Despite their many pitching reinforcements, one of the smartest moves of the Boston Red Sox's offseason was giving Nick Pivetta a qualifying offer.
The move was risky because Pivetta truly could've gone either way — if he accepted the offer, Boston would've owed him $21.05 million for the 2025 season, but since he declined it, the Sox will be granted a compensatory draft pick for the loss. Two of the Red Sox's top prospects, Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell, were drafted with compensatory picks.
The pitcher declined Boston's QO because his market was reportedly more robust than expected. Yet, with under two weeks until pitchers and catchers are slated to report to spring training, Pivetta remains a free agent with relatively little smoke about potential suitors for his services.
The Red Sox may become one of the few reported clubs interested in signing Pivetta, according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive. If they did, it would lose them their draft pick and negate their genius plan. Since Boston showed its willingness to pay him $21.05 million for a single season of work, he'd probably demand a higher salary, too.
Red Sox may be interested in Nick Pivetta as his market drags near the end of the offseason
Nick Pivetta in relief this season:
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 26, 2023
17 G
1.98 ERA
0.80 WHIP
.128 AVG
12.73 K/9.0 IP pic.twitter.com/9eaegdxavk
If the Red Sox do bring Pivetta back, he would likely be moved to the bullpen. He's had success in a relief role before, and Boston's rotation is newly stacked with the return of Lucas Giolito and the additions of Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler and Patrick Sandoval. Batters have slashed .253/.321/.446 against Pivetta as a starter and .205/.287/.406 as a reliever, however, his sample size of relief appearances is much smaller.
As much as the Red Sox like Pivetta and as good as his career 10 strikeouts per nine innings look on paper, their money is better spent elsewhere. Boston still hasn't added a right-handed bat, and it could be argued it should've used its qualifying offer to keep Tyler O'Neill last season. Now, the team is short 31 home runs of production, and re-signing Pivetta won't help there. He could be a solid long relief option out of the bullpen, but the Sox shouldn't bring him back as a starter.