The Boston Red Sox seem to be right on the edge of contention in the American League.
Boston looked like a playoff team for much of the 2024 season. The Red Sox played far above expectations, and there was a point this summer where the team was over 10 games above .500 and seemed like they were preparing to make a run.
A tough second half doomed the club, but Boston still finished with an 81-81 record in third place in the American League East. The Red Sox have a fantastic young core and now just need to add some more veterans to the mix to take the team over the top.
Boston has hinted that it will be willing to spend, and its biggest needs clearly are a starting pitcher, a right-handed bat, and at least one high-leverage reliever. There will be plenty of options out there that would fill these holes. But, three players that should be towards the top of Boston’s free agency wish list are Max Fried, Teoscar Hernández, and Kirby Yates.
Fried would be the most expensive of the bunch. He’s projected to get a $149 million deal this winter across six seasons. This will scare off a lot of teams but should be in the Red Sox’s wheelhouse. Boston needs a starter, and preferably a left-handed one at that. Fried will be one of the best lefties out there and already has a connection to Boston. A move seems like a no-brainer.
Hernández wanted to join the Red Sox last offseason and has made that known. The two sides couldn’t agree to a deal, and he ended up joining the Los Angeles Dodgers and launched 33 home runs and drove in 99 runs. He’s projected to get a $73 million deal over three years and could fill in for Tyler O’Neill seamlessly.
Ideally, the Red Sox will add a high-leverage left-handed reliever. But, they also should consider a deal with Yates. He’s 37 years old but had the best season of his career in 2024 with a 1.17 ERA across 61 outings for the Texas Rangers. He’s projected to get roughly $4 million in free agency. Boston should add a lefty along with Yates, but that shouldn’t stop them from giving him a call.
Bringing in all three of these players would cost a lot, with projections for all three adding up to roughly $226 million, but there are rumblings that Corbin Burnes alone could get more than that. Juan Soto certainly will get almost double that amount.
These three players would fill Boston’s biggest holes, and with another year of experience under Boston’s young core’s belt, it should be back in the playoffs in 2025.
