In no uncertain terms, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow identified one of Boston\u2019s main needs this winter as a starting pitcher who can \u201cpitch at the front of a rotation,\u201d \u201cpitch alongside or slot in behind Garrett (Crochet)\u201d and \u201cstart a playoff game\u201d for the club if needed.<\/p>\n
Is Sonny Gray that guy?<\/p>\n
That question was one Breslow wouldn\u2019t answer directly Tuesday night, hours after swinging an early-offseason deal to net Gray (and $20 million in cash) from the Cardinals for young pitchers Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke. Asked repeatedly if he would characterize Gray as his No. 2 starter, Breslow largely deflected, speaking about the importance of open-mindedness at a time when the free agent and trade markets have barely moved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how much sense it makes, in November, to put a number (rotation slot) on a guy,\u201d Breslow said. \u201cI think Sonny is a very talented major league pitcher. The seasons that he\u2019s put up, pretty consistently, indicate that to be the case. That said, we still intend to improve our team. Exactly what that looks like, we don\u2019t know right now, but we\u2019ll continue to explore opportunities and figure out where that takes us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to paint ourselves into a corner here,\u201d he later added. \u201cWe felt like there was an opportunity to upgrade our rotation in 2026 and so we did that. It\u2019s early in the offseason. There are still opportunities that I anticipate materializing. We\u2019re not going to close off any chance to make the team better.\u201d<\/p>\n
It would be unwise for Breslow to come out and say that Gray will be his club\u2019s big-ticket rotation addition for the winter considering how many top free agent and trade options remain available and the uncertainties surrounding their markets. But the early sense people around the league are getting is that the Gray move makes the Red Sox less likely to pursue another big-name starter this winter considering the need to commit significant resources to the lineup before Opening Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the focus shifts to an impact bat but another pitching acquisition isn\u2019t out of the question,\u201d said one source with knowledge of the club\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n
In the Gray trade, the Red Sox conceded significant resources both in terms of players and salary. In addition to parting with Fitts and Clarke, the club is committing $21 million to Gray in 2026, making the 36-year-old the third-highest paid player on the roster next season (behind Crochet and Trevor Story). That\u2019s no small commitment and one that dips into the pool of available resources to make further moves. The Red Sox \u2014 as usual \u2014 have not given any indications about their willingness to exceed CBT (competitive balance tax) thresholds in 2026, but they\u2019re already projected to be within $25 million of their 2025 payroll, with at least one big hole (power bat) still to be filled.<\/p>\n
Adding a big bat, as expected, plus a top free agent starter like Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Ranger Su\u00e1rez, Michael King, Tatsuya Imai or Zac Gallen, would require a rather large payroll bump and is much less likely now than when the day started. The appeal of making a trade for an available starter like Minnesota\u2019s Joe Ryan, Washington\u2019s MacKenzie Gore, Milwaukee\u2019s Freddy Peralta or Miami\u2019s Sandy Alcantara is likely lessened, even if those players would certainly make the Red Sox better. The Red Sox are not signaling, either publicly or privately, that Gray is simply just the start when it comes to rotation additions. They know there\u2019s a chance they will go into the season with him as their No. 2 option behind Crochet but also know, with the offseason in such early stages, that it\u2019s possible another upgrade might materialize.<\/p>\n
In Gray, though, the Red Sox see a pitcher whose predictive indicators and under-the-hood stats look more attractive than a 4.28 ERA in 2025 would suggest. That he has averaged 177 innings in the last three seasons is attractive. So is a three-year FIP (3.11) that suggests his ERA in that span (3.63) is inflated by poor defense. Gray doesn\u2019t have elite velocity and he doesn\u2019t avoid hard contact at one of the league\u2019s highest rates. But he does have the ability to miss bats and control the baseball, as evidenced by his National League-leading strikeout-to-walk ratio (201-to-38 last season). Those numbers, plus Gray\u2019s long track record of success, which includes three flirtations with the Cy Young award over an 11-year stretch, are enough for the Red Sox to believe they got a pitcher who is better than the back of his baseball card might suggest.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo out of the last three years, he\u2019s thrown 180 plus innings with what I would call impeccable command,\u201d Breslow said. \u201cThis guy is sitting on a 5% walk rate for each of the last two years. There\u2019s not just the 200 strikeouts and the swing-and-miss, there\u2019s also limiting free passes as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another reason why the Red Sox might be hesitant to extend themselves for another high-end starter is a willingness to give runway to young, talented options on the roster. Even with Fitts now out of the mix, the Red Sox have a stable of high-upside options behind Crochet, Gray and Brayan Bello that includes Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, Hunter Dobbins, Kyle Harrison, Luis Perales and the duo of Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval, who are both returning after missing all of 2025. It\u2019s a reason why Breslow said the club wasn\u2019t in the market for No. 4 or No. 5 starters this winter at the GM Meetings earlier this month. On Tuesday, he once again said he feels comfortable with the depth on his roster.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody will sit in this chair and say they have enough starting pitching,\u201d Breslow said. \u201cOur job is to continue to develop that and to try and create this internal pipeline and understand who are the guys that we need to be cornerstones of this team and who potentially are pitchers that we could use in trades to address other needs on the roster.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Breslow and his lieutenants re-calibrate over the Thanksgiving holiday, they\u2019ll be able to do so knowing they have one big item already checked off their offseason to-do list. Ahead of the Winter Meetings in Orlando in two weeks, it\u2019s clear adding slug in the form of Pete Alonso, Kyle Schwarber, Alex Bregman or another standout offensive player is the top priority. Further rotation moves are on the back-burner \u2014 at least for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had been pretty transparent about our desire to add to the rotation and our desire to add a bat on the position player side,\u201d Breslow said. \u201cIt\u2019s impossible to know exactly what the order of operations will be. So we\u2019ll continue to look for opportunities to improve the team, but I wouldn\u2019t say we\u2019re going to exclusively focus on one thing at the expense of the other. We want to be open minded. And so I don\u2019t think this is a close off all opportunities and look exclusively at position players, but I also think that there\u2019s a chance that that comes into focus now over the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n The Red Sox began their offseason with a clear need for a No. 2 starter. Is Sonny Gray that guy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":125507,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n\n