The Boston Red Sox have made some strong moves this winter, but they have still yet to flex whatever spending power they possess these days.

Trading for Garrett Crochet could be the most impactful move any team makes this winter, and the Red Sox deserve a pat on the back for that. But the fact remains that they’ve yet to commit to any free agent for more than two years, or more than $21.05 million.

There are plenty of ways to make an impact signing, and the bullpen is one area for Boston to consider. Relief pitching woes cost the Red Sox double-digit wins after the All-Star break this past season, which kept them out of the playoffs.

Tanner Scott, a 2024 All-Star who finished the season with a 1.75 ERA, is the top reliever available on the market. And because the Red Sox are still the Red Sox, and because they don’t have a clear-cut closer, shouldn’t they be expected to go hard in their pursuit of Scott?

Such is the view of The Athletic insider Jim Bowden, who installed the Red Sox as the favorites to land Scott in a free-agency predictions column on Monday.

“The Red Sox are the clear front-runners for Scott,” Bowden wrote. “Their chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow, was a left-handed reliever in his playing days and seems obsessed with corralling lefty pitchers: He’s already signed three of them in free agency… and acquired two more via trades.”

“Red Sox manager Alex Cora prefers a single closer and Scott is the best one available.”

Scott, 30, has a 2.04 ERA since the start of the 2023 season, when he seemed to get some of his early-career control problems out of the way. He has struck out 188 batters in 150 innings in that time frame.

Bowden projected Scott for a four-year, $60 million contract earlier this winter. Later, it was reported that the lefty is looking for closer to $80 million, so perhaps Boston is waiting to see if the divide can be bridged.

It’s wise to look for friendly deals, but the Red Sox have done too much penny-pinching in recent years. If they think Scott is the guy to take them over the top, they have to do what it takes to get him in a Boston uniform.

More MLB: Red Sox Predicted To Land Nolan Arenado And $15M For Top Prospect In Massive Trade

A man barricaded himself in a home early Monday morning in the Hyde Park section of Boston, prompting a large response by the city’s police department, a police spokesperson has confirmed.

The incident began around 3:30 a.m. Monday at a home on Hopewell Road. Boston police said that the suspect fired a round at some point during the incident.

The man is the only person in the home, according to police.

Community members are being urged to stay away from the area as the situation remains ongoing.

Boston Police are issuing an alert regarding a text message scam about an ‘unpaid parking invoice’ that’s been saturating Boston area codes since Saturday.

The fraudulent message from a Montreal area code, which uses the city’s logo, instructs people to pay $4.35 to avoid ‘late fees of 35$’.

It provides a link to a deceptive .com website that is not the boston.gov website.

At-large City Councilor Erin Murphy is among the growing list of people targeted by the scam over the weekend.

“At first glance, absolutely looked real. Could easily scam people,” said Murphy. “Almost everyone I talked to, they got it or someone in their household got it.”

Murphy said she’s heard directly from people who were tricked by the message and compromised their banking information.

“It’s scary to know that someone was able to send that many text messages out, and they were targeting Boston phone numbers,” she said.

Boston police are still trying to figure out what phone database the scammers accessed and exactly how many people received the text message scam.

“They definitely got a lot of people, and the amount, $4.35, a few people said that was the fee they paid at a parking meter,” said Murphy. “It directed them to a website that looked very similar to the city of Boston website.”

Boston 25 News spoke with a handful of people who received the fraudulent message.

Some said they too almost fell for it.

One person said they didn’t own a vehicle and knew it was a scam right away.

The message has some grammatical errors and uses a ‘$’ sign after the number 35.

Boston 25 News called the phone number it came from, and it went directly to a voice message in French.

“Don’t feel embarrassed if you did pay it,” added Murphy. “Let us know so we can help track to make sure there’s no fraud going on or no money taken.”

While city officials recently announced a significant drop in violent crime and other serious crimes, one of the crimes that remain on the rise is financial fraud.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW