Well, it happened again. Less than 48 hours after landing Japanese superstar right-hander Roki Sasaki, the Los Angeles Dodgers sign the most sought-after bullpen piece on the free agent market: Tanner Scott.

The Dodgers were the de facto favorites from the beginning for Sasaki, with some theorizing on the 23-year-old’s desire to play along side Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But Tanner Scott was believed to have widespread interest from multiple teams, and reportedly even received offers of greater value from one.

“The (Boston) Red Sox, doing their best (Toronto) Blue Jays impression, offered Scott more years at a higher AAV,” wrote Bob Nightengale of USA Today on Bluesky. “Scott ultimately preferred to Dodgers.”

Nightengale did not elaborate on the figures of the reported offer.

The Red Sox have had longstanding interest in Scott, and he would have filled a void in the back end of the team’s bullpen. But ownership’s willingness to spend has come into question every offseason since trading Mookie Betts. At this time, Boston’s largest free agent contract this winter belongs to Walker Buehler at just $21 million.

Rob Bradford of WEEI took to Twitter following Nightengale’s report to dispute the claim.

“Per source with knowledge of the negotiations,” Bradford wrote, “this is not accurate.”

Whether or not the Red Sox made an offer that exceeded the Dodgers’, Scott is is Los Angeles for the next four years, at the price of $72 million. But if the reports are to be believed, the Red Sox may be in a situation where their reputation precedes them, driving up free agents’ prices even higher for an ownership group that has been reluctant to spend for years.

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