The Boston Red Sox have spoken with free agent pitcher John Means, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reported Thursday.

Means, 31, underwent Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career back in June, meaning he is unlikely to pitch in the first half of the 2025 regular season. The Baltimore Orioles, who drafted Means in 2014, let the left-hander hit the open market last month.

In four starts this past season, Means went 2-0 with a 2.61 ERA, 0.871 WHIP and a 0.7 WAR.

Means was an All-Star and AL Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2019, going 12-11 with a 3.60 ERA, 1.135 WHIP and a 4.4 WAR across 155.0 innings of work. He remained a staple in the Orioles’ rotation in 2020, then became their Opening Day starter in both 2021 and 2022.

However, Means underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2022, knocking him out for the rest of that season and most of the next. Baltimore signed the southpaw to a two-year, $5.925 million contract to avoid arbitration amid his recovery, only to see him go down again midway through 2024.

Means has made a total of 10 starts over the past three seasons, but he has been effective when healthy. Between 2022 and 2024, Means has gone 3-2 with a 2.75 ERA, 0.860 WHIP and 1.6 WAR, averaging 5.1 innings per start.

The Red Sox swung a blockbuster trade with the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, acquiring All-Star starting pitcher Garrett Crochet in exchange for four top prospects. And yet, their interest in Means, Corbin Burnes, Luis Castillo and others suggests that they aren’t done adding to their rotation just yet.

Crochet, Brayan Bello and Tanner Houck are effectively cemented into Boston’s rotation for 2025. Kutter Crawford could stake a claim to a starting job as well, considering 68 of his 85 big league appearances over the past three seasons have been starts.

Then there’s top prospect Richard Fitts, who posted a 1.74 ERA and 0.6 WAR across his first four MLB starts in 2024. Swingman Cooper Criswell is also in the mix, as are former All-Stars Lucas Giolito and Michael Fulmer, both of whom are coming off UCL surgeries of their own.

Since Means wouldn’t be able to take the mound in the majors until late in 2025, he wouldn’t fill an immediate need for Boston, whose front office seems to be in the market for one more reliable starter. Regardless, the Red Sox had no problem signing Fulmer and All-Star closer Liam Hendriks last winter, knowing full well they were bound to miss all of 2024.

Means could be the Red Sox’s latest reclamation project – one with an incredibly high ceiling upon his return.

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Boston University Terriers (5-4) at UMass Lowell River Hawks (2-8)

Lowell, Massachusetts; Thursday, 6 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Boston University travels to UMass Lowell for a Division 1 Division matchup Thursday.

The River Hawks are 1-2 in home games. UMass Lowell ranks eighth in the America East with 6.3 offensive rebounds per game led by Maddie Rice averaging 1.9.

The Terriers are 1-2 on the road. Boston University is 2-3 against opponents over .500.

UMass Lowell’s average of 3.1 made 3-pointers per game is 3.9 fewer made shots on average than the 7.0 per game Boston University allows. Boston University has shot at a 40.1% rate from the field this season, 1.3 percentage points greater than the 38.8% shooting opponents of UMass Lowell have averaged.

TOP PERFORMERS: Rayne Durant is shooting 41.0% and averaging 11.0 points for the River Hawks.

Alex Giannaros is averaging 14.8 points for the Terriers.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Copyright
© 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu took a swipe at the state Senate for killing her plan to hike commercial tax rates, while the City Council swiftly opted to set tax rates based on a conciliatory recommendation from the city’s chief financial officer.

The City Council voted unanimously to set the residential tax rate at $11.58 per $1,000 of value and the commercial tax rate at $25.96 per $1,000 of value, with the maximum shift of the tax burden allowed by state law, or 175%, onto businesses.

The average single-family homeowner will see a year-over-year property tax hike of about 10.5%, and will experience a 21% quarterly hike in their January third-quarter bills, city officials have previously said.

The Council also opted to set the residential exemption at the maximum rate allowed by state law, at 35%, which computes to a roughly $3,984 deduction from a qualifying homeowner’s tax bill.

“This all falls under current state law,” Council Vice President Brian Worrell, chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said at Wednesday’s meeting. “If the state wants to change those laws, this body already has an income-eligible senior tax exemption petition at the State House that can be taken up.

“If they are seeking a way to work on targeted tax relief for homeowners, we also have that; it’s the home rule petition that was just declared dead.”

Worrell was referring to the mayor’s eight-month bid to hike commercial tax rates, which was approved in two iterations by the City Council and House of Representatives.

Wu’s plan died Monday in the Senate, however, upon the city’s release of final state Department of Revenue-certified valuation numbers that showed homeowners would not be hit with the dramatic tax increase the city had originally projected.

“The sky is not falling,” Worrell said at a Council hearing earlier in the day where the administration recommended the later-approved rates, echoing what state Sen. Nick Collins, a South Boston Democrat said when blocking the mayor’s tax plan for a third and final time on Monday.

Collins on the Senate floor Monday, prior to Senate President Karen Spilka opting to formally kill the mayor’s tax bill, hammered the city for the discrepancy in the less dire final numbers that he said represented a “campaign of fear and manipulation” that was proven to be a “farce.”

Wu hit back on GBH’s Boston Public Radio on Wednesday, accusing the Senate of playing games, and Collins of making “misleading or misinformed” statements.

“We don’t have time at the city level to play games,” Wu said. “I took this process — and many, many residents, seniors, neighborhood leaders, advocates, union workers — took this process very seriously.”

Wu maintained that she had not been aware of the concerns of Collins or other senators ahead of time, saying that those senators did not reach out to her office to share their concerns or try to work with her on addressing them.

She said she was operating under the impression, based on the meeting she had with Spilka, Boston senators and the business groups to restart negotiations after a prior version of the bill stalled in the Senate this past summer, that the instructions that would lead to its passage in that chamber were clear.

“The instruction” from those senators was, Wu said, “work it out with the business groups, and we’re good with that.”

Those talks led to a compromise bill with four business groups who withdrew their opposition contingent upon a lower tax shift onto commercial properties that would result in an annual tax hike for homeowners that was in line with the average increase over the past five years, or about 9%.

Wu’s administration in October released valuation projections that pointed to a 14% annual tax hike for the average homeowner without the legislation, but final certified numbers showed the year-over-year increase if the bill should fail would be in line with the past several years, or about 10%.

The legislation would lead to a lower annual tax hike for homeowners of about 5%, leading senators and the four business groups to back away from the deal.

Wu, for her part, maintained that the final numbers were in line with the range her administration had been projecting and that the higher numbers her team had been citing represented a “worst-case scenario.”

Her chief financial officer, Ashley Groffenberger, insisted that without the legislation and based on the contingency tax rates the administration recommended, homeowners will see a “very, very significant increase in taxes.”

Groffenberger also said there was no time for other options, given the deadline her cabinet and departments were under to send out tax bills this month.

Councilor Erin Murphy, during the day’s Council meeting, had introduced a home rule petition to increase the residential exemption to 40%.

“By increasing the residential exemption, we can offer immediate financial relief, helping to stabilize tax bills and protect them from sudden increases,” Murphy said. “This measure is especially crucial as we continue to face rising housing costs and economic challenges.”

Murphy’s proposal was criticized by a city spokesperson on Tuesday for having the potential to shift more of the tax burden from homeowners onto renters, and was referred to a Council subcommittee for further discussion.

Originally Published: December 11, 2024 at 9:14 PM EST