Coming into the week Boston’s starting rotation was already a strength. Led by AL Cy Young Award runner-up Garrett Crochet and featuring guys like Sonny Gray, Brayan Bello and a deep cast of depth options, the Red Sox likely would have fared just fine.

But now with the addition of Ranger Suarez, the Red Sox rotation ranks among the game’s elite.

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Suarez, one of the top free agent starters available this winter, is a legit front-of-the-rotation arm who played an outsized role in the Philadelphia Phillies resurgence over the past four years. Suarez has a career 3.38 ERA and is coming off his best season as a starter yet, posting a 3.20 ERA over a career-high 157.1 innings.

Now he’ll slot in behind Crochet and give Boston a dominant pair of lefties to lead the rotation for the rest of the decade.

Beyond representing the first long-term free agent splash of Craig Breslow’s Red Sox career, Suarez’s signing also has major ramifications for the rest of the roster and opens the door to several new possibilities.

It also ensures the Red Sox will enter next season above the Competitive Balance Tax threshold for the second straight season, and also likely with the largest payroll in franchise history.

As far as the roster goes, the Red Sox now have more MLB-caliber starters than they could realistically carry on Opening Day. Injuries and attrition will always be a factor, but for now the Red Sox’s projected rotation includes Crochet, Suarez, Gray, Bello and one of Johan Oviedo, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, Connelly Early or Payton Tolle.

Early and Tolle will almost certainly start the season in Triple-A, where they’d have a chance to continue developing after being fast-tracked to the majors following breakout seasons in 2025.

But that would still leave Oviedo, Crawford and Sandoval locked in a battle for the final rotation spot, which will be difficult to handicap considering both Crawford and Sandoval missed all of last season due to injury.

The Red Sox have a number of other minor league depth starters on the 40-man roster as well, including Jake Bennett, David Sandlin, Shane Drohan and Tyler Uberstine.

With so many arms at their disposal, it seems likely the Red Sox will look to swing at least one more trade to bolster their lineup.

Publicly the Arizona Diamondbacks have indicated that they are no longer looking to trade second baseman Ketel Marte, but if the Red Sox came back and offered up Early or Tolle, could they possibly change their mind? There might be a number of other options as well, including Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner or Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan.

The Red Sox could theoretically still sign top free agent infielder Bo Bichette too, but that’s less likely now given that it would potentially push Boston’s payroll close to $300 million.

The club could afford that, but it would be a jarring change of course for Red Sox ownership compared to the past few years.

No matter what moves are still to come, Suarez’s addition provides an immediate jolt of energy to the franchise after the disappointment of losing Bregman over the weekend. The offseason isn’t over and the Red Sox roster remains incomplete, but by signing Suarez the club has given fans new reason for excitement and reason to expect this year’s club actually could compete for a championship in 2026.