Every offseason, baseball fans are given a renewed sense of hope that their team might splurge and make historic additions during free agency.
Some fans are rewarded with huge moves while others are let down. For fans of the Boston Red Sox, the latter became far too familiar during the Chaim Bloom era.
Hiring Craig Breslow as the new Chief Baseball Officer doesn’t guarantee a spending spree is on its way, but it does give Red Sox fans some optimism about the team’s aggressiveness this offseason.
Here’s what a dream 2024 Red Sox rotation could look like if Breslow aces the offseason.
No. 1: Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Other than Shohei Ohtani, who won’t even pitch until 2025, the most prized arm on the open market belongs to Yamamoto. Expected to be posted within the next week, the 25-year-old will be a highly sought-after rotation option for many MLB teams given his youth and proven talent on the mound.
Through 24 games with the Orix Buffaloes last season, he went 17-6 while posting a 1.16 ERA, 9.3 K/9, and 1.5 BB/9. He also kept loud contact to a minimum, surrendering just two homers over 171 innings of work. Signing international players with no stateside experience always has some risk, but Yamamoto might be as close to a “sure thing” as you’ll get.