The Boston Red Sox showed already this offseason they are willing to go all-in on making major renovations to their starting rotation.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow orchestrated a trade with the Chicago White Sox to bring Garrett Crochet to Boston in exchange for four prospects. The Red Sox were also heavily involved in trying to sign free agent Max Fried. They reportedly offered the left-hander a seven-year, $190 million deal but Fried decided to take the eight-year, $218 million contract he received from the New York Yankees.
But the pursuit of Fried told The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier that the Red Sox are willing to go to sizable lengths to sign standout pitching, and that they most likely aren’t done adding to the rotation.
“That suggests they are willing to spend more on top talents in the market,” Speier said on Tuesday’s episode of NESN’s “310 To Left” podcast. “Now, we’ll see whether or not that actually happens, but that tells you a lot about their thinking. And I would be shocked at this point if the Red Sox didn’t add another starter who they thought was at least capable of being a mid-rotation guy or better.”
While Corbin Burnes would be a massive get for the Red Sox, Speier has another pitcher in mind that would satisfy the low-end of the spectrum he described.
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“A guy like Walker Buehler is almost the floor of what they seem to be pursuing for the rest of this offseason,” Speier said. “Buehler obviously has been a top of the rotation guy in the past. He struggled a lot in 2024 as he was coming back with his first full year from Tommy John surgery, and so he was more of a back-end guy for the Dodgers when he was pitching. Until he looked really, really good in his last couple of appearances (in the playoffs), the most memorable that he will probably ever have in his career in the World Series. That was a good finishing kick for him.”
The Red Sox reportedly have shown interest in Buehler, who went 47-22 with a 3.27 ERA and 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings over seven seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
You can watch all episodes of “310 To Left” on YouTube and Spotify.