According to a report from Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Red Sox could snap up a pair of a starting pitchers — Max Fried and Garrett Crochet — out from underneath the Braves.
“They have the opportunity and ability to do that (go add a frontline starter or two),” Passan said on the Baseball Tonight podcast via Jackson Roberts of Sports Illustrated. “They could very easily go and sign Max Fried and then trade for Garrett Crochet. That is not an unrealistic possibility.”
Boston is ready to spend after cutting payroll for the past few seasons. They’re reportedly involved in the Juan Soto sweepstakes and are expected to be interested in the top starters in free agency, including Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell, and Fried.
Fried and Crochet would be blockbuster acquisitions. As a Red Sox fan, that would be a near-perfect offseason. Fried is the elder statesman at 31 years old with eight years of experience and a 3.07 career ERA, while Crochet, 25 years old, is an emerging superstar who compiled 209 strikeouts in just 146 innings, posting a 3.58 ERA and sparkling 2.69 FIP.
For the Braves, Fried going to play in Fenway wouldn’t sting. The expectation is that he’ll sign elsewhere in free agency, and Boston has no rivalry with Atlanta. The only time the Braves would see Max Fried in a Red Sox uniform is in the World Series or in a somewhat meaningless regular-season series.
That isn’t the case for Crochet. The Braves are expected to be interested in acquiring the White Sox ace. As one MLB exec put it, the Braves would be a perfect place for him to sign an extension.
“Sox would rather put him in the NL,” the exec said. “Wouldn’t rule out other big-market clubs. Where Garrett wants to sign an extension is a factor and would think Atlanta is the most appealing landing spot for him long term.”
The Braves have become synonymous with the trade-and-sign move in baseball. Alex Anthopoulos has acquired and extended Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, Chris Sale, Joe Jimenez, and Pierce Johnson since the club won their World Series title.
The Red Sox are just one of the teams vying for Garrett Crochet’s services that the Braves are competing with.
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Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire
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