The Boston Red Sox will be going hard after pitching help this winter, but which free-agent arm will they end up signing?
Coming off an 81-81 season, the Red Sox will have to add a marquee talent if they want to make it back to the playoffs. The starting rotation has run out of gas and ultimately let Boston down in each of the past three seasons, and Boston has to ensure it avoids a similar fate in 2025.
There are free-agent arms to be had, but competition is also expected to be fierce. Names like Corbin Burnes and Max Fried will be floated as Red Sox targets, but both of those pitchers are guaranteed to sign nine-figure contracts, and there’s no telling how high the bidding might rise.
With both talent and contract in mind, which pitcher will wind up actually signing in Boston? It’s not too early to register a guess.
The Red Sox are sure to be watching the postseason closely, seeing as they aren’t in it, and a hurler who helped his team advance to the World Series seems like a strong fit from a variety of angles. The prediction here is that the Red Sox sign Los Angeles Dodgers hurler Jack Flaherty.
Flaherty, 29, is coming off a bounce-back regular season in which he set career-highs in wins and strikeout-to-walk ratio. He signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Tigers before the season worth $14 million, but Spotrac projects he will be worth three years, $60 million this time around.
In total, Flaherty racked up a 13-7 record, a 3.17 ERA ,194 strikeouts, and a 1.068 WHIP in 162 innings pitched. He has only topped those innings and strikeouts totals once before in his career–in 2019 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
If the 2024 version of Flaherty is the version his next team can expect for the long haul, they’re getting an absolute bargain at that price. And Flaherty could very well end up signing for more than that $60 million figure, especially if he shows out during the World Series.
From a budgetary perspective, a talent perspective, and because the Red Sox reportedly pursued him last winter, Flaherty has all the makings of a future Boston star. But as is the case with any free agent, including those expected to make more than Flaherty, Boston will need to assert itself with stronger offers than it has made the last few free-agent cycles.
