BOSTON — The Red Sox entered last offseason knowing they needed a true top of the rotation stater. By packaging four of their Top 10 prospects to the Chicago White Sox, they landed one, obtaining Garrett Crochet.

Crochet’s first season in Boston matched if not exceeded expectations. He finished 18-5 with a 2.59 ERA. He also led the American League in innings pitched and the majors in strikeouts.

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Now that the Sox have a true ace under control for six more seasons, do they also need to find an established No. 2 for their rotation?

“I think what I would say,” began chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, “is that we need to figure out ways to improve the team and that could take a number of shapes. Every team gets better if you can bring in a starter or develop a starting pitcher that could pitch at Garrett Crochet’s level, right?

“There’s no running from that and we’ll be as aggressive as we can in chasing that down.while also ensuring that we’re doing everything we can to develop our players internally.”

Breslow further noted that there were time that both Brayan Bello and Lucas Giolito pitched like No. 2s in 2025. But Giolito is effectively a free agent, and further complicating matters is an elbow injury that developed in late September which ended his year just as the postseason was getting underway.

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And while Bello was 11-9 with a 3.35, he remained inconsistent at times, especially in his Wild Card Game 2 start which lasted less than three innings.

The Sox have a host of other starters, but several are either returning from injury (Patrick Sandoval, Kutter Crawford) or have yet to fully establish themselves at the big league level (Richard Fitts, Hunter Dobbins, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Red Sox made another run at Minnesota’s Joe Ryan. The Red Sox engaged with the Twins at the trade deadline last July, but couldn’t reach a last-minute agreement.

Other available starters on the trade market — like Miami’s Sandy Alcantara — could attract interest too.

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On the free agent market, the Sox could choose from among Michael King, Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen and Framber Valdez.

“No one will sit in this seat and say that there’s enough pitching in the organization,” said Breslow. “I think we saw that in the second half and we could list out the pitchers that were on the IL and it just means that depth is so critically important. So, like I said, when we talk about pursuing opportunities to improve the team, bringing in (more) pitching certainly is one of them.”

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