How Red Sox Dodged Bullet Before Franchise-Altering Offseason Moves

The Boston Red Sox entered each of the last two offseasons in need of two starting pitchers to enhance the rotation.

Last year was a wash, or even a step back when Boston traded Chris Sale and signed Lucas Giolito, who never made it to the season after suffering a major injury in spring training. That marked the only moves for solidified rotation spots from the Red Sox. The staff got durability from their 30-start trio of Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford, but the group collectively ran out of gas down the stretch as Boston missed the postseason again.

The open market for starters last winter also lacked a true perception of value and an overextended timeline that bled toward spring training.

Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery watched their markets leak toward the beginning of the season while arms such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Aaron Nola found direct paths to the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, respectively.

Now, there was a fit with the Red Sox and arms like Montgomery last offseason. We won’t play total revisionist history, but the realistically available arms to Boston last offseason do not match the upside of the starters they’ve brought in this winter.

So far, Boston has taken an aggressive approach to fill needs with an emerging ace and a championship veteran. The Red Sox made the necessary bold trade to bring in left-hander Garrett Crochet for the Chicago White Sox. Boston followed up the move with the signing of two-time World Series champion Walker Buehler on a one-year deal for $21.05 million (which coincidentally marked the value of the qualifying offer across MLB this offseason).

The Crochet-Buehler combination marks significantly better potential and established production than what Boston theoretically did not bring in a year ago. The plan to add two starters absolutely needed to come to fruition in order for the Red Sox to be a postseason team again.

Now, they have five legitimate starters and plenty of spot-start depth waiting in the wings in arms, such as Richard Fitts, Hunter Dobbins and Quinn Priester with Triple-A Worcester.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow committed to improving the depth and overall ability of the organization’s pitching staff. That’s on display in a unit that the Red Sox should certainly feel comfortable with (and could still add to) before the 2025 season begins.