Red Sox Fans Should Listen To This MLB Insider’s Offseason Intel
Following Tuesday’s Sonny Gray trade, many Boston Red Sox fans have come to understand that if Boston goes after another marquee starter to fill a No. 2 spot behind Garrett Crochet, the Red Sox are likely to do so via trade rather than through free agency.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow didn’t explicitly state this, but Breslow did indicate that the Red Sox will be shifting their attention to an impact bat after acquiring Gray.
In response to Breslow’s remarks and the Gray trade, fans and analysts have ascertained that Breslow could be allocating most of what’s left of his free-agent budget to improve the team’s offense, possibly through re-signing Alex Bregman and/or going after another free agent bat (Pete Alonso?).
As such, if the Red Sox are going to snag an impact No. 2 starter, it feels likely to happen via trade.
This all makes new comments from USA Today’s MLB insider Bob Nightengale important for Red Sox fans to hear.
Nightengale reported that teams across MLB are expected to “exhaust” the trade market between now and January before moving onto the free agent market.
Does this mean that the Red Sox’s window to trade for a Joe Ryan or a Freddy Peralta starts now and ends in a month, give or take? It would be foolish to rule anything out or put a specific timeframe on opportunities for deals, but Nightengale’s remarks indicate a loose schedule of how the MLB offseason will play out.
It’ll be trade season for a month or so, followed by free agent season. Buckle your seatbelts.