Red Sox showing heavy interest in former All-Star pitcher As Deal Agreed Upon
The Boston Red Sox would like to add a starting pitcher this offseason, and they reportedly are showing heavy interest in a former All-Star.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman published a column on Thursday in which he mentioned the status of several free-agent pitchers such as Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell. In the column, Heyman said the New York Mets have been linked to pitchers Shota Imanaga and Lucas Giolito.
Heyman also said that Giolito is “getting big interest” from the Red Sox.
Giolito is an interesting case. He’s shown the ability to pitch at an All-Star level, like he did in 2019 with the Chicago White Sox. He went 14-9 with a 3.41 ERA that season and finished sixth in AL Cy Young Award voting. But he went 8-15 with a 4.88 ERA in 2023. He was fine over his 21 starts with the White Sox, but he imploded over his six starts with the Guardians and Angels.
For his career, Giolito has gone 61-62 with a 4.43 ERA.
The Red Sox were among the teams that tried to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who ended up signing with the Dodgers. They also reportedly are interested in Imanaga. Boston has reportedly shown interest in bringing back southpaw James Paxton, too.
Could the Boston Red Sox benefit from losing bidding wars to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Japanese superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto?
Well, they would have been better off outbidding their West Coast opponents but there at least could be a consolation prize in order.
The Dodgers have designated left-hander Bryan Hudson for assignment to make room for Yamamoto on the 40-man roster on Wednesday.
Hudson is not someone the Dodgers were looking to part ways with but had to release the 26-year-old to create room for their influx of talent this winter.
The 6-foot-8, 220-pound hurler did not fare well in his brief big-league stint last season — seven earned runs over 8 2/3 innings — but was a force to be reckoned with on the whole.
Hudson posted a 2.43 ERA with an 86-to-26 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .221 batting average against and 1.31 WHIP in 55 2/3 innings across 46 appearances (eight starts) for Triple-A Oklahoma City last season.
The southpaw would be a welcomed addition for the Red Sox as they attempt to bolster the pitching staff both in terms of high-end talent and depth. Hudson fits into the latter.
Despite his large frame, Hudson’s fastball averaged just 92 mph last season alongside a cutter and slider.
It’s no guarantee that the budding prospect will continue his ascension but he’d certainly be worth putting a claim in for. Boston would not have to give anything to Los Angeles for his services — they’d just have to have the highest waiver priority.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow would be wise to poach from the best 40-man roster in Major League Baseball.
