[Cotillo] Can’t imagine the Red Sox add another starter now. So they’ll enter with Crochet, Buehler, Houck, Bello, Crawford, Giolito plus Criswell, Priester, Fitts and eventually Sandoval. Could always trade someone. But it’s suddenly a group that’s deep and has a lot of upside.

31 comments

  1. I haven’t been this excited for a season in like 5 years man. This is really good, we very easily have top-5 rotation potential here and still are going to add another bat at the least I’d imagine.

    Something else of note is that with Walker needing to be added to the 40-man we will need to DFA/trade someone. The last move was trading Booser to the White Sox so I wonder what’s next out Craig’s sleeve.

  3. A lot of upside is an interesting way to describe multiple injury prone pitchers…

    At least it looks like an improvement on last year’s rotation!

  5. Getting two starting pitchers without trading Abreu or Casas feels like a fever dream after what we were hearing during the Winter Meetings.

  6. Great move. Pitched really well last post season just as he was finally getting back on track post rehab. No ER and 13 Ks in 11 inning in his last two starts against NYM and NYY. Overall think he’s a little better than Flaherty, and even if he doesn’t get all the way back to his 21’ form he should still be a nice upgrade.

  9. We have a very real shot at the playoffs next year, just need to avoid that second-half falloff

  10. It’s a weird decision to sign a lot of short-term ‘maybe’s instead of a long-term ‘definitely’. Lots of upside for this year, but we’ll have to go through this all over again next year and the year after.

  12. I’m really excited about the depth and potential of this rotation. We’re definitely setting ourselves up for a potential playoff run if everything clicks!

  13. I give him a lot of crap for being negative, but I have to admit I was expecting him to be salty about this.

    I will admit, in this case I might be wrong about Cotillo.

  15. Think about how much better positioned we are with the rotation than at this time last year.
    Houck coming off an unexpected banner year. Bello with a stellar second half to 2024. Giolito healthy. A legitimate ace picked up. And the only guy we let walk (Pivetta) was improved upon with the addition of Buehler.

  16. Lotta positives. Taking the 2001 Pats, 2013 Sox approach to team building.

    Next move is getting a RHB.

  19. Yeah I’m not mad at that rotation. Hoping it’s a healthy 2025. Is Crochet the clear cut ace or is that TBD or do we not really have one?

  20. I want a solid righty bat for the lineup and another bullpen arm. Otherwise, this has been a great offseason. We’re definitely improved from last season and didn’t have to give up any MLB talent or our top 3 prospects.

  23. I don’t seem to be nearly as high on Walker as the folks here. If they don’t spend for a legit ace next offseason, I can’t imagine they ever will again. Based on the young depth they have on both sides now and payroll rolling off the next few years, they’ve never been better positioned to sign an elite player. Even with a bat, this isn’t a WS contender in the one year they have Buehler, so it’s hard to get very excited.

  24. For a mid-market team, that is a really well built rotation.

    Which I mean as both a complement and a criticism.

    And well-built mid-market teams can make the playoffs, so, it’s not all doom and gloom at least.

  27. The rotation has a lot of upside, but it also has a low floor. Giolito coming off injury, Bueheler with a prove it deal after having a 5 era last year coming off injury, Bello hasn’t put it fully together yet in the majors, Houck has one solid year, Priester is a dart throw, and Sandoval i have zero belief in pitching this year until it happens. So many players we sign that are injured and they stay injured.

    Crochet is hopefully the ace, hopefully Houck remains as good as he was, Buehler hopefully bounces back, same with Giolito, and then just get lucky with Bello.

    There’s a lot of question marks, and that’s my biggest issue with a big market team. Relying on 4 out of 5 starters being a question mark is horrible if the idea is to be a contender this year (which it should be since they’re all 1 year deals)

  28. Only way they add another SP is if they get a deal they can’t refuse on the trade market. The rotation is already looking excellent, and the depth might be at the top of the league.

    Now we just have to hope for the best when it comes to health.

  31. Must be nice to have a gm that actually does anything. Meanwhile we’re sending out search and rescue for Elias here in crab land.

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