Boston, MA – October 6: Boston Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow listens to a question during the Red Sox end-of-season press conference with team leadership at Fenway Park on October 6, 2025. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Boston Globe via Getty Images
The Boston Red Sox appear to be moving into win-now move after shedding the largest contract on their books.
The team took the baseball world by surprise when it opted to trade away Rafael Devers and his $313 million contract well before this past season’s trade deadline. But after the roster rallied and enjoyed a surge in the standings that led to a playoff bid, the Red Sox now appear to be done selling and have moved firmly into the buyer category.
That much was made clear when the team traded for St. Louis Cardinals star Sonny Gray, who is entering the third year of a $75 million contract.
“When you think about what Sonny has been in this league, it’s a guy who has pitched at the front of rotations, and those things that we think pitchers carry year to year — things like strikeouts rates and walks rates and ability to stay off barrels — he excels there,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow explained after the move, according to Boston.com’s Hayden Bird. “So we’re really excited about adding a guy who’s coming off back-to-back 200-strikeout seasons, and shouldering a significant workload.”
While Gray marks a significant boost for the starting rotation, there’s an open question about whether he can serve as a legitimate No. 2 option behind Garrett Crochet in what fans hope would be a World Series contending rotation next season.
Gray has been an innings eater in recent seasons, but he posted a middling 4.28 ERA for the Cardinals in this past campaign. Even after acquiring Gray, Breslow hinted that a bigger move could be coming.
“While Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow notably avoided any declarations about whether Gray was now the Sox’s No. 2 starter, he did point to Gray’s success on the things that tend to hold up year over year in pitchers’ performances,” Alex Speier wrote for the Boston Globe. “That said, part of Breslow’s hesitation to proclaim Gray as a No. 2 starter was because the Sox might acquire another starter this offseason who would slot in front of him.”
A new starter talented enough to slot between Gray and Crochet won’t be easy to find, though. While several such players might be had via trade, the free agency market only seems to sport a few proven big-league options such as Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez and Michael King.
Those starters could be headed toward contracts in the $200 million range, so if the Red Sox really do want to bring in an even better talent than Gray this winter, it would take a true blockbuster move to do so.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterchawaga/2025/12/04/red-sox-hint-at-another-blockbuster-addition-after-75-million-sonny-gray-trade/
