Red Sox Reportedly Preparing Offer to Buzzy Free-Agent Pitcher
The Boston Red Sox entered the offseason looking for starting pitching, just like everyone else around the majors. There's plenty of tantalizing options still available on the market, giving Boston several potential targets to beef up its rotation.
In fact, the Red Sox appear to have zeroed in on one SP while winter meetings are ongoing.
One source yesterday said Red Sox are "expected" to make an offer to free agent starter Seth Lugo. @JonHeyman has them involved in talks for him. Believed to have a lot of interest after strong year in SD.
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) December 5, 2023
Red Sox stepping up efforts on free agent RHP Seth Lugo. Four or five others, including Braves, interested.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 5, 2023
Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports the Red Sox are "expected" to offer a deal to starter Seth Lugo. This came on the heels of MLB Network's Jon Heyman saying Craig Breslow is "stepping up efforts" to ink the 34-year-old while others, like the Atlanta Braves, are in the hunt.
Lugo would be a great get to shore up the back end of Boston's 2024 rotation. He's coming off of a nice year for the San Diego Padres where he went 8-7 with a 3.57 ERA acorss 146.1 innings. He kept walks to a minimum with just 36 allowed while racking up 140 strikeouts.
While he's not the biggest fish in the sea, he's definitely the type of talent the Red Sox could use to bounce back in 2024. He also might not command as much of a premium as the other stars on the market, which would leave the club with more of its budget to spend on further upgrades.
Signing Lugo shouldn't preclude Breslow from nabbing someone like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery as well to give this pitching corps a huge boost. It'd be wise for Boston to get a jump on its preferred targets, however, before bidding wars for the remaining players break out.
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