The Boston Red Sox will likely pursue pitching help in the offseason, and they could look at signing one away from their divisional rival.
The Red Sox could look to add another high-leverage reliever, and MLB insider Chris Cotillo of MassLive predicted Boston will sign Luke Weaver away from the New York Yankees.
“The prediction here is that the Red Sox sign two arms — a righty and a lefty — but don’t break the bank for either,” Cotillo wrote in a piece published on Tuesday. “There are many trustworthy options internally (including some projected as starters) who can be counted on, too. Wild guess? (Steven) Wilson and Luke Weaver.”
Weaver spent the last two seasons with the Yankees and was an impact reliever for New York. The right-hander went 4-4 with a 3.62 ERA in 64 games with the Yankees this season.
If Boston signed Weaver, he would be a late-inning reliever for the Red Sox, to go alongside Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock. But adding pitching is key, according to Craig Breslow.
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“No one will sit in this seat and say that there’s enough pitching in the organization,” Breslow said at a press conference on Oct. 6.
“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 (additional) pitching certainly is one of them.”
Boston was eliminated in the Wild Card Series by the Yankees.
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