The American League East is currently run by the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles. But the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays are loaded with talent to the point that they are only a few solid moves away from joining the Yankees and Orioles at the top.
The Red Sox will be looking to upgrade their lineup a little bit, but their pitching rotation a lot. Boston needs to add an ace with more depth behind it.
FanSided’s Zachary Rotman recently put together a dream Opening Day starting pitching rotation for the Red Sox. Rotman included three huge additions to Boston’s rotation.
The first major addition that Rotman projects is Baltimore Orioles ace Corbin Burnes to sign with Boston.
“If they miss out on Soto, Corbin Burnes is the next-best player available, and he’d be the perfect ace of this staff,” Rotman wrote.
But one ace wasn’t enough for Rotman and the Red Sox in this hypothetical world. He projected Boston to swing a massive trade to acquire Chicago White Sox ace Garrett Crochet.
“A Crochet trade would not come cheap, and he doesn’t come without injury risk but would give Boston one of the best No. 2 starters in the game if they were able to sign Burnes,” Rotman wrote. “Even if they don’t land Burnes, Crochet would fit in nicely as an ace.”
Finally, Rotman has Japanese star pitcher Roki Sasaki signing with the Red Sox to finish out this dream offseason.
“Admittedly, the Red Sox would not be the favorites in Sasaki talks, but did anyone expect the Los Angeles Angels to sign Shohei Ohtani?” Rotman wrote. “It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Sasaki ends up in Boston, helping form one of, if not the best three-headed monsters out there.”
Making all three of these moves would be the best offseason possible for the Red Sox. As Rotman states, it would quite literally be their dream rotation. But, it’s actually possible from a logical standpoint.
Burnes is expected to sign for $200 million. Boston could afford that. Crochet is cheap against the payroll right now, but Boston would need to send a massive package of prospects to acquire him. Boston can afford that too. Sasaki can’t sign for more than seven figures, so money won’t be an issue with him.
It’s a dream offseason, but it’s actually possible if everything goes perfectly for the Red Sox.
