Starting pitching has been a priority for the Red Sox this winter, and the club has actively addressed that need by trading for Garrett Crochet and signing both Walker Buehler and Patrick Sandoval. Several other starters have been on Boston’s radar throughout the offseason, including some talks with the Pirates about right-hander Jared Jones during the Winter Meetings, according to the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
The depth of the negotiations aren’t known, or whether Boston’s interest was perhaps anything more than a due-diligence check-in just in case the Crochet trade didn’t come together. In an example of how teams are constantly following multiple paths at once during an offseason, Speier notes that the Red Sox were also showing interest in the Mariners’ Luis Castillo as a trade target along with Jones and Crochet, and also speaking with such free agents as Buehler, Nathan Eovaldi, and Nick Pivetta.
Despite their rotation additions to date, it can probably be assumed that the Red Sox would still be interested in acquiring Jones, simply because every team would love to have a controllable, 23-year-old pitcher coming off an impressive rookie season. Reports from earlier this month indicated that Pittsburgh was (somewhat surprisingly) open to the idea of at least hearing offers for Jones, though that was before the Pirates dealt from their rotation depth by moving Luis Ortiz to the Guardians for Spencer Horwitz.
Heading into the winter, it was widely assumed that the Pirates would swing such a pitching-for-hitting trade, given the team’s need for offense and its number of available pitchers. Even with Ortiz now in Cleveland, the Buccos still have a projected rotation of Jones, Paul Skenes, Mitch Keller, Bailey Falter, and Johan Oviedo, plus several highly-touted prospects in the minors who are knocking on the door for their MLB debuts.
Whether or not the Pirates would be willing to further deal from the pitching ranks remains to be seen, and in Jones’ case, it would assuredly take a massive offer for Pittsburgh to even consider moving the right-hander. As it relates to the Red Sox in particular, the Pirates would be justified in asking for any of Jarren Duran, Triston Casas, or at least one of Boston’s “big three” prospects (Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell) in return for Jones.
Casas’ name was already floated in talks with the Mariners about Seattle’s cadre of young starters, while Anthony, Mayer, and Campbell are thought to be all but untouchable in trade discussions. Speier writes that none of that minor league trio was ever offered to the White Sox for Crochet, and “the White Sox understood the Red Sox weren’t going to discuss” those players. However, it should be noted that the Big Three was initially a Big Four, but Kyle Teel ended up being the prospect sent to Chicago as the headliner of the Crochet trade package.
A blockbuster swap of young talent between the Pirates and Red Sox shouldn’t be ruled out entirely, given how a deal would neatly address the twin needs of both clubs. That being said, even if Skenes might be the only entirely untouchable Pirates pitcher in trade talks, it can be assumed that Pittsburgh would explore moving any of its other arms before looking to deal Jones. If the Pirates were considering a trade from closer to the top of their rotation, moving Keller and the $69.5MM remaining on his contract over the next four seasons would seem like the preferred option for the ever budget-conscious Bucs.
