The Boston Red Sox didn’t waste time after missing out on Alex Bregman. Days after the third baseman signed with the Cubs, the Boston Red Sox pivoted, reportedly agreeing to a five-year, $130 million deal with starter Ranger Suárez on Wednesday, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.
The 30-year-old Suárez is coming off a season in which he posted a 3.20 ERA over 157 1/3 innings with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Since converting to a full-time starter in 2022, Suárez has been an effective pitcher when on the mound. Over the past four seasons, he owns 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, has dealt with minor injuries in each season during that stretch and has never started more than 30 games in a single regular season. Notably, the last time Suárez dealt with an elbow injury was in 2023. He was able to return from the issue that season and still posted solid numbers. His injuries the past two years have not involved 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 was enough to make Suárez one of the more coveted starting pitchers on the free-agent market, ranking 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 left on the starting pitching market.
Suárez is a fascinating signing for the Red Sox, who also acquired veteran Sonny Gray this winter in an effort to shore up the team’s rotation. With Garrett Crochet expected to once again serve as the team’s ace, Suárez, Gray and Brayan Bello should round out the top four in the rotation. From there, the Red Sox have myriad other options, including Connelly Early, who showed promise in limited starts last season. The team could also consider Kyle Harrison, who was acquired as part of 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 should get Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Patrick Sandoval back from injury at some point in 2026.
Because of that, it could be argued that starting pitching wasn’t the most pressing need for the Red Sox. But as a number of MLB teams will attest, you can never have enough starting pitching, and Suárez definitely makes the team stronger at the top of the rotation. If the Red Sox make it to the postseason in 2026, he’s a clear candidate to earn a playoff start.
Despite his success on the mound, Suárez doesn’t get a ton of 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. Because of that, Suárez isn’t an elite strikeout pitcher and needs to rely on pinpoint location and great command to stymie hitters. That said, throughout most of his time as a starter, the approach has worked. Suárez limited opposing batters to a 31.1% hard-hit rate last season, one of the best figures in MLB.
That success has mostly come due to Suárez’s breaking pitches. While his fastball, sinker and cutter tend to get hit hard, his changeup, curve and slider are true weapons. Opposing batters hit .203 on Suárez’s changeup last season. They posted even worse averages against his curveball and slider.
The Red Sox are the ideal team to take advantage of those strengths. When Boston emerged as a surprise contender at the beginning of the 2024 MLB season, the team did so thanks to an approach that drastically cut down on four-seam fastball usage. The Red Sox finished the year throwing four-seam fastballs 37.1% of the time, the lowest figure in the majors.
That strategy didn’t continue in 2025, as Boston jumped to 14th in fastball usage, but the team’s willingness to get away from the pitch suggests the Red Sox could see value in Suárez that other teams overlooked. And a tweak to his approach or pitch usage could lead to even more improvement from a player who already has one All-Star appearance under his belt.
While Suárez’s approach could be a cause for concern in the long run given his lack of strikeouts and lesser velocity, the Red Sox might be the perfect team to take advantage of his unique approach.
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