Report: Red Sox 'might listen' on Koji Uehara if they fall out of race

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Since the beginning of the 2010 season, exactly one pitcher has posted a better ERA than Koji Uehara, and his name is Craig Kimbrel. Narrow the focus further to the post-2012 world, and Kimbrel is still ahead but the gap between them and the rest of the field is even larger.

A 1.58 ERA at present, a 1.38 three-year ERA and a 2.31 career ERA.

That's what could be on the market later in July if the Boston Red Sox fall further out of the race in the AL East and for an AL wild card berth, according to a report from Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.

From the report:

But at the same time, they are talking to teams to gauge potential trades should they fall farther behind.
...
There are a lot of variables in play, but rival teams say that Boston would listen on even superstar closer Koji Uehara, who like Lester is eligible for free agency after the season, if they should fall out of the race.

"They're not shopping Uehara but they might listen," one rival GM said.

Red Sox fans will surely hate to hear that Uehara could be on his way out, but the 39-year-old would be a major trade chip and can leave as a free agent in the offseason.

At 46-52, the Red Sox are just 7.5 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in their division and just six behind the Seattle Mariners for the second wild card position. That's close enough to be considered "striking distance," but the number of teams they'd have to jump makes it seem unlikely. Should that gap extend to, say, 10 games by the July 31 deadline, the team would be right to consider ways to add 2015 assets at the expense of this season.

Any contender would surely love to have Uehara, who has 113 shutdowns in his career to just 22 meltdowns and has 55 saves in 63 opportunities. He's the American League Kimbrel, basically, and there will be no name more reliable on the market.