Red Sox Reportedly ‘Talking With’ Two Front-Line Free Agent Starters

The Boston Red Sox are expected to make a few much-needed changes this offseason, which includes dabbling in the offseason pitching market.

Boston extended a $21.05 million qualifying offer to Nick Pivetta and will welcome back Lucas Giolito after undergoing season-ending surgery, but there’s plenty of more work to do. In hopes of adding a front-line starting pitcher to join the staff in 2025, the Red Sox are said to have undergone talks with two free agents.

“Everything has lined up for them at this point, except their ability to develop starting pitching at a big league level,” ESPN’s Jeff Passan told Yahoo Sports’ “Baseball Bar-B-Cast.” “Now Brayan Bello’s good. Kutter Crawford is a perfectly fine big-league starter. But they don’t have a dude, and it’s why they’re talking with Blake Snell and it’s why they’re talking with Max Fried.”

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Snell, 31, signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the San Francisco Giants last offseason in free agency, but elected to opt out. The left-hander went 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA and was limited to 20 starts due to a left groin injury that caused Snell to miss over a month. With a predominately right-handed starting rotation featuring Bello, Crawford, Tanner Houck, and Gioltio, adding a southpaw to the mix wouldn’t be a bad idea for the Red Sox as they re-polish their roster heading into 2025.

Fried, 30, is coming off his second career All-Star season with the Atlanta Braves, finishing the campaign going 11-10 with a 3.25 ERA. He sat at Dodger Stadium alongside Giolito, a former high school teammate, during Game 1 of the World Series last month. And similarly to the ongoing Juan Soto pursuit, the Red Sox will have their work cut out for them if they plan to make a legitimate run at landing Fried.

“They have to be intelligent about how they do things because getting stars, it’s not easy,” Passan added. “You have to sell them that this is a real vision.”