The Boston Red Sox didn’t waste time after missing out on Alex Bregman. Days after being snubbed by the third baseman, 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 percent 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 eblow injury came back in 2023. He was able to return from the issue that same year and still posted solid numbers. His injuries that 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 entering the rotation was enough to make Suárez one of the more coveted starting pitchers on the free-agent market. 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.
It’s 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 make up the top-4 in 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 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 back Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Patrick Sandoval from injury at some point in 2026.
Because of that, it could be argued 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 remain one of the team’s starters in those short series.
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 stymy hitters. Throughout most of his time as a starter, the approach has worked. Suárez limited opposing batters to a 31.1 percent 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 percent 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 in 2024 suggests the Red Sox could see value in Suárez other teams overlooked. 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.
Even if Suárez doesn’t take another step forward, he should perform well enough to give the Red Sox what they need in the short term. As long as the team can properly manage Suárez’s minor bumps and bruises, he should continue to put up strong numbers when he takes the mound.
While Suárez’s approach could be a cause for concern in the long run given his lack of strikeouts and poor velocity, the Red Sox might be the perfect team to take advantage of Suárez unique approach.
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