The Red Sox are exploring all avenues when it comes to strengthening their rotation. After trading for White Sox ace Garrett Crochet, Boston is still looking into both the trade and free markets for starting pitching. Not only that, but it sounds like they might be considering at least one creative internal option, too.
Speaking to reporters at the Winter Meetings, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow suggested Michael Fulmer could potentially start for the Red Sox in 2025 (per Chris Cotillo of MassLive). Why is that surprising? The veteran right-hander, who is recovering from UCL surgery, has not pitched since 2023. More to the point, he has not been a regular starter since the 2020 season. He has not thrown more than five innings in an outing since September 2018.
Fulmer, 32 in March, was a sturdy starting pitcher over his first three MLB seasons. He won AL Rookie of the Year honors with the Tigers in 2016 and earned an All-Star selection the following year. Overall, from 2016-18, he made 75 starts, tossing 456 innings with a 3.81 ERA and 4.32 SIERA. Unfortunately, a history of elbow issues came to a head in 2019, when Tommy John surgery forced him to miss the entire season. When he returned in 2020, he was utterly disastrous. His velocity was down, and he pitched to an 8.78 ERA and 5.58 SIERA over 10 starts. It was hardly surprising when Detroit moved him to the bullpen in 2021.
On the bright side, Fulmer was an effective, if not especially dominant, reliever from 2021-23. Over 172 appearances out of the bullpen with the Tigers, Twins, and Cubs, he pitched to a 3.43 ERA and 3.71 SIERA, racking up 19 saves and 45 holds. Never a big strikeout arm during his years as a starter, he struck out more than a quarter of the batters he faced in relief. That said, his most important skill was his ability to limit hard contact and home runs.
At the end of the 2023 season, his elbow trouble reared its ugly head once more. Fulmer underwent UCL revision surgery in October that would keep him on the shelf for at least a year. He then signed a two-year minor league contract with the Red Sox and spent the 2024 season rehabbing with the organization. Until recently, there had been very little news regarding his progress. In October, he told WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford (X link) that he was trending toward a return for spring training. Then, earlier this week, Breslow provided a similarly positive update, “There’s certainly a pretty clear path to [Fulmler] being ready for Opening Day.”
If Fulmer is healthy and ready to pitch this spring, the Red Sox will try to stretch him out. That could mean building him up for a role in the rotation. However, if that proves to be too ambitious, he could be a multi-inning arm out of the bullpen instead. Interestingly, that’s a role he has never really played before. As a former starter, he presumably has the skills for long relief. Yet, when he was a regular reliever from 2021-23, Fulmer threw 175 2/3 frames over 172 appearances. That’s an average of just over one inning per game. Even so, the Red Sox have faith in Fulmer to take on some sort of bulk role. Breslow suggested that’s why they targetted him in the first place, saying “He’s a guy we actually signed with an eye on — once he’s completely healthy — building him out, whether that’s as a starting pitcher or someone who can handle bulk, leverage innings.”
Cotillo notes that Fulmer will earn $1.5MM if he is on Boston’s roster in 2025. He can also earn another $500K in incentives.
As things stand, the Red Sox have four seeming locks for their Opening Day rotation: Crochet, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, and Kutter Crawford. Barring a setback in his recovery from internal brace surgery, Lucas Giolito will also join the rotation at some point in the year. However, it’s not yet clear if he’ll be ready by the beginning of the year. Behind those five on the depth chart are Richard Fitts, who has just four MLB starts under his belt, and Cooper Criswell, who was solid but not especially impressive over 99 1/3 innings in 2024. Thus, it’s not hard to see why the Red Sox remain active in their pursuit of pitching, whether it be a more significant addition or a depth move. Transitioning Fulmer to the rotation falls into the latter category. He is unlikely to be a particularly impactful arm – that would explain why no other team selected him in the Rule 5 draft– but there’s no such thing as too much pitching depth.
Burnes, Flaherty, Castillo……. Let’s go Fulmer.
They are not penciling him into the starting rotation. Here are Breslow’s quotes from the Cotillo article:
“He’s a guy we actually signed with an eye on — once he’s completely healthy — building him out, whether that’s as a starting pitcher or someone who can handle bulk, leverage innings,” Breslow said. “It’s something we still feel confident in. He’s making quite a bit of progress throwing pain-free and having a fairly normal offseason at this point. We’re optimistic both about his recovery and the contributions he can make just given what we saw when he was pitching as a reliever prior to him getting hurt.”
“There’s certainly a pretty clear path to him being ready for Opening Day,” Breslow said. “But at the same time, that doesn’t mean that if he’s not, that means there was some significant setback we can point to. Recovery is kind of a long and winding road.”
