Could the Boston Red Sox bolster their pitching staff by adding a frontline starter to kick off what projects to be a highly impactful offseason for the future of the franchise?
There are some high-quality starters on expiring contracts who would immediately boost Boston's rotation, but The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal has one target in mind following multiple discussions with members of the Red Sox's front office.
"The top of the free-agent market for starters will include a number of pitchers -- Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander, Carlos Rodón, Clayton Kershaw -- whom the Red Sox might consider too risky or unattainable," Rosenthal wrote Thursday. "Chris Bassitt, who has carried his success with the (Oakland) Athletics to the (New York) Mets, might make sense."
Rosenthal recently sat down with Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom in separate interviews and seemingly has a strong grasp of both the team's needs and how the front office would like to go about fixing them.
After a season littered with injuries, the prominent baseball writer projects Boston will take a risk-averse approach to free agency, a logical conclusion.
Bassitt has been a durable and reliable option for the Mets this season and the Athletics for multiple seasons prior. The right-hander is 11-7 with a 3.34 ERA in 2022 and has a 139-to-37 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 24 starts (148 1/3 innings) as part of a strong Mets rotation.
Bassitt's only red flag is that he's 34 years old and has the production to garner a multi-year contract, an inherent risk. The other concern would simply be probability. There appears to be mutual interest in Bassitt remaining in New York which would add up given both the team's success and the success of the individual.
Should Bassitt enter free agency, the Red Sox should be one of the first to call.
