MLB Insider Predicts How Red Sox Will ‘Complement’ Possible Juan Soto Deal

The Boston Red Sox are after the biggest prize in MLB free agency this offseason.

But even if they end up signing Juan Soto to an eye-popping contract that will most likely cost the franchise over $600 million, it won’t mark the end to the Red Sox making sizable moves to improve their club.

Just don’t expect those moves to come in the free-agent pool. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal believes the Red Sox could make another big splash after landing Soto by orchestrating a cost-effective trade.

“The Sox’s biggest need is a top-of-the-rotation starter,” Rosenthal wrote Monday. “If they come away with Soto, they might prefer to complement him with a trade for the Chicago White Sox’s Garrett Crochet, who will earn a projected $2.9 million in arbitration and remain under club control through 2026. But wouldn’t the better flex be to hold their prospects and pursue (Corbin) Burnes or (Max) Fried? A Soto-Burnes combo, while probably unrealistic, certainly would meet the definition of ‘full throttle.'”

Given the gargantuan dollar amount Soto is commanding, getting an All-Star pitcher on a cheaper contract might be more appealing to the Red Sox than having to hand out another massive deal to Burnes or Fried. Burnes and Fried are expected to land a contract north of $150 million and the Red Sox do have a surplus of top-tier prospects in the farm system they could dip into to get Crochet.

Crochet might not have the same pedigree as Burnes or Fried, but he’s also five years younger than those two perennial Cy Young Award candidates. And the Red Sox could look to his 2024 campaign, in which he posted a 3.58 ERA with 209 strikeouts in 146 innings for the atrocious White Sox, as a building block to even greater things for the talented left-hander.

And for Crochet, that could come in a Red Sox uniform, with or without Soto as his teammate.