Don't we need someone in that tier regardless of other moves?
What you say could make a lot of sense, though, since all the things that have actually happened so far have happened with no chatter surrounding them at all to speak of.
I’d absolutely adore getting Stroman as part of this rotation. Personally I have him a bit above Imanaga (not below).
The issue is if not Stroman, there is nothing else on the FA market that makes the Red Sox better in 2024-2026 because at this point everything else via free agency is one year dreck that puts leaves the team staunchly in the 2022, 2023 rotation bridge to nothing realm (I think there is a less than .01% chance of them signing Montgomery or Snell).
Truth be told, I actually prefer the trade (and extension) route for starting pitching. It’s what has certainly worked the best for the club in the past (Schilling, Beckett, Sale) whereas the most “successful“ FA signings have been Lackey and Price.
The issue there is, of course, there is no “Schilling“ out there right now (Houston isn’t trading Verlander), and the Red Sox don’t have the pitching prospects necessary to land a Beckett type (keep in mind there Boston needed to deal Hanley, take on Lowell AND include a top 40ish SP prospect) let alone Sale (where Moncada was a top 5 prospect and they needed to include Kopech, who was around top 70, and there is nobody like Moncada, and certainly nobody like Kopech in the system).
I’ve been saying for a long time, but Breslow is in a really tough spot. He either needs to overpay to get someone to choose Boston right now in FA dollars, he needs to trade Mayer plus a lot, or he’s going to have a terrible rotation. I think the biggest issue the team is facing is that he WANTS to trade prospects or OFs for cost controlled pitching - in many ways he’s said as much, and other teams just aren‘t interested in anything the Sox have to sell that isn’t Bello, Casas, Grissom, Anthony, Teel or Mayer for SPs of any consequence.
Maybe Breslow can get a Chase Silseth or Ken Waldichuk type we can hope on, but unless one of Anthony, Teel or Mayer is moved, that’s probably about it.
The somewhat good news is that it’s a seller’s market - and unlike his predecessor, Breslow has shown an aptitude to make bold sells, and has (at least in my opinion) done extremely well with them. Hopefully he doesn‘t “stop” at moving Verdugo and Sale. He sold off two guys with one year of control (with the option, I really don’t get why Atlanta extended Sale, but whatever) and got back (my opinion) the Red Sox best pitching prospect (3rd on Sox Prospects) and (again, my opinion) 3rd best positional prospect (ineligible to be ranked) that I’ll call the 2b of the future.
If he acts decisively enough, and quickly enough, I think he can get something pretty good for Jansen, Martin, Pivetta (and I’d actually like giving Pivetta a “Lugo” extension of he’d take it, but on just a one year deal, I’d try to cash him in for a decent prospect in a seller’s market) and possibly Yoshida setting the team up really well for 2026 and beyond - and who knows - maybe even hits on enough guys to be decent in 2025.
*I like Yoshida, I’m not saying “he stinks, trade him”, I’m saying that based on where the team is now and what remains out there for middle class SP, there is a pretty high likelihood the 2024 and 2025 Red Sox are going to stink, so trade him because in 2026 he’s going to be 32, not 27.
