The Boston Red Sox desperately need pitching. Perhaps their best method of recourse is to seek a trade with teams that have it.
Though the Red Sox’s starting rotation put up strong numbers on the whole, the longevity wasn’t there when the team needed it the most. Going deep into games became an issue, especially during the dog days of summer, and nobody seemed to be able to step up and be the ace.
But as scarce as starting pitching may seem to the Red Sox, there are other teams, like the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have it in spades.
The Pirates saw rookie phenom Paul Skenes debut in 2025, and he took the baseball world by storm. But the lineup was so putrid that Pittsburgh still finished in last place, and they now look to need young star hitters as badly as the Red Sox need pitchers.
Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report urged the Pirates to consider trading rookie standout Jared Jones, who forms one-third of their homegrown rotation trio with Skenes and Mitch Keller at the moment.
“The Pirates badly need offense. They’ve finished 13th or lower among NL teams in runs five years in a row. Imminent help isn’t coming from the farm, and you can pretty much rule out the Bucs buying bats in free agency,” Rymer said.
“The trade market is therefore pretty much their only hope of adding an impact hitter or two. And even sans Jones, the future of Pittsburgh’s rotation would still look bright. The club’s farm system is rich with upper-level pitching.”
In some ways, a trade makes too much sense. The Pirates are overloaded with pitching, and the Red Sox are overloaded with hitting. The two teams already traded a pair of prospects with those shortages in mind earlier this year, when the Red Sox sent infielder Nick Yorke to the Pirates for righty hurler Quinn Priester.
Now, things could get far more serious. The Red Sox could trade right fielder Wilyer Abreu and another solid position player prospect (say, infielder Nazzan Zanetello) to the Pirates in exchange for the fireballing Jones.
Though Jones got injured and made just 22 starts this season, he flashed legitimate ace potential when he was at his best. His 4.14 ERA and 101 ERA+ might not look elite, but he was dominating hitters before straining his right lat in early July. If he can ever hone his secondary offerings to match his elite fastball, he’ll be completely unstoppable.
Risks have to be taken, and this is one worth seeing through for the Red Sox. Losing a potential All-Star in Abreu could hurt, but Jones may be the young, cost-controlled ace Boston needs to power their next championship run.
