Does Craig Breslow Expect Sonny Gray To Serve As Red Sox’s No. 2 Starter?

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow isn’t ready to write out the rotation just yet.

Breslow and the Red Sox improved the pitching staff when they acquired veteran right-hander Sonny Gray in a trade with with St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday. The Red Sox traded pitchers Brandon Clarke and Richard Fitts to St. Louis in the deal.

Entering the offseason, Breslow stressed the importance of adding a No. 2 starter behind ace Garrett Crochet. So, does Breslow envision Gray filling that role?

“I don’t know how much sense it makes, in November, to put a number (rotation slot) on a guy,” Breslow told reporters Tuesday night, per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. “I think Sonny is a very talented major league pitcher. The seasons that he’s put up, pretty consistently, indicate that to be the case. That said, we still intend to improve our team. Exactly what that looks like, we don’t know right now, but we’ll continue to explore opportunities and figure out where that takes us.”

Breslow added: “I don’t want to paint ourselves into a corner here. We felt like there was an opportunity to upgrade our rotation in 2026 and so we did that. It’s early in the offseason. There are still opportunities that I anticipate materializing. We’re not going to close off any chance to make the team better.”

The Red Sox are less likely to target a high-end free-agent pitcher, or make a trade for a top-of-rotation hurler, according to multiple reports.