This will not be about the Nick Burdi of the Boston Red Sox pitching world, best described as Quad-A players scuffling around for pension credits and the ever-hopeful aspect that management has discovered real gold and not fools' gold. We see that revolving door with a roster version of musical chairs each season. What management is looking for in mining is that elusive ace.
Red Sox management has been mesmerized by the past in their search for a quality arm, thinking that each step in contractual adventurism will result in a Luis Tiant, Tim Wakefield, Tom Seaver, and Brett Saberhagen, to pinpoint four.
Tiant was a magician for Cleveland, once leading the AL in ERA before losing 20 games and eventually ending up in Boston. Patience was ultimately rewarded, and the rest is in Red Sox history.
Wakefield did it all for the Red Sox, from starter to closer. Some of it was painful, but the body of work was positive both on the field and especially off the field. Wake was rescued from the scrap pile by Boston.
The Red Sox need another to make another Garrett Crochet-type trade at the deadline
Seaver and Saberhagen were the gold pitching standards, with five Cy Young Awards between them. Both had fading glory but provided sustenance for the rotation. A healthy Seaver would/could have ended the curse in 1986.
This season, the Red Sox brought on two more failures. First up — or is it down — is righty Walker Buehler, who grabbed $21.5 million to strengthen the rotation. Buehler has been the Chernobyl of pitching and a steady source of anxiety in each of his starts.
Next up is Liam Hendriks, the replacement for closer Kenley Jansen. Hendriks was one of the best in baseball at that specific role, so even paying for a year of Tommy John surgery rehab was worth the risk. Early results from 2024 were encouraging, so management may have made the right call. They didn't.
The list is rather extensive over the last several seasons, including James Paxton, Michael Wacha, Garrett Richards, John Smoltz, and Brad Penny, as well as bullpen disasters such as Bobby Jenks and Eric Gagne. Some just quietly retired, others had brief success elsewhere, and some, like Gagne, got a ring.
The 2025 season has one shining pitching star, and Garrett Crochet was acquired for a steep price. The Red Sox soon locked up their ace with a six-year deal. Trade is the way to go. The risk-reward ratio historically demonstrates this.
The Red Sox traded for Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, and Rick Porcello. All four provided the wins and innings necessary for a title. When pitching at that level becomes available, you act just as they did with Crochet. Forget the reclamation projects and go for the proven commodity. The Red Sox have the resources to do it.