Red Sox Have Strong Odds To Land Best Pitcher In Free Agency According To Oddsmakers

Boston would be wise to invest in the generational talent

Scott Neville | Oct 10, 2023

Red Sox Have Strong Odds To Land Best Pitcher In Free Agency According To Oddsmakers /

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Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have a clear need to bolster the pitching staff, with a heavy emphasis on acquiring frontline starters.

Fortunately for Boston, the upcoming free-agent class is loaded with talented hurlers. The one right-hander who appears to stand out from the rest of the impressive crop is Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

With a sense of urgency from ownership, a reset luxury tax and a heavy scouting presence in Japan, Boston is expected to be in the mix for Yamamoto.

The Red Sox currently have +1000 odds (10%) to land the 25-year-old ace this winter according to BetOnline's oddsmakers, which ranks fifth among big-league teams. The New York Mets, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs are the only teams above Boston.

Yamamoto went 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA, 169-to-28 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .198 batting average against and 0.88 WHIP in 164 innings across 23 games for Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball League this season.

The generational talent has posted a career 70-29 record with a 1.82 ERA in 897 innings across 172 games in the NPB. He's won the pitching triple crown three years in a row -- most wins, strikeouts and lowest ERA in the entire league.

Yamamoto is a certified ace and will make an instant impact when he comes stateside. The Red Sox will need to pay up if they want to acquire Yamamoto.

They'll also want to put Masataka Yoshida at the forefront of their recruiting efforts as he is close to the right-hander after playing many years together for the Buffaloes and then winning the most recent World Baseball Classic together.

The acquisition of Yamamoto would announce to the entire baseball world that the Red Sox are sick of playing around and ready to compete again. From there, they'd only be a few pieces away from building a strong roster.

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Published Oct 10, 2023

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