Mariners Are Most Obvious Team for Red Sox to Make Blockbuster Trade With

With the Boston Red Sox expected to have some needs on the mound, and Sonny Gray expected to depart in free agency, the front office has a few ways to approach this winter.

There are a couple of decent starting pitchers out there, but outside of Tarik Skubal, there isn't exactly a lights-out pitcher on this free agency market.

There are a couple of intriguing names on the potential trade market, however, with the Seattle Mariners having two of them.

It would be questionable for the Mariners to move on from George Kirby or Emerson Hancock, but Seattle has other needs in the offense and could be willing to trade some of those guys for the right package.

Whether it would be Seattle getting prospects back or big league talent is one thing, but either way, the Red Sox could be of interest to both of those teams.

"The Red Sox built their team on pitching and defense, and they shouldn't go away from that plan in 2027 just because they need to upgrade the offense. The Seattle Mariners have multiple starting pitchers with at least two years of team control that they are willing to listen on. Acquiring one to add to Garrett Crochet, Payton Tolle, and Ranger Suarez would be one of the best rotations in baseball.

"The Mariners reportedly want to use one of their pitchers to find an impact bat for their lineup. Breslow could kill two birds with one stone by using one of the outfielders to give them just that. The Red Sox can't go into 2027 with the amount of uncertainty in the bottom two of the rotation they currently have, and getting one of the Mariners' starters would be an excellent long-term fix to that situation," Brian Burrows wrote .

As Burrows noted, the Mariners looking for an offensive player who can come in and help immediately would give the Red Sox multiple options to move on from. Even if they wanted to go the prospect route, there are a few prospects in the Red Sox system who can help out Seattle in the short and long term.

For Boston, the bigger thing here would be getting one of these two guys who have elite stuff. Kirby is coming off a season in which he struggled, posting a 4.33 ERA.

However, if he can get back to his 2023 and 2024 form, there's reason to believe he can be an elite arm in this Red Sox rotation, especially since he's still just 28.