Eight years before Craig Breslow traded four prospects to the Chicago White Sox for Garrett Crochet, former Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Dave Dombrowski made a similar deal for an equally-dominant hurler.
Dombrowski landed future World Series champion Chris Sale from the White Sox in exchange for Yoán Moncada, Luis Alexander Basabe, Victor Díaz and Michael Kopech. Kopech has grown into the most successful player of the group (aside from the many injuries in his career), and he hit free agency for the first time after the 2025 season.
Boston selected the righty in the first round of the 2014 MLB Draft, making him a key part of Chicago's return for Sale. He's appeared in parts of six MLB seasons, which doesn't sound like that many for someone selected nearly a dozen years ago — he missed the entire 2019 campaign due to injury and opted out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kopech appeared on the "Baseball Isn't Boring" podcast and spoke with host Rob Bradford about his experience as a free agent. Despite having relatively few suitors, Kopech said he isn't stressed about his future. Bradford Tweeted separately that he wouldn't be opposed to a Red Sox-Kopech reunion, which could make some sense given Boston's needs.
Red Sox could reunite with free agent reliever Michael Kopech, part of White Sox's return the original Chris Sale trade
Kopech began his big-league career mostly as a starter, then transitioned into a full-blown reliever in the 2024 season. After trading three relievers in November, the Red Sox could use an arm like Kopech's in the bullpen (if he can stay healthy).
The 29-year-old is a career 4.14 ERA pitcher over 411 in parts of six big league seasons. The White Sox held onto Kopech until the 2024 trade deadline when they traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers where he found outstanding success. He posted a 1.13 ERA with 29 strikeouts, 10 walks and six saves over 24 innings.
Signing Kopech is definitely a risk given his injury history. He pitched just 11 innings in 2025 due to a shoulder impingement and a meniscus issue, and he has an even longer history of shoulder issues.
Still, his skillset matches up with the type of pitchers that Breslow has targeted recently. In 2024, Kopech ranked in the 98th percentile in fastball velocity, the 92nd and 93rd in whiff and strikeout percentages, respectively, and clocked 86th percentile extension. He's known for walking quite a few batters, however, with a seventh percentile walk rate that same year.
The Red Sox may be able to sign Kopech for a reasonable price, given his short list of suitors, if they're willing to take a gamble on a candidate who has spent plenty of time on the IL. Boston has more than enough pitching depth to account for any time he might miss, but it'll still need to sign at least a few relievers before Opening Day.