The Red Sox are still evaluating the market for depth on the position player side, writes Chris Cotillo of MassLive. That acquisition would ideally be an infielder who could compete with the likes of Pablo Reyes, Bobby Dalbec, Enmanuel Valdez and Romy González for a backup job.
Boston had been linked to a few depth infielders who have come off the market in recent weeks. The Sox were tied to each of Amed Rosario, Gio Urshela and Garrett Cooper at points. None of those players would’ve been costly. Rosario and Ursehla took $1.5MM guarantees with the Rays and Tigers, respectively. Cooper settled for a non-roster pact with the Cubs. The Sox evidently didn’t feel their need for infield help was sufficiently pressing to handily top those offers. Nevertheless, there are still a few players they could try to bring in a minor league or one-year MLB deal.
Donovan Solano can cover any of first, second or third base. He’s coming off a .282/.369/.391 showing for the Twins a year ago. Elvis Andrus can cover either middle infield spot and is the best remaining free agent shortstop. Evan Longoria could see action at either corner infield position, while C.J. Cron and Joey Votto are available for teams seeking first base help. Cotillo notes that Adam Duvall, another reported player of interest to the Sox, has first base experience in addition to his more traditional outfield work.
Boston isn’t going to add an everyday infielder. They’re comfortable across the diamond with Triston Casas, Vaughn Grissom, Trevor Story and Rafael Devers. That has the potential to be a lackluster defensive group, particularly on the left side, but none of them are in danger of being squeezed out of the Opening Day lineup.
Reyes turned in a .287/.339/.377 batting line in a career-high 185 plate appearances a year ago. He played both middle infield spots and can bounce throughout the infield. Reyes doesn’t bring any power to the table, but his contact skills and defensive flexibility make him a viable utility player. He’s also out of options, so the Sox would have to trade or waive him if they’re not going to carry him on the MLB roster. That gives him a good shot at making the club.
There’d be room for one more depth type, ideally someone with more offensive punch than Reyes brings to the table. Dalbec, González, Valdez and David Hamilton all still have options remaining. If the Sox brought in someone on a big league contract, it could spur some kind of movement with Dalbec. He’s 28 and going into his final option season.
Dalbec showed promise three seasons ago, hitting 25 home runs with a .240/.298/.494 slash over 453 plate appearances. He struck out more than 34% of the time, though, and he hasn’t remedied those swing-and-miss issues. Dalbec hit .215/.283/.369 in 2022 and only got into 21 MLB games last year. He had a monster slash line for the Sox’s top affiliate in Worcester — .269/.381/.557 with 33 homers, tying for the Triple-A lead — but continued to strike out at a near-35% rate.
Sign Solano and trade Dalbec to the Samsung Lions for a phone to be named later
Ray – I would be the Sox bring back Duvall.
Also I know they don’t do articles here on non-players, but just want to send my condolences to the family and friends of Mrs. Wakefield. I can’t imagine losing two parents the same way within a few months.
Rest in peace Stacy.
@FPG…
Kennedy was just name ceo of FSG. termination via promotion. I called it!!!
DBH – Hate to be the bearer of bad news …. he will remain Red Sox president 🙁
For now, until they find a replacement. This is the workings of big business, bro. We will have a new pres of Red Sox by july
What a disastererous off-season for the Redsox. Luckily my cubbies turned it around. A team like Boston should not be nickel and dimming people.
Yes, apparently the Red Sox have become such an absolutely ignorant franchise they think they don’t need quality starters.
F#*k ’em.
Box – Yes it’s embarrassing what the Red Sox have become, especially their cheapness. Charging fans $10 for promotional souvenirs that are advertised to seem like giveaways. Discontinuing the Designated Driver program. Discontinuing the providing of sunscreen packets upon request. The cheapness goes on and on.
At least they are bringing back real ketchup after a ton of complaints last year.
They had a decent off season for 2025, for 2024 not so much. I like some of the players for next year.
The Red Sox are clearly in a retool phase hoping to keep costs and see what they have in their younger players instead of a teardown. They’re probably just being realistic more than cheap. They have the money they shouldn’t need to tear the team apart. I suspect the Mets ans Padres are taking similar approaches. It can work too, any of those 3 teams could still land a wildcard spot.
Red Sox Over under 79 wins. I bet 10,000 on the under
LS
no, you didn’t
10,000 what? You didn’t indicate $.
what has you so excited about the specifics?
Liberalsteve – If in fact there is an over under of 79 it would be insanity to not bet the under. 78 last year and the team is significantly worse. Also, the percentage of games against mid-level teams have risen while the number of games against excellent teams has held constant. So the average opponent in 2024 will be tougher than 2023, the team is by far weaker and Cora is still the manager.
