Will the Boston Red Sox strike quickly in free agency to land the starting pitcher they need?

Monday is something of a milestone in the Major League Baseball offseason, as free agency officially opens and the General Managers’ Meetings begin taking place in San Antonio. Teams can now begin making their cases to free agents to join their ballclubs, and the Red Sox have some obvious needs to fill before Opening Day.

Starting pitching is going to be a crucial area of improvement for a Red Sox team that lacked a true ace during their second-half slide in 2024.. And one recent report on free agents that could sign quickly named the Red Sox as an “ideal landing spot” for arguably the best pitcher available this winter.

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report tentatively predicted that the Red Sox would sign San Francisco Giants star and former two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell to a four-year, $140 million contract on Monday.

“The Red Sox need an ace,” Rymer said. “The Red Sox also have an aversion to doing long-term deals in free agency. The fit with Snell is good just from these perspectives, and it doesn’t hurt that he also has a track record of success in the AL East.”

Snell won a Cy Young award in the Red Sox’s division in 2018 with the Tampa Bay Rays, then did it again in 2023 with the San Diego Padres. He was injured and ineffective in the first half of the 2024 season but bounced back to become the best pitcher in baseball from July onward, putting up a 1.23 ERA over 80 1/3 innings in his final 14 starts.

Bringing Snell to Boston would be the biggest free-agent pitching signing for the Red Sox since David Price in 2016. And even for all the risks that accompany him, he may well be the best arm anyone can acquire to help win a championship in 2025.