Texas Rangers sign former Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi

Image courtesy of SportsMax

The Texas Rangers and Nathan Eovaldi have agreed to a deal, per a Jeff Passan of ESPN. Eovaldi’s new contract is said to be a two-year, $34 million deal, the deal includes and option. The $20 million third-year option would kick in as a player option if Eovaldi throws 300 combined innings from 2023-24. The contract could max out at $63 million over three seasons if Eovaldi reaches all his innings-based incentives.

Jeff Passan @JeffPassan

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi and the Texas Rangers are in agreement on a two-year, $34 million contract that includes a third-year vesting player option, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN. Performance bonuses in the contract can take the total value even higher.

The righty rejected the $19.65 million qualifying offer from the Red Sox on earlier this offseason. Boston will receive a third-round pick compensatory pick from the Rangers, according to Passan.

Reports surfaced that Boston had been talking to Eovaldi prior to offering him the qualifying offer. The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reported the team and the right-handed hurler had been talking but no deal was imminent.

Red Sox lose another free agent: Pittsburgh Pirates sign left-hander Rich Hill

On Saturday Nov. 12, WEEI’s Rob Bradford confirmed a report from Marino Pepen and Twitter user @BostonStrong_34 that the club had made an multi-year offer to Eovaldi.

The Texas native has served as the Red Sox ace over the last couple seasons while Chris Sale has been on the shelf with various injuries.

The 32-year-old made 20 starts for the Red Sox in 2022, Eovaldi went 6-3 with a 3.87 ERA in 109 1/3 innings. It should be noticed that the right-handed hurler missed roughly a dozen starts with two separate injured list stints. One was due to tightness in his lower back and the other for neck/trapezius soreness.

Eovaldi was originally acquired by the Red Sox during the 2018 season from the Rays for Jalen Beeks. He posted a 3.33 ERA in 12 games, 11 starts during the regular season then logged a 1.61 ERA in six postseason games. The righty will be remembered for the iconic six-inning relief performance in Boston’s Game 3 loss in the World Series against the Dodgers. Following the World Series win, then president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski re-signed Eovaldi to a four-year, $68 million contract that ended in 2022.

The Red Sox are still looking for additional starters for the rotation in 2023. Over the last 24 hours both Rich Hill and Eovaldi have moved on. It’s been reported all offseason that Chaim Bloom is looking to add starters with upside. As of now, the Red Sox have Chris Sale, Nick Pivetta, Brayan Bello, James Paxton and Garrett Whitlock as some of the options for the rotation.

Follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHenrique

For additional Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots, MLB and NFL content follow Beyond the Monster on Twitter @BeyondtheMnstr.