The buzz around the Boston Red Sox is palpable, but they’ve yet to turn it into anything concrete.
After a half-decade of relatively quite offseasons, by the Red Sox’s own standards, the tide may finally be turning. Red Sox brass are speaking as though the team is going to spend big this winter, and it’s just as well, because Boston has some major flaws to address if they want to contend in 2025.
Atop the list of flaws is the lack of high-end starting pitching. The Red Sox have a homegrown rotation trio of Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, and Kutter Crawford who all made 30-plus starts in 2024 for the first time, but it would be hard to call any of the three an ace.
The Red Sox have already been in contact with the three best-known aces on the free-agent market this winter–Max Fried, Corbin Burnes, and Blake Snell. But if they miss out on the big fish, there are still quality options to be had that could improve the overall outlook of the Boston rotation.
Recent Los Angeles Dodgers World Series champion Jack Flaherty could help a lot of teams in free agency, and will likely cost less than the aforementioned “ace” trio. Zach Pressnell of FanSided recently predicted that Flaherty would wind up in Boston this winter.
“The Red Sox will fall short of bringing Burnes in, but that’s not the worst-case scenario because they still have backup plans available,” Pressnell said. “Burnes is projected to land a six-year, $180 million contract this winter, per Spotrac. Instead of forking up nearly $200 million, they could fall back on Jack Flaherty, who’s only projected to land a three-year, $60 million contract.”
“If the Red Sox whiff on Burnes, which looks increasingly likely, they could comfortably fall back on Flaherty while saving more than $100 million to spend elsewhere.”
Flaherty, 29, had a bounce-back regular season after signing a one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers. He had a 3.17 ERA in 162 innings with an impressive 94 strikeouts. He also went on to start five crucial playoff games for the Dodgers, and though his ERA wasn’t fantastic, LA still won three of those starts, including the World Series clincher.
In addition to signing Flaherty, Pressnell predicted that the Red Sox would fill out their rotation with a trade for St. Louis Cardinals three-time All-Star Sonny Gray. Though neither Gray nor Flaherty is a sure bet to be a number-one starter in 2025, both have immense upside and lots of experience.
As an added bonus, Flaherty was a high school teammate of current Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito, who is expected to be ready to return from elbow surgery by Opening Day. Nothing like the power of friendship to improve a big-league rotation!
