Pink Sox
“We got here right here a couple of days in the past pondering we wanted to enhance our rotation.”
The Pink Sox added a possible ace to their beginning rotation on Wednesday by buying Garrett Crochet in a blockbuster take care of the White Sox.
However Boston might not be achieved in relation to bolstering their pitching corps with top-end expertise.
Chatting with reporters at MLB’s Winter Conferences in Dallas, Pink Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow burdened that Boston stays targeted on including to a rotation, even with Crochet now within the fold.
“We got here right here a couple of days in the past pondering we wanted to enhance our rotation,” Breslow mentioned. “If we solely look down one path, we’d be closed off from different choices. I feel that’s nonetheless the case. There are nonetheless actually good gamers, actually good pitchers left on the free agent market, and there are nonetheless conversations we’re having with groups as commerce targets.”
Bringing in a participant with Crochet’s potential would seemingly reduce the necessity for Boston to stay engaged in different confirmed aces like free-agent goal Corbin Burnes.
Nonetheless, The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier — citing a number of sources — reported on X Wednesday night that the “Pink Sox are nonetheless exploring each top-of-the-rotation choices – together with Corbin Burnes – and mid-tier choices.”
Boston has the fiscal flexibility to pursue a former Cy Younger Award winner like Burnes, who ought to simply clear over $200 million together with his subsequent contract.
However in keeping with a number of reviews, the Pink Sox are additionally seeking to swing one other deal, this time with the Seattle Mariners.
Per MLB Community’s Jon Morosi, the Pink Sox “are working to amass one of many Mariners’ beginning pitchers, sources say.”
Each Adam Jude and Ryan Divish of The Seattle Instances added extra gas to that hypothesis lower than a home later, reporting that the Pink Sox and Mariners are engaged in commerce talks, with Luis Castillo tabbed as a doable goal.
Castillo, 31, might not be as coveted as a few of Seattle’s youthful arms with staff management like Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, and Bryce Miller.
However Castillo is a longtime starter with three All-Star nods on his resume. He went 11-12 this previous season with Seattle, sporting a 3.64 ERA and hanging out 175 batters over 175.1 innings of labor.
He completed fifth within the voting for the AL Cy Younger Award in 2023, going 14-9 with a 3.34 ERA and hanging out 219 batters over 197 innings.
Castillo could be a extra interesting commerce chip for the Mariners, on condition that he’s locked right into a contract that may pay him $72 million over the following three seasons.
However even when Castillo is a possible goal for the Pink Sox, the Mariners are apparently placing a premium on their asking value for the veteran.
As Jude famous on X, “a Luis Castillo-for-Triston Casas deal does appear to make sense for either side.”
Casas has been linked to the Mariners in commerce talks all through this offseason. However Casas’ age (24) and potential as a middle-of-the-order bat with 30+ homer energy would seemingly make him a commerce goal for a equally younger arm on the Mariners’ roster.
Speier did push again on a possible commerce involving Casas and Castillo, with a supply providing up a simple “no” when requested concerning the rumored transfer.
Nonetheless, even when Castillo-for-Casas isn’t a match, it’s clear that the Pink Sox are leaving no stone unturned in relation to including extra expertise on the mound.
Because the Pink Sox hold assessing choices, Breslow burdened that the Pink Sox have already addressed a significant want by including a lefty with a devastating arsenal of pitches in Crochet.
“We really feel like we bought a official primary starter in Garrett; left-handed, a ton of swing and miss, huge strikeouts, and really feel like the perfect continues to be in entrance of him,” Breslow mentioned. “We’re enthusiastic about what he brings, and clearly, we wanted to commerce actually good gamers so as to have the ability to do that, however that’s the price proper now, and we’re very a lot targeted on what we have been capable of get.”
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