The Boston Red Sox have to add a productive starting pitcher or two this winter.

The Red Sox can’t afford to miss the playoffs for a fourth straight season in 2025, and they’ll need an improved staff to avoid such a fate.

Boston would love to land Max Fried, Blake Snell, or Corbin Burnes in free agency, but half of Major League Baseball will be standing in line for those guys, and the Red Sox have in recent years fallen from the heights of being a big-market, big-spending monster on the buyer’s market (who knows why).

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will likely have to muster all of his evaluation skills to hit on a slightly less-heralded free agent pitcher.

Could Frankie Montas of the Milwaukee Brewers be a guy who comes to Boston and has everything click for him?

Montas had somewhat of a down year in 2024, but the talent has always been there. Plus, the Red Sox could probably snag Montas on a low-risk, one-year deal, at least according to MLB Trade Rumors’ Steve Adams.

“Montas was dominant for the 2021 A’s and has been mediocre since, due in no small part to shoulder surgery that wiped out nearly all of his 2023 season,” Adams said.

“His one-year deal with the Reds (who eventually traded him to the Brewers) has produced lackluster results. Montas’ 4.85 ERA isn’t much to look at, but he’s at least proven to be healthy (29 starts, 146 2/3 innings).

He’s also seen a velocity spike and uptick in swinging strikes since being traded to Milwaukee, but it still feels like he’s probably looking at another one-year deal.”

Montas returning to form in a Red Sox uniform would be just the break Boston needs, and it would make Breslow look like a genius.