The Boston Red Sox certainly didn’t get the news they hoped for Tuesday.

Boston’s top free agent signing this offseason was starter Lucas Giolito but he may now miss the entire 2024 season with an elbow injury. The severity of his injury isn’t known yet, but it’s clear he at least will miss a big chunk of the season.

After the news of his injury broke, speculation immediately picked up about the possibility of Boston signing another starter like Jordan Montgomery. The Red Sox have been linked to him for months but haven’t gotten a deal done at this time.

It’s unclear if they will, but the club isn’t ruling out another addition at this time at least, according to The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey.

“All offseason, the Red Sox have been tied to free-agent starter Jordan Montgomery,” McCaffrey said. “Both (Alex Cora) and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said they’re comfortable with the team’s internal options to replace Giolito, but did not rule out future outside additions.

“I’m comfortable,” Cora said. “Like I’ve been saying all along, the offseason is not over and Craig and the group, they’re still working, and there’s a lot of good players out there and we all know that. And I think the 29 other organizations are doing their homework and trying to get better. So there’s something that, regardless of the news today, is something that we are doing as an organization, doing our homework, and keep making calls. We’ll see what happens in the future.

Montgomery would be the perfect addition for Boston. The club seemingly needs much more than him right now if it wants to compete for a playoff spot. Landing Montgomery would be a great place to start, but adding another mid-tier hurler like Michael Lorenzen or Noah Syndergaard also wouldn’t hurt.

The Red Sox’s life got a little more difficult Tuesday and it’s unclear what they will do next.