BOSTON -- Like many impressionable kids in Venezuela, Ranger Suárez was baseball-obsessed as he started learning about the game in the early to mid 2000s.
The two teams that were always on television in his native country in those days? The Red Sox and Yankees, participating in baseball’s most storied rivalry.
There was something the young Suárez had a hard time wrapping his head around: Why was it that all his friends rooted for the Yankees? Suárez took the opposite approach.
So forgive 30-year-old Ranger Suárez if Wednesday felt a bit surreal for him, trying on his new home-white Red Sox jersey on a podium while accompanied by agent Scott Boras, Red Sox president/CEO Sam Kennedy and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. This, while formalizing the five-year, $130 million contract that makes him Boston’s No. 2 starter behind Garrett Crochet and slotting just in front of highly respected veteran Sonny Gray.
“Ever since I was a little kid, when we would watch baseball on TV, what would be on was Red Sox-Yankees. And everyone was going for the Yankees,” Suárez said. “And I asked, ‘Why is no one going for Boston?’ And that's where the interest started.
"And, yeah, just as I was made aware of the history of the team, hearing about how Babe Ruth pitched here and played here, and how you hear about Pedro Martínez and David Ortiz and all the legends that have come through here, that's what really captivated me about this opportunity.”
It was an opportunity that presented itself back in November, when the Red Sox made it clear to Boras that Suárez was the pitcher they targeted above all others on the free-agent market.
The sides had a productive Zoom call that Suárez participated in. But Breslow pounced on an opportunity to get Gray in a trade with the Cardinals just before Thanksgiving, and then spent many weeks trying to re-sign free-agent third baseman Alex Bregman.
When Bregman made his decision to go to the Cubs the night of Jan. 10, Breslow and his staff took some time to process the news and started putting the pivot in motion less than 72 hours later -- with a move that would take away the sting of losing their top right-handed-hitting target.
What they did was go back to Suárez, turning the 2026 Red Sox into a team that will lean heavily on run prevention.
“The most important thing that we did as an organization, as a baseball operation, is understand that there are multiple paths to improving the team,” said Breslow. “I don't think there's a question anymore that the identity of our team, the strength of our team, is going to be our pitching and our ability to prevent runs.
“I never discounted that, in free agency, players have a choice to where they want to sign, where they want to bring their family and what kind of future they want to hold. We’re super excited Ranger chose Boston.”
What are the reasons the Red Sox ultimately decided to prioritize Suárez over other pitchers on the market?
“I think you start with the track record of success -- and particularly success in a really difficult division, in a park that is a pretty offensive-friendly environment and the ability to consistently manage contact," said Breslow. "And you think about the way that that translates to our part in our division and doing that quite favorably, and you feel like he's got every chance to be as good a pitcher for the next five years as he has been for the previous five.
“And we've got strong reason to believe that he's someone who can thrive in our pitching infrastructure, with [pitching coach] Andrew Bailey and the rest of the group who have done a great job of maximizing the strengths of pitchers. And what Ranger does very, very well is he's got excellent command, he's unpredictable, he's got a very, very deep repertoire that keeps hitters off balance, and we feel like he's going to be a very good pitcher for the next five years.”
For a Red Sox team that believes it has a talented core primed to play in October for several years to come, it has signed a pitcher who had a 1.48 ERA over 11 outings and eight starts in the postseason with the Phillies.
“I think the reason for my postseason success is just going out there and enjoying my time and having success and having fun and enjoying my time out on the mound, and I think that's led to a lot of positive results,” said Suárez. “I’m just looking forward to putting my own little grain of rice into what we're doing here.”