It sounds like the Red Sox plan to do some big-game hunting this Major League Baseball offseason.
We probably didn’t need a report to suggest as much. Boston finished last in the American League East standings the last two seasons, something that happened to the organization on only one other occasion this century. That’s not acceptable for such a storied franchise, so one could have assumed the Red Sox will take a big swing or two this winter in hopes of returning to the playoffs in 2024.
That’s what Jon Heyman is hearing. The New York Post MLB insider was providing a Shohei Ohtani update on a Bleacher Report stream Wednesday when he offered a nugget on Boston’s offseason mindset.
“Some of the other teams who have checked in: the Red Sox,” Heyman said. “I’ve heard some buzz about them. Certainly, they were the original team of Babe Ruth, who’s been compared to Ohtani. They need to do something big. People tell me that Boston is bound and determined to do something big, whether it’s Ohtani, something else. They need to do something.”
What kind of splash could the Red Sox make? Boston definitely could use a frontline starting pitcher, and Craig Breslow and company appear to be in on both Jordan Montgomery and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And it sure seems like the Red Sox can’t be ruled out as a potential landing spot for Ohtani, even though the dual-threat phenom figures to draw more interest than any other free agent in league history.
So, by one way or another, Boston is in line to open the 2024 campaign with a more competitive roster than last season.
