The Boston Red Sox are looking to add pitching in the biggest way this winter. Their lineup was good enough to compete last season but their rotation fell apart down the stretch.

Boston will look to upgrade its lineup too, but the big holes are in the rotation and bullpen.

Bleacher Report’s Zachary Rymer listed the top 10 free agency destinations for Atlanta Braves starter Max Fried. Rymer listed the Red Sox at No. 2, though they could very easily be considered the top team to land him.

“Indeed, the club is in a years-long funk with starting pitching. Breslow was able to get things moving in the right direction early in 2024, but the latter half of the season made it clear how hard it is for an organization to achieve sustainable results through gimmicks alone,” Rymer wrote. “Adding talent is therefore a must for Boston, and Fried has plenty of that.”

The need for a starting pitcher is definitely there. The Red Sox will have the money and they’ll have the aggressiveness to buy. They can offer a winning team with the potential to go to a World Series if Fried is added.

Boston has an additional selling point for Fried as well. Fried was high school teammates with both Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito and free agent starter Jack Flaherty. If Boston can come up with the money, it would be quite the selling point to try to bring both Fried and Flaherty to Boston to team back up with Giolito.