Following the addition of Ranger Suarez, the Red Sox have one of the best starting rotations not only in the American League East, but in all of baseball. This group has just about everything a team can want in a starting rotation. They have an ace and workhorse in Garrett Crochet at the top of the rotation. Ranger Suarez and Sonny Gray present themselves as excellent starters to follow. Brayan Bello is in the mix and can serve just fine towards the top of the rotation if one of their top three starters hit the injured list. They also have two young arms with a lot of promise in Peyton Tolle and Connelly Early.
Beyond those six names, the Red Sox basically have a whole other rotation that might be better than a number of organizations' actual starting rotations. That group consists of Kutter Crawford, Johan Oviedo, Patrick Sandoval, and Kyle Harrison.
Do the Red Sox have too much pitching depth?
While there’s a lot the Red Sox can do with that type of pitching depth, what I can guarantee they won’t do is deploy a ten man rotation. The inevitable injury bug will do its thing at some point which will free up some innings for some of these guys while a few may work out of the bullpen. Whatever the Red Sox may do with this good problem they have in front of them, it’s highly unlikely that all ten of these players will be in a Red Sox uniform come opening day.
Boston is still (presumably) looking to add an infielder and move an outfielder. Both of those things could potentially happen in the same deal, and attaching one of these starters could move a deal closer to “blockbuster” status. So which of these pitchers are most likely to be on the move?
First of all, the pitchers we can count out in a trade are Crochet, Suarez, and Gray while Oviedo is also unlikely to be moved considering he was acquired for one of Boston’s top prospects. Next, let’s eliminate two pitchers that don’t provide much trade value at the moment - Kutter Crawford and Patrick Sandoval. Both pitchers are coming off of injuries that sidelined them for the entirety of 2025. They could be moved, but there’s no reason they would be involved in something big. That leaves Brayan Bello, Peyton Tolle, Connelly Early, and Kyle Harrison as the most likely pitchers to be moved.
These pitchers are the most likely to be traded by the Red Sox
Tolle and Early are in a similar bucket with each other. Both were breakout left handed pitching prospects in 2025 that debuted in the second half and pitched in the postseason. The Red Sox think highly of both arms, and while both have fairly high ceilings, they are also still unproven at the big league level. The prospect pedigree attached to each could help in returning a much needed infielder. Losing either shouldn’t hurt too much in the long run as neither are projected aces, with their most likely outcomes being mid-rotation starters or high-leverage relievers.
As for Kyle Harrison, he was once viewed as one of the better pitching prospects in baseball, but has yet to break out at the big league level. He was included in the return for Rafael Devers a year ago which speaks to how Boston’s front office views him, but he’s probably not going to be a part of a big deal like that again unless he was attached to a big league outfielder the Red Sox are looking to move, and then some.
Brayan Bello holds arguably the most trade value among the moveable pitchers on the staff. Bello is entering his age 27 season with four years and a club option remaining on his six year contract worth $55 million, coming out to just a $9.17 million AAV. He’s cheap, controllable, and has shown some flashes of greatness in his three and a half seasons with Boston. He has made nearly all his starts in his last three seasons and is coming off of a career-best 3.35 ERA across 166 and ⅔ innings. In a one-for-one scenario, Bello probably returns the most among the other moveable pitchers. His departure would also make room for either Tolle or Early to get regular big league starts. Bello has been the pitcher with the most buzz as a trade candidate dating back to the last trade deadline, so don’t be surprised if he is traded in the near future.
As spring training approaches and the front office continues to scramble to turn around what has been a disappointing offseason for Red Sox fans, the pitching situation has left them with a lot of decisions to make. Those decisions could be made very soon.