The Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Red Sox may be able to help one another out. Red Sox beat reporter Chris Cotillo recently reported that Boston’s chief baseball officer Craig Breslow does not have a publicly known budget for 2024, but sources have indicated that he has to shed more payroll in order to pursue at least one specific free agent target more aggressively. Could the Brewers take advantage of this situation?
This off-season the Boston Red Sox have been shedding payroll.
There is evidence to support the claim of the Red Sox attempting to shed payroll. Recently they traded Chris Sale to the Atlanta Braves and received Vaughn Grissom in return. Additionally they previously parted ways with Alex Verdugo by trading him to their division rival in the New York Yankees.
Lastly departing in free agency have been Justin Turner, James Paxton and Adam Duvall. Boston has replaced some of these players with cheaper options such as Tyler O’Neil, Lucas Giolito, and other depth pieces. Per Chris Cotillo more subtractions from the team may come before they begin adding again.
Who could the Milwaukee Brewers target from the Boston Red Sox?
Looking at the Red Sox roster there are a few players that they could be looking to move on from in order to shed payroll. Kenley Jansen sticks out as a trade candidate because he is scheduled to make $16 million during the final year of his contract. Additionally reliever Chris Martin is under contract for $7.5 million in 2024, but it would be unusual for Milwaukee to target either of these bullpen arms because of how much money they are owed.
When looking at other options Nick Pivetta is another pitcher who could be available. He is entering his third and final year of arbitration and MLB Trade Rumors has his projected salary at $6.9 million. He’s carved out a role as an innings eater in Boston, has operated as both a starting pitcher and reliever, and has great advanced metrics.
Since arriving in Boston in 2020 via a trade with the Philadelphia Phillies Nick Pivetta has pitched to a 4.34 ERA, has a 10.1 K:9 ratio, and he made 30 starts in both 2021 and 2022. His fastball is his most utilized pitch and sits around 95 MPH. He adds in an assortment of pitches after that in which statcast lists a curveball, slider, cutter, sweeper, and split finger change up.
For Milwaukee acquiring him via trade makes sense because they are in need of starting pitching depth. Currently they have Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta, and Wade Miley as their clear first three options, but after that guys like Colin Rea, Joe Ross, Aaron Ashby, and Janson Junk are the only other options currently on the 40-man roster.
What would complicate trading for Pivetta is the fact that the Brewers just dumped the salary of Adrian Houser by sending him to the New York Mets. Acquiring Pivetta would raise some eyebrows in Milwaukee from a payroll perspective, but with the way starting pitchers are getting paid in free agency this winter adding him through trade for an estimated $6.9 million may be one of the more cost friendly options that is at least worth considering.
Related: Milwaukee Brewers fans react to first trade between Matt Arnold and David Stearns.
If the Brewers were to trade with the Red Sox for Nick Pivetta it may not cost them much. The Mets just acquired two big league players from Milwaukee in exchange for one pitching prospect. By those standards Milwaukee could potentially trade from their relief pitching or farm system depth in order to get a deal done.
A trade at this point is strictly hypothetical, but if Boston is looking to shed payroll Nick Pivetta may be on the chopping block and he could fill a position of need for the Milwaukee Brewers.
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2 Comments
Nick Pivetta is a keeper. Why he gets such bad press is astonishing. He is a good competitive pitcher with a 4 pitch arsenal that continues to improve, very durable, versatile, positive attitude, eats innings and keeps the team in the game. He is a true bargain at his cost. No way I would trade him. There’s a very good chance he pitches better than Giolito this year and a few other rotation candidates. And he is going to be much more valuable in the coming years. I’d rather look at an extension before he can earn $15-20m per year.
Why would a team looking to shed salary as you said, and in need of starting pitchers in the Sox even consider this move?
As you put it “Acquiring Pivetta would raise some eyebrows in Milwaukee from a payroll perspective, but with the way starting pitchers are getting paid in free agency this winter adding him through trade for an estimated $6.9 million may be one of the more cost friendly options that is at least worth considering.”