Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Nick Pivetta did not accept a qualifying offer from the club, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported on Tuesday.
Players had until Tuesday afternoon to accept a qualifying offer — valued this year at one year and $21.05 million — before hitting free agency. This means if Pivetta signs elsewhere, the Red Sox will receive draft pick compensation for him.
Prior to this year, only 13 of the 131 players to have been extended a qualifying offer since the practice was implemented in 2012 have accepted it, so this isn’t exactly a surprise. But Pivetta was one of the few players this year who was a legit candidate to accept.
Pivetta has pitched eight seasons in the majors and compiled a 4.76 ERA in that time. His 92 career ERA+ shows he’s been a slightly below average pitcher during his career. In 2024, he went 6-12 for the 81-81 Red Sox with a 4.14 ERA and 1.126 WHIP. Though he struck out 10.6 batters per nine innings, that’s down from his 11.5 rate in 2023.
The Red Sox decision to extend Nick Pivetta a qualifying offer was a surprise
It was surprising that the Red Sox extended the qualifying offer to Pivetta to begin with. The Boston hurler made a career-high $7.5 million in 2024 — a little more than a third of what he would have received if he took the qualifying offer. Spotrac pegs his value at around $15.1 million per year, meaning had Pivetta accepted, the Red Sox would be over-paying for him (at least by their metric).
“We definitely saw stretches of him just being dominant,” Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow told MassLive. “We can dissect the performance to a greater degree. But he’s a guy who has performed well in this market. Has kind of like 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. So as you think about what a major league starting pitcher needs to do to be able to be successful, he has a lot of those ingredients.”
The Red Sox are also coming off a third-place finish in the American League East and have a steep hill to climb to overtake the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles. They’re expected to be in on the Juan Soto sweepstakes, and the superstar free agent could command in the neighborhood of $50 million a year.
Now, however, the Red Sox can be practical with their approach to Pivetta. The Athletic projects him to sign a three-year, $48 million contract, which comes out to $16 million a year. If they don’t feel he’s worth it, then there’s a whole host of starting pitching talent available. Corbin Burnes of the division rival Orioles is the top name on the list, but Max Fried, Blake Snell, Jack Flaherty, and the NPB’s Roki Sasaki are also available.
The Red Sox have plenty of space available before hitting any luxury tax penalties, so even if they don’t land Soto, they have money to spend — if they want to spend it.
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