More rotation help coming in Boston?
It was a busy offseason for the Boston Red Sox on the starting pitching front. Would they consider adding more help at the 2025 trade deadline?
There’s a world where the Red Sox could have seven quality starters by the trade deadline: Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Walker Buehler, Lucas Giolito, Kutter Crawford, and Patrick Sandoval, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery.
However, things rarely work out the way they’re planned with starting pitchers nowadays. Crawford and Bello are already dealing with injuries in spring training, while Crochet, Buehler, and Giolito have all missed full seasons due to injury within the last two years.
Plus, if the Red Sox are in the pennant race and have the chance to grab a former Cy Young Award winner, they might just have to run with it.
That was the thought behind a recent prediction from Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller. On Thursday, Miller tabbed the Red Sox to acquire Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara, who is returning from a full-season injury of his own in 2024, by the 2025 trade deadline.
“The Miami Marlins were adamant from the outset that they had no intentions of trading away Sandy Alcántara this offseason, and they have thus far stuck by that,” Miller wrote. “However, we’re all kind of expecting it to happen before this summer’s trade deadline.”
“There’s a good chance he’s on the move this summer to a team with A) multiple top-100 prospects, B) reasonable hope for a World Series within the next three years and C) at least some degree of disposable income.”
Alcántara, 29, is entering the money years of a five-year, $56 million contract extension. He’ll make $17 million each of the next two years, then has a $21 million club option for 2027.
If he comes back from injury and looks anything like the pitcher who threw six complete games to the tune of a 2.28 ERA in 2022, the asking price for Alcántara at the trade deadline will be astronomical. And though Miller references “multiple top 100 prospects,” some of Boston’s are likely to be established big-leaguers by then.
Would Boston consider dealing shortstop Marcelo Mayer for Alcántara? To some, it may sound blasphemous, but it might be the only way to get the Marlins to listen, and if the Red Sox need pitching by that time, such a deal might become a possibility.
Leave a Reply