The Red Sox have some holes to fill in their roster this offseason, and it appears some conversations are heating up.
Boston's biggest area of need remains pitching. Maybe now more than ever with Eduardo Rodriguez signing a five-year deal with the Detroit Tigers after six seasons with the Red Sox.
The club reportedly has been in talks with a few pitchers on the market, and chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom shed light on just how serious those talks have been.
"We don't have anything teed up that I would say is close but we're very active in conversations with a few different guys," Bloom told reporters Monday. "We've touched base with a wide variety of players. Just about everybody who is on the market and it's gotten more serious and more involved with some of them. I don't know right now if that's going to lead to anything or when. I think by the time the offseason is over, we will have added pitching of various sorts, including starting pitching. I think that's something that's a clear goal of ours. But who that's going to be or when, I don't know yet."
Steven Matz reportedly wants to have a contract before Thanksgiving and certainly would help fill a void in the starting rotation for the Red Sox.
The offseason only has just begun, and a lockout could be looming should Major League Baseball and the MLB Players' Association be unable to agree on terms for a new collective bargaining agreement, so free agents might be antsy to land a contract before a potential work stoppage.
With manager Alex Cora's club option through the 2024 season exercised, Bloom and the rest of the Red Sox can shift their focus to bolstering their pitching in order to be competitive in 2022.
