Red Sox: Five affordable free agent starting pitcher targets
By Max Bozicas
Gio González
The first of two players on this list who started for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2019, Gio González is no longer the All-Star he was years ago. However, he is still a worthy starter as his respectable 3.50 ERA on the season would indicate. González’s most appealing trait is his ability to prevent the long ball, as his career HR/9 is 0.8 and he hasn’t exceeded 0.9 HR/9 since 2015. His 1.294 WHIP on the year isn’t amazing but not bad either.
Another plus for González is his durability. Since 2010, there have only been two seasons in which he made less than 31 starts, although one of those seasons was 2019. Still, that shouldn’t diminish the fact that over the course of his career he tends to be very reliable in terms of staying healthy.
An area of weakness for González is his tendency to walk batters. He owns a career 3.8 BB/9 and he has never gotten that number below 3.0 in a single season. This is a stat that may scare the Red Sox off, as their 3.7 BB/9 as a team was third-worst in all of baseball in 2019.
Entering the 2020 season, González will be 34 and over the course of his career, he has proven to be pretty consistent overall. You know what you are getting out of him when he takes the mound, and that is something that Red Sox fans could certainly appreciate next year.