Boston Red Sox
“Someone that we feel like can pitch alongside or slot in behind Garrett and start a playoff game for us.”
The Red Sox punched their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2021 this fall.
But, even with the Red Sox boosted by an influx of young talent this past summer, Boston still has a lot of work to do this offseason if a skilled — albeit flawed — roster plans on building off the momentum generated by a brief playoff run in October.
Speaking at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas on Monday night, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow didn’t mince words when asked about Boston’s priorities this offseason.
Even with the emergence of Garrett Crochet as Boston’s ace in 2025, Breslow believes that Boston is still in the market for another top arm to pair with Crochet atop the Red Sox’ rotation.
“Particularly someone that we feel like can pitch alongside or slot in behind Garrett and start a playoff game for us,” Breslow said, per MassLive’s Chris Smith. “Last season, [Brayan] Bello played that role for a majority of the season. Lucas [Giolito] played that role for a majority of the season.
“Because of the depth that we’ve built up over the last couple of years, we feel pretty good about just overall starting pitching. Kind of maybe Nos. 3ish through 10ish.”
Even though Bello took another step forward this past season, the righty slowed down over the final month of the regular season — sporting a 5.40 ERA in five September starts while logging just 2.1 innings of work in his lone playoff start against the Yankees.
Bello has the means to be a very effective No. 3 starter, but his lack of potent swing-and-miss stuff on the mound might make him a bit of a reach as a No. 2 option behind Crochet.
Boston was also bolstered by a strong season from Giolito (10-4, 3.41 ERA), but the veteran declined his mutual option and will be a free agent this winter.
If the Red Sox are on the prowl for a legitimate No. 2 option on the mound, they could acquire an elite talent like Minnesota’s Joe Ryan, Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta, or Washington’s MacKenzie Gore via trade, especially if Boston is willing to part with both MLB talent like Jarren Duran and/or young arms like Payton Tolle or Connolley Early.
Boston could also target a free-agent arm like Dylan Cease and Ranger Suarez.
“We’ll see what the trade and free agent markets dictate,” Breslow told Smith. “There are compelling opportunities in both we think. We also are mindful of while believe we’re in a window to contend and to compete for the postseason, World Series championships, we’re also mindful of keeping one eye on the future.”
Beyond Boston’s efforts to resign Alex Bregman, the Red Sox will need to add more pop to their lineup this offseason.
If the Red Sox are looking to add power via free agency, a slugger like Kyle Schwarber (56 home runs) or Pete Alonso (38 home runs) would solve plenty of issues for Boston.
“I don’t want to get so anchored to this idea that the only way to score runs is home runs,” Breslow said of Boston’s power shortage this past summer, per Smith. “We showed that that isn’t the case. That said, a disproportionate number of runs are scored in the postseason via the home run. And that’s not something that we can ignore.
“And there is just something about a bat in the middle of the lineup that forces another team to game plan against it that I think has a compounding effect on the rest of the roster.”
The Red Sox have a promising core already in place with players like Crochet, Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Carlos Narvaez under contract for the next few years.
But, Breslow was candid about the need for the Red Sox to remain aggressive this winter in order to further prop open this new contention window.
“While we believe we’re in a window to contend and to compete for the postseason, World Series championships, we’re also mindful of keeping one eye on the future,” Breslow said, per The Boston Globe’s Tim Healey. “And trading away for really good young players for a starting pitcher is one way of pulling those wins forward. And there are times we showed — last year being one of them — that you have to do that. But we also don’t want to be in a position where we’re having to do that year over year.
“We’re in a position where we need to improve our 2026 roster. And that means that there are certain trade offs that we have to accept.”
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