Another free agent target is off the board for the Boston Red Sox. Following Sunday’s historic contract agreement between Juan Soto and the New York Mets, MLB free agency was expected to accelerate and that’s exactly what has happened.
Max Fried and the New York Yankees agreed to a eight-year $218 million contract on Tuesday night, completely skipping the bidding war stage that was expected to take place between the Yankees and the Red Sox over the next few days.
“The Red Sox made a serious run at Fried, according to a source,” wrote Sean McAdam of MassLive. “But the Yankees’ bid was described as ‘significantly ahead’ of what Boston offered.”
However large the unknown gap was, it must have been significant for Fried’s camp to accept the Yankees offer without furthering negotiations with the Red Sox.
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This outcome was always a possibility for the Red Sox, but what is truly shocking is the lack of urgency and effort from the Boston front office. Since the beginning of the offseason, the Red Sox have been linked to Fried (and Blake Snell) much more than Corbin Burnes. Now Burnes is the only top-end starter that remains on the free agent market.
“As of Tuesday afternoon, the Red Sox were readying an offer for Burnes, according to a source with knowledge of the talks,” McAdams wrote. “Burnes, who has also been linked to Toronto, San Francisco and other clubs, could sign rather quickly with Fried off the board.”
The Red Sox are in no position to stay their hand. The clock is ticking and options are flying off the board. If they want to fulfill their promise of a busy offseason, they must act fast, and Burnes may be the only free agent starting pitching option that satisfies that criteria.
After three consecutive years of missing the postseason, the Red Sox were predicted by most MLB insiders to be very active this offseason. So far, they have been active contenders and runners-up, but not much more.
If the Red Sox want to rewrite the narrative around their ownership and front office, they are running out of time. The only other options are to trade for an arm at the top of their rotation, or admit defeat once again and validate their nay-sayers.
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