The Red Sox don’t have a piece of the current World Series picture, but they may have a name worth circling from it anyway.
Nick Martinez is taking the ball for the Rays in Game 1 of the Fall Classic, a move tied to Tampa Bay’s forward-looking planning. For Boston, he looks like the kind of offseason fit that checks a lot of boxes: experienced, flexible, and coming off a season that will set him up nicely in free agency.
Martinez was an All-Star for the first time this year and posted a 3.10 ERA across 180 innings. At 36, he’s positioned to land a strong deal after earning $9 million in 2026, and because he accepted the qualifying offer from the Cincinnati Reds in the 2024-25 offseason, he won’t be attached to one this time around.
That matters for a Red Sox front office expected to keep its spending measured. The club is expected to hunt for cheaper or back-end rotation help while putting most of its attention on the lineup, though the right player could always change that plan. Martinez offers exactly the kind of optionality teams love: a 4.29 career ERA as a starter and a 2.87 mark as a reliever, which gives Boston a pitcher who can help in both the rotation and the bullpen.
That versatility could also help the Red Sox move pieces around. If Tanner Houck or Johan Oviedo are healthy in 2027, Martinez would give Boston the freedom to push one of them back into the starting five.
There’s another layer here, too. Martinez would add a needed right-handed arm to the staff.
Sonny Gray seems likely to depart in free agency, and that would leave Brayan Bello as the lone long righty projected to start next year in Chad Tracy’s rotation. Whether the answer comes through free agency or a trade, the Red Sox need to fix that imbalance.
Landing Martinez won’t be simple. Boston would have to sell him on the idea that the club is closer to contention than it looks, and persuading a pitcher in the later stage of his career to leave a World Series team is no small task. Still, if the Red Sox are looking for the best bang-for-your-buck Sonny Gray replacement, the Rays’ Game 1 starter is hard to top.
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What makes the episode linger for Red Sox fans is how sharply the pitching story changed after the fallout. Boston settled down on the mound as the season went on and finished with one of the best team ERAs in baseball, a reminder that the same area that sank the club in April eventually became one of its strengths. It leaves the original collapse looking even more costly, and Coras reflection only sharpens the sense of how different things might have felt with a steadier start. [Read more 🡒]
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Kyle Harrison offered the opposite kind of storyline for Milwaukee, at least at first. He was strong out of the gate and gave the Brewers real reason to believe they had landed immediate value, but injuries and later performance issues changed the tone of the discussion as the season went on. His eventual move to the bullpen only added another layer to what had already become a broader debate about which side of the trade was getting the better end of the bargain. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Could Make An Unexpected Call On Recent Trade Addition
Bostons roster picture is already crowded enough that even a player with long-term upside can find himself on the edge of the conversation. Curtis Mead, acquired recently and limited to just one game with the Red Sox because of a fractured wrist, has already become part of the teams bigger roster math as the club looks ahead and weighs where its next wave of talent fits.
With pitching depth expected to keep the staff in good shape heading into 2027 and several starters in line to help, the infield could be the place where the squeeze gets most noticeable. Moving Mead would create room for prospect Franklin Arias, but it would also mean giving up on a bat the Red Sox clearly saw enough in to bring in, which is why the possibility would register as a surprising turn for a recent trade addition. [Read more 🡒]