Red Sox introduce pitcher Ranger Suarez after reaching 5-year deal
Well, um, good morning, everybody. Welcome, uh, back to Fenway Park. Great to see everybody. Uh, I want to thank all the Red Sox employees in the back there who are here to welcome you, Ranger, to Boston. Uh, thank you for all the hard work this offseason, everybody. Um, on behalf of John and Linda Henry who are here today, uh, our chairman Tom Werner and Mike Gordon, um, we wanna, uh, welcome everybody and thank them for, uh, the consistent support and the resources, uh, to make this transaction possible. Uh, I want to thank Ranger and his family for your commitment to Boston. Uh, and I wanna, uh, especially thank Scott and his team at the Scott Boris Corporation. It’s always better to be sitting on the dais, uh, with Scott than on the phone, uh, and we are very appreciative of you, you and your team’s efforts. Huge thanks to Brez and Baseball Ops. Big shout out to Brian O’Halloran who worked, uh, overtime on this one. Um, all the, the urgency, um, and the commitment to, uh, getting this deal done was, uh, great to see. It’s been *** very, very busy and long offseason. We have more work to do, but, um, I appreciate everyone’s efforts, and I’ll, I’ll turn it over to Bres. Sure, thanks, Sam. Uh, good morning, everyone. Welcome. Uh, if, if you think back to The outset of the offseason, uh, we talked *** lot about building *** roster that we thought was capable of competing for *** World Series in 2026 and beyond, and, uh, bringing in *** player with the talent and accomplishments of Ranger, uh, positions us, we believe, to, to do just that. Uh, Ranger’s been an excellent starting pitcher in *** very tough division for *** really long time, was, uh, an All-Star two years ago, was even better last year. Uh, but I think what really stands out is, is the body of work in the postseason. Um, you know, when, when his teams needed him the most, he was at his best, and we look forward to, uh, to Ranger continuing to build that postseason resume here over the next 5 years. Uh, I also want to thank, uh, John, Tom, Mike, Sam, and, and Linda, uh, our ownership group for the support of, of this pursuit. I’ve maintained, um, over the last 2 years that In my experiences at any point, there was an opportunity to meaningfully improve the team. We had not just uh the, the support, but the enthusiasm and the encouragement from our ownership group, and I think today is, is, uh, even more evidence of, of that. Um, I also wanna thank Scott and Luis, uh, Greg, um, you know, the, the Boris Corporation who Uh, even going back to November, I think the first time that we, we talked about our interest in, in Ranger, uh, you know, negotiated in, in good faith and partnered with us to, to reach this outcome, uh, *** number of people in baseball operations who, uh, who put us in *** position to, to take advantage of this opportunity from scouts to analysts to our leadership team and, and BOH who, uh, you know, ran point on, on some of the negotiations. Um, you know, I think there was, uh, there were *** number of people who, who contributed to, to such *** great outcome here. Uh, and then lastly, you know, Anytime you make *** commitment of this magnitude, uh, you want to have as much information as possible. You want to know exactly what you’re getting and fortunately, because baseball is such *** close-knit community, it wasn’t hard to find uh mutual friends, former teammates, coaches, front office. Personnel who could speak about their relationships and experiences with Ranger, and there were two things that really stood out. Uh, one was just the, the sheer talent. Uh, *** number of people said that Ranger was the type of guy who could roll out of bed and throw *** bullpen and not miss *** single spot. And, uh, you know, I think our industry has moved away from that type of pitchability and guile, um, but as we’ve seen, uh, over the last 6 years, there’s definitely still *** place for Uh, you know, *** pitcher who doesn’t issue free passes and can manage hard contact. And the second thing, uh, that, that stood out was this big sense of humor that people talked about. Uh, and so we’re looking forward to, to your personality really, uh, really surfacing over the next 5 years. And so, uh, we want to welcome your family to, to ours, to the Red Sox family. And, uh, and I can assure you that if you pitch like you have over the last 6 years and you make people laugh, then you will