The Boston Red Sox pulled off their first major move of the offseason — trading for starter Garrett Crochet — at the Winter Meetings last week.
Crochet automatically becomes the club’s No. 1 starter.
Now what?
“This is the type of move — and Garrett obviously comes with two years of control — that I think screams we need to compete in 2025 and that we need to put a better team on the field,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said on Wednesday following the trade.
Though adding Crochet is a good start toward building a more competitive team, the Red Sox have more work to do. They can’t afford to lose momentum following one of the biggest trades across the sport this offseason.
Breslow seemed to agree that there’s plenty more on their to-do list.
“We’re gonna continue to explore and be aggressive and identify opportunities to continue to improve, that was always the plan when we got here, and we feel really good about adding Garrett to the rotation, but we’re also going to continue to try to find ways to improve,” he said. “We’ll also continue to be mindful of trying to add to the relief group, still trying to balance out the lineup and find a right-handed bat, and probably looking at the catching position behind Connor (Wong) becomes even more important. So, we’ve got a lot of work still to do.”
With that in mind, let’s rank the Red Sox priorities in the coming weeks.
Continue to add to the rotation
The Red Sox currently have about $50 million to spend before hitting the $241 million luxury tax threshold, but they have suggested they may spend beyond that mark, a stark departure from a majority of the last six seasons when they spent over the CBT just once.
Internally, at least one decision-maker with the Red Sox viewed starting pitching as the club’s biggest priority.
After the trade, Breslow said the club was still looking to add another starter and was asked if acquiring a starter via trade meant it was more likely they’d add a second starter via free agency.
“It could be, I think we came here a few days ago thinking we needed to improve our rotation,” he said last week. “There are still really, really good players, really good starting pitchers left on the free agent market. And there are still conversations that we’re having with teams as trade targets.”
Other than noting he hoped to add to the rotation, Breslow wouldn’t label any future additions as top-tier or mid-tier targets.
“I think we’re going to go out and try to bring in the best pitcher that we can,” he said. “I think we’re gonna be really open-minded about that.”
This offseason’s top free-agent starter, Corbin Burnes, is still on the market and adding him to the mix would move the Red Sox rotation with Crochet from good to great. The Red Sox recently hired Chris Holt as their bullpen coach. Holt had previously been in Baltimore where he worked as director of pitching during Burnes’ season with the Orioles.
Outside of Burnes, mid-tier starters Sean Manaea, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler remain available. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal noted the Red Sox pursued Flaherty last winter and seem to still be interested in him this year.
Rosenthal also noted the Red Sox remain an option as a trade partner with Seattle for starter Luis Castillo, who is owed $68.25 million over the next three years. The San Diego Padres are exploring a trade for starter Dylan Cease, according to The Athletic’s Dennis Lin, and he could be a fit in Boston. Cease pitched with Crochet, Lucas Giolito and Liam Hendriks in Chicago.
Last week, Breslow spoke highly of right-hander Michael Fulmer, a veteran pitcher they’d signed last winter on a two-year, minor-league deal as he recovered from UCL surgery. Breslow said they’d signed Fulmer at the time with the plan of “building him out, whether that is as a starting pitcher or someone who can handle bulk leverage innings.” Breslow noted they still feel confident Fulmer is making progress toward throwing pain-free and having a normal offseason, and he could be an option for the club as a depth piece at some point.
Because he’s on a minor-league deal, Fulmer was Rule 5 draft-eligible despite already having major-league experience. The Red Sox did not protect him in last week’s draft, however, and he was not selected by any team. That, coupled with the fact he hasn’t pitched meaningful innings as a starter since 2020, may be an indication that he’s not likely to be ready for a starter/bulk reliever role at the start of the season.
Add a right-handed bat
Teoscar Hernández, Alex Bregman, Christian Walker and Anthony Santander all remain on the free-agent market and could help bolster the Red Sox lineup alongside Rafael Devers and Triston Casas.
Meanwhile, it appears increasingly likely St. Louis will trade Nolan Arenado, a Gold Glove third baseman. There are a lot of ifs surrounding an Arenado trade: He’d have to waive his no-trade clause, and the Red Sox would have to decide whether to move Devers to first base or designated hitter, despite saying they don’t plan to do so. The Red Sox could move Arenado to first base, but it seems like a waste given he’d be a defensive upgrade at third over Devers. Still, there’s more than just smoke between the Red Sox and Cardinals regarding Arenado.
Add more to the bullpen
Though the Red Sox have signed lefty relievers Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson, they’re not done adding to the bullpen.
Breslow noted last week they’re still targeting several high-leverage options as well as multi-inning depth options. Tanner Scott and Jeff Hoffman remain on the market as top free-agent options.
Breslow also noted that Hendriks, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgery, “should be fully healthy and comes with a pretty impressive track record at closing games,” which leaves the door open for Hendriks to win the closer’s role.
Breslow also spoke about Garrett Whitlock’s past success in a multi-inning leverage role, “to the point that he was a real weapon that Alex (Cora) could deploy.”
“I think for a lot of reasons, beginning with health and managing workload, (the bullpen) could make sense in ’25 (for Whitlock),” Breslow said, stopping one step short of officially naming Whitlock a reliever.
Add catching depth
After trading catching prospect Kyle Teel to the White Sox, the Red Sox made a separate trade with the Yankees to acquire catcher Carlos Narvaez, a glove-first catcher. Though Narvaez has a good defensive reputation, he just debuted last season for New York, appearing in six games, so adding more depth behind Wong seems likely.
“We’re really optimistic about Connor and what he has done, what he did last year, I think he’s going to continue to improve, but we’re obviously going to need more depth,” Breslow said. “We’ll explore all paths to doing that.”
Breslow said they could explore short- or long-term options to complement Wong, but do feel Wong will be their starting catcher.
(Top photo of Breslow at the Winter Meetings: Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
