The Red Sox lost a pair of starting pitchers Tuesday, and time is running out if they want to make a move of their own on the free agent market.
Rich Hill is reportedly headed to Pittsburgh, while reports also indicate Nathan Eovaldi is heading home to join the Texas Rangers. That’s more than 200 innings the Red Sox must try to replace before the 2023 season rolls around.
Boston does already have the skeleton of a rotation already set, but it certainly could use more depth. Eovaldi was the best option left, and the Sox reportedly made a push to retain him before falling short. Now, it appears they could turn their attention toward former All-Star pitcher Corey Kluber, who is arguably the top starter left on the market.
The Red Sox have been connected to Kluber at various points this offseason (and previous offseasons for that matter), and MLB Network’s Jon Morosi mentioned Boston as a legitimate possibility for the 36-year-old pitcher. Kluber, as Morosi noted, makes his offseason home in the Boston area.
The Athletic’s Chad Jennings on Wednesday also reported the club has shown “heavy interest” in Kluber, citing multiple people familiar with the team’s thinking.
Of course, as the game of musical chairs draws to a close, the Red Sox aren’t alone in their pursuit of the two-time Cy Young Award winner. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported on Christmas Eve that the Angels were considering both Eovaldi and Kluber. Morosi also mentioned the Angels as being in on Kluber, and they obviously missed out on Eovaldi which could lead them to increase their efforts to sign Kluber.
One other somewhat anecdotal thing to consider is how a lot of Boston’s signings this winter have come seemingly out of nowhere. There weren’t really any reports connecting them to Chris Martin or Kenley Jansen, and those signings more or less came out of nowhere. They were reportedly in on Masataka Yoshida, but even that deal materialized without much public reporting.
In fact, the players the Red Sox have missed out on (Xander Bogaerts, Jose Abreu, Zach Eflin, etc.) were tied to the club in reports before — and/or after — signing elsewhere. Then again, that could be just a coincidence.
Kluber certainly won’t be mistaken for the pitcher who won the two Cy Young Awards with Cleveland, but he did have a solid 2022 campaign. He logged 164 innings for Tampa Bay, posting a league-best 1.2 walks per nine innings to go along with a 3.57 FIP. Despite living in the strike zone, Kluber, who turns 37 in April, struck out 7.6 batters per nine innings, a considerable dropoff from the 9.8 per nine career rate he had entering the season. That indicates the stuff has suffered a drop-off, but signing Kluber to provide depth is still pretty smart for a team like the Red Sox that has plenty of question marks about its rotation.