66 WINS should be the over under for the current 2024 Red Sox roster.. 79 is free money.
66 WINS should be the over under for the current 2024 Red Sox roster..
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LOL! I’m taking over 66. The loser signs off for the month on next October. LMK if anyone is interested in taking this wager.
Joe – How could they lose 96+ games with Casas winning MVP, Yoshida winning the batting crown, Devers knocking in 120, Story winning the GG, and Pivetta winning the Cy?
You’ve offered that up every to KD`17 he’s never taken you up on it because he’s been wrong every year
70 – 92 Book it Dano!
With health…I definitely take the over, much better team this year than last IMO. Yes we need Aces and yes we should Boycott our Redsox Nation spending and attendance but they’re 2 Aces and a #2 away from dominating the East for years.
Cron may not be bad if used similarly as Justin Turner was last year (obviously minus the few starts at 3B) and the Sox could definitely use the power. If the Sox really wanted Duvall back they would have signed him by now as i can’t imagine his asking price is anything they can’t afford
His asking price seems to be more than any team is willing to pay. Many called but none were chosen.
He’s also very injury prone and basically was helpful until his injury.
Sale is probably going to win the cy young.
Hope he does.
wbz – Buy high and sell low, it’s become the Red Sox Way.
“Take me to your OBP leader.”
Are the Sawx still in the league?
What’s the over Under for total games started & AB’s for DEVO – CASAS- STORY & GRISSOM.
My guess is 455 /1675
I can’t believe Dalbec still has options left. Feels like he has been sent down & brought up 8000 times by now.
Ignorant – He looked God-awful against the Nats on Wednesday, just flailing away at pitches. I’ve written this before, Pablo should be the top infield backup (not counting Rafaela).
Fever, I’ve got three issues with Pablo.
1) he’s got no appreciable 1B experience, since being in mlb in 2018 he covered there less than 2 innings total.
2) he’s cora’s wet dream. A guy who has been slotted into literally everywhere except catcher. This will be too tempting and enable lots of bad decision making.
3) this is probably the most important. While playing everywhere a few hundred innings each (except P & 1B which saw a couple innings), there is a pattern: 3B he fielded well, SS not so great, 2B BAD; LF he fielded well, CF not so great, RF BAD.
So, Reyes is really ONLY backup LF and 3B (not that cora will restrict him to there), but, will be subpar candidate elsewhere (think kiki at SS). Whether it’s talent, vision issues, not sure, except he’s had plenty of playing in each slot. For some reason he doesnt pickup the ball well or run good routes when its coming from another direction. Whatever he needs to figure out and learn, you do that in the minors, not as a mlb 26-man roster piece.
GASox – Excellent analysis as always, I appreciate it! I agree with everything you wrote, but unfortunately Ben Zobrist ain’t walking through that Red Sox door.
The Red Sox simply won’t pay for an elite multi-positional bench player, and I still have nightmares of Danny Santana and Franchy Cordero and Christian Arroyo playing multiple OF and/or IF positions in a Red Sox uniform that they clearly weren’t qualified to play,
But as long as Cora insists on at least 8 relievers, there will always be the need for a jack-of-all-trade-master-of-none bench player that will undoubtedly be labeled “versatile” simply because Cora stuck them at more than one position.
I agree fever. BUT, blessing in disguise, maybe the answer is not having a pure DH on the roster and having one utility guy strong from the left, one strong from the right, and a PR type.
With Yoshida seeming like a dh he is also your 4th OF. The guy who really doesn’t seem to belong is Ref.
They’ll sign Elvis Andrus then trade Jansen so they don’t go over their pathetic budget they need to make sure they get all the profits they can with the new increase of ticket prices it’s how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer
Jays have Espinal who originally came from Boston, they traded him for there WS MVP Steve Peirce. He is making more then 1.5M but he cam cover 3b, SS, 2B and at worst he can hit LHP.
Sox fans should be so mad at the ownership for what they’re doing right now
Fans are irate and even the local radio talk show guys are dumping on them left and right. Now people will start staying away from Fenway and John Henry will say “How can we sign quality free agents when nobody will come to the park?”
Good. Then he should sell. He knew Boston was a demanding fan base when he ASKED to buy the club.
Analysis paralysis – too much evaluating in Boston. Your chest deep in water, the ship is sinking. Seek help.
Ah yes, let’s address more position player depth when we need STARTERS
Casas, Yorke, Story and Devers to start. Grissom, Valdez and maybe Reyes backing up. How hard was that?
Starting pitchers?
Insane – Yorke? I’m a believer in him, but he ain’t even close to ready.
2B is Grissom’s to lose.
The red sox are looking like the mccourt dodgers right now
Lipcius is on waivers from Detroit. Its too late to sign Brandon Dixon.
Keep sleeping on the sox. 87 wins. Bank on it
Just say no to drugs.
