Reported Red Sox Starting Pitching Target Signs With American League Foe

Boston has one less rotation option on the open market

Scott Neville | Dec 15, 2023

Reported Red Sox Starting Pitching Target Signs With American League Foe /

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Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has largely sat back and watched the market heat up around him despite starting pitching on both the free agent and trade fronts starting to fall off the board.

The inactivity is due to Yoshinobu Yamamoto holding up the Red Sox and the other big-market suitors as he mulls over which offer to accept.

Until then, not only is Boston unable to make its next splash move. Starters such as Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery have to hold off as well.

However, the Red Sox should be able to make small moves with relative ease, as they could sign mid-level starters regardless of whether Yamamoto jumps on board or not.

Boston was linked to an inconsistent, high-upside starter just hours before he decided to sign elsewhere.

"BREAKING: Right-handed starter Jack Flaherty and the Detroit Tigers are in agreement on a one-year, $14 million contract," ESPN's Jeff Passan reported Thursday night. "Jack Flaherty's deal with the Tigers can max out at $15 million, with start-based bonuses of $250,000 for the 26th, $250,000 for the 28th and $500,000 for the 30th."

The 28-year-old went 8-9 with a 4.99 ERA, 148-to-66 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .287 batting average against and a 1.58 WHIP in 144 1/3 innings last season between the St. Louis Cardinals and Baltimore Orioles.

Flaherty was exceptional when he broke into the league but has since tailed off due to injuries and inconsistencies. He would have been a reclamation project that Boston did not have time to work on.

The Red Sox were wise not to win this bidding war, and hopefully will invest in more reliable starters instead.

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Published Dec 15, 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