readily uh endear yourself to, uh, to the Red Sox faithful. So, welcome. We’re incredibly excited to, to have you and really excited for what the next 5 years will bring. So now Ranger would like to say *** few words. Uh, buonoa buoia to, uh, quero er tarle primera menta graciado p porretanovaporeo portunano tapaqueva tenercom familia er tabula graciaja atolequipo de boston Gala albueno uh Henry asan uh uh atodo attogen maqueroda janai porfera por confier and me. I I porter yo canlaporte up the migran into arena. Uh, first off, I just wanna say good morning to everyone. Uh, thank you all for being here. Um, first I just wanna give thanks to God, uh, for this new opportunity, uh, here with Boston. Uh, I wanna thank my family, uh, for their support. I wanna thank, uh, the ownership group, John, Sam, Craig, uh, for this opportunity and just looking forward to, uh, uh, putting my, my own little grain of, of rice and, and what we’re doing here. Uh. Uh, he, no, the the emotional, the, the arra king, uh, from apartheid terranquipo is the, uh, the former apartheid the. Uh, the, the whole mentalento que que queeboston, uh, liadocomo the memoso taraki, yeah, and I’m just really excited, uh, to be here with this team, uh, the mix of young players with veteran players. Uh, I’m just really excited to, to be here with, with this team, uh, uh. Thank you all la gracietamenaca uh Luis, uh, for, for *** broyamentote processoporto and uh I just wanted to thank Scott thank Luis, uh, for, for being, you know, here with me through through this opportunity and, and helping me through, um, this process. Thank you, Ranger. We’ll pause now for *** brief photo opportunity. And we have had in New Jersey. Thank you. Thanks, thanks. Council. 12 One more week. Right. want It And now we’ll begin with questions. Please raise your hand for the mic. I guess, uh, both from Craig and Scott’s perspective, uh, you, you say you started talking in November and just, uh, for it to finally come together, uh, you know, *** couple of months later, what was the whole process like? Sure, I can, uh, I can take the first step here. Um, you know, obviously, Scott had *** number of really talented, uh, free agents this year as, uh, as, as the, the Boris Corp tends to, um, and so we expressed interest in, in *** number of them, but from very early on, uh, we felt like as it related to, to free agent starting pitching, Ranger was the guy that we wanted to target, um, you know, really liked what he had accomplished, felt like he would be *** great fit, uh, both for our park, uh, for our kind of pitching. Uh, style and, and the job that our pitching group does, um, and then also the way that he would slot into the rotation, we talked about, you know, trying to create the most formidable rotation we possibly could entering, uh, you know, potential postseason and feel like, uh, you know, Ranger fits right in, um, and, and is *** guy like I’ve talked about earlier who has, uh, the, the track record of postseason success, so. Uh, you know, in terms of conversations, uh, you know, made, made sure that, that Scott and I stayed in touch, um, you know, and, and when there was the opportunity to get this across the line, we, uh, we pushed to do so. Um, first of all, I want to thank John and Tom. Who are always available, always ready to do what they need to do to improve their team and Perez, I Well, we’ve had *** long dialogue over the course of this year and uh I want to thank Brian. Greg in our office because uh very essential parts of, of, uh, making sure that these things get done. You know, from our point of view is that when you represent somebody, you really want to try to achieve every objective and in this instance, uh, Ranger had informed us that when he was young and in Venezuela that uh his uh first uh really remembrances of his childhood was watching the Red Sox and the Yankees and that he had told me that My friends rooted for the Yankees, but I always rooted for the Red Sox. So I knew that there was always an interest, uh, uh, an organic interest that he had here, and, uh, and sure enough, Brez and the staff called us. We had *** Zoom and after the Zoom, I think it was, it was clear that there was ***, *** strong, um, Attraction to wanting to be in this environment and uh so uh it was pursued, um, it was thoroughly pursued by friends and his staff and so uh we arrived here today. Ranger, what made the Red Sox, uh, so appealing to you and, and when Scott