The Boston Red Sox recently replenished their farm system with two very solid arms, Richard Fitts and Nicholas Justice, and added a reliever in Greg Weissert from the New York Yankees in exchange for outfielder Alex Verdugo.
Now, the next item on their to-do list is reinforcing the rotation, a unit that lost James Paxton to free agency.
The unit is far from a disaster, as it has Chris Sale, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck, and Kutter Crawford.
However, and given that Sale is not exactly the poster boy for health at this point in his career, the Red Sox could use a frontline starter for the 2024 campaign.
They are looking for one and even considered bringing back an old friend: Eduardo Rodriguez.
He signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, though, and the Red Sox didn’t want to keep pushing for him.
Why?
They have set their sights on the top tier of pitchers.
“Red Sox showed interest in bringing back Eduardo Rodriguez but preferred to wait on Yamamoto and Imanaga,” MLB insider Jon Heyman tweeted.
Red Sox showed interest in bringing back Eduardo Rodriguez but preferred to wait on Yamamoto and Imanaga
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 7, 2023
It’s a boom-or-bust strategy by Boston: if they end up getting one of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga, it would be a best-case scenario.
If they can’t, however, they would probably wish E-Rod was available.
Still, Yamamoto and Imanaga are worth waiting for.
Both participated in the 2023 World Baseball Classic and impressed.
Yamamoto finished this season with a 1.21 ERA in 164 innings with the Orix Buffaloes, while Imanaga posted a 2.80 ERA in 148 frames with the Yokohama Bay Stars.
Yamamoto could push for $300 million, while Imanaga could flirt with $100 million.
Will the Red Sox sign one of them?
NEXT:
Red Sox Reportedly ‘Stepping Up Efforts’ On Free-Agent Starter
