Much of the blame for the Boston Red Sox falling into an early hole that they never managed to escape was pinned on Dave Dombrowski’s failure to find a suitable closer. It turns out that they had one all along, it just took a while for the team to recognize that it was Brandon Workman.
The Red Sox opened the season with a closer by committee approach as their solution for replacing Craig Kimbrel, the future Hall of Fame reliever who they let walk in free agency. Seven different relievers logged at least one save for the team this season as manager Alex Cora desperately tried to find one who would stick in the role.