Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox Fans Will Love Latest Report Regarding Reunion With Premier Pitcher

Boston appears close to gaining a key piece back

Scott Neville

Red Sox Fans Will Love Latest Report Regarding Reunion With Premier Pitcher
Red Sox Fans Will Love Latest Report Regarding Reunion With Premier Pitcher /
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Could the Boston Red Sox get back on track after a tumultuous offseason by bringing back a frontline starter to bolster the rotation?

The league-wide expectation reportedly is that the Red Sox will receive a notable boost to the rotation in the near future.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi is the consensus top free agent available, and there is growing optimism that he'll end up back in Boston.

"According to MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi, there’s 'pretty good confidence on the part of a lot of people in baseball' that Eovaldi will ultimately re-sign with the Red Sox," MLB.com posted.

The 32-year-old starter was expected to be the backup plan for the New York Yankees had they lost out on left-handed ace Carlos Rodón. 

Now that the Yankees are expected to be out of the picture, a return to Boston appears much more likely.

Eovaldi has a qualifying offer attached to him, meaning external clubs will have to pay penalties to sign him. Most teams have been hesitant to give up draft capital on top of a moderately sized contract for a player heading into his age-33 season.

Boston is the only team exempt from penalties for signing Eovaldi and is in desperate need of a reliable starter.

Should Eovaldi return, a rotation of Chris Sale, Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Whitlock, and Brayan Bello with depth pieces such as James Paxton, Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Josh Winckowski and Conner Seabold would actually be much improved from a season ago.

Throw in the fact that Boston added two high-leverage relievers in Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen and the pitching staff could actually be fairly impressive.

If Boston can bring back Eovaldi, Red Sox fans could exhale a little -- at least until the next (surely disappointing) report of Rafael Devers' contract negotiations comes out. 

More MLB: Red Sox Were More Aggressive For Mid-Tier Scott Boras Client Than Xander Bogaerts

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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