After another underwhelming season, the Boston Red Sox finally appear willing to make the moves necessary to get them back to World Series contention.

Signing Juan Soto is their No. 1 priority, but whether that happens or not, the pitching staff must be addressed. Guys like Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, and Brayan Bello are quality MLB arms, but the Red Sox lack the ace that World Series-caliber teams have.

Blake Snell would’ve made sense to fill that void, but he just signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. They could sign a different high-end free agent like Corbin Burnes or Max Fried, but their prices likely just went up thanks to the deal Snell signed. If the free agents are too expensive, the Red Sox could look to acquire the best starting pitcher on the trade block – Garrett Crochet.

The Red Sox have been linked to Crochet ever since the offseason started, but nothing has transpired on that front. The latest update from Jon Morosi of MLB Network won’t exactly get Boston closer to acquiring the Chicago White Sox ace.

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“Pay really close attention on a possible Garrett Crochet trade. They’ve got the prospects to get it done, and remember, the White Sox, if they make this move, I was told again this week that there’s been some reports about Wilyer Abreu possibly being part of this conversation. I was told that the White Sox are so far away from what they perceive to be their competitive window that they would prefer to get prospects who have not even debuted yet in the major leagues, whether it’s an Anthony or a Mayer or a Campell,” Morosi said on MLB Network.

Wilyer Abreu’s name being dangled as a possible headliner made sense in theory. He was one of the better rookies in the AL this past season, making him desirable for the White Sox, and the Red Sox are stacked with left-handed hitting outfielders – especially if they were to win the Juan Soto sweepstakes. Abreu is expendable whether the Red Sox sign Soto or not, and he’d be even more so if they did.

Abreu would not even hit arbitration until the 2027 season and would be under club control through the 2029 campaign. Despite that and the promise he showed, the White Sox want someone who’d be under club control for even longer as the headliner, with Morosi highlighting how far out Chicago is from competing.

Well, if that’s the case, there’s a good chance Boston will have to part with one of their four best prospects – Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell, or Kyle Teel – to get a deal done. Whether that’s worthwhile for Boston can be debated, but it makes sense that the White Sox would have this lofty of an asking price when taking into account that Crochet – a pitcher with Cy Young upside – would come with two years of cheap club control.

It was fair to assume that a deal consisting of Abreu and several other prospects outside of their Big Four would at least get Boston close, but Chicago’s desire to acquire a prospect who hasn’t debuted as the headliner makes it unlikely that Boston can realistically get a deal done without parting with one of the prospects that they almost certainly will have a tough time parting with.