Sox ownership should take note. Months ago there would be dozens of angry posts from fans about the dire circumstances the team is in. Nowadays barely a peep. Anger means fans still care. Silence is apathy. Ownership has alienated its fan base.
Stan – Fantastic post and so very true. John Henry won’t care until he sees profits going down, I think Werner is dead wrong about Fenway selling itself.
Funny how a losing ballclub changes perspective. Back in the early 60’s when my Great Grandfather went to Fenway it was a sparce crowd of mostly drunks and gamblers he said.
Lets be serious for a moment. The reports we have gotten most of this winter have been inconsequential. Think of it this way.
The Red Sox car is sitting at a Red Light that has lasted 4 months.
The Car itself could move forward because there is gas in it and it functions properly but the driver is “THINKING”. Some reports say there is someone riding shotgun holding the emergency brake on preventing the driver from accelerating, while others don’t see the co-pilot they only see the driver doing absolutely nothing to make the car go forward.
In the meantime, we have about a half dozen reporters suggesting things are happening, or may happen or could happen but they don’t happen. The reporters can only describe a car sitting still so many different ways.
Soon the season will start with a very tough 10 game west coast trip and if the car hasn’t progressed, it could be very ugly. The key question that needs to be answered is WHY IS THE DRIVER ASLEEP or is he actually paralyzed with fear of making a mistake that causes him to not act? Nobody knows for sure but there are millions of people wondering why there is no movement. Some blame the driver and many blame the guy sitting shotgun pulling up on the emergency brake. Whoever is at fault, they are destroying the 2024 season for the fans. Something needs to give and progress needs to be made.
TF ..great post
TF – The driver of the car doesn’t have permission from the owner of the car to use the fuel in the car.
The owner of the car said “Gas is expensive”.
I don’t think this offseason was great by any means but I really don’t think it’s as bad as people think. Most every big contract the Sox have signed in the last 10 to 15 years has basically flopped.
Losing out on middle tier talent though, yeah, that’s not good. We shouldn’t be so frugal no one wants to play here.
I would trade our entire depth for one decent pitcher
I dont think scouring the market for depth makes them cheap. It’s everything else they’re not doing that makes them cheap.
It’s ****ing cheap to have a baseball market like Boston sitting so far below the FIRST level of luxury tax while the Yanks, Dodgers, Cubs, et al are focusing on putting a competitive roster together…luxury tax be damned. So many teams made themselves better this year while FSG just treads water in last place. It’s a travesty in all senses if the word. Cheap is putting it kindly.
Granted, not the best FA market this year, but if we Sox fans are feeling this way going into NEXT year’s regular season, it’s gonna be hard to care about anything this organization puts out there.
You’re very good at telling someone else how to spend his money and run his business. FSG has won 4 World Series Championships in the 21st century, more than any other baseball franchise. I’ll bet you pay Uncle Sam more in taxes than you have to, too.
swan – This offseason was very important to Red Sox Nation. Everyone wanted to believe ownership’s crap about “winning now is a priority” after what we’ve been through the past couple years. The Yankees had one non-playoff season and look how they responded, a huge trade for Soto and a payroll boost beyond the top CBT threshold. That’s because they want to win, they want to maintain the Yankee brand.
If ever an organization needed to prove it was committed to putting a competitive product on the field, it was this offseason coming off embarrassing consecutive last place finishes. For them to continue the “need a few more years to build the pipeline” crap is proof positive that profits are all that matters to them.
Fever Even casual fans know that starting pitching is and has been a serious weakness for this team for quite some time. If the starting pitching is not going to be addressed via free agency then why not let the in house depth guys like Reyes be depth. This is probably a big nothing burger article unless they are looking to add more minor league AAA depth. Addressing the starter pitching is really all that they should be addressing at this point. If that’s not done adding another utility fielder means nothing.
It’s obvious the off-season didn’t go as us fans anticipated after Werner’s early off-season “ full throttle” comments. The lack of communication between ownership and upper management to the fans is frustrating. It’s one of the many things I loved about the DD era the communication with the fans was excellent. Now we are left to guess is ownership to blame are they being so stingy with the budget or it Breslow that pulling back the full throttle approach suggested by some on this site. Is it a combination of both? We don’t know because of the poor communication. This is fanbase you just can’t do that with it’s like Henry and company trot their mouthpiece Kennedy out to spout their bs and pissing off the fans more and more.
It obviously doesn’t look good for this season on paper. There is no reason to expect anything more than a last place finish in the AL East. I still think that what Breslow has done with the pitching infrastructure announces a new era in Red Sox baseball. I also think there is a non zero chance this team can surprise everyone but admittedly in order for that to happen it’s going to take big steps forward the young pitchers and the young outfielders. I do like the intensity in this spring training from the pitchers it seems to be a different atmosphere this spring the guys seem intense from the get go. It’s not a lot to hold onto this season but it’s all we have. I just wish the communication with fans was better on an organizational level.
