The Boston Red Sox Should Still Have Money To Spend

When evaluating the Boston Red Sox‘s 2024 season, it’s easy to see their 81-81 record and third straight year without postseason baseball and not think much of it in terms of success.

However, 2024 was more than just a mediocre .500 season for the Red Sox. They took immense strides in establishing the groundwork for competitive baseball in Boston in the near future, and that can’t quantified by just an average-looking record.

They received huge contributions in their rotation all across the board, and they shocked many by finishing within the top 10 in starters’ ERA, WHIP and AVG against without a clear-cut ace.

Tanner Houck became an All-Star in 2024 and demonstrated some unexpected upside as a top-line starter.

Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford stepped up and made a strong case to be legitimate contributors in the middle or back end of this rotation in the immediate future.

Their bullpen saw an unlikely Rule 5 hero in Justin Slaten perform incredibly and make a strong argument to be their closer of the future.

In their lineup, Rafael Devers returned to All-Star status after missing out on the festivities in 2023.

Jarren Duran broke out and cemented himself as one of MLB’s best outfielders.

Their young core of Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Triston Casas all demonstrated their upside at some point in 2024.

All the while the Red Sox entered the offseason with one of the brightest projected futures of any team in baseball, with a farm system that featured six top-100 prospects according to Just Baseball’s rankings, including our No. 1 overall prospect Roman Anthony.

Pair all this with the fact that the Red Sox remain one of the most recognizable brands in sports and have just as much money to spend as any of the heavy hitters and it’s easy to get the sense that something special is brewing in Boston.

This positioned Craig Breslow and the Red Sox front office to be aggressive this winter and really flex their financial muscles to attack the free agent and trade markets this winter.

Breslow has certainly made noteworthy moves so far this winter by trading for Boston’s ace of the future in Garrett Crochet while also adding high-upside veterans in Walker Buehler and Aroldis Chapman, along with reclamation projects like Patrick Sandoval.

However, none of these moves have really broken the bank in Beantown, leaving the Red Sox with a current projected payroll of roughly $172 million for 2025, according to FanGraphs’ RosterResource.

This places them 13th in MLB, falling behind teams like the perennial uncompetitive entity of the Los Angeles Angels, as well as a team looking to shed payroll in the San Diego Padres.

They also sit over $100 million back of the traditional top-tier spenders, such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees and New York Mets. That is the company we’ve come to expect the Red Sox to be amongst every year.

This means there’s still reason to believe the Red Sox can and will spend this winter in pursuit of returning to the postseason contender status we’ve come to expect of them in recent decades.

The Red Sox Have Been Competitively Bullish But Financially Frugal This Winter

As I mentioned earlier, the Red Sox front office has been busy this winter in the pursuit of getting this team back to the postseason.

However, none of the moves they’ve made come with the type of major financial commitment that a team of Boston’s stature should be comfortable making.

Crochet is as talented as some of the names demanding high AAVs on the free agent market, so trading for him made all the sense in the world for Boston.

He dazzled in 2024 with a 3.58 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and .221 AVG across 146.0 innings of work, while leading all MLB starters with at least 100 innings pitched in K-rate at 35.8%.

For the Red Sox, surrendering two of their six top-100 prospects, Kyle Teel and Braden Montogomery, as well as two additional solid prospects, Chase Meidroth and Wikelman Gonzalez, was no small cost.

However, Crochet’s young age leaves him with two remaining years of arbitration, which leaves the Red Sox with a small $3 million estimated financial commitment to him in 2025.

Buehler is coming off an extremely impressive postseason. He was especially dominant in the NLCS and World Series, in which he tossed 10 scoreless innings across two starts and a save situation, making up for a lackluster regular season.

While he certainly will run the Red Sox more than Crochet in 2025, as he’s owed $21.05 million, a one-year contract is certainly not the fiscal commitment other middle-to-upper rotation starters have received on the open market.

Chapman and his well-renowned blistering fastball are another high-upside one-year deal for the Red Sox in 2025.

Like Buehler though, his short-term contract doesn’t give Boston’s budget much to think about at all, as he’s only due $10.75 million this season.

