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Red Sox Manager Alex Cora could use pitching reinforcements.
Boston Red Sox starting pitchers have had an up and down season, and at the All-Star break they rank a mediocre 16th in the Major Leagues with a collective 4.03 ERA. Of the team’s 53 wins, starting pitchers have been credited with just 32 of them.
Those are just a couple of the reasons why Red Sox chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow has said that he plans to “prioritize” adding “impact starting pitching” to Boston’s staff with any trade deadline deals he makes.
But one type of pitcher, or player, that Breslow will not be chasing — at least according to longtime Red Sox reporter Sean McAdam — is a “rental.” That is, a pitcher on an expiring contract who would become a free agent as soon as the season ends.
“When it comes to improving the rotation, the Red Sox would prefer someone with more control who could be a rotation fixture for several years to come,” McAdam wrote last week. “Much attention has been focused on Minnesota’s Joe Ryan, who is under control through 2027, but all evidence suggests that the Twins want to hold onto Ryan.”
One Pitcher Who Meets Breslow’s Qualifications
But there is another pitcher who would remain under contract for two more seasons, and this pitcher is intimately familiar to Manager Alex Cora and the Red Sox organization as one of the most important heroes of Boston’s last World Series victory in 2018.
This 35-year-old, hard-throwing righty has not lost much, if anything, in the ensuing seven years. He currently leads the majors in earned run average — or would if was not currently six innings short of the required number to qualify for the leader board.
Of course, the pitcher is Nathan Eovaldi, who came to the Red Sox as a mid-season acquisition in 2018, but left an indelible mark on Red Sox history when he came on the 12th inning of Game Four in the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He went on to pitch six innings of relief, and though he ended up taking the loss, he heroically preserved the Boston bullpen, allowing the Red Sox to wrap up their fourth championship in 14 years the next night.
Eovaldi has thrown 91 innings ahead of the All-Star break for the Texas Rangers, the team that has him signed to a three-year, $75 million contract through the 2027 season. To qualify for the ERA lead he would need 97. But that doesn’t make his eye-opening 1.58 ERA any less impressive.
His 0.85 WHIP and 94 strikeouts against only 14 walks also show what a reliable, top-of-the-rotation starter Eovaldi — who left the Red Sox as a free agent after an injury-plagued 2022 season that saw him miss time with back and shoulder inflammation — would be for the 2025 Red Sox.
Two-Time Series Winner Provides Clubhouse Leadership
“Would the Red Sox consider bringing the 2018 World Series champion back for another run? They should,” wrote Justin Leger of NBC Sports Boston on Monday. “While he may not be the long-term ‘impact’ starter Breslow has in mind, Eovaldi would boost the rotation while bringing valuable leadership and postseason experience to the Red Sox clubhouse.”
Eovaldi earned a second World Series ring in 2023, pitching for Texas — becoming the first pitcher ever to win five games in a single postseason in the process.
But the Rangers have muddled their way to a 48-49 record at the All-Star break this year, and may be willing to part with Eovaldi for a package of prospects — a package the talent-rich Red Sox farm system is well-equipped to provide.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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