The Boston Red Sox wanted to address their starting rotation this offseason. They have certainly done that, as the Red Sox acquired Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals in a trade earlier in the offseason. With Gray and Garrett Crochet leading the rotation, Boston reportedly feels good about the current status of the team's starting pitching. The Red Sox Sox further boosted their pitching depth by acquiring Johan Oviedo as part of a five-player deal on Thursday, and now MLB insider Ken Rosenthal believes Boston may be done adding to the rotation.
“I didn't think they were gonna get another starter after Sonny Gray, so I would be surprised if they got one more,” Rosenthal said Friday during an appearance on Foul Territory. “Now, you never know, and certainly teams do all kinds of things and talk about all kinds of things, some of which never come to light and some of which do. But there are constantly conversations going on.”
Rosenthal expects the Red Sox's priority to be on adding another bat or two. Boston's starting pitching depth is in a good spot, but the offense could use some help.
“It would seem to me that their focus now should be the bat, whether it's (Alex) Bregman or (Pete) Alonso, or both, or someone else,” Rosenthal added. “That is where they have to kind of get better at this point.”
Rosenthal isn't ruling out the ball club adding another starting pitcher. After all, it's difficult to perfectly predict each team's offseason strategy. With that said, Rosenthal believes the Red Sox are going to place their focus elsewhere given their already impressive amount of rotation depth.
“They feel, with Crochet at the top, and (Brayan) Bello and, of course, Sonny Gray, and Patrick Sandoval coming off an injury, Kutter Crawford coming off an injury, Payton Tolle and some of their other young pitchers that we've seen… They feel that they're pretty deep, and they've got more coming (internally),” Rosenthal added. “So, I would be surprised if they went after another starter. But again, I was surprised that they landed Oviedo quite frankly.”
The Red Sox are probably done adding to the rotation, but they will still be a team to closely monitor in free agency and via trades.
