Red Sox Signing Lefty Ace at $136 Million, Trading For Another ‘Not Unrealistic’

Getty Max Fried

As the Boston Red Sox continue to pursue top free agent slugger Juan Soto, they are also looking at shelling out big bucks to upgrade their starting rotation, according to ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan.

Speaking on the ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast Friday, Passan said that not only would the Red Sox be looking to make a bid for free agent lefty Max Fried, but it would be “not unrealistic” to see Boston also attempt to acquire White Sox lefty starter Garrett Crochet. Even with a Chicago team that set a new, modern (post-1901) record for futility, posting a 121-loss season in 2024, Crochet won six games against 12 losses while posting a 3.58 ERA.

Crochet’s ERA would have been good enough for 14th in the American League, but his 146 innings pitched came up 16 short of the 162 required to qualify for the AL ERA leader board. However, in those 146 innings, Crochet struck out 209, which was third in the AL and seventh in the Major Leagues.

Crochet “Most Coveted” Hurler in Trade Market

MLB.com calls Crochet “arguably he most coveted pitcher on the trade market this offseason.” But it’s not only his impressive numbers that make the 25-year-old a “coveted” target, it’s the fact that he remains under team control, for whatever team acquires him, for both 2025 and 2026.

Crochet’s salary for 2025 is a highly economical $2.9 million, making him one of the best pitching bargains available. That assumes, of course, that the White Sox will make him available for the right package of big leaguers or prospects. He becomes arbitration-eligible in 2026, meaning a team would have to bump up his salary considerably for one year before he hits free agency, or sign him to a multi-year extension.

The free agent Fried is another story. The sports-business site Spotrac projects his market value at an average annual salary of $22.7 million over a six-year contract, meaning that the Red Sox or any other team can expect to shell out $136,309,500 for Fried from 2025 through the 2030 season.

Fried would be 36 years old by the time his projected six-year contract expired. In his eight seasons, all with the Atlanta Braves, Fried has won 73 games while losing just 36. His career ERA is a solid 3.07 while his WHIP stands at a respectable 1.164.

The Braves acquired Fried as a minor leaguer from the San Diego Padres in 2014, in a trade that sent Justin Upton to San Diego. The Padres had made Fried their first-round draft pick, seventh overall, just two years earlier. San Diego drafted Fried straight out of Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles.

Red Sox Need At Least One Lefty Starter

Acquiring one or both of Fried and Crochet would not only bring a true ace to Boston, it would give the Red Sox rotation some much needed left=handed variety. The Red Sox never settled on a fifth starter in 2024. Their top four rotation hurlers — Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello and Nick Pivetta were all right-handed.

Pivetta declined a $21 million qualifying offer from the Red Sox last week, and will now apparently leave the club in free agency, leaving Boston two slots to fill in its starting rotation.