Nick Pivetta Return? Red Sox Insider Weighs In On Potential Move

Nick Pivetta already turned down the Red Sox this offseason, but there’s seemingly a chance his Boston tenure could continue.

Craig Breslow and company after the season extended a qualifying offer to Pivetta, who would have landed a one-year, $21.05 million contract for 2025 if he accepted. But the veteran right-handed rejected the offer and effectively declared he was looking for a long-term deal in free agency.

Well, we’re only a few weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training, and Pivetta doesn’t seem to have a favorable market. Could that mean the 31-year-old swallows his pride and returns to Boston?

The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey addressed the hypothetical in a mailbag column published Thursday.

“I can’t see Pivetta signing on a short-term deal as a reliever coming off his best year as a starter,” McCaffrey wrote. “Both he and the Red Sox expressed interest in a reunion, and maybe he gets desperate, but I just can’t see him making that move. I think it’s more likely he waits things out; some team will inevitably have an injury in spring training or early in the season and then he’ll sign there. While he was good for part of the season in the bullpen in 2023, I’m not sure he’d be the closer with Aroldis Chapman and Liam Hendriks the likelier options in the mix.”

Pivetta’s quiet market probably has much to do with the ramifications of the qualifying offer. Since the Red Sox made the offer, any team that signs the versatile arm to a free-agent contract would have to fork over draft compensation to Boston.

However, that penalty will be removed come early June. So maybe Pivetta intends on staying very patient as he seeks out a contract he covets.