Why Red Sox signed Kutter Crawford to $2.75 million contract

The Boston Red Sox signed starting pitcher Kutter Crawford to a contract, the team announced Tuesday. The move was to avoid arbitration. According to Chris Cotillo of masslive.com, Crawford’s deal is worth $2.75 million.

The 29-year-old Crawford will remain arbitration eligible in both 2027 and 2028 as well. Boston can avoid arbitration with him by signing him to new contracts in each season or agreeing to a contract extension. Either way, the right-handed hurler is under team control for a couple of more seasons.

Red Sox’s Kutter Crawford looking for bounce back 2026 season

Crawford did not pitch in 2025 due to injury, as knee and wrist issues kept him out for the entire campaign. While the Red Sox were initially hopeful he’d pitch in 2025, Crawford ultimately underwent wrist surgery which led to his season ending before it even began.

In 2024, Crawford made 33 starts and pitched to a 4.36 ERA across 183.1 innings. It was an up and down season for Crawford. He struck out a respectable amount of hitters with a mark of 175, but he also surrendered the most home runs in the league with 34 long balls.

It will be interesting to see if Crawford can bounce back in 2026 following his inconsistent 2024 and injury-plagued 2025. Boston clearly is not giving up on him, so they will surely give him an opportunity this season.

He will likely be in the rotation alongside Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, Brayan Bello and Patrick Sandoval. If the Sox’s starters can perform up to their expectations and stay healthy, the rotation could be sneaky good in 2026.

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