“We evaluate each of those decisions on a case-by-case basis and we look at the combination of the ability to impact our team, probability of selection and health,” Breslow said before the Rule 5 draft. “Our desired outcome is that Fulmer is pitching for the Boston Red Sox and helping him win games. We also understand we can only protect so many guys and if there’s a team that wants to take a chance, at this point, there’s not a whole lot we can do.”
“Michael and I have a relationship going back to our time in Chicago,” Breslow said. “Any conversation about Michael starts with just the quality of teammate and human that he is. I think we’ve seen that in what has been a really promising path to recovery just knowing he’s committed to the work required and incredibly diligent.”
Breslow was just saying positive things about Fulmer.
Was this a recent signing? Don’t remember hearing about it so was not sure if he was someone we have had working his way back since last year.
Fulmer signed a 2 year minor league deal prior to the 2024 season:
mlbtraderumors.com/2024/02/red-sox-sign-michael-fu…
Medicare eligible? Check
Willing to sign for next to nothing? Check
2 kabillion % upside in a miracle? Check
Thanks for the laugh Red Sox
What a terrible idea.
What a terrible idea to not read what Breslow actually said.
I’m not a Red Sox fan by any means but even I think this is cruel toward their own fanbase, to tie some of their hopes for the rotation to a guy who’s a reclamation arm coming off multiple years of injury and rehab and would just be lucky to pitch for them in relief on a semi regular schedule without going back on the IL- and they’re suggesting he’s a solution for their starting rotation!?
So cruel. I’ ve been in tears for hours now.
Man this article takes what bres said way out of context…read the actual quotes the writer here needs to do better this is nothing more than clickbait
All the writers are click bait, added with the horrendous ads. I don’t even read past the titles unless it’s an actual trade that goes down. I come here for the comments.
Not worth spending money to be in the writer’s bandwagon when the stuff they write is basically fake news
The Red Sox need to FOCUS on signing or trading for a number 1 or 2 pitcher that was NOT injured in 2024!
Where is the money that was supposed to be committed to winning?
I feel like he would project more as a 6th starter for them. With injuries, it is always good to have more options than less.
Where’s your hankie to dry your tears?
His wife’s purse?
Fulmer is a good depth option for them as a rotation piece. If he can stretch out, limit hard contact, eat up some innings in the first half, and then transition to a bulk role/middle role in the second half – that is a huge win. The strategy should always be about finding value.
Yeah of course they realize that signing free agents cost money which is why they got Crochet and did not sign a pitcher John Henry thinks we are all stupid they have not change they used Soto to lie to us as he never had any intention on signing high end free agents
The Red Sox can’t seriously be considering this! It must be a joke or the writer misunderstood.
When is Theo going to take over again?
Youd think they would save this one for a slow news day…of course fulmer could potentially start at some point in 2025 all teams need depth but nothing in what craig breslow has conveyed thus far initimates they are banking on fulmer as an integral rotation piece so think we can all save the jokes or anxiety the title leads to
I’m willing to give it a try. What do we have to lose?
The good cashier at the McDonald’s
Richard Fitts. What a name
Breslow has been given a budget that he has to abide by. Hence the commitment to fielding a club that fits the budget.. The Red Sox are not going to be big spenders. That’s the reality. Trading prospect capital to address their needs is the way that they can compete. They feigned being in on Soto, knowing they wouldn’t get him. The only significant signing has been for Chapman, and that being a one year contract. JH is not going to break the bank and add payroll as he has done in the past. Get used to it.
Bobby smac9 – I think you need to add the caveats to the budget regimen imposed on Breslow. If the player is Dominican, all bets are off. They offered $700 Million for Soto. That’s obscene with respect to the rules you have been pointing out.
So exceptions to the spending can be had if the background of the player fits the exception clause.
I don’t disagree that the Soto bid probably was fake in that they low balled on purpose but these same clowns paid Devers an obscene amount for his lack of skills. I think country loyalty is a driving force in the austerity program. Pick the right Dominican and boy that $20Million cap is going to fall. Pick a far more talented player, the cap won’t budge. I think that’s why we are still stuck with Cora despite his enormous number of mistakes that have cost them players and wins. He’s the right nationality and cheating isn’t an issue when you are the right nationality.
@sagacity… I’m of the opinion that they will rue the Devers contract sooner than later.
Bobby = Pujols and Miggy were good to 32 and 33. They are both far superior to Devers so his body will do him in by 32 if not sooner. That’s only $120Million wasted!! Mookie will be laughing as he completes his 12 year deal as an above league average player in year 12!!!
Clickbait title. The author also neglected Priester on the depth chart, arguably ahead of Fitts.
