The Boston Red Sox entered this offseason with a plan to bolster their pitching staff, and have failed to do so thus far.
Thankfully for them, it’s not too late. Although many stars have signed elsewhere, the free-agent talent pool is still rich. One insider believes they still have a shot at landing the most talented hurler on the market.
“They (Red Sox) recently traded one ace left-hander (Chris Sale), and Snell could be the guy to replace him, even if the two men have little in common other than both being talented southpaws,” MLB.com’s Will Leitch wrote Monday. “It’s not clear whether Snell’s laid-back Pacific Northwest vibe would be a good fit in Boston, but stranger things have happened.”
Snell posted a league-leading 2.25 ERA, 234-to-99 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .181 batting average against and 1.19 WHIP in 180 innings across 32 starts last season.
Leitch put Boston as the ninth most likely landing spot for Snell which sounds about right. The Red Sox have the financial capability to sign the southpaw and certainly have the need but have pretended to be a mid-market team as of late and appear unlikely to make a strong investment of any kind.
However, even if they do manage to sign the two-time Cy Young Award winner more must be done to strengthen their pitching staff. Snell would be a fantastic addition but would need to at least be paired with a right-handed bat such as Adam Duvall.
