After the Boston Red Sox's postseason elimination at the hands of the New York Yankees, the front office's attention has shifted to the offseason, and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will have to get creative to improve his team.
In particular, Breslow must already be wrestling with the innumerable (good and bad) possibilities for Boston’s pitching rotation moving forward. One of the more recent developments in that regard involves Lucas Giolito, who can officially opt out of his deal this offseason after exceeding 140 innings pitched against the Athletics on September 17. With Giolito having good reason to opt out following a strong 2025, Breslow and the Red Sox’s rotation could be in danger of losing a key arm.
This is a notable development for a rotation that’s been hit hard in 2025 by both injuries (Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford) and disappointing performance (Walker Buehler and trade deadline acquisition-gone-wrong Dustin May).
While the Red Sox have two starters locked up for the long haul (Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello), as well as more than one promising young arm that could very well feature in their 2026 rotation (Connelly Early, Kyle Harrison), Breslow will be eager to bring in another veteran starter or two, especially if Giolito ends up elsewhere.
This is where things could get very interesting for the Red Sox as it relates to a New York Yankees right-hander about to hit free agency.
Red Sox have every reason to monitor former Yankee Luke Weaver’s free agency situation
With Yankees reliever Luke Weaver set to become a free agent, the 32-year-old will be attracting a boatload of interest. There’s a twist to what promises to be a fascinating sweepstakes for the hurler: he’s open to being a starting pitcher again.
Appearing recently on “The Show” podcast (hosted by New York Post writers Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman), Weaver suggested that he could transition back into a starting role.
“The door is open,” Weaver told Heyman and Sherman. “I am never just going to say, ’Absolutely not.’ When the time comes, let’s talk about it. Clay (Holmes) has done a great job this year in that transition. … The transition, I don’t think people truly understand — that’s crazy. To do it as consistent as he has, I commend him.”
“It’s cool to see that it’s possible, too,” Weaver continued. “We see it happening from time to time now. Teams are being a little more strategic. So, yes, I’m very much open to it, but I also am not just like, ’Yeah I want to go do that,’ or, ’Yeah I want to go do this.’ Let’s sit at the table. Let’s have a conversation and see what that looks like and what best (puts me in position) to be the most successful. I would like to have those options if they are there.”
Weaver's postseason performance was questionable at best, as he surrendered five runs on four hits and two walks over a third of an inning across three appearances. His regular season performance was far more stable, though, with a 3.62 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP, 72 strikeouts and 20 walks in 64.2 innings as a reliever.
Weaver not only has the willingness to start; he also has MLB experience doing so, as he began his career in that role with the St. Louis Cardinals and continued as a starter with the Arizona Diamondbacks and others before landing with the Yankees. Weaver’s production as a starter was never excellent, but it’s worth noting that he was burdened by constant injuries for much of his pre-Yankees career.
With the free agency market for starting pitchers expected to be a tad watered down due to some less-than-stellar 2025 showings (Buehler, Nestor Cortes, Zach Eflin, Zac Gallen, among others), Weaver could present an interesting rotation option for a team like Boston.