Red Sox $48 Million Starter Linked To Royals As 'Realistic' Rotation Upgrade
It's been an active offseason for the Kansas City Royals already, but the work isn't yet done.
First, the Royals re-signed Michael Wacha on a three-year contract to shore up their strong starting rotation. Then, they traded his rotation mate, Brady Singer, to the Cincinnati Reds to land a new leadoff hitter in second baseman Jonathan India.
Trading Singer opened up a spot in the rotation, one which the Royals don't necessarily have a slam-dunk candidate to fill. In fact, as things currently stand, they're likely asking Alec Marsh, Kris Bubic, and Kyle Wright, all of whom have real question marks, to fill two spots.
Although it might be expensive by the Royals' standards, adding one more quality veteran starter would likely get Kansas City much closer to being contenders.
Nick Pivetta, formerly of the Boston Red Sox, is an intriguing option to fill that role. Caleb Moody of Just Baseball recently named Pivetta as a "realistic" starting pitching candidate for the Royals in this year's free-agent class.
"Pivetta may not have the upside to challenge for the mid-rotation spots of a contending starting staff... but he’s the textbook definition of a quality four or five starter," Moody said.
"He turned down the one-year, $21.05 million qualifying offer from the Red Sox, leading me to believe he’s opting for term over AAV which makes him even more of an appealing option to bolster the bottom of a rotation, even if it does cost a bit of draft compensation."
Pivetta, 31, is one of the most confounding pitchers in baseball. He can be completely dominant, like on the two occasions this year where he struck out eight batters in a row, but he also has a bugaboo: the home run ball. Average it out, and you get a 4.29 ERA across five seasons as a Red Sox.
Though he's no bargain bin pickup, Pivetta shouldn't be outside the Royals' recent price range. Tim Britton of The Athletic projects Pivetta for a three-year, $48 million deal, which is nearly identical to the deal Wacha got, but it would also come with the loss of a second-round pick.
If Kansas City could access the best version of Pivetta more consistently, that price would be well worth the hassle. But that's what the Red Sox have been trying to do for five years, to little avail.
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Jackson Roberts is a former Division III All-Region DH who now writes and talks about sports for a living. A Bay Area native and a graduate of Swarthmore College and the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, Jackson makes his home in North Jersey. He grew up rooting for the Red Sox, Patriots, and Warriors, and he recently added the Devils to his sports fandom mosaic. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "Kansas City Royals On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org