Red Sox must be aggressive in signing Jake Odorizzi
The sand is falling through the hourglass that is this offseason and the Red Sox have been quiet and downright stagnant in their hunt of free-agent talent. I think we all knew that this winter wasn’t going to be the usual as nothing in the past year has been. But for even the big money teams to remain silent in regards to signing players is, for lack of a better word, intriguing.
Now, Boston has made some signings so they haven’t been completely frozen. Matt Andriese was brought in to be a dual-role pitcher while Hunter Renfroe went from platoon outfielder to possible everyday starter. Their biggest move came in the way of re-signing fan-favorite Martín Pérez to fill out the Red Sox rotation. The thing is, that rotation is far from finished and Chaim Bloom needs to be aggressive in getting his final piece.
Looking at this winter’s class it wasn’t filled with top-tier starting talent but it does have plenty of guys that can get the job done. From the jump, I have been eyeing Jake Odorizzi and I feel he would be a great addition to this pitching staff. Corey Kluber was another arm I would’ve loved to get but we saw how that worked out. With the Red Sox constantly being labeled as “seriously interested,” or “final contenders,” and missing out each time, they need to ramp up the pressure.
If Chaim Bloom continues down a path of missing out on free agents that he supposedly had an interest in and was looking at, his tenure here won’t be fondly remembered. The thing is, bringing in a big-name high salary guy isn’t what he’s going to do either, sorry Trevor Bauer fans. He also doesn’t need to break to bank on a guy like Odorizzi, who earned just under $6.6M in 2020 due to the COVID adjusted salaries.
Some of you may think that’s a bit high considering the money that Bloom has been dishing out during his time in Boston, but Chaim has a big bargaining chip in his pocket. Odo missed damn near the entire 2020 season due to time on the IL and only pitched in 13.2 innings. As a free-agent with his most recent year being filled with injuries instead of innings, he may be willing to bend on the size of deal he’s looking for.
This is where Bloom could offer him a 2-3 year contract with a salary totaling somewhere in the $14-21M range, which gets Odorizzi more money than he’s earned in any year, except for 2019 and what would’ve been 2020. Bloom could also call upon their time in Tampa Bay together and use that as a bit of a swaying posture to bring the righty here for a more club-friendly deal. The possibility and opportunity are there for a deal to be done, Chaim just can’t wait it out for another team to swoop in.
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Alex Cora was a recent guest on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM and he made it clear that the Red Sox weren’t done crafting and creating this pitching staff. The skipper knows that as it stands now he doesn’t have the arms in his arsenal to compete as his bosses would like them to do in 2021. This means Chaim and his team need to flex their muscle a bit and be aggressive with the guys that they want to bring in. The money is there and the thing is, you don’t have to use it all!
Bloom can splash some cash on Odorizzi and still keep the budget keepers happy and far away from the CBT guillotine. Odo has a career 3.92 ERA, 1.240 WHIP, and 8.6 K/9, all of which would be a massive boost to what we saw from this staff in 2020. I doubt Boston would be interested in a six-man rotation which means either Nick Pivetta or Tanner Houck could be moved into the bullpen with Andriese. But that won’t be an issue until Chris Sale is ready to return to the lineup this summer.
The moral of the story here is that the Red Sox desperately need pitching and Jake Odorizzi is one hell of a pitcher. When he’s on he is damn electric and could be a major boost to Alex Cora’s pitching staff. 2020 may have been an awful year for the right-hander but those days come and go and now he’s healthy and ready to fire on all cylinders again. This is a chance for Chaim Bloom to sign a quality pitcher to actually improve this club as we inch closer to 2021. Make it happen, Chaim, we can only take being seriously interested and missing out so many more times.