The Red Sox made a pair of moves on Monday, one that came as no surprise, another that did and could be costly in more ways than one.
Picking up Rob Refsnyder‘s 2025 club option was the logical, expected move. The veteran outfielder has tormented left-handed pitching over his three Red Sox seasons (.316/.411/.500) and is a crucial leader in a clubhouse full of young and inexperienced position players.
Despite enjoying the most productive offensive season of his career in 2024, Refsnyder was contemplating retiring. But as the season wound down, he decided against it, especially if the Red Sox wanted him back.
“I love Boston and I’d love to be back,” he told the Herald in September. “If they do decide to pick it up, I’m definitely going to come back.”
Less expected was extending the Qualifying Offer to Nick Pivetta. These one-year deals are often extended strategically to impending free agents who are guaranteed to command lucrative long-term deals; when they sign elsewhere, their former team gets draft compensation. (Top prospect Kristian Campbell was Boston’s compensatory pick for losing Xander Bogaerts.)
Pivetta is more of a gamble. He has two weeks to accept or decline the offer, and in the meantime, he can test the open waters. On Monday, The Athletic’s Tim Britton projected that Pivetta could get a three-year, $48MM deal in free agency.
However, year’s QO is $21.05MM, or nearly triple his $7.5MM salary this year. Pivetta has a solid track record health-wise, and at 31 years old he’s young enough to delay free agency for a year in favor of the enormous paycheck. And with the club’s propensity for low payrolls in recent years, that’s a significant chunk of the budget.
Qualifying Pivetta also casts new light on the rotation situation. At their end-of-year press conference on the last day of September, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow stated that upgrading the rotation is among their offseason priorities. Free agent left-handers such as Max Fried and Blake Snell would be pricy, but immensely valuable upgrades for a Red Sox roster that currently boasts seven right-handed starting options: Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Lucas Giolito, Cooper Criswell, rookie Richard Fitts, and trade deadline addition Quinn Priester, a former first-round pick.
“We’ve been pretty outspoken about our need for pitching,” Breslow told MassLive on Monday. “Obviously we know Nick really well. This is ultimately where we landed. We’ll see how it plays out from here.”
The deadline for accepting or declining a qualifying offer is 4 p.m. ET on November 19.
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