“Now we are left to guess is ownership to blame are they being so stingy with the budget or it Breslow that pulling back the full throttle approach suggested by some on this site. Is it a combination of both? We don’t know because of the poor communication.”
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Good point. We don’t know a lot of things including how this season will turn out. From there, one can choose to be optimistic or pessimistic. I choose to be optimistic. I think the Red Sox are generally heading in the right direction. They are building from within and avoiding overpriced free agent signings that will eventually hold the team back.
If they sign Montgomery how much does that move the needle for you? Just curious, not critical, as it has been disappointing.
Please move on from Bobby Dalbec. Get anything for him. It’s enough already.
So much anger in these comments
I wonder how many of the angry people here have said they’d be happy with a team that wins a championship once in 10 years and sucks the other 9
I wonder how many of the angry people here have said they’d be happy with a team that wins a championship once in 10 years and sucks the other 9
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It depends on the team and market. I think most people would still make that bargain, but for the Rox, KC, Oakland and maybe a few others, they would definitely take that deal.
Unfortunately, when dealing with some RS fans, it is more ;like “how many people would like a WSC once ever 5 years, and being .500 the other four years?”. The entire planet, outside of RS fans, would take that deal.
JB
““how many people would like a WSC once ever 5 years, and being .500 the other four years?”. The entire planet, outside of RS fans, would take that deal.”
I, as a Dodger fan, would not. The last 11 years have been the best in Dodger history. And one more championship wouldn’t come close to replacing 9 seasons of being in contention
That’s basically what I am saying. When you are a big-market team, you want to compete every year.
But if you are Pitt, the Rox, etc., you are probably a lot more desperate to finally see a WSC.
As a RS fan, if I could play .500 for four years, followed by a WSC, I’d sign on right now.
It would be a dream to see the end of cyber bullying on this site
BB
“It would be a dream to see the end of cyber bullying on this site”
You mean calling Boras “Bor-ass”, calling players idiots and trash, and stuff like that, right?
I agree.
Help is available if you are being harassed online.
onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org/federal-laws-o…
Hey Anthony,
Lackluster, particularly on the left side? You think Devers and Story may have a worse season than Casas and Grissom?
Which I guess would be Casas vs Devers because Story and Grissom will be lackluster as ****
Should have said up the middle
The first thing that comes to mind when I see this list of players is the movie Major League: Pablo Reyes, Bobby Dalbec, Enmanuel Valdez and Romy González
This guys dead.
Well, cross him off then.
That acquisition would ideally be an infielder
The Sox were tied to each of Amed Rosario, Gio Urshela and Garrett Cooper at points.
The Sox evidently didn’t feel their need for infield help was sufficiently pressing to handily top those offers. Nevertheless, there are still a few players they could try to bring in a minor league
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You are way all over the place on this one.
The article implies that:
1-The RS are interested in IF depth.
2-The RS aren’t interested in near-minimum wage players.
3-The RS might be interested in minor league depth.
JUST Keep and most importantly PLAY Bobby Dalbec as the Utility infielder he can cover all 4 inf positions, maybe even some OF, he was the defensive player of the year a few times, and has Milb league leading pop, ya gotta play him full time or minimum of 450abs to see what he can be… He’s 28, hitting his prime years, still think he can be a great UT option on this team. Valdez is horrendous on D, Reyes 0 pop, and forget the rest…Bobby D is the guy for 2024! Mark it down if you actually back him like a Brock Holt…he needs mgmt support AC! Don’t treat him like you did Christian Arroyo or we’ll lose him too.
They better sign Monty in 24 and grab 2 Aces and a #2 in winter 24 for 2025 maybe even Soto as he fits the young core age wise. End this penny pinching BS after the kids show what they have or don’t have. Extend Oneill Duran, Casa, Bello, Dump Yoshida, Refsnyder and any expiring arms trade at the deadline or let go, get Anthony and Rafaela up and going wait for Mayer, add Bleis. Fix the pitching and you win rings galore again!
Separate from the Red Sox… I don’t get why Solano continually gets overlooked/passed over. He’s hit .296/.355 since 2019. I realize he doesn’t have any other incredible tools but he’s at minimum a “professional” defender across 3 positions and though not a ton of power has also hit 23 HR in 1300+ ABs since 2019 which is at least palatable for a primarily backup bench bat. To be honest I actually don’t know why he never got a starting job the past few seasons… maybe his age would damper that interest now but just look around the league at how many teams are going to start random guys at 1B/2B/3B who will only hit .220-.230 — why not give him a shot!?
Easy fix…. Trade for Santiago Espinal. Cheap and under team control for a few more years. Won’t cost much to obtain. Maybe cash considerations. I suspect jays are looking for some cap space.
Absolute Garbage.