Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Red Sox Rumors

MLBTR Podcast: An Agent’s Perspective with B.B. Abbott – Also, Cease, Williams, Helsley, And Gray

By | at

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by B.B. Abbott of Wasserman Baseball to discuss…

  • Abbott’s approach to free agency (3:30)
  • The impact of the media on free agency (10:00)
  • The different levels of player involvement in free agency (17:00)
  • The decision to sign an extension instead of going to free agency (20:15)
  • Chris Sale and his extensions with the White Sox, Red Sox and Braves (23:00)
  • Byron Buxton and his extension with the Twins (28:50)
  • Representing young players going into the draft (32:10)
  • The general state of baseball (35:50)

Plus, Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors joins the show to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

  • Some “Classic Baseball Trades,” Nimmo For Semien, And Ward For Rodriguez – listen here
  • Offseason Preview Megapod: Top 50 Free Agents – listen here
  • Surprising Option Decisions, Qualifying Offers, And Paul DePodesta – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Latest On Center Field Market

By | at

The center field market appears to have lots of demand. The Phillies, Mets, Rays, Orioles, Diamondbacks and Royals are all looking for upgrades at the position, according to reporting from Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic.

Those teams all make logical sense. The Phillies acquired Harrison Bader at the deadline but lost him to free agency a few months later. The Mets did the same thing with Cedric Mullins, who was terrible for them. The Rays had a rotating cast of characters in the outfield in 2025 and are known to be looking for upgrades. The Orioles traded Mullins and then trotted out Colton Cowser, who struggled while playing through broken ribs. The Diamondbacks have been waiting for Alek Thomas to break out for a few years now. The Royals have been struggling to get good production from the grass for a few seasons and are looking for upgrades.

That demand might outpace the supply. The free agent market doesn’t have a standout option. Trent Grisham would have been the headliner but he accepted a qualifying offer to return to the Yankees. Cody Bellinger is out there but he’s more of a corner guy who can play some center, as opposed to an everyday solution. Bader is available and coming off a nice season at the plate but that was fuelled by a .359 batting average on balls in play. Mullins, as mentioned, is coming off a dreadful campaign.

On the trade market, Luis Robert Jr. is available but he’s coming off two straight poor seasons. The Astros are open to moving Jake Meyers for pitching help but Meyers has generally been a light-hitting, glove-first type in his career. Perhaps the Rockies would be open to moving Brenton Doyle but he’s still controlled for four more seasons and it would be a sell-low move for Colorado after his poor 2025 campaign.

The Red Sox might be willing to move Jarren Duran to clear their outfield logjam but Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan report that the Sox are looking for a return commensurate with his excellent 2024 season as opposed to his 2025 results. Duran’s combination of offense, defense and speed led to FanGraphs crediting him with 6.8 wins above replacement in 2024. Baseball Reference was even more bullish, giving him 8.7 WAR. He regressed a bit in 2025 and ended up at 3.9 fWAR and 4.7 bWAR. He’ll make $7.7MM in 2026 and can be controlled via arbitration for another two seasons after that.

If the Sox don’t want to sell low on Duran and no one is meeting their asking price, then perhaps he’ll stay in Boston. It does feel like they have to move someone, however. Their outfield mix currently projects to include Duran, Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida and Jhostynxon Garcia. Anthony and Rafaela feel locked in because they have both signed extensions. Rafaela can also play second base but is the best defensive center fielder of the bunch.

Another theoretical trade option is Byron Buxton of the Twins. His contract gives him full no-trade protection through 2026, though it then drops to just a five-team no-trade list for the final two years of the deal. In the lead up to the 2025 deadline, as the Twins sold off a number of controllable relievers and sent infielder Carlos Correa back to Houston, Buxton repeatedly said he wasn’t interested in waiving that clause and wanted to remain a Twin for life.

That stance appears to have softened lately. Reporting last month from Dan Hayes of The Athletic suggested that Buxton would become more open to waiving his clause if the Twins continued tearing down the roster, perhaps by trading Joe Ryan or Pablo López. Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey pushed back on the notion that the Twins would be making more sell-side moves but they also haven’t done much this winter to tip the scales either way.

