Red Sox Predicted To Follow Walker Buehler Deal With $50 Million All-Star Closer

Keep on building the pitching staff...

Aug 9, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; San Diego Padres relief pitcher Tanner Scott (66) pitches in the tenth inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images / Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox's potential for this winter still feels limitless in the wake of the Walker Buehler signing.

On Monday, the Red Sox and the two-time All-Star Buehler agreed on a one-year, $21.05 million contract. The righty wasn't tendered the qualifying offer by his longtime team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and he essentially got that exact same deal from the Red Sox instead.

Buehler gives the Red Sox six solid big-league rotation options to open the year, so Boston may well be done signing starting pitchers. But they still need a big right-handed bat, and the bullpen, which was an outright disaster in 2024, could always use some upgrades.

Because Buehler signed such a short deal, the Red Sox still have money to play with both in the short and long term. That prompted one baseball writer to forecast how they would use some of that leftover coin to continue overhauling the roster.

On Monday, Zach Pressnell of Newsweek predicted that the Red Sox would sign left-handed relief pitcher Tanner Scott, a 2024 National League All-Star, to a three-year, $50 million deal.

"(Scott is) the top reliever on the market, so the Red Sox would need to pay him like it," Pressnell said. "While I project a three-year deal worth around $50 million, his actual contract may end up being four years with a total value of over $60 million or $65 million."

"Either way, Boston found an affordable solution to the rotation. It has a lot of money to spend to upgrade the bullpen and Scott is the perfect place to start that process."

Scott, 30, has been lights-out for the past two seasons, due to cutting down on the walks issue that plagued him early in his career. He's pitched to a 2.04 ERA in his last 150 innings, racking up 188 strikeouts and 7.6 bWAR in the process.

The Red Sox don't have anyone earmarked for the closer role right now, so Scott would have as good a chance as anyone on the roster at nailing that position down. Or if manager Alex Cora wanted to go a more fluid route, Scott and righties Justin Slaten and Liam Hendriks could take turns in the ninth inning based on matchups.

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