Red Sox News & Links: Breslow Focusing on Max Fried After Missing On Blake Snell

Or so the rumor mill says today…

One big piece is off the board. Late last night, former Cy Young winner Blake Snell reportedly agreed to a 5-year deal worth $182 million with the World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. It isn’t clear whether the Red Sox ever made a hard offer to Snell, but the team did meet with him last week (if a Zoom call counts as meeting a person, anyway), so the Breslow and company were in pursuit. (Juan Toribio, MLB.com)

Personally, I’m not going to lose sleep over missing out on Blake Snell. For all his talent, he’s always struggled to deep in games and will be 32-years-old on opening day. In Roki Sasaki, Corbin Burns, and Max Fried there are three other elite free agent starters out there, and that’s before we get into trade possibilities for arms like Garrett Crochet. And, according to America’s Sweetheart, the Sox are indeed turning their attention to one of those names:

But let’s hope the miss on Snell doesn’t signal the return of the “interest kings” as the Sox have been mockingly called in recent offseasons. If Craig Breslow really does want to shake that reputation, the fact that the team was reportedly “in” on both Snell and Yusei Kikuchi (who recently signed with the Angels) doesn’t help:

But for all the talk about the pitchers, Juan Soto remains the biggest prize this winter. In that race, the Sox are reportedly “stepping up their efforts” and are increasingly seen as a “legitimate contender.” (John Heyman, Mark Sanchez, New York Post)

But free agency isn’t the only path to improving a roster, of course. There’s been a lot of smoke about a potential trade of Triston Casas, but would that be a remotely good idea? (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)

Regardless of how the rest of the offseason plays out, the Sox officially have an award-winner in the house. Cam Booser, the suprisingly-alive reliever, will receive the Tony Conigliaro Award for overcoming adversity. (Jimmy Golen, Boston Globe)