BOSTON — The Red Sox showed interested in reliever Joakim Soria but never got anywhere concrete with the free agent before he signed a two-year deal reportedly worth $15 million with the A's, a baseball source said.
That fits with the Sox' plan to wait out a pretty healthy high-leverage reliever market, one that still has Craig Kimbrel, Adam Ottavino, Zach Britton, Kelvin Herrera and David Robertson. Those names are still available after the likes of Soria, Jeurys Familia, Joe Kelly and Andrew Miller have come off the board.
- MORE RED SOX - Why Kimbrel market is slow
Agents have said this offseason they've been told the Red Sox are waiting to see what happens with Kimbrel. Even if he ends up too rich for their blood — wherever Sox ownership draws that line — the operating philosophy appears to hinge on a belief that one of these high-leverage arms will end up at a price point that's palatable to them.
The Sox waited out J.D. Martinez last year, when they rightly sensed he had little market outside of their interest (which other teams should be kicking themselves over).
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