On paper, the Red Sox starting rotation now appears to have the ceiling and depth to compete for an American League East title.
On Monday, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow contemplated how the additions of lefthander Garrett Crochet and righthander Walker Buehler — along with lefty Patrick Sandoval, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery — could allow the Sox to employ a six-man rotation while featuring as many as eight to 10 starting options. A rotation with Buehler, Crochet, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, and Lucas Giolito has formidable potential.
The lineup, however, is unfinished. With Tyler O’Neill having signed with the Orioles, the Red Sox’ quest for righthanded thump to complement the lefty-leaning group of Jarren Duran, Rafael Devers, Triston Casas, Wilyer Abreu, and Masataka Yoshida remains unsatisfied.
Even as Breslow cited reasons for optimism — chiefly better health for shortstop Trevor Story and Casas — he acknowledged the Sox’ ongoing efforts to add righthanded thump. But in what form?
“I think in a perfect world, we’re getting elite-level production from a righthanded bat out of the middle of the lineup,” said Breslow. “But I also think that that production could come from a number of places. There are guys internally that may be able to take a step forward. And we’re certainly also engaged in conversations for players that aren’t yet in the organization.”
With Teoscar Hernández having re-signed with the Dodgers, one obvious fit — whom the Sox could also slot in at second base, a position where they lack an incumbent — is free agent Alex Bregman.
Breslow wouldn’t say whether the Red Sox are engaged in talks with Bregman, though he strongly hinted that the team remains engaged with the two-time All-Star, who won the AL Gold Glove award at third base in 2024. In 21 career regular-season games at Fenway, Bregman is a .375/.490/.750 hitter with seven homers.
“As you probably can imagine, I’m not going to speak about specific pursuits,” said Breslow. “I can say that righthanded bats that we feel like could play well at our park are certainly of interest to us, and we remain engaged on a number of fronts. At the end of the day, [I’m] trying to build the best roster that I possibly can, and we need to be willing to pursue any path that gets us there.”
Breslow said the Sox are open-minded about what form a righthanded hitter could take, whether an infielder, outfielder, or more versatile option.
Betting on Buehler
Buehler’s one-year, $21.05 million deal is official. Breslow suggested the Sox were drawn to a pitcher whose history as a Dodgers ace — prior to undergoing a second Tommy John surgery in 2022 — and performance in the 2024 postseason (punctuated by 10 scoreless innings) could position the Sox to have a standout rotation.
“We’re getting a championship-pedigree, multiple-time All-Star, multiple-time World Series champion,” said Breslow. “And I think we saw in the postseason last year really an uptick in stuff, and some indicators that we feel like he’s primed for a great 2025, specifically, [the] shape of the fastball, shape of the curveball was back to when he was at his best.
“The chance to bring in someone like Walker, who’s got this tremendous upside but obviously has struggled to stay on the field over the last couple of years, I think it gave us a chance to take a really good rotation and potentially catapult it to an elite level,” he added.
Breslow expects Sandoval to contribute in the second half of 2025. He suggested reliever Liam Hendriks, who spent 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery, is already throwing bullpen sessions and should have a normal spring training schedule.
Breslow stopped short of saying the same about Giolito and Garrett Whitlock — both of whom had internal brace procedures on their right elbows last spring — but said both should be able to contribute for most of, if not all of, 2025. Whitlock will be used in a “leverage bulk role” out of the bullpen, similar to as a rookie in 2021.
Staying put
Rumors have swirled throughout the offseason about the Red Sox’ willingness to deal Casas, most recently with an MLB.com report that the Sox entertained a trade of Casas and Yoshida to the Mariners for righthander Luis Castillo. Breslow tried to downplay such reports. “I’m not totally sure where it comes from. We’re not shopping Triston. We see him as a guy that can hit in the middle of the lineup for a really long time here in Boston,” said Breslow. “I’ve seen some of the speculation about what deals may or may not have existed, or what may or may not have been proposed, and there was nothing that was remotely close. We’re certainly not shopping him.” … Asked whether the Red Sox were open to adding a righthanded-hitting third baseman and moving Devers off the hot corner, Breslow stuck to a familiar refrain. “Raffy is our third baseman. He’s having a really productive offseason,” said Breslow. “We will be open-minded, will be creative in terms of how we put together the best roster. But as things stand right now, Raffy is our third baseman.” … The Red Sox still haven’t been invited to meet with righthanded phenom Roki Sasaki but remain hopeful. “Obviously, we would welcome the chance to present why we think Boston could be a great environment,” said Breslow … Yoshida was in Japan for the holidays but is expected to return to Boston in January to continue rehabbing from shoulder labrum surgery.
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.
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