The Boston Red Sox have dealt with several mediocre years lately. They haven’t won more than 81 games in a season since 2022 and have made the playoffs just once since 2019. Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy said on Wednesday that the club is ready to spend this winter. Could that lead to them landing ace Corbin Burnes via free agency?
“Even if it takes us over the CBT, our priority is 90 to 95 wins, and winning the American League East, and winning the division for multiple years,” Kennedy said. “There is an extreme urgency internally to be competing for the American League East Championship and to set ourselves up for a deep postseason run in 2025 without question.”
For the Red Sox to be in that position, they’ll need to invest in their roster significantly. It seems as if one of the areas Boston is looking to bolster ahead of 2025 is the starting rotation.
“Every team in baseball is well served by having someone at the front of the rotation that can win a game when the team needs it, win a playoff game,” president of baseball operations Craig Breslow said on October 2, via The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. “I think fortunately we saw a number of guys in the rotation this year take a step forward. I don’t want to devalue the job that guys like Tanner (Houck) and Brayan (Bello) and Kutter (Crawford) and others did. But at the same time, we need to get better, and we need to be open to any opportunity to do that.”
Could that lead to Burnes heading to Beantown on a big-money deal? That’s what JustBaseball’s Ryan Finkelstein is predicting will happen. In need of a durable ace, he thinks the righty could land an eight-year, $232 million deal with the Red Sox.
That’d be a notable shift in the AL East, as the four-time All-Star spent 2024 with the Baltimore Orioles. He posted a 15-9 record with a 2.92 ERA, 1.10 WHP and 181 strikeouts in 194 1/3 innings pitched before hitting the open market.
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