Red Sox News: Boston once again showing interest in Jake Odorizzi
By Steven Brown
The sage of the Red Sox and Jake Odorizzi may finally be taking shape
In an offseason full of finishing as the runner-up for established major league talent, the Boston Red Sox have once again found their name in the mix for veteran starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi. The veteran right-hander lost the 2020 season due to injuries after excelling in a full 2019.
A down-season came at a very bad time for the righty during a contract year, when he needed to prove his worth to prospective teams for his impending free agency. The rough year Odorizzi endured has not shied candidates away from pursuing him and Boston has apparently been active in scouting him, according to MLB Network’s Mark Feinsand.
The Red Sox have serious interest in RHP Jake Odorizzi, per source. Boston chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom was part of the Rays front office when Tampa Bay acquired Odorizzi in December 2012, so there's plenty of familiarity between the two.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 5, 2021
Odorizzi has been an effective starting pitcher since debuting in the Major Leagues at age 22 in 2012 with the Royals. The 30-year-old pitched only two games for the Royals before being involved in a trade that sent him to the Rays alongside Wil Myers and several other players for then-coveted starting pitcher James Shields.
He spent five seasons in Tampa Bay before being traded to the Minnesota Twins in the winter of 2017 for a prospect. As the tweet above mentions, Chaim Bloom was a member of the front office that brought Odorizzi to Tampa Bay in the 2012 transaction, so the two parties are well aware of each other.
The Red Sox have been known to be in the hunt for rotation depth, and recent news regarding Yomiuri Giants’ starting pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano lead many in the industry to believe that he is more inclined to return to Japan and accept the offer his former team has put on the table. Boston is also apparently not willing to give Sugano the money he is rumored to be looking for (which is unclear at present). His deadline to sign is Thursday.
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The veteran would be an effective option to fill the middle of the rotation, likely slotting behind Eduardo Rodriguez and Eovaldi. His expectations to be an innings eater should not be extremely high, as the righty is entering his age-31 season when Opening Day comes around, and has only reached as high as 187.2 innings pitched in 2016.
Nonetheless, there have not been many names tied to Odorizzi as of late and this news comes on the heels of information that Sugano might be more expensive than what the Red Sox believe they can get Odorizzi for.
For the first time this offseason, there is a chance that the Red Sox might actually get a player they had been rumored to be interested in without hearing the backlash of their inability to make a transaction happen. What direction the team chooses to take in regards to a contract is unknown, but if Sugano had been asking for too much, it is not unfair to say that Odorizzi could be cheaper, or at the very less willing to accept fewer years.
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The beating heart of Boston has finally seen the light of day and many fans hope that the team is willing to put something together in making a transaction. Bringing in Odorizzi is more of a sure-thing to reinforce the roster rather than the multiple depth signings that have occurred to this point. At some point, the Red Sox will need to make moves that are more of an advancement of the situation rather than a Band-Aid to stop the bleeding.