Red Sox

Red Sox were reportedly ‘rebuffed’ by Mariners after asking about promising starting pitchers

Seattle's rotation has two young talents in place with All-Star George Kirby and Logan Gilbert.

By Conor Ryan

December 14, 2023

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Most of the offseason rumors surrounding Craig Breslow and the Red Sox’ plans this winter have usually revolved around potential bidding wars for front-line starters like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, and Jordan Montgomery.

But based on a report from Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, it seems like the Red Sox are keeping all options open as they try to bolster a lackluster starting rotation. 

While most of Speier’s latest Red Sox story revolved around Boston’s pursuit of Yamamoto, he added that the team also reached out to the Seattle Mariners — a team stacked with young, controllable starting pitching.

However, Speier added that the Red Sox’ interest in Seattle’s starters was ultimately “rebuffed.”

Even though Boston seemingly has the capital in place to sign a proven starter like Yamamoto, Snell, or Montgomery, dealing for a young, cost-controlled pitcher could be an appealing avenue to take.

Boston’s farm system is stacked with blue-chip prospects such as Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel, Ceddanne Rafaela, Miguel Bleis, and others — who could catch the eye of other teams looking to restock their own pipeline to the pros.

During the 2023 Winter Meetings earlier this month, Breslow acknowledged that Boston is not keeping any prospect off the table in trade discussions — so long as it’s for the right return.

“The player development and scouting groups have done a great job in amassing position player depth,” Breslow said, per MLB.com’s Ian Browne. “I think for the right deal, the answer is yes, we need to be willing to give up position player capital in order to to get starting pitching and controllable starting pitching because it takes time for that pipeline to develop internally.”

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the Red Sox were interested in prying a young starter out of Seattle’s rotation.

George Kirby was an All-Star selection with Seattle in 2023, with the 25-year-old righty establishing himself as one of the top young pitchers in baseball. Over his first two seasons in the majors, Kirby is 21-15 with a 3.37 ERA — striking out 305 batters and walking just 41 over 320.2 innings of work. His 0.9 walks per nine innings led MLB in 2023.

Kirby is under team control through 2028, while fellow M’s righty Logan Gilbert (who Speier also mentioned in his piece) is also controlled through 2027. The 6-foot-6 Gilbert, 26, is 26-13 over the last two seasons with a 3.47 ERA over 376.1 innings of work.

Other young pitchers currently in place on Seattle’s roster include Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller.