Door open as Pivetta gets qualifying offer from Sox
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BOSTON -- When Nick Pivetta made his final start of the regular season at Fenway Park, he admitted that it was an emotional night due to the fact his contract with the Red Sox was coming to an end and there were no guarantees he would be back with the club in 2025.
Five weeks later, Pivetta has a chance to create a path back to Boston.
The right-hander received a qualifying offer of $21.05 million in advance of the deadline at 5 p.m. ET on Monday.
Pivetta has until 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 19 to either accept or decline the offer. If he accepts, he returns to the Red Sox on a one-year deal. If he declines, he can continue to negotiate a free-agent deal with all teams, including the Red Sox.
By extending Pivetta a qualifying offer, the Red Sox ensured they will get a comp pick in the 2025 MLB Draft if he signs with another team.
Pivetta, 31, was one of 13 MLB players to receive a qualifying offer on Monday.
The Red Sox opted not to extend the qualifying offer to their other free agents, a group that includes Tyler O’Neill, Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin, Lucas Sims, Luis García and Danny Jansen.
“We had a bunch of internal conversations,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters at the GM Meetings in San Antonio, Texas, on Monday. “And without getting too far into specifics, we've been pretty outspoken about our need for pitching, And obviously we know Nick really well. This is ultimately where we landed. We'll see how things play out from here.”
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The Red Sox acquired Pivetta from the Phillies in 2020 in what proved to be a steal of a trade. Boston parted with relievers Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree, who were both free agents at the end of that season. Workman didn’t pitch in the Majors after ’21. Hembree has pitched sparingly in the Majors since and this year spent time in the Minors with the Mariners before he was released in July.
Meanwhile, Pivetta has been a reliable innings-eater for the Red Sox, pitching in 131 games for Boston -- including 107 starts -- and going 37-41 with a 4.29 ERA while posting an impressive 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings. Pivetta was also a key performer for the Sox during their run to the American League Championships Series in ’21.
Pivetta posted a 4.14 ERA over 27 appearances (26 starts) for Boston in 2024, though his expected ERA was well below that, at 3.59. His 28.9% strikeout rate ranked in the 88th percentile among qualifying pitchers, and his 6.1% walk rate placed him in the 80th percentile.
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“Yeah, I think we definitely saw stretches of him just being dominant,” Breslow said, “and, certainly, we can dissect the performance to a greater degree. But he's a guy that has performed well in this market -- has all of the underlying metrics. He gets a ton of swing and miss; he doesn't walk guys. He can get guys out pitching in the strike zone.
“As you think about what a Major League starting pitcher needs to be able to do to be successful, he has a lot of those ingredients.”
While the Red Sox could well go after an ace pitcher this offseason, they have five starters under contract for next season -- Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito, Kutter Crawford and Garrett Whitlock. There’s a chance Whitlock, coming off right elbow surgery, could move back to the bullpen to protect his health.
If Pivetta accepts the qualifying offer, he gives manager Alex Cora another option in the rotation.
"I’m not going to be the guy who goes on record as saying you can have enough pitching, too much pitching," Breslow said. "Those things don’t exist. This was a decision that obviously we made, but I think what remains is that we will continue to explore all paths to improve the team."