Why Boston Red Sox Should Trade for MacKenzie Gore

[Nick John]

The Boston Red Sox have remained busy on the trade front as they attempt to rebuild and bolster their starting rotation thanks to the trades that brought back Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo. Despite that, the team is still in need of a true number two starter and there may be a solution on the trade market.

Washington National's head of baseball operations Paul Toboni has been on the record as stating “it would just be kind of negligent to not entertain it” when talking about the organization listening on trade offers for both shortstop CJ Abrams and staff ace MacKenzie Gore. With that, the two teams could line up as perfect trade partners. Especially after the previous trades the Red Sox have made this offseason.

Toboni was previously a member of the Red Sox front office prior to taking on his current roll in the National's organization and has a good understanding of both the players at the major league level and across the organization’s minor league organizations. It would allow him to easily work together a package he would be willing to accept for a pitcher like Gore. The Red Sox on the other hand have a capital of both major league talent and prospects to get a deal done if they wanted to. And if the Nationals wanted young, controllable pitching, the Red Sox have plenty to offer as they have eight on the 40-man roster and more at various minor league levels in the organization.

Gore would be a welcomed addition as the 26-year-old would slot in nicely between Garrett Crochet and Gray. Still arbitration eligible for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, the Red Sox would not have to worry about a large salary constraint while also working to sign him to a long-term deal during the 2026 season so that his new contract wouldn’t kick in until after Gray's contract would come off the books. The left-hander is without a doubt the ace of the Nationals and even after coming off a year where he missed a little time with injuries, he still led the rotation and made himself one of the most talked about hypothetical trade targets.

In 2025, Gore made 30 starts for the Nationals and went 5-15 while tossing 159 2/3 innings. In that span he walked 64 batters and struck out 185. Despite an ERA of 4.17, Gore is a much more exciting pitcher when you look elsewhere.

 

Gore, who will be 27 years old for the 2026 season, ticks off a lot of boxes for the Red Sox. He has great extension, averaging 6.9 feet, can generate strikeouts, has a fastball that averaged 95.3 mph in 2025, and his breaking pitches are excellent as they had a run value of five last season. With Gore, you’re getting a young pitcher who is in his peak and will remain in it for at least the next half-decade. He generates whiffs at an amazing rate of 29.7% and strikes out batters at a 27.2% rate as well. Not to mention how he can get batters to chase close to 30% of the time a pitch is out of the zone. And despite his fastball being his most used pitch, it’s how he utilizes the remainder of his repertoire that makes him so dangerous.

Gore’s changeup (which he uses exclusively against right-handed batters) generated soft contact and a high whiff percentage in 2025. While batters hit .271 off of it, there was a lot of luck as the expected batting average was much lower, sitting at .214 as the average exit velocity on batted balls from the pitch was just 80.9 mph. The whiff rate was even more impressive as batters missed at 47.2% of changeups they swung at. His cutter was just as good though not used as much, being saved mostly for right-handed batters too (just thrown seven times to left-handed batters) where the expected batting average was just .187 while batters whiffed on it 40.9% of the time.

 

In fact, only Gore’s fastball had a whiff rate of under 35%, sitting at 20.7%. Not a number to be taken lightly, but it helps to show how the fastball was used to help set up his other pitches and make them more dangerous.

And while he walks his fair share of batters (9.4% in 2025), Gore manages to strand runners on base as he left 75.6% of baserunners stranded. Last season his numbers could have been negatively impacted due to the defense of a team like the Nationals, especially when he allows fly balls at a 40.8% rate. With an outfield of Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Roman Anthony tracking down baseballs, there’s a chance opponents don’t have a .325 batting average for balls in play like they did in 2025.

Gore is young and he’s still improving as seen by career highs for his strikeouts per nine innings, strikeouts to walks ration and his strikeout percentage and with a team like the Red Sox he could truly break out into the star many have thought he could be. It would make sense for the Red Sox to engage in trade discussions for the young left-hander at the least, and if they did have to part with a young pitcher, it wouldn’t be a fatal blow unlike last offseason. Instead, the Red Sox have a surplus of pitching depth to use in a trade for a pitcher like Gore.

Craig Breslow has the Red Sox set up perfectly for a blockbuster trade. The only question is who the team is targeting. Regardless of who it is, there are low odds that the Red Sox fail to get the player they want when it comes to a trade.

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[VMac]

I think it is more than even money that Sonny Gray has better season than Mackenzie Gore.  I'd love Gore, but praising him as a "true #2" is a slight to Sonny.  

[JoeBrady]

6 minutes ago, VMac said:

I think it is more than even money that Sonny Gray has better season than Mackenzie Gore.  I'd love Gore, but praising him as a "true #2" is a slight to Sonny.  

He has a career ERA+ of 98, and a 2025 of 98.  He's got talent, but nowhere near consistency to be considered a #2.