Red Sox Rumors: Nathan Eovaldi is a free agent priority

The Boston Red Sox confirmed their interest in re-signing free agent starter Natha Eovaldi, who has drawn attention from a number of rival teams.

The Boston Red Sox have several players hitting the free agent market this offseason. While they ideally would like to keep as much of the World Series championship roster together as they can, the top priority to re-sign is right-hander Nathan Eovaldi.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is typically coy with his plans yet he’s made no secret of his desire to keep Eovaldi in Boston. Masslive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports that Dombrowski’s latest comments lead us to believe that Eovaldi is the team’s clear top target.

“We’ve expressed we do have interest in bringing Nathan back,” Dombrowski said. “We’ve talked to him, but so have a lot of other people. There’s a lot of interest in him.”

Eovaldi gave the Red Sox pitching staff a significant boost following a mid-season trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. The right-hander went 3-3 with a 3.33 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and 8.0 K/9 in 12 regular season appearances with the Red Sox, including 11 starts.

The postseason is where Eovaldi really shined. He held the rival New York Yankees to one run over seven innings in an ALDS win. He won his only other postseason start against the Houston Astros in the ALCS, allowing two runs over six innings.

Eovaldi was moved to the bullpen for the remainder of Boston’s playoff run where he allowed only one run over 9 1/3 innings. That lone run tagged Eovaldi with the loss in Game 3 of the World Series yet he was hardly viewed as a loser. His epic six-inning relief appearance to salvage an exhausted bullpen during an 18-inning marathon turned Eovaldi into a folk hero in Boston.

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His postseason performance opened a lot of eyes around the league, ensuring Eovaldi would be rewarded with a hefty payday this winter. While he clearly boosted his value in the playoffs, a number of other factors make Eovaldi an appealing free agent target. The 28-year old is one of the youngest starting pitchers on the market. His fastball can hit triple digits on the radar gun and he utilizes it with impeccable control, ranking sixth in the league with a 1.62 BB/9 (minimum 100 innings pitched).

Health will always be a concern for a pitcher with two Tommy John surgeries in his past but Eovaldi has shown enough to suggest those arm issues are behind him. He may never be a 200 inning workhorse but he doesn’t have to be if he slots into the middle of the rotation. He proved to be adaptable to various roles, thriving in the rotation or out of the bullpen while having no problem working on short rest. You don’t risk utilizing a pitcher the way the Red Sox used Eovaldi in the postseason if you’re worried about his health. The fact that they seem intent on keeping him shows they aren’t concerned about how that workload will affect his arm in the long run.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora praised Eovaldi for what he brought to the team this season while expressing his desire to see the right-hander stay in Boston.

“He’s a guy who’s a game-changer,” Cora told Masslive.com. “We know the stuff he has. He got better with time. He went through the process of mixing up his pitches, attacking guys in different spots. Can’t give that much information, there’s a lot of teams (in on) him. Hopefully, it happens and he’s part of this.”

That’s notable considering Cora’s involvement in free agent recruiting. You can bet the manager has reached out to Eovaldi to pitch him on the importance of defending their World Series crown.

The Red Sox have a few other key free agents they remain in contact with, including Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly. We shouldn’t rule out Boston bringing all of these pitchers back for next season but making Eovaldi the priority indicates the team feels the pair of relievers are more replaceable, whether it be internally or with cheaper free agent alternatives.