Red Sox Rumors: New Pitcher Added To List Of Potential Targets

There’s been a new pitcher linked to the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball free agency.

The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier on Thursday reported the Red Sox have shown “varying degrees of interest” in a “range” of free-agent pitchers. Speier’s list included four names that previously were linked to Boston as well as another who hasn’t been: Jack Flaherty.

The 28-year-old right-hander spent the 2023 campaign with both the St. Louis Cardinals and Baltimore Orioles. He was traded to Baltimore, where he logged 34 2/3 innings over nine appearances (seven starts), after six-plus seasons in St. Louis.

Flaherty has started 125 of 131 games in his seven-year MLB career. He has a career 3.75 ERA, though his 4.99 ERA in 2023 was his worst since his rookie season in 2017.

Other pitchers that were mentioned by Speier included Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell as well as Shōta Imanaga and Lucas Giolito.

Montgomery was listed among Boston’s top targets, according to The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. WEEI’s Rob Bradford reported Snell was “one of many” hurlers the Red Sox were interested in. MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reported Tuesday Imanaga was drawing “broad interest” from the Red Sox. Morosi also reported last week Boston was one of four teams interested in Giolito.

Speier wrote a major reason why the Red Sox have yet to sign a starting pitcher is due to Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto’s impending decision has caused the market to come to a standstill, Speier wrote.