was talking about when you were *** kid, did you have any particular favorite players back then? Uh, uh, gracia, gracia la Meneda, uh, s siempre, um, cuando loqueta deciendosca, uh. Cadabeque novea puego de tebesbodera and televisionayanquie Boston uh tom tomdo de rafao de los Yanna. Uh, fanaticoboston they say don’t sayesabelo hueva boto meta mucho er la poca de pero martine. Uh, uh, to Alistoria que meusinagaro poquito toistoria de queenio Boston com Peru Roger Clemen Pedro WRT, um. Just beer mucha gente de maciia gente to say essemeo er comodo elequiuodo. Yeah, just like Scott said, uh, you know, since I was *** little kid, uh, when we would watch baseball on TV, uh, what would be on was, uh, Red Sox Yankees, and, you know, everyone was going for the Yankees and I asked why is no one going for Boston, uh, and that’s where the interest started, uh. And yeah just uh as I was made aware of the the history of the team and um you know hearing about how Babe Ruth pitched here and uh played here and how uh you know you hear about Pedro Martinez and and uh David Ortiz and and all of the the legends that have come through here um so it just, uh, that’s what really uh captivated me about this opportunity. Um, obviously, uh, you already alluded to it. There had been dialogue between, uh, between the Red Sox and Boris, uh, and Scott Boris and Boris, uh, about Boris for clients throughout the offseason. Um, how quick for, for Craig and Sam, uh, how would you describe the Uh, the shift in focus or, uh, the shift in dialogue that may have occurred around the time that Alex Bregman agreed to his deal with the Cubs, and, um, yeah, and Scott, from your vantage point, how would you describe kind of the acceleration of talks surrounding Ranger? Sure, well, I think the, the place to start is that, uh, you know, there was strong interest in, in Ranger, irrespective and independent of, of other decisions, uh, and other outcomes, and we had established *** foundation of, of that interest, *** relationship with Ranger, uh, *** great Zoom call that Scott alluded to where we talked about, uh, our pitching philosophy, the things that, that has, have worked for Ranger, why we feel like they can continue to work, uh, and The most important thing that we did as an organization, as *** baseball operation is understand that there are multiple paths to improving the team, and you know, I, I don’t think there’s *** question anymore that the identity of our team, the strength of our team is going to be our pitching and our ability to prevent runs. And so when you know one opportunity was was closed off, uh, I wouldn’t say that there was, um, you know, *** *** strong pivot uh in, insomuch as there was an opportunity to reassess the opportunities in front of us and and remain anchored to that commitment to improve our team. Yeah, I think in free agency, sequencing may seem something that it’s really not, only in the sense that the groundwork was done way back in November. Um, it was very clear throughout. Uh, our conversations that the idea of Ranger and the Red Sox and such were, were always *** topic. I myself did not view one or the other. I viewed as though they were adding pitching and and trying to improve their team in *** number of ways, adding players, whatever it may be. So I, I, I really felt that, uh, as much work and much conversation has been done, it was always part of the plan to include Ranger. er primeroque er agua la uh. Come on secienda come on this in the uh in uh I mean um I mean patria er Venezuela ato atolemano saludo ranga brazo este i i graciaporela pollo queernanda. Uh, the just to translate, uh, the question was around Venezuela and also, uh, how he actually says his name, uh, so my name is actually Gang, but however you guys want to address me, Ranger, uh, is how, how most people do, so I’m comfortable with either and just wanted to, uh, say hello and give *** big hug to, to all of my, um, friends and family out in Venezuela and, um, happy to represent. Um, Ranger, so, um, just as far as your free agency goes, you presumably have many choices. What made the Red Sox the right fit and, uh, what do you like about this year’s club that you’re joining now? Um, Porque abostotecadabaque ravenia cabaqueoviennea aguaradio uh tentela come on it’s *** it’s *** feeling quetela and they it er tanta legenda pasado oradio and the Uh, siempre megutado magutado er pisae and minami malomita delazo Pedro Martine Roye leme peru etse