Sandoval is coming off Tommy John surgery and won’t be ready until late in the season should he pitch in 2025.

He’s only due $5.5 million this season and $12.5 million next season, which again isn’t the type of money to handcuff an organization with historically renowned finances like the Red Sox.

This leaves Boston with plenty of remaining money to spend in 2025 should they desire to continue to bolster their roster ahead of Opening Day.

If the rumors and reports are true, the Red Sox should still be in the market for some high-profile stars after being linked to names like Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Blake Snell before they each received big-money deals elsewhere.

So, with their reported desire to spend money this winter, it’s safe to assume the Red Sox still have a war chest at their disposal to improve even further.

Where Could the Red Sox Allocate Their Remaining Funds?

Starting Rotation

I listed a series of star starting pitchers earlier who were on the free agent market this winter in Burnes, Fried and Snell. The Red Sox were linked to all three at one point or another.

With a recent report from The Athletic‘s Jen McCaffrey stating that Boston could consider deploying a six-man rotation this season, adding another high-caliber starter could still be in the cards this offseason.

Now I understand Boston has a plethora of names already in the organization who can start, but many of them come with questions.

There’s a common theme amongst a majority of the Red Sox starting rotation options in 2025: UCL injuries.

Crochet and Buehler are currently healthy, but both recently underwent Tommy John surgery. That always leaves a bit of worry regardless of how recovered they may be.

Lucas Giolito is slated to return from his UCL repair at some point in 2025, which leaves one to wonder how he will look upon his return to the mound, especially considering he wasn’t great the last time he threw, posting a 4.88 ERA in 2023.

We’ve touched on the fact that Sandoval is still in recovery from Tommy John, and there’s no definitive timetable on when he will be back.

While UCL injuries might raise the most prevalent of questions, regression is another area that could be of worry for the Red Sox in 2025.

Houck was magnificent in 2025, posting a 3.12 ERA and 1.14 WHIP across 178.2 innings of work.

However, he was a prime example of a pitcher outperforming his expected metrics. He posted a 4.11 xERA, which placed him in the 45th percentile of big league arms. His .257 xBA placed him in just the 24th percentile, according to Baseball Savant.

Houck also posted very low strikeout rates in 2024, as his 20.7% K-rate only put him in the league’s 32nd percentile.

While his impressive 55.5% groundball rate can make up for his lack of swing-and-miss abilities, he surrenders a bit too much hard contact for one to be entirely comfortable with him at the top of Boston’s rotation. He ranked in the MLB’s 24th percentile in hard-hit rate and the 32nd percentile in AVG exit velocity.

Houck still projects to be a big part of the starting staff even if he does regress to more of a middle-of-the-rotation option, but after the season he just had, the Red Sox have a few too many questions with their other arms for one to feel they can definitely absorb that hit.

Moreover, if injury issues arise or if Houck regresses or god forbid both occur, then it will be a tall ask for guys like Bello or Crawford to be more than the mid-4.00s guys they are now, or for young arms like Quinn Preister or Richard Fitts to be major pieces with their lack of big league experience.

So, finding a top-end insurance option that can account for a lot of innings could be a wise decision if the Red Sox are open to a six-man rotation.

While the big free agent names might be off the board, a name like Jack Flaherty could be one to consider after the fantastic 3.17 ERA season he had in 2024. He has had injury issues of his own in the past but has managed to pitch at least 140 innings in back-to-back seasons.

In Just Baseball’s recent Top 10 Remaining Free Agents article, Flaherty is predicted to sign a five-year deal at $100 million. After Boston pursued the top three starting arms this winter, offering a $20 million per year commitment to Flaherty seems perfectly feasible.

Looking to the trade market, there are a few notable assets available that could serve the same role as Flaherty for this rotation.

According to Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Padres are entertaining offers on their star righty Dylan Cease as they look to shed payroll ahead of the 2025 campaign.

The 29-year-old Cease would be an excellent addition to come alongside Crochet at the top of this rotation after a season in which he threw to a 3.47 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP and a .197 AVG against in a career-high 189.1 innings.

