(Oddly enough, May is here as the lone representative of the Red Sox in the inaugural MLB Open golf tournament this week.)

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has said the Sox have prioritized adding a starter to pair with Garrett Crochet atop the rotation. Ryan would fit that mold. He has a 3.78 ERA over the last four seasons and last season threw 171 innings over 31 games.

The Twins also have righthander Pablo López, who has a 3.68 ERA since they acquired him from the Marlins before the 2023 season.

Both Ryan and López are under control through 2027, so there is no pressure on the Twins to move them. They could be best served to wait until the trade deadline. But they’ve already done some homework on the Sox system.

Marlins righthander Sandy Alcantara is another pitcher the Sox could target in a trade. The 2022 Cy Young Award winner missed the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery then was 11-12 with a 5.26 ERA last season.

But that comes with an important caveat. Alcantara was 7-3 with a 3.13 ERA in his final 12 starts.

“The last few months of the season was the version of Sandy that I think everybody expected to see — the ace-level pitcher,” Miami president of baseball operations Peter Bendix said Tuesday at the GM Meetings.

“It’s not uncommon for guys to take a little bit of time coming back from surgery … It took him a couple of months to just kind of find the precision of his pitches, and once he did, he was the same version that we’ve seen before.”

Alcantara is 30 and is signed through next season with a $21 million team option for 2027. The Marlins took a turn towards competitiveness last season and trading Alcantara could increase their talent base.

“At this point, we’re still having a lot of conversation about everything. I don’t know how it’s gonna play out,” Bendix said.

The budget-conscious Brewers could consider trading Freddy Peralta, who is a season away from free agency. He was 17-6 with a 2.70 ERA last season.

General manager Matt Arnold said there’s “a ton of interest” in Peralta. But Milwaukee also is coming off a 97-win season that ended in the NLCS.

“We want to try to compete next year,” Arnold said.

The biggest prize would be Pirates ace Paul Skenes. But Pittsburgh GM Ben Cherington shut that down.

“Not this offseason,” he said.

With the Sox seeking a starter and a middle-of-the-order hitter, Breslow said it would not surprise him if one need is filled via trade and the other in free agency.

“We’ll have to figure out largely what the market dictates,” he said.

Dylan Cease and Framber Valdez are the best available free agents along with righthander Tatsuya Imai, who is expected to be made available by the Seibu Lions via the posting system.

From there Michael King and Ranger Suarez are possibilities. It feels more likely that a starter would come in a trade.

Breslow said dealing for another starter would “put a dent” in the talent level of the system. But the Sox could absorb that blow.

“Have a ton of confidence in both the acquisition and development spaces that we can continue to identify players that can thrive in our system,” he said. “Trading is certainly one way of improving our short-term outlook.”

Breslow has been unusually forthright about how he wants to improve the roster and expressed confidence it will get done.

It’s still early in the process, but the Sox are lining up to make some significant moves.

Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social‬.