The Boston Red Sox are expected to explore the free agency and trade markets to bolster their pitching staff this offseason.

But there could be one familiar face fans weren’t expecting next season. Just after the qualifying offer deadline, MLB insider Robert Murray broke the news that the Red Sox extended a qualifying offer to righty pitcher Nick Pivetta.

If Pivetta accepts the qualifying offer, he’ll be a Red Sox for one more year and be paid $21.05 million. He can also deny the offer and enter the free agent market, and Boston will receive a compensatory draft pick for losing Pivetta to another club.

Many Red Sox fans and reporters thought Tyler O’Neill was the more likely qualifying offer candidate after another up-and-down season from Pivetta. O’Neill posted his best campaign since he earned MVP consideration in 2021 and his 33 homers led the Sox, but the $21.05 million qualifying offer would’ve been a significant raise for a player with a long injury history.

Red Sox extend $21.05 million qualifying offer to Nick Pivetta in surprise move

Pivetta has been a Red Sox since 2020, and he’s posted the most innings of any Sox pitcher in that time. He clocked a 4.14 ERA over 145.2 innings in 2024 and he owns a 4.29 over 633 innings in his Red Sox career.

While Pivetta can eat innings and he’s done it well for the Red Sox during his tenure, he’s never posted a sub-four ERA in his eight years of service time. Boston’s front office mentioned improving the pitching staff as one of its top priorities this winter, and many experts have called for it to sign an ace. Pivetta is not that, and if he accepts the qualifying offer, the Red Sox will have $21.05 less for their free agency budget, which has been inexplicably tight for a few years.

Luckily for Boston, Pivetta is flexible. He’s shown that he can succeed as a starter or out of the bullpen, and the Sox need help in both areas. Pivetta’s 2025 job could be determined by the rest of Boston’s pitching acquisitions, and it should be — improvement needs to be the club’s first priority, and bringing back one of the organization’s longest-tenured members who’s never posted an ERA under 4.04 is a questionable first move for Craig Breslow.

Pivetta has until Nov. 19 to decide whether he wants to accept or decline the qualifying offer. After his final start of 2024, he told reporters he liked playing in Boston and that the city has become “quite the home” for him and his wife. If he accepts the deal, and it certainly sounds like he might, the Red Sox will have a little less shopping to do this winter, for better or worse.