The Boston Red Sox’s starting pitching mandate is clear: Add a No. 2 starter who can pitch deep into a playoff game.

Trades and free agency are both clearly on the table as the winter meetings approach in two weeks. Last year, the Red Sox traded for now-ace Garrett Crochet, but only pulled the trigger once free agent Max Fried had signed with the rival New York Yankees.

Examining the free-agent side for a moment, there truly isn’t a slam-dunk candidate to have an All-Star caliber year. But Boston might well have to go this route if prices are too high (or are simply nonexistent) for trade candidates like Joe Ryan and Freddy Peralta.

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Red Sox could pursue these three potential No. 2 starters

On Monday, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic revealed a trio of free-agent starting pitchers she believed would be near or at the top of the Red Sox’s list over the coming weeks and months.

“Among the starting pitchers, Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez and Tatsuya Imai (another recent Japanese star who was recently posted) all figure to be free-agent targets as the Winter Meetings approach.”

Cease is coming off a down year, but he’s also the only pitcher in Major League Baseball with at least 200 strikeouts in each of the last five seasons. You can set your watch to Cease’s innings and strikeout totals, but which version of his run prevention the Red Sox would be getting from year to year would be a mystery.

Meanwhile, the mysteries around Valdez are numerous, as he inexplicably blew up in the second half of this season and even had a memorable cross-up incident with catcher César Salazar that could be affecting his market. But he’s also a two-time All-Star and World Series champion who has historically been the most consistent pitcher among all the free agents.

It wouldn’t be shocking to see Imai land the biggest deal of any of the names listed here, as he’s the youngest (27, turns 28 in May) and doesn’t have a qualifying offer attached to him. But he’s also never thrown a pitch in the big leagues, so that comes with obvious risks.

Bottom line: Red Sox fans should be excited to see the team land any of these three, but there’s no guarantee any of them work out the way the team hopes they would.

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