The Boston Red Sox have been active the last two days, signing Lucas Giolito on Friday, and then yesterday, they traded Chris Sale to the Braves in exchange for Vaughn Grissom. The acquisition of Grissom fills the hole at second base with a right-handed bat that newly appointed CBO Craig Breslow said they needed. Grissom was blocked in Atlanta, so them trading him made sense, and he will be a nice piece to the Boston lineup as he doesn’t strike out a ton and makes good contact; his first career home run also came at Fenway Park back in 2022. Grissom is 23 and under contract for six more seasons, while Trevor Story is under contract for four years, which blocks prospects like Marcelo Mayer and Nick Yorke. The Red Sox, with the trade of Sale, will still actively look to add starting pitching and may do so via the trade market.
The Red Sox reportedly had talks about trading for one of the Seattle Mariners starters, but the prospect wanted Boston didn’t want to part with now because of Mayer and Yorke being blocked. Does it make sense to deal with one of them? Kyle Teel, Triston Casas, and Roman Anthony should be considered untouchable; Mayer should also, given Story’s injury history, he should be held onto, but what about Yorke? The team the Red Sox should make a call to is the Pittsburgh Pirates about the potential of acquiring Mitch Keller, who isn’t a free agent until 2026. Could a trade of Yorke, another prospect, and a pitcher get it done? Let’s take a look at Keller.
Mitch Keller By The Numbers
The Pirates drafted Keller in 2014, and made his debut on May 27, 2019, against the Cincinnati Reds, going four innings, giving up six runs on seven hits; he walked two and struck out seven. He finished that season going 1-5 with a 7.13 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 48 innings. Last season, he made 32 starts, going 13-9 with a 4.21 ERA and 210 strikeouts in 194.1 innings of work. For his career, he has made 102 appearances, with 100 of those as starts going 25-38 with a 4.71 ERA, a 3.99 FIP, a 1.44 WHIP, a 1.0 HR/9, a 3.4 BB/9, and a 9.0 K/9. In his career against the other AL East teams, he has made five starts, going 1-3 with a 2.79 ERA, a 1.24 WHIP, and 34 strikeouts in 29 innings pitched.
Wrap Up:
Keller could slide in anywhere from the one to three spot in the rotation, and the Red Sox could role with something like this
1.) Free Agent signing
2.) Brayan Bello
3.) Mitch Keller
4.) Lucas Giolito
5.) Kutter Crawford
That’s a rotation I’d be okay with in 2024, and it’s young and could make you a contender over the next few seasons as well.
