Top 5 Free Agents the Red Sox Must Target After Missing Out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto

1. Blake Snell

Blake Snell is the premier free agent pitcher left on the market, and quite possibly the best player still available. Snell received 28 out of 30 first-place Cy Young votes after a prolific 2023 season in San Diego, in which he became only the seventh player to win the award in both leagues.

Snell would directly address some of Boston's specific needs, including ERA and hits per nine innings. The 2023 Red Sox ranked 20th and 24th in those categories, respectively. Meanwhile, Snell led all of baseball in ERA and hits per nine innings.

Both Sean McAdam and Pete Abraham have noted that the Red Sox have expressed an interest in Snell. Just prior to the start of the Winter Meetings, Jon Heyman reported that Snell may wait for Yamamoto to sign before full-scale launching his free agency period.

Amidst the back-and-forth between the MLB and the players' union before the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Snell remarked that he wouldn't play if his paycheck was cut further, commenting "I’m not playing unless I get mine. I’m not splitting no revenue. I want all mine."

Yamamoto just received the largest MLB contract for a pitcher without ever throwing a pitch in the league. If you think an established two-time Cy Young winner like Blake Snell (with those past comments) won't try to leverage that contract, think again.

The Red Sox are in dire need of frontline pitching. Snell is the best pitcher available on the market. If they want to salvage any of their "full throttle" promise, this is the obvious pursuit.

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