up the value you traded away by trading them again.

Ideally, the Mets could try to find a deal for both relievers, but even if it’s just Jansen, he’d instantly improve the bullpen–and perhaps give Jansen a better role at this point of his career as a set up man.