{"id":5609,"date":"2024-11-07T14:11:02","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T14:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=5609"},"modified":"2024-11-07T14:11:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T14:11:02","slug":"red-sox-open-mlb-free-agency-with-shocking-21-million-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=5609","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Open MLB Free Agency With &#8216;Shocking&#8217; $21 Million Move"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GettyImages-2170705730-e1730988068942.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GettyImages-2170705730-e1730988068942.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GettyImages-2170705730-e1730988068942.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/GettyImages-2170705730-e1730988068942.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Red Sox Open MLB Free Agency With 'Shocking' $21 Million Move\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Getty Red Sox pitcher Nick Pivetta<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The MLB winter free agency period opened this week, and while it\u2019s generally too early for anything of significance to come down, the Red Sox did pull off an eye-opening move to get things started. That\u2019s because, when it comes to filling out the team\u2019s starting rotation for next season, there is expected to be a more-the-merrier vibe to Boston\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n<p>But there was not expected to be a heavy focus on keeping in place the team\u2019s current core of pitchers.<\/p>\n<p>By the time the Red Sox\u2019s 2024 season wrapped up, it was clear they had three rotation pieces in place: Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and perhaps the best of the bunch, Tanner Houck. They also have last year\u2019s top pitching signing, Lucas Giolito, who injured his elbow in spring training, waiting in the wings.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also the question of Garrett Whitlock, who was very good in four starts before injuring his elbow. He should be back early in the 2025 season, though maybe as a bullpen piece.<\/p>\n<p>The feeling from there was that the Red Sox would add one front-line starter this winter, a pitcher with true ace potential who could be had in a trade, such as Garrett Crochet from the White Sox. And many felt Boston would add another free agent on top of that.<\/p>\n<p>But what few expected was that the Red Sox would give veteran Nick Pivetta, who was inconsistent and finished at 6-12 with a 4.14 ERA this season, the $21 million qualifying offer. Yet, this week, that\u2019s just what CBO Craig Breslow and the Red Sox did.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Nick Pivetta\u2019s Value in Question<\/h2>\n<p>At 31 years old, it\u2019s a stretch to say Pivetta is worth a $21 million contract. He is coming off a one-year, $7.5 million contract with the Red Sox this year, and the QO represents tripling his salary.<\/p>\n<p>That created some waves around the league. On \u201cThe Fenway Rundown\u201d podcast from MassLive beat writers Sean McAdam and Chris Cotillo, the move was called \u201cshocking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe big news is a development I would describe as shocking. Not capital-S shocking but definitely in our world it was, Nick Pivetta gets the qualifying offer from the Red Sox,\u201d Cotillo said. \u201cThat was interesting just because it wasn\u2019t, as the kids say, on the bingo card. Sean called me immediately in shock, almost, about what happened and why they had done it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McAdam added: \u201cI was completely surprised, I did not see that coming at all. I thought if there was a small chance of offering the qualifying offer at all, it was going to go to (outfielder) Tyler O\u2019Neill. I think you could better make the case that that is a better allocation of $21 million. It would have been an overpay for O\u2019Neill, certainly, but I think it is also an overpay for Pivetta.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Red Sox May Be Proven Wise in QO Decision<\/h2>\n<p>Still, there is smart a case to be made for giving Pivetta the qualifying offer. The Red Sox are probably betting that he will not accept the offer, and will look for a long-term deal elsewhere. If that happens and he signs for more than $50 million, the Red Sox will be gifted a draft pick, likely after the second round.<\/p>\n<p>The danger is that Pivetta could accept the QO, leaving the Red Sox on the hook for one year at what looks like a huge overpay. But around the league, Pivetta commands more respect than he gets in Boston, where his inconsistency is a problem.<\/p>\n<p>At Spotrac, Pivetta is projected to warrant a four-year, $60 million contract. ESPN\u2019s Kiley McDaniel projects him to get three years, $63 million\u2014basically, the QO in each of the next three seasons. Either way, if that\u2019s where Pivetta\u2019s market is heading, the Red Sox did a very wise thing in extending the qualifying offer.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019ll leave, but Boston will add something around a Top 100 pick as he does.<\/p>\n<p>Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including &#8220;Fun City,&#8221; &#8220;Before Wrigley became Wrigley,&#8221; and &#8220;Facing Michael Jordan.&#8221; More about Sean Deveney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Red Sox were considered a longshot to offer the qualifying offer to anyone on the roster, but they made the &#8220;shocking&#8221; move anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Red Sox Open MLB Free Agency With &#039;Shocking&#039; $21 Million Move - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=5609\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Red Sox Open MLB Free Agency With &#039;Shocking&#039; 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