The Boston Red Sox have finished last in the American League East for the past two seasons, but they seem fine with punting on the 2024 campaign.
Recently, representatives from the front office and ownership have gone out to temper expectations and lament the difficulty of acquiring starting pitching. Please give me a break.
Until Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel reach the major leagues, Boston will intentionally be poor, even if the Red Sox are only Jordan Montgomery, Jorge Soler, and Justin Turner away from real contention.
Nevertheless, before pitchers and catchers report for spring training in less than a month, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow appears to be at least interested in adding one more reliable arm to the mix.
According to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, the Red Sox will face competition from a number of teams for the second-tier starting pitching spot. James Paxton, an old friend, Hyun-jin Ryu, Michael Lorenzen, and Brandon Woodruff—who is predicted to miss the entire 2024 season due to a shoulder injury—are among the other suitors.
Heyman included the following players for the aforementioned group: the Red Sox, San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals, and Seattle Mariners.
On a two-year contract, Woodruff would be a terrific addition, but he wouldn’t benefit the team in the approaching campaign.
The best healthy option among the group is Lorenzon (9-9, 4.18 ERA), with Paxton (7-5, 4.50) trailing closely behind. Despite only making 17 starts in the previous two seasons and going into his age-37 season with a career 3.27 ERA, Ryu is the high-risk, high-reward player.
The Red Sox’s floor would be significantly raised if they were to sign any of these arms, but it is still unclear why they are reluctant to sign Montgomery.