Francisco Cordero (AP)

When the pistol fired on the free-agent shopping season, it was the market for closer’s that got off to the earliest jump. Jonathan Papelbon became the first prominent game-ender to move, signing a four-year, $50 million with the Phillies, and since his contract, Joe Nathan got $14.5 million over two years from the Rangers,  Heath Bell (3 years, $27 million) has signed as a free agent, Matt Capps got $4.75 million for one more year with the Twins and the Mets signed both Frank Francisco (two years, $12 million) and Jon Rauch (one year, $3.5 million). Meanwhile, there were three notable trades involving late-innings relievers, with Huston Street being sent by the Rockies to the Padres, Sergio Santos going from the White Sox to the Blue Jays and Mark Melancon heading from Houston to the Red Sox.

All of that movement has significantly narrowed the field of potential destinations for those remaining on the market. That undoubtedly has been the case for Francisco Cordero, the most established closer on the free-agent market this offseason.

At season’s end, Cordero — who had a 2.45 ERA and 37 saves for the Reds in 2011, in a year when his strikeout rate fell to a career-low 5.4 per nine innings — received contact from eight to 10 teams, according to his agent, Bean Stringfellow. Since then, that number has been whittled to four.

The Red Sox, according to multiple industry sources, have shown interest in the 36-year-old closer. The Angels and another team have also been in dialogue with the pitcher, as have the Reds, who have said on multiple occasions that they were interested in bringing back the pitcher who averaged 71 appearances per year for them over the course of the four-year, $45 million deal that ran from 2008-11. Read the rest of this entry »

Heath Bell

If Padres closer Heath Bell is indeed shipped out of San Diego before Sunday’s trade deadline, he may not have to travel too far to his next destination. FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal tweeted that the Angels are looking at a trade for the reliever.

The Halos are actually tied for first in the American League with 29 saves, led by 24 from 23-year-old Jordan Walden, while its bullpen rank fourth with a 3.31 collective ERA so a move for Bell may be filed under the “You can never have too much pitching” category. Bell has 29 saves of his own in 2011 to go with a 2.40 ERA and 1.16 WHIP.

The Rangers, who lead the Angels by two games in the AL West, were another team believed to be hot on the hunt for Bell’s services.

At this part of the season, we typically learn something about the needs of individual teams based on the rumored trades that may happen in the future. But sometimes, we can learn the same things from the trades that didn’t go through.

The Angels nearly acquired outfielder/first baseman Garrett Jones from the Pirates in exchange for catcher Jeff Mathis earlier this season, according to FOXSports.com’s Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal. The Bucs decided not to go through with the deal because they decided they would Jones’s power too much. They were eventually repaid for that loyalty as Jones hit nine home runs, second-most on the team, before the All-Star break.

Here’s what we can take from this trade that was eventually a no-go, according to Morosi and Rosenthal. The Angels want a lefty bat that they can use at first behind rookie Mark Trumbo as well as a player they can slide into their outfield/designated hitter rotation. On the other side, the Pirates may need catching help with Ryan Doumit and Chris Snyder on the disabled list and two should-be minor leaguers playing in their stead.

Both teams are just one game out of their respective division leads at the break.

Bobby Jenks leaning toward embracing his set-up role with Daniel Bard in Red Sox pen.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Change is never easy.

But Bobby Jenks has made a career out of it. The former fifth-round pick of the Anaheim Angels in 2000 came up through their system as a starter, cut from the same mold as Roger Clemens: big, strong and intimidating.

The new Red Sox, who will share the late innings with Daniel Bard behind Jonathan Papelbon, acknowledged Monday that he was a big fan of Clemens and Greg Maddux when he broke into baseball as a starter.

“When I was younger, I was a starting pitcher and I looked up to Roger Clemens a lot and I used to watch him and Greg Maddux a lot because I grew up a huge Braves fan,” Jenks said. “You’re either a Cubs fan with TBS and WGN so I had TBS and Greg Maddux and Roger Clemens were the two biggest guys that I watched.”