For all of you fans that thought yesterday’s John Means article was a good idea, we already have Fulmer, soooooooo
Also, Fulmer was available in the Rule 5, so 29 other teams GM’s think he probably can’t pitch
This is a rumors website. It is December 13th. So you people honestly believe that thinking about the possibility of adding a guy like Fullmer has anything whatsoever to do with landing another starter? You see the Mets and Dodgers and Yankees shelling out crazy money and you say not only “spend,” but “spend now, today, this minute!” Oh wait, they got a prospective ace and it’s a bad idea because they included two decent prospects. Perhaps you also think they should have sent more talent for one year of Kyle Tucker? It’s like this site exists to satisfy a unique chance thirst for expressing negativity about the team’s management (and yes—White Sox fans on mlbtr also felt fleeced yesterday. Sheesh!
Breslow get out of the dumpsters and spend some of that money you were going to spend on Soto or was that all bs like the fan base believes it was.
Nothing has changed in Boston except for the name on the door of the POBO, so sad
You’re not paying attention then if you believe that. Breslow may be limited financially and he may be butting heads with Kennedy, but he is at least identifying needs and trying to address them. Bloom just did whatever felt frugal or reactionary. None of his moves made much sense except the Vasquez trade.
Tang it – I think you think more highly than I do about Breslow. He’s just different than Bloom in that he’s a gambler who does win often and Bloom was a destroyer. It’s like arguing about whether Devers (Bloom equivalent) is better on defense than Mannny (Breslow equivalent). The right answer is they both sucked!!
Enough with the B.S**T Redsox Nation waited 6 years SPEND THE 100 Million on Quality SP and Closer Burns and Scott…enough being cheap AF it’s go time…so let’s F’n go!
The Redsox could consider me as a starter for them too. However, they won’t, and I don’t think they will consider Fulmer to become a starter either. Lots of options and the Sox need to get more aggressive!
The Red Sox seem committed to not spending money so to fix the problem areas they need to make trades which is not their strength.
Can they fix their defense? Sure it’s simple trade Devers for Arenado. It saves money and moves the defensive ranking up about 25 spots. The issue is Arenado isn’t Dominican. Not going to happen.
The Red Sox could get another SP2 or SP3 in Castillo by trading away their star left handed power bat that plays 1B who has controllable years. Castillo is a veteran that costs $21.6 Million for the next four seasons. This moves Devers to 1B which kills the defense yet again and creates a need for a new 3B. Bregman would be a great choice except he wants big money that exceeds the roughly $20Million dollar limit that seems to be imposed on Breslow except for Dominican players.
With $99Million under the CAP, an AAV limit of $20Million to maybe $25Million, and a need for a SP1, 3B and more bench strength in both hitting and pitching, what should Boston do?
You must ask the question: Do you want to keep saving money and being a .500 team or do you want to become competitive? Without the answer to that question, there is no way to understand what the direction of the organization is. Sure they say they are all in for competing for a division title but their actions don’t match their claim. You have to start with Devers moving to DH NOT 1B if you are serious about winning.
So for now, I will just watch and shake my head as the most obvious move can’t be executed because of ONE player holding the entire organization hostage. That’s why I vote to trade him for Arenado or do a one year pay down and move him and pay half his money left in a one time payment against the CAP in 2025 only. That clears the way to truly build a competitive team in 2026 rather than limping through 2026 peeling off even more farm talent to bring in cheap high risk players.
ONE GUY is keeping this team from being highly competitive and nobody has the nerve to move him to DH or completely humiliate him for being so selfish. It’s ridiculous. The world has changed so much. In the old days, his team mates especially the pitchers would have had a lot to say about him moving quickly to DH. He would have been tortured in the clubhouse for being selfish. Sometimes old school is the best way to win by managing the clubhouse for the sake of the team.
Sage- I think 90% of your posts make a lot of sense and are well thought out.
But, your obsession with moving Devers is getting worrisome. Devers did not cost them the seven games they missed the playoffs by. Not having enough SP, bullpen games in August and September, not having an everyday SS, as well as playing ELEVEN players at second base did.
So far they have addressed exactly 1/2 of one of those problems (as have acquired one of the two needed starters).
Devers will be everyday DH in ’26 or ’27, in the meantime his defense is not the difference between .500 and the playoffs.
Just making Devers the DH would improve the D.
Fulmer kinda seems redundant to the RHs already on the staff. He could be fine as a spot starter if someone has to skip their turn. Personally I don’t think has much tread left on the tires. But if he can throw strikes and go 4-5 innings once in a while, whatever. His salary is crumbs.
He should build himself up to just go 150% and be the 8th inning guy. Why doesn’t every team try to build a 7-8-9th system like the Nasty Boys and that trio the Royals had in 2015? Those dudes were lights out.
I heard Cora say that Devers will be back at 3B next season. What are the Red Sox thinking? I don’t think they can win with his defense there. He is really a DH. Even 1B would be rough for a guy that ole’s so many balls and has just about the worst range in baseball.
He will strike FEAR in every hitter. Potential CY Young piece.
Reading comprehension matters… Judging by the majority of comments, folks seem to be lacking said comprehension…