The Boston Red Sox have added Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler this offseason to revamp their starting rotation. Their moves likely indicate they will not be bringing back veteran starter Nick Pivetta.
Just Baseball’s Ryan Finkelstein predicted that Pivetta would leave the Red Sox to join the Toronto Blue Jays on a two-year, $40 million deal with an opt-out.
“The downside to Pivetta is the fact that he has not finished any of the last four seasons with an ERA under 4.00, and teams will have to forfeit draft capital to sign him,” wrote Finkelstein. “If there is one team that might be desperate enough to not care about the draft capital at this stage of the offseason, it’s the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays have struck out on most major free agents, with a lot of their pursued targets having been attached to the qualifying offer.”
Pivetta has started 107 games for the Red Sox in the last five seasons. Signing with the Blue Jays would give him the opportunity to make the Red Sox pay for not bringing him back.
The Blue Jays have not been able to convince stars to sign with them. They have, however, successfully added Andrés Giménez through trade. An offseason haul of Giménez and Pivetta is not what the Blue Jays had in mind, but it is not bad.
Pivetta could serve as a solid arm in the backend of the Blue Jays rotation. He would be a great compliment to Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt.
Pivetta has already made two starts against the Red Sox in his career. He has a 0.69 ERA and 15 strikeouts against them. He could continue to succeed against the Red Sox if he joined the Blue Jays. Additionally, Pivetta has a 3.74 ERA in seven starts at the Rogers Center in his career.