Within a five-day span last week, the Boston Red Sox went from the abyss to the mountaintop.
Fresh off losing Alex Bregman to the Chicago Cubs, the Red Sox finalized a five-year contract with left-hander Ranger Suárez to complete what is projected to be the best starting rotation in Major League Baseball this upcoming season.
It’s a reminder, and the Red Sox know this better than most, that it’s not over until it’s over.
“The timing of offseason signings is always so unpredictable, but (signing Suárez) feels great,” Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy told the Herald on Wednesday after Suárez’s introductory press conference at Fenway Park. “We are so appreciative of Alex Bregman and everything he did for the organization last year.”
“It’s great that he’s in the National League,” Kennedy added, with a grin. “You do get very emotional about players that are on your roster, right, and so it gets hard when you’re not able to bring guys back. But you have to move on, and not look back.
“We want to take that next step forward. What does that mean? That means going deeper in October. So (Suárez) is a big piece of that, and adding Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras and having our guys, our young guys, take that next step forward, hopefully will contribute to that.”
Suárez is a significant step forward for the Red Sox in myriad ways. His regular season and postseason resumés are impeccable. He’s highly-regarded by former teammates, coaches, executives and countless others in the baseball world, too. Kennedy feels Suárez can be an invaluable mentor for top pitching prospects Payton Tolle and Connelly Early.
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Ranger Suárez throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
The Red Sox established themselves as big spenders and winners in the first two decades of the century, but their rebuild and accompanying self-imposed spending limits following the 2018 championship damaged their reputation as a premier destination. The list of noes from top free agents since then is not insignificant. But losing Bregman, and when they were already the last club without a dollar spent in major league free agency this offseason, put the Red Sox in a perilous position.
If someone who enjoyed their Boston experience as much as Bregman chose to sign elsewhere, what would it take for the Red Sox to break this pattern?
“We’ve never been shy in free agency, going back to 2002,” Kennedy said. “Free agency is really hard for the players and their families, the uncertainty. And it’s hard for the front office.
“There’s asymmetrical information, right? Teams have just their information. The players and their agents have all the information, and you have to do what you think is in the best interest of your organization.”
Suárez is chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s first free-agent signing longer than three years, and the club’s longest for a free agent since Trevor Story’s six-year, $140 million deal in 2022.
“I go back to 2015, and one of the issues that we had was we were really struggling with starting pitching,” Kennedy said. “Credit to Dave Dombrowski, he came in and identified that as an area of need for us. I think Bres has done the same thing.”
Under Breslow, the pitching depth is likely greater than at any point in franchise history. Kennedy would certainly know as he grew up in neighboring Brookline and spent decades rooting for a Red Sox team that never seemed to have enough pitching before he joined the organization.
“Any time we’ve had success here in our time, over two and half decades, there’s been a lot of different reasons but the one consistent thing is starting pitching. You can never have enough,” Kennedy said. “You think you have enough, and then you always realize that you don’t have enough.”
Kennedy added: “It always is (a need). I’ll channel my inner Craig Breslow and say you can never have enough starting pitching ever. It’s just really, really hard to find. And I don’t think you can ever have enough, period.”
Other areas of need remain. Even now, as their payroll sits above the second luxury tax threshold, Kennedy believes they can do more to improve the roster.
“Like pitching, you always need more offense,” he said. “Adding Willson to this lineup, I think, was a big step, but you can always have more.
“Hopefully we’ll get more out of our existing guys, but obviously always looking to improve in that area as well. … It takes all of it. You need to have free agents. You need to have great drafting, and developing, extending your own guys. It’s all part of this mosaic that is putting together a roster that is hopefully built for the postseason.”
The Red Sox improved on paper with the addition of Suárez, but it won’t win them anything right now.
“I am reminded though, just being around for a long, long time, there’s no winning the offseason,” Kennedy said. “There’s no medals or trophies given out. That’s (in) October.”