Long-time followers of the Philadelphia Phillies likely have a strained relationship with starting pitcher Nick Pivetta. The right-hander spent the first four years of his big league career on the Phillies, spending two of them as a full-time starter and the other year-and-a-half in a fluid role as he struggled to stick in one for long periods of time.
All throughout Pivetta's time in Philadelphia, he was plagued by underperformance. He showed the occasional slight glimpse of promise but his overall numbers leave oh so much to be desired. So when he was ultimately traded to the Boston Red Sox during the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, there weren't exactly a ton of broken hearts from Phillies fans.
Naturally, Pivetta found his stride upon joining Boston, but he's been decent but not great on the AL East hopefuls. Even if his numbers don't jump off the page, he's still had the only three above-average seasons of his career as a member of the Red Sox. He never did so even once on the Phillies.
Ex-Phillie Nick Pivetta's 'surprisingly strong' market proves baseball doesn't make any sense
To further prove that baseball is a funny sport, Pivetta was one of 13 eligible free agents to be offered the $21.05 million qualifying offer to kick off the offseason. He has until Nov. 19 to accept the offer and return to the Red Sox for another year, or reject it and hit the open market. Since he'll have turned down a QO, any team that signs him after that will owe the Red Sox a compensatory pick in next year's MLB Draft. To some teams, that'd be something that deters them from pursuing Pivetta in free agency.
In a rumor roundup from MLB.com, it sounds like Pivetta will have a long list of suitors if he tests the free-agent waters. What's wild about Pivetta's situation is that he wasn't even that great in 2024. The fact that the Red Sox are willing to offer him a one-year deal at such a high dollar amount is insanity, as he was nowhere near worth this amount of money.
When will the first domino in this stacked class of free agent starting pitchers fall?@jonmorosi | #MLBNHotStove pic.twitter.com/vMoakLQ8DJ
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 5, 2024
In 26 starts (and one relief appearance), Pivetta went 6-12 with a 4.14 ERA, 4.07 FIP and a 103 ERA+ that puts him just three percent above league average. Very little about his production in 2024 jumps off the page, so the move to extend a QO to him from Boston just screams desperation.
It's nice to see Pivetta doing well for himself and it seems that one way or another, he's heading for a payday this offseason. However, it's a bit confusing seeing teams chase after him like this when he's hardly done enough to warrant the attention. One thing is clear, though: he can't pitch in Philadelphia, so the Phillies should steer clear.