He’s managed to throw 165 or more innings in his last four seasons and put up two top-five finishes in Cy Young voting in that span (2nd in AL voting in 2022 and 4th in NL voting in 2024), showing he has both the durability and skill to be a top-two option in nearly any MLB rotation.

With a projected $13 million salary in his final year of arbitration as well, he’d be quite the bargain for a starting arm of his caliber.

Seattle’s Luis Castillo is also a highly skilled and extremely durable option that is rumored to be available right now, with Boston already showing interest in a deal earlier this winter, as per MLB insider Mark Feinsand.

Castillo is coming off yet another great season, with a 3.64 ERA and 1.17 WHIP across 175.1 innings.

The veteran right-hander has now thrown 150 or more innings in six of his last seven seasons, with the exception being the COVID-shortened 2020 season in which he pitched 70 innings and made all 12 of his starts.

And Castillo has managed to post a sub-4.00 ERA in each of the last six seasons and a sub-1.20 WHIP in the last three.

He eats innings and he does so in style, making his $24.15 million AAV over the next three seasons a no-brainer for a team with as many question marks in their rotation as the Red Sox have.

Bullpen

While Boston doesn’t need to consider an option at closer with the likes of Slaten, Chapman and Liam Hendriks all capable of covering the ninth, taking advantage of the slow-moving reliever market this offseason makes a lot of sense.

Boston’s bullpen was undoubtedly the least exciting aspect of their roster in 2024. They finished 24th in ERA, FIP and WHIP, and tied for 26th in AVG against.

While adding Chapman to the fold and having Hendriks return from injury, along with another year of Slaten, has the potential to boost their bullpen, adding another arm for the middle innings with high-leverage upside could be a way for the Red Sox to deploy some of their available finances.

Names like former Braves World Series legend A.J. Minter, former Rangers closer José Leclerc, the veteran changeup specialist Tommy Kahnle, the NL holds leader in 2024 in Andrew Kittredge and a familiar face from last season in Chris Martin are all examples of solid names that could account for the sixth inning at the very least with plenty of additional higher-leverage experience under their belts as well.

After seeing the Philadelphia Phillies sign Jordan Romano to a one-year, $8.5 million contract, the Red Sox could definitely splash some cash like that for a reliever (or two) of that level to improve the ‘pen for 2025.

Backup Catcher

The backup catcher role isn’t the most glamorous addition to discuss by any means.

However, with every position essentially accounted for in Boston in 2025, and with so much prospect talent on the way in the near future, backup catcher is the only real glaring need for this team.

After a season where Connor Wong slashed .280/.333/.425 and posted a 110 wRC+, the Red Sox seem content to roll with him in 2025, especially after dealing Teel to the White Sox in the Crochet trade.

Yet, Wong is still only a year removed from a 78 wRC+ season in 2023, so having a more reliable option than Carlos Narváez and his 15 career big league plate appearances could be a wise investment.

In terms of finances, it wouldn’t be nearly as big a financial commitment as any addition to the rotation or the bullpen might be, as the options in free agency are pretty thin after the likes of Travis d’Arnaud, Kyle Higashioka and Danny Jansen all came off the board early this winter.

That being said, veteran names like Elias Díaz or James McCann could be options with plenty of big league tenure to assume the backup role to Wong.

Concluding Thoughts

The Red Sox could very well end their offseason with the moves they’ve already made and be an improved product in 2025.

However, with how competitive the AL East stands to be next season, as well as the American League in general, it would be wise to continue to add, as it can only stand to better them as a ballclub at this point.

After all, we’ve established that this is by no means a team without needs.

From questions across the board – including their starting depth, low-ranking bullpen from 2024, and lack of an experienced backup for a catcher who only just became the starting option part way through 2024 – further offseason additions would not be lost on the Red Sox.

After all, this the is Boston Red Sox we’re talking about here. Money shouldn’t even be a topic of conversation.

We’ve seen how spending big can lead to immediate success – just ask the 2024 Dodgers.

So now it’s time for the Red Sox to just pony up and be the high-flying spenders we all expect them to be on a yearly basis.