er cabequete degaboton er yejunoloadio mah. Uh, mahanti will quetelacommose is intriga is ***. Yes, and as *** port. Yeah, I know, when you, you come here to Fenway Park and, and you have the chance to, to pitch on the same mound that Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Babe Ruth threw off of, you have, you get that energy, um, from, from that experience and, um, it, it’s just. You know, something that motivates you to want to give your little grain of sand into what is *** bigger history. Craig, you said that, you know, this was the guy you were targeting from, uh, the jump in terms of starting pitching. What about Ranger intrigues you, you know, as *** pitcher, um, and why is he the fit, uh, compared to some of these other guys that are out there? Sure, I think you start with *** track record of success and, and particularly success in *** really difficult division in ***, in *** park that is *** pretty offensive-friendly environment, uh, and the ability to consistently manage contact, um, and you think about the way that that translates to, to our park and our division and, uh, and do that quite favorably, uh, and we feel like, uh, you know, he’s got every chance to be as good *** pitcher for the next 5 years as he has been for the previous 5 and Obviously, as, as it relates to free agency, what you’re, you’re betting on is continued improvement, uh, continued performance or improved performance, and we’ve got strong reason to believe that he’s someone who can thrive in, in our pitching infrastructure with Andrew Bailey and, and the rest of the group who have. Done *** great job of maximizing the strengths of pitchers, and what Ranger does very, very well, uh, is he’s, he’s got excellent command. He’s unpredictable. He’s got *** very, very deep repertoire that keeps hitters off balance, and we feel like he’s going to be *** very good pitcher for the next 5 years. OK. And uh osote que quere queeritoso playoffs and classic. Uh, gracia, that’s, that’s the, uh, porquesio, uh, yoqueroque and ti frutta huego yogroqueloquemayaa at the exito and mapao, uh, the croquedi frutara hugo at the diverted macaracaba monticulu. Uh, so the Venezuela, the. Uh, oh but I represent. The time Uh, the question. Success fight with Venezuela, the WBC. You know, I think what. Postseason, what is the reason for my postseason success is just going out there and having fun and enjoying my time out. Um, and I think that’s led to *** lot of positive results. As far as the WBC. I would love to, I, I. To play basketball. But, uh, no For Ranger Craig, uh. It’s like philosophy, velocity, philosophy. Now why, why do you think you’ve been able to thrive, uh, without that, you know, 100 mile an hour philosophy and I It was. So the, so, uh, big radar ratings. Uh, yo, uh, querero. Mm. Uh, see, Oh You. OK. But I. Yeah, I think, you know, if you have really good command of your pitches and are able to mix them well, uh, you don’t really need 10. Kind of, uh, what I do. Yeah, in, in my case, that’s what’s giving me uh the most success. So if you, if you look at, um, you know, kind of the, the pitch usage, uh, even, even last year, right, like, you know, kind of sinker and, and change up the predominant pitches, but after that the next 3 all use of like 16% per pitch, um, which means that if you are trying to predict the, the, the incoming pitch, you’re probably going to get it wrong. And so when you think about velocity. Pitchers more, more room for error, right? Uh, there’s some trade-off between command, and the less command you have, probably the more velocity and vice versa, and, uh, you know, Ranger’s just *** guy who’s been successful on the other side of that OK pitches and keep hitters off balance, been, uh, you know, been the, the recipe for for him and is one that we believe will have real staying power. Craig, you always say there’s no such thing as too much starting. Do you feel like now you’re close to having enough, uh, and also, do you feel like training from that group to address the other, uh, so there’s no such thing as too much starting pitching. Um, and also, uh, we’ll continue to look at ways to improve the team, um, and if that means, you know, potentially talking about trading from area of depth in order to address, uh, another roster need, it’s we’re gonna be willing to, to hear out and be open-minded to. Um, we, we talked at the beginning of, of the offseason that free agent trades and internal development