The Boston Red Sox might not be done adding to their pitching staff despite recently completing a blockbuster trade for left-handed pitcher Garrett Crochet. Boston’s rotation fell apart in the second half of this season and Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is busy this winter making sure that won’t reoccur in 2025.

Having already landed Crochet, the Red Sox could enter next season with an intimidating rotation if they can land this winter’s most-prized hurler. “But even after trading for Garrett Crochet earlier this week, the Red Sox still feel like the strongest candidate, even though they’ve kind of balked at the price tags for both (Corbin) Burnes and Max Fried in the past week,” Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller wrote Friday when predicting where free-agent pitcher Corbin Burnes will sign.

Burnes has posted a 60-36 record with a 3.19 ERA, 4.1-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .212 batting average against and a 1.06 WHIP throughout his seven-year career, during which he played for the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles. “After all, Crochet’s projected $2.9M salary for 2025 did nothing to impact Boston’s ability to pay Burnes, and they entered this offseason needing to add multiple starting pitchers,” Miller continued. “They got one for a platter of prospects and they’ll add the other for a boatload of money. Prediction: (six) years, $218.5M to the Boston Red Sox.”

The 2021 National League Cy Young winner entered this offseason as the top available starting pitcher, exploring the free-agent market for the first time in his career. Rumors indicate the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants are heavily pursuing Burnes. However, the Red Sox haven’t made the postseason since 2021, so they could be geared to make another monumental move for a rotation boost.