Red Sox make first trade before deadline, acquire lefty reliever (with starting experience)

MINNEAPOLIS — The Red Sox have made their first addition ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.

Boston has bolstered its pitching staff by agreeing to a deal to acquire veteran left-hander Steven Matz from the Cardinals, a source confirmed late Wednesday night. The Red Sox are sending minor league infielder Blaze Jordan to St. Louis in the deal. No cash is changing hands.

An announcement is pending. The Red Sox will need to clear a 40-man spot to add Matz — and can simply transfer injured right-hander Hunter Dobbins to the 60-day injured list, if they so choose.

Matz, 34, has primarily pitched out of St. Louis’ bullpen this season but has plenty of rotation experience over an 11-year career. The ex-Met has logged 55 innings for the Cardinals this season, posting a 3.44 ERA (and 2.88 FIP) while striking out 47 batters (and walking just nine) in 32 appearances (two starts). He appears ticketed for Boston’s bullpen after appearing in short stints for the Cards in July but his starting ability likely made him even more attractive to the Red Sox, who could stretch him out late in the season if a need arises.

Matz opened the season as the long man in the Cardinals’ bullpen due to the club’s logjam of rotation options but made two April starts as part of a six-man rotation (on April 16 and April 30). He returned to the bullpen and, overall, logged a 1.91 ERA through May, before struggling in June when he pitched to a 7.30 ERA in a 12 ⅓ frames. July brought better results as Matz pitched in more high-leverage situations; he did allow two runs and three hits in an inning in his last outing Tuesday.

Matz has been tough on left-handed hitters this season, holding them to a .179 average and .442 OPS. Righties, however, have hit 313 off him with an OPS of .814. Those splits are similar to lefty specialist Justin Wilson, who has had a good season in Boston’s bullpen.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is known to be looking help in both his rotation and bullpen ahead of Thursday’s 6 p.m. ET deadline and for now, Matz will add another experienced arm ahead of closer Aroldis Chapman. Boston has been carrying four lefties — Chapman, Wilson, Brennan Bernardino and Chris Murphy — in recent weeks but Matz will likely take the place of one of them (potentially Bernardino, who has already pitched 47 times this season) when he arrives.

The Sox’ search for rotation additions to put behind Garrett Crochet, Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello and Walker Buehler continues with targets like Arizona’s Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, Baltimore’s Charlie Morton and controllable options like Miami’s Sandy Alcantara and Minnesota’s Joe Ryan remaining on the board in a slow-moving market. Matz hasn’t thrown more than 24 pitches since the All-Star break, so he’s not stretched out enough to replace Richard Fitts in the No. 5 spot now.

Matz is in the final year of the four-year, $44 million contract he signed with the Cardinals in November 2021. Back then, the Red Sox made a serious push to sign the former Rookie of the Year candidate who hit free agency after a strong season in Toronto. Matz’s 2025 salary is $12 million, so the Red Sox will be on the hook for about $4 million in the season’s final two months with no cash changing hands in the deal.

Jordan, a former high-profile prospect given a $1.75 million bonus to forego college as a third round pick (89th overall) in 2020, was often mentioned as a trade candidate in recent years as other position players in the organization passed him. The corner infielder posted a .928 OPS in 87 games at Double-A Portland this season before receiving a promotion to Triple-A Worcester in early June. With the WooSox, Jordan had hit .289 with six homers, 24 RBIs and an .809 OPS in 43 games.

Chaim Bloom was in charge of the Red Sox when they handed Jordan, a former YouTube sensation known as a home run-hitting prodigy, an above-slot bonus after taking Nick Yorke in the first round in the abbreviated 2020 draft. Now, five years later, as Bloom prepares to take over as St. Louis’ president of baseball operations in place of John Mozeliak after the season, he is reunited with the Mississippi native.

In its most recent rankings, SoxProspects had Jordan ranked as the No. 19 prospect in Boston’s system. He was Rule 5-eligible this winter, so the Red Sox got out ahead of a potential roster crunch by moving him now.