Blue Jays’ rivals intensify arms race as Red Sox make first major offseason signing

A couple of days after not being able to bring back Alex Bregman, the Boston Red Sox have doubled down on their pitching depth and are bringing in another formidable southpaw to the AL East. Former Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Ranger Suárez has signed a deal to join the Red Sox, according to MLB reporter Jon Heyman.

It's the first major free agent signing of the season for the Red Sox, who have spent most of the winter making trades to address their pitching staff.

Blue Jays’ rivals intensify arms race as Red Sox make first major offseason signing

ESPN reporter Jeff Passan further confirmed the news and wrote, "The Red Sox's first signing of the winter is a big one -- $130 million for Ranger Suárez -- and gives them a ton of rotation depth with Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Brayan Bello and others. Boston now will turn to adding another bat to its lineup, but that rotation is excellent."

The addition of Suárez brings in another top arm to the AL East. The Red Sox kicked things off in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals that netted them Gray. The Toronto Blue Jays then signed Dylan Cease and Tyler Rogers. The Baltimore Orioles brought in Ryan Helsley and Zach Eflin while getting Shane Baz off the Tampa Bay Rays. And the Yankees brought in a young lefty with tons of upside in Ryan Weathers.

All of this in addition to the fact that the AL East was already home to Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Garrett Crochet, and Bryan Bello to name a few. It's become a literal arms race in this division and it feels like every team is trying to react and counter punch each move their division rivals have been trying to make.

Suárez certainly raises the competitive floor of the division as he was thought to be one of the more sought after free agent arms on the market. The 30-year-old has posted a 15.4 fWAR over 187 games in his big league career (119 starts). He's posted a career 3.38 ERA with a 22.1% strikeout rate in 762 innings pitched.

He has spent his entire big league career with the Phillies, making his MLB debut in 2018. He was used primarily out of the bullpen over his first four seasons, but in 2022, Suárez started 29 games in his first full season in the rotation and did not dissapoint. He pitched 155.1 innings, was worth 2.3 fWAR and had 129 strikeouts with an ERA of 3.65.

There has been no looking back for Suárez since then as he has becoming a very dependable middle of the rotation arm who averages 138 strikeouts in 144 innings pitched over the last three seasons and posts an ERA+ of 120 with a 1.270 WHIP.

Suárez has also been a strong postseason performer. He is 4-1 with a 1.48 ERA in 42.2 innings pitched with 44 strikeouts. He is a very good pickup for a Red Sox team that is seemingly looking to try and beat teams with their pitching more so than their hitting.

For the Blue Jays, the hope is that they will be able to carry over their productive stats from last year, especially against left-handed starting pitchers. In 2025 the team hit a collective .282/.351/.462 with 51 home runs and an OPS of .813 in 40 games against teams who threw out lefty starters.