were three ways to improve. Uh, and we’ll try to leverage all three. was in 2021 and you moved from the bullpen to the rotation late in the season, you went from pitching maybe the third to *** complete game shutout in about *** month, sustained that success as *** starting pitcher ever since. What was that transition like for you and and And as *** pitcher. Uh, first for fascision for quere er. The Yeah the, OK I. I. Yeah, it was, uh, actually pretty easy. um, whenever I I know the train it was. Oh sorry, Everything that I would do leading up to, to games would be in that way, and when they asked me if I wanted to, to be *** starter, uh, I said it was an easy yes because it’s something that I, you know, have always seen myself as. Uh, no, no siempre que siempre lo el bando at the sevea persona er er er enema to the ques. Uh, bueno, uh, uh, proveo comolo ariddo the roche simpervitoransandovello, uh, sonny gray siemprebuo be viendo uh huvadoredi yogroque ete etarte grouppo er masses decent man. My, my confiado poet is *** talent poquetienneo is *** more uh I said of course I can. Uh, the question was just around, uh, relationship with Carlos Narvaes. Um, I haven’t spoken to, uh, Carlos Narvaez yet. We haven’t met, um. You know, I was with the Phillies before and I got to see him from afar and um. how he handles the stuff particular, um, he, you know, crochet, uh. He, he handles those guys, um, and I’m just really excited about the team as *** whole, just all of the, the, You have, um, I think it’s. And um I’m looking forward to playing with them. Hey how you doing? Exactly And, um, obviously with getting Ranger and Sonny and all these guys, the focus is on. Intervention. You do acquire another. He’s. Plus defender at third base or second. Sure, defense is, is *** significant contributor to, to run prevention. We tend to get caught up in the pitching side of this, but there are other key components as well, um, in the defense being the most obvious. And, and so, uh, it’s important that we improve our defense, particularly our infield defense, um, you know, I would, I would argue we have the best defensive outfield in, in baseball, uh, but. We led the league in errors last year and our conversion needs to be improved. I think there’s some things that we’ve already started to do. We need to reprioritize that, but also the additions that we may make, we’ll be very mindful of the defensive skills. Any other questions? That concludes our press conference for today. Thank you, everyone. Thank you very much. OK. I get Yeah, I’m sorry, I’ll start that. OK. Yes. Yes. OK.
Red Sox introduce pitcher Ranger Suarez after reaching 5-year deal
Updated: 3:19 PM EST Jan 21, 2026
The Boston Red Sox formally announced on Wednesday that they had signed starting pitcher Ranger Suarez to a five-year deal.Multiple reports indicated that the Red Sox will pay Suarez $130 million over the life of the contract.Suarez, 30, went 12-8 with a 3.20 ERA and 151 strikeouts across 26 starts last season for the Philadelphia Phillies. Suarez was introduced at a press conference Wednesday. He was joined by his agent Scott Boras, Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and team president Sam Kennedy.“I’m just really excited to be here with this team. The mix of young players with veteran players,” Suarez said, through a translator. During the press conference, Suarez mentioned one of his memories growing up in Venezuela was watching Red Sox-Yankees games on TV. He said most of his friends rooted for the Yankees, but he would root for the Red Sox.
BOSTON —
The Boston Red Sox formally announced on Wednesday that they had signed starting pitcher Ranger Suarez to a five-year deal.
Multiple reports indicated that the Red Sox will pay Suarez $130 million over the life of the contract.
Suarez, 30, went 12-8 with a 3.20 ERA and 151 strikeouts across 26 starts last season for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Suarez was introduced at a press conference Wednesday. He was joined by his agent Scott Boras, Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and team president Sam Kennedy.
“I’m just really excited to be here with this team. The mix of young players with veteran players,” Suarez said, through a translator.
During the press conference, Suarez mentioned one of his memories growing up in Venezuela was watching Red Sox-Yankees games on TV. He said most of his friends rooted for the Yankees, but he would root for the Red Sox.