Red Sox Have Been In ‘Constant Communication’ To Reunite With Starting Pitcher
Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is in the process of sifting through various starting pitchers while attempting to formulate a competitive rotation next season.
Thus far, the Red Sox have been fairly tight-lipped with the media, avoiding any mention of specific players. A few savvy reporters, however, have discovered that Boston has interest in a reunion with an overachiever from a year ago.
“There has been consistent communication with James Paxton and a reunion there is in play but not a certainty,” MassLive’s Chris Cotillo reported Tuesday.
The information comes on the heels of WEEI’s Rob Bradford’s report that the Red Sox have shown “strong interest” in bringing back Paxton.
Paxton posted a 4.50 ERA (101 ERA+) with a 101-to-33 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .250 batting average against and 1.31 WHIP in 96 innings across 19 starts last season.
It was a successful attempt to rebuild his career with Boston after injuries derailed the southpaw’s previous three seasons.
The 35-year-old would be a logical candidate to fill out the bottom of the Red Sox’s rotation assuming other reinforcements are coming.
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Paxton was effective in his first season post-surgery and is expected to be even better in 2024 with a normal offseason and spring training. Typically, pitchers are much better two years removed from Tommy John surgery than their first season back on the mound.
The veteran hurler is far from an innings eater but his presence alongside at least one frontline starter could push Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck into multi-inning reliever roles — improving the quality of the pitching staff as a whole.
The Boston Red Sox likely will be making at least a few moves in the not-so-distant future.
Now that superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the free agent market is expected to pick up in a major way.
It’s unclear exactly what the Red Sox’s plan is going to be, though. Boston was involved in the Yamamoto sweepstakes, but there have been rumblings that the club doesn’t want to spend big.
While this may be the case, the Red Sox will be adding in free agency no matter what. The Red Sox need to improve the starting rotation and also could use another right-handed bat in the middle of the lineup.
It sounds like Boston knows this and a few players the club reportedly is targeting are pitchers Shōta Imanaga, Lucas Giolito, and James Paxton, along with slugger Teoscar Hernández, according to the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
Major league sources peg the Sox as having been active in the markets of a broad array of free agents, including Imanaga, Lucas Giolito, James Paxton (with Audacy’s Rob Bradford describing the Sox as showing “strong interest in bringing back” the lefty), and Teoscar Hernández (first reported by The Athletic),” Speier said. “It’s worth considering each — and what, if anything, the pursuit of those players illuminates about the Red Sox’ overarching strategy this winter.
