3 stars the Red Sox will target this winter — and who they’ll settle on instead

The Boston Red Sox have their sights set on the biggest free agents on the market this winter. Whether it's Corbin Burnes, Max Fried or Juan Soto, Boston wants to bring them to Fenway Park. It's the only way for them to catch up and match the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East.

But bringing any of these free agents in is far from a guarantee. In fact, it's going to be quite an uphill battle for the Red Sox to compete with the Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets.

Luckily for Boston, there will be plenty of contingency plans available in free agency and on the trade market. If Boston falls short of their top targets, who will be their backup plans?

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3. The Red Sox will target Max Fried, but will settle for Sonny Gray

The Red Sox have their eyes set on some of the top free agent pitchers this winter. One name that they've been heavily connected to for a few reasons is the Atlanta Braves star Max Fried. One of the key points here is the fact that Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito and Fried were high school teammates. Pair that connection with the Red Sox need for a starter and you have a near perfect matchup.

But sadly for Boston, they're going to be too busy chasing Corbin Burnes and Juan Soto to land Fried. Fried is likely to be the first pitcher signed off the market because he's not represented by agent Scott Boras. Most of the other top arms are represented by Boras, who's notorious for dragging negotiations out to get every dollar he can. Because of this, Boston won't commit the money to Fried while still negotiating for Soto and Burnes.

Instead, Boston will settle for a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals for their ace Sonny Gray. Gray has a no-trade clause, so this would need to be OK'd by him first, but I'd assume he would be more than happy to head to a winning ball club. Boston could deal a few prospects away and bring Gray in as a backup plan for Fried.

2. The Red Sox will target Corbin Burnes, but will settle for Jack Flaherty

Speaking of starting pitching, the Red Sox are being heavily connected to Baltimore Orioles starter Corbin Burnes. Burnes is seen as the top pitcher in the free agency class, but he has a lot of different teams after him. The Dodgers and Mets are just two of the teams trying to bring Burnes in this winter. Not to mention, the Orioles will be aggressively trying to bring back their coveted star pitcher.

The Red Sox will fall short of bringing Burnes in, but that's not the worst-case scenario because they still have backup plans available. Burnes is projected to land a six-year, $180 million contract this winter, per Spotrac. Instead of forking up nearly $200 million, they could fall back on Jack Flaherty, who's only projected to land a three-year, $60 million contract.

Flaherty, like Fried, has direct ties to the Red Sox. Funnily enough, Flaherty was also high school teammates with Giolito and Fried. The dream, for both the Red Sox and the trio, would likely be to have all three pitchers on the same pitching staff. But that's not too likely. If the Red Sox whiff on Burnes, which looks increasingly likely, they could comfortably fall back on Flaherty while saving more than $100 million to spend elsewhere.

1. The Red Sox will target Juan Soto, but will settle for Roman Anthony

The biggest free agent the Red Sox have their eyes on right now is the superstar outfielder Juan Soto. Soto met with the Red Sox last week and the meeting went very well. But at the end of the day, do the Red Sox have the money to pay Soto the same way the Mets or Yankees do? I'm going to venture to believe that Boston just won't be able to keep up in these negotiations, no matter how hard they try.

But, the Red Sox will go into the 2025 season with a good outfielder in his place. In fact, Boston won't have to dish out a $600 million contract to get him. That would be top prospect Roman Anthony, who I believe could be one of the top outfielders in the game over the next four or five years.

Anthony, 20, slashed .291/.396/.498 over 119 minor league games last season. More impressively, he slashed a ridiculous .344/.463/.519 in 35 games at the Triple-A level. Obviously, he's no Juan Soto, but there's nobody in the league that's like Soto.

If and when the Red Sox are officially out of the Soto sweepstakes, expect them to take a more passive approach to the backup plan. They may go spend a ton of money on starting pitching and some bullpen help. But they have a perfect solution to the outfield sitting in Triple-A.