Almost from the start, the free agent market has been a model of inefficiency. Bidding furiously against one another, teams pay exorbitant prices for past performance.

The players win, but in the long run, teams often lose — especially on long-term deals which especially tend to not age well.

Sometimes, free agency represents the only option as that’s where the talent lies. Also, the obsession with retaining prospects often steers clubs away from trading them to fill needs.

But this winter, the Red Sox , through two early offseason trades, may have found a way around this conundrum. After adding Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo , the Red Sox have close to 10 legitimate starting pitching candidates and/or well-regarded prospects: Garrett Crochet, Gray, Oviedo, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawfor

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