The Red Sox have “no willingness” as of right now to trade any of their top three prospects, shortstop Marcelo Mayer, center fielder Roman Anthony and catcher Kyle Teel, Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reported Friday.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has frequently identified starting pitching as Boston’s top need this offseason but “that reluctance” to trade Mayer, Anthony and Teel, “almost surely would take them out of the mix for the top controllable targets this offseason,” Speier wrote.
White Sox starter Dylan Cease, who has two years of team control remaining, is one of the top names on the trade market.
Speier also reported Boston is “unlikely to make the sort of deep-end, long-term plunge” for the two top remaining starting pitchers, Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell.
Boston’s reluctance to sign a big-name starter comes as no surprise. After the Lucas Giolito signing, MassLive reported that the Red Sox would want to shed payroll before adding more in free agency.
MassLive’s Sean McAdam also reported last month that an industry official said Montgomery is “too expensive for the Red Sox’s current budget plans.”
Breslow hasn’t done much to improve the starting rotation so far. He’s only swapped out Chris Sale for Giolito. Boston traded Sale to the Braves along with $17 million in cash for 22-year-old infielder Vaughn Grissom on Dec. 30 and signed Giolito to a one-year, $19 million contract with a player option for 2025.