The Boston Red Sox wasted no time after missing out on Alex Bregman. Days after third baseman signed with Cubsthe Boston Red Sox pivoted, reportedly agreeing to a five-year, $130 million deal with starter Ranger Suárez on Wednesday, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
Suárez, 30, is coming off a season in which he posted a 3.20 ERA in 157 1/3 innings with the Philadelphia Phillies.
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Since converting to a full-time starter in 2022, Suárez has been an effective pitcher on the mound. Over the past four seasons, he has a 3.59 ERA over 588 1/3 innings. That was good for a 117+ ERA, meaning his ERA was 17% better than the league average over the past four seasons.
The left-hander, however, suffered minor injuries in every season during that stretch and never started more than 30 games in a single regular season. Notably, the last time Suárez suffered an elbow injury was in 2023. He was able to return from the problem that season and still posted solid numbers. His injuries over the past two years have not affected his arm. While he’s not necessarily a workhorse, Suárez has averaged 26 starts per year since 2022, so he’s not injury-prone either.
His performance since joining the Phillies rotation has been enough to make Suárez one of more coveted starting pitchers on the free agent marketranked No. 9 on Yahoo Sports’ list. With Suárez, Dylan Cease and Tatsuya Imai off the board, that leaves Framber Valdez and Zach Gallen as the biggest names remaining on the starting pitching market.
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Suárez is an intriguing signing for the Red Sox, who also acquired veteran Sonny Gray this winter in an effort to bolster the team’s rotation. While Garrett Crochet should once again serve as the team’s ace, Suárez, Gray and Brayan Bello should round out the top four of the rotation. From there, the Red Sox have a myriad of other options, including Connelly Early, who showed promise in limited starts last season. The team could also consider Kyle Harrison, who was acquired in the Rafael Devers trade, or Payton Tolle, who remains one of the team’s top prospects despite struggling in his brief debut in the majors. In addition to those three, the Red Sox are expected to get Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Patrick Sandoval back from injury at some point in 2026.
For this reason, it could be argued that starting pitching was not the most pressing need for the Red Sox. But as a number of MLB teams will attest, you can never have enough starting pitchers, and Suárez definitely makes the team stronger at the top of the rotation. If the Red Sox make the playoffs in 2026, he is a clear candidate for a postseason start.
Despite his success on the mound, Suárez doesn’t receive much publicity, thanks to his approach. He doesn’t throw hard by today’s standards, with a fastball that averaged just 91.3 mph last season. For this reason, Suárez is not an elite pitcher and must rely on precise location and excellent command to thwart hitters. That said, for most of his tenure as an incumbent, the approach worked. Suárez held opposing hitters to a 31.1 percent hard-hit rate last season, one of the best numbers in MLB.
This success is mainly due to Suárez’s decisive throws. While his fastball, sinker, and cutter tend to get hit hard, his changeup, curve, and slider are real weapons. Opposing hitters hit .203 during Suárez’s shift last season. They posted even worse averages against his curveball and slider.
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The Red Sox are the perfect team to take advantage of these assets. When Boston emerged as a surprise contender at the start of the 2024 MLB season, the team did so thanks to an approach that significantly reduced the use of the four-seam fastball. The Red Sox finished the year throwing four-seam fastballs 37.1 percent of the time, the lowest figure in the majors.
That strategy didn’t carry over into 2025, as Boston moved to 14th in fastball usage, but the team’s willingness to move away from the field suggests the Red Sox might see value in Suárez that other teams have overlooked. And a change in his approach or use of the court could lead to even greater improvement from a player who already has one All-Star appearance under his belt.
Although Suárez’s approach could be a cause for concern in the long run given his lack of strikeouts and lower velocity, the Red Sox could be the perfect team to take advantage of his unique approach.