[AUDIO: Listen to Bobby Jenks talk about Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux and his right elbow.]

But one elbow surgery and rehab was all it took to change the course of his career.

Jenks ran into elbow problems in 2004 in the Angels system and was waived before being picked up by the White Sox in 2005.

“It was a combined decision in ’04 after I had my elbow surgery to try to keep less innings and less stress on the elbow so the year before, in talking with the Angels, I knew I might be going into the bullpen in that ’05 season with the Angels but I ended up getting picked up by the White Sox and it just worked out the same way,” Jenks added.

Jenks appeared in 32 regular season games for the 2005 White Sox before leading his team to a World Series title with two saves apiece against the Red Sox and Astros in the ALDS and World Series.

This is not what Robert Coello envisioned when he was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 2004 as a catcher. But on Sunday, when he entered the Red Sox clubhouse, he did so as a right-handed reliever available to Terry Francona out of the bullpen for the last four weeks of the season.

The Red Sox selected Coello to the major league roster from Triple-A Pawtucket on Sunday after the 25-year-old went 7-6 with a 3.86 ERA in 32 games – including 13 starts – for Triple-A Pawtucket and Double-A Portland. In 107 1/3 innings with the PawSox, he struck out 130 and held opposing batters to an impressive .192 average.

He missed the 2006 season with a before signing a minor league deal with the Angels, who converted him to a pitcher in 2007.

“He’ll be in the bullpen,” Francona said. “It’s kind of an interesting story and probably not the route a lot of guys have taken but it doesn’t mean you can’t be successful. It’ll be interesting. He has a pretty good fastball. He’s a conversion guy. His secondary pitches are probably still in progress but it’ll be interesting to see how he does.”

Coello spent 2008 in the independent Golden Baseball League before the Red Sox showed interest and signed him.

Clay Buchholz

After splitting a four-game series with the Mariners, the Red Sox will round out their West Coast road trip with a three-game set against the struggling Angels. A day after pulling off a major trade, Los Angeles will try to climb back up the AL West and wild card standings. On Monday night, Clay Buchholz makes his second start since returning from the disabled list new Angels righty Dan Haren.

Before being put on the shelf for nearly a month with a hamstring injury, Buchholz (10-5, 2.81 ERA) had one of the best first halves of any starting pitcher in the AL. At one point, he won nine of 11 decisions, including a streak of five straight victories. On July 21, Buchholz returned to make a start against the Athletics in Oakland, tossing four mediocre innings and allowing five runs. The rust was evident and he’ll hope to get back into a rhythm against a team that has hit him hard in the past.

Over his career, Buchholz is 2-2 against the Angels with a 6.35 ERA and a .326 batting average against. In his outing this season vs. Los Angeles in Boston, he had one of his worst performances of the year, allowing four runs over 5 2/3 innings. Buchholz and the Red Sox still earned the win, but he wasn’t particularly sharp, giving up eight hits and walking three batters. Hideki Matsui has the most experience against the Boston starter, mostly from his time with the Yankees, hitting .400 in 11 plate appearances.

The decision by the Angels to throw Haren against the Sox on Monday means the bumping of the night’s original starter in Joel Pineiro (10-7, 4.18 ERA). Haren was 7-8 with a 4.60 ERA for the Diamondbacks this season and struck out 141 hitters in 141 innings. The Angels gave up a package of Joe Saunders and three minor leaguers to land Haren and likely did so with the hopes that the ERA would revert back to the 3.07 mark he posted when he was last in the AL West. The centerpiece in the Mark Mulder deal in 2004, Haren spent three seasons in Oakland before being traded to the Diamondbacks in the offseason following the 2007 season.

In his career vs. Boston, Haren is 4-2 with a 3.30 ERA in seven regular season starts. He’s struck out 35 and walked 12 in 43 innings against the Sox. As a member of the Cardinals, Haren threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings combined in Games 1 and 4 of the 2004 World Series.  Read the rest of this entry »