Nick Pivetta Seems To Have Made Pretty Big Mistake With Red Sox

It’s not always easy to project how MLB markets will take shape, but the Red Sox handled things beautifully with Nick Pivetta.

To the surprise of many, Boston presented Pivetta with a qualifying offer after the 2024 season ended. If the veteran right-hander accepted the offer, he would have landed a one-year contract worth a little over $21 million for the 2025 campaign. That salary isn’t eye-popping in the grand scheme of baseball business, but it would have been more than what Pivetta made in his first nine professional seasons combined.

But the 31-year-old turned down the offer and effectively told the league he was looking for a long-term deal. The decision also might have marked his farewell to Boston, but Craig Breslow and company didn’t leave the relationship empty-handed. Since the Red Sox extended the qualifying offer, they guaranteed themselves draft-pick compensation in the event Pivetta signed elsewhere.

Free agency hasn’t been very kind to the versatile arm, though. Even after elite starters like Blake Snell, Max Fried and Corbin Burnes landed lucrative deals on the open market, clubs weren’t champing at the bit to sign second- and third-tier pitchers like Pivetta. Other proven veterans, like Red Sox newcomer Walker Buehler, opted for short-term contracts instead of trying to wait out a deal with term.

At this point, it’s easy to see a scenario where Pivetta doesn’t pitch the first few months of the season. Clubs with varying degrees of interest in the British Columbia native might feel more comfortable signing a deal in early June when MLB’s draft-pick compensation penalty will be lifted. Smaller-market teams wouldn’t have as severe of a draft-pick penalty if they signed Pivetta before that juncture, but those clubs probably aren’t in position to give him the contract he’s looking for.

It’s very easy to point the finger and make claims with the benefit of hindsight, so it’s not completely fair to shred Pivetta for his decision. But the soon-to-be-32-year-old certainly could end up looking back on his recent crosswords and regret turning down life-changing money.