The Boston Red Sox clawed their way back into the playoffs this season for the first time since 2021, and they owe much of that gritty resurgence to their stellar pitching staff. At the heart of it all was their ace, Cy Young Award finalist and left-handed phenom Garrett Crochet, whose dominant arm carried the team through a rollercoaster campaign.
But Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow isn’t one to rest on laurels. He’s been crystal clear: if Boston wants to climb higher than a mere wild-card berth in 2026, they need to beef up their starting rotation with more elite talent alongside Crochet’s unquestioned prowess.
Enter the swirling rumors of a blockbuster trade target—26-year-old Cincinnati Reds fireballer Hunter Greene. The Reds, blessed with pitching depth but starving for offensive firepower, especially in the outfield, have sparked speculation that Greene could be on the move. With a scorching 2.76 ERA over the past two seasons, he’s the kind of young ace who could transform any contender. And with Boston’s treasure trove of prospects and a surplus of major league outfielders, the Red Sox seemed like a perfect match.
That is, until Saturday, when a legendary voice from Boston’s storied past poured ice-cold reality on those dreams. Terry Francona, the iconic manager who now helms the Reds—and widely regarded as the greatest Red Sox skipper since the infamous Babe Ruth sale to the Yankees in 1920—shut down any trade talk on Hunter Greene during an appearance on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast.
“Pitching is too hard for us to acquire through free agency,” Francona declared. “We gotta keep Hunter on the mound.”
At 66, Francona is gearing up for his second season at the helm of the Reds, fresh off guiding them to the playoffs this year—their first full-season appearance since 2013 (not counting the abbreviated, expanded 2020 pandemic postseason). His words carry extra weight, not just for Cincinnati fans, but for the Fenway faithful who still revere him.
After all, Francona’s legacy in Boston is unmatched. From 2004 to 2011, he orchestrated the impossible: ending the Curse of the Bambino and delivering not one, but two World Series titles—the only manager to do so for the Red Sox in the live-ball era post-Ruth.
The only other skipper in franchise history to claim a pair of championships? That would be Bill “Rough” Carrigan, who pulled off the feat in consecutive years, 1915 and 1916. But baseball back then was a far cry from today’s game. Carrigan wasn’t just calling the shots from the dugout; he was suiting up as the team’s backup catcher, logging 46 games behind the plate in 1915 while steering Boston to a dominant 101-50 record (with four ties) and a five-game World Series romp over the Philadelphia Phillies.
He repeated the magic in 1916, catching 33 games en route to a 91-63-2 finish and another swift five-game Series victory, this time against the Brooklyn Robins (the future Dodgers). At just 32, Carrigan stepped away after that triumph to focus on family and business, only to be lured back 11 years later. By then, the Red Sox were a shadow of their former selves, finishing dead last in the American League during all three years of his second stint before the Lewiston, Maine native hung it up for good.
Francona’s emphatic stance on Greene leaves the Red Sox scrambling for alternatives in their quest for pitching dominance. Will Breslow pivot to free agency or unearth another trade gem? One thing’s for sure: in the high-stakes world of MLB roster-building, this bombshell from Boston’s beloved Titan just made the offseason a whole lot more intriguing.