Red Sox Insider Names Five Potential Pitching Targets Before Deadline

The Boston Red Sox might prefer a high-profile addition with years of team control remaining, but those sorts of pitchers aren’t dealt too often ahead of the MLB trade deadline. And they also cost a considerable amount more than a rental option.

If Craig Breslow and company don’t want to part ways with another prospect-heavy package like they did in the Garrett Crochet deal, the rental market could be the best way to improve the rotation.

That’s how MassLive’s Red Sox beat reporter Chris Cotillo sees it. Cotillo admitted while adding a top-of-rotation starter like Minnesota’s Joe Ryan looks great on paper, the asking price “will be insane.”

“The guess here is that the Red Sox, while willing to push for controllable options, instead find the market to be prohibitive and push for a high-floor rental,” Cotillo wrote. “Luckily for Breslow, there’s talent to be found on the rental market.”

Cotillo name-dropped Arizona’s Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, Kansas City’s Seth Lugo, Baltimore’s Charlie Morton and Pittsburgh’s Andrew Heaney as starters who might be more enticing for the Red Sox.

“(They) would all help the group while not breaking the bank,” Cotillo wrote.

Cotillo also noted the “expectation” is Breslow adds a reliever to the mix and mentioned a possible slugger who is high on Boston’s wish list.

The MLB trade deadline is July 31.