It doesn’t sound like more help is on the way for Red Sox
Immediately identified as an area in need of improvement by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, the Boston Red Sox have made moves on the pitching front this offseason.
After whiffing on the market’s top prize, the Red Sox pivoted to inning-eater Lucas Giolito. The Red Sox then traded Chris Sale and actually helped the Braves pay some of Sale’s 2024 salary just to get off him their books. So, it was ultimately more of a one-in, one-out kind of situation for Boston’s projected starting rotation.
And that may very well be as good as it gets for Boston this season, according to the latest update shared by the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier on Tuesday night.
“The Red Sox, according to sources, have kept tabs on Montgomery’s market,” Speier wrote. “But if it does collapse in a way that makes him available on a shorter-term deal, there’s an industry belief that he’d be more likely to head to a team with a better chance to win in 2024 than the Red Sox. So, not impossible, but highly unlikely.”
In essence, if the big payday isn’t coming for Montgomery in 2024, the cheaper, bet-on-yourself kind of deal won’t be happening for a non-contending team like Boston.
The Red Sox’ unwillingness to go the extra mile for Montgomery is nothing new, of course. It’s long been believed that the Red Sox, who have already shed over $20 million from their payroll compared to this time last year, would have to shed even more salary to find themselves in the market to give Montgomery what he wants.
A World Series winner with Texas this past season, the 6-foot-6 lefty is coming off a 2023 campaign that included 10 wins and a career-high 166 strikeouts in 32 starts between the Cardinals and Rangers. The 31-year-old also posted a career-best 3.20 ERA in his 188.2 innings of work between St. Louis and Texas, and his 3.56 FIP was another career-best figure.
Montgomery is a veteran of 140 MLB starts between the Yankees, Cardinals, and Rangers, and has posted a 38-34 career record and 3.68 ERA over that 755-inning sample.
If this indeed it for the Sox and Montgomery remains a longshot option, the club is likely to begin the year with a rotation of Giolito, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, and Garrett Whitlock.
What's going on with the Red Sox and Kenley Jansen?
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 20: Kenley Jansen #74 reacts with Connor Wong #12 of the Boston Red Sox after the ninth inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 20, 2023. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Last Thursday, MLB insider Jon Morosi appeared on MLB Network and confirmed that Breslow and the Red Sox were indeed involved in trade talks surrounding Jansen.
“I checked around in the industry in the last couple days to try to figure out just how real this story is and I was told the Red Sox are, in fact, listening on Jansen, but there has to be a second part of this,” Morosi said. “If you trade him, it’s not just to trade him. It’s because either Craig Breslow is trying to bring in multiples of pitching back to replenish the depth of the Red Sox or that by clearing some of Jansen’s salary, that they could potentially free up enough money to then make a play for one of the available free agents.”
Morosi went on to list the Dodgers and Phillies as two landing spots for Jansen. The Dodgers are familiar with Jansen thanks to his 12-year tenure with the club, and Jansen still calls Los Angeles home in the offseason. Philly, meanwhile, remain a win-now team in need of some serious bullpen help to push themselves over the hump.
Jul 26, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Kenley Jansen (74) delivers a pitch during the ninth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Fenway Park. (Paul Rutherford/USA TODAY Sports)
‘Dodger Talk’ host David Vassegh backed up that report from Morosi, mentioning both the Phillies and Dodgers as teams with an interest in Jansen, but added that he was of the belief that the trade had to be done before the start of spring training or be reassessed at the 2024 trade deadline.
Baseball insider Jon Heyman also linked Jansen to the Dodgers last week, and even threw the San Diego Padres in there as a team that’s interested in the longtime N.L. West threat.
It feels just about everybody has had something on Jansen moving out of Boston, and it’s seemingly never been about the return as much as it’s been about the Red Sox clearing another $16 million off their books.
To Morosi’s point, getting Jansen’s salary off their books would seemingly allow the Red Sox to add a right-swinging outfield bat (the Sox have been linked to help on that front all offseason long) or one of the high-end starters still on the market, such as Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery.