McDaniel and Passan, linked above, say that Buxton is willing to waive his no-trade clause. It’s unclear if they mean that in the same way as Hayes, where it’s conditional on the Twins going down the rebuild road. Presumably, if Buxton is asked to waive his clause at some point, that would be part of a rebuild regardless.

Buxton is an incredibly talented player who has dealt with a lot of injury issues. His career high in games played in 140, which was back in 2017. From 2018 to 2023, he never topped 92 contests in any one season. He got to 102 in 2024 and 126 this year. When on the field, the quality has been great. He just wrapped up a season in which he hit 35 home runs and stole 24 bases. He slashed .264/.327/.551 and was credited with 5.0 fWAR.

His unique contract reflects that uncertainty. He is being paid $15MM annually, a decent sum but about half of what most superstars get. However, he can make millions more based on plate appearances and MVP voting. For the Twins, or a theoretical team rostering him in the future, they’d be happy to pay him the extra since that means he’s on the field and producing. Buxton would surely garner lots of interest if the Twins made him available but it’s still not clear if the club will go down that road.

Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images

Dave Morehead Passes Away

By | at

Former big league pitcher Dave Morehead passed away last week, according to a report from J.P. Hoornstra of Newsweek. He was 82.

Morehead was a San Diego native who signed with the Red Sox as a 17-year-old. He was in the big leagues two years later, winning 10 games and pitching 174 2/3 innings in his age-19 season. The 6’1″ righty threw a complete game shutout with 10 strikeouts to beat the Washington Senators in his MLB debut. Morehead would go on to record 136 punchouts with a 3.81 earned run average in what was arguably the best season of his career.

He’d hold a rotation spot in Boston for the next two seasons. Morehead’s ERA spiked north of 4.00 in each of the next two years, though he started 30+ games and topped 130 strikeouts in both seasons. The highlight of his career came at the end of the ’65 season. Morehead fired a no-hitter in a 2-0 win over Cleveland that September. He fanned eight and only allowed one baserunner (a second-inning walk to Rocky Colavito) to outduel Luis Tiant. It was the 14th no-hitter in franchise history.

Morehead battled injuries and was limited to a combined 33 regular season appearances over the next three seasons. The Sox won 92 games to claim the AL pennant in 1967. Morehead got into two games during the Fall Classic, working around four walks to toss 3 1/3 scoreless frames. Boston came up just short of a title, as Bob Gibson won three times to push the Cardinals to a seven-game Series win.

After the ’68 season, Morehead went to Kansas City in the expansion draft. He pitched two seasons with the Royals to finish his career. Morehead pitched to a 4.15 ERA with 627 strikeouts over 819 1/3 innings in parts of eight campaigns. MLBTR sends our condolences to Morehead’s family, friends and loved ones.

Royals President Expresses Openness To Trading Starter For Outfielder

By | at

The Royals have been looking for outfield upgrades for years. This winter, they seem to have a tight budget but a strong rotation, which has led to speculation about them trading a starting pitcher for an outfielder. “Our starting pitching, we have some depth there,” Royals president of baseball operations J.J. Picollo tells Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. “A lot of teams are looking for starting pitching, so if we have what they may be interested in, and they have an outfielder that would be of interest, then there’s potentially the opportunity to make a deal.” Speier notes that the Royals had interest in Jarren Duran of the Red Sox prior to the trade deadline.

As mentioned, it’s been a long time since the Royals got strong production from the grass. Last winter, they were connected to free agents such as Anthony Santander and Jurickson Profar but fell short in those pursuits. Kansas City outfielders produced a collective line of .225/.285/.348 in 2025. That resulted in a 73 wRC+, indicating they were 27% below league average, the worst group in the majors.

It was reported last month that the club is looking for outfield help on the trade market. That makes sense for a number of reasons. For one, there’s the payroll. Back in October, owner John Sherman suggested the club would likely have a similar payroll in 2026 as they did in 2025. RosterResource currently projects the club to spend $139MM on the 2026 squad, which is already above the $138MM they spent by the end of 2025.

Also, the free agent outfield market has  a big gap. At the top, there are guys like Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger, who will be out of the Royals’ price range. Then there’s a big drop to the tier featuring guys like Mike Yastrzemski and Harrison Bader. The Royals just acquired Yastrzemski at the deadline and he played well for them. Presumably, they would have interest in bringing him back but he might get an eight-figure deal and is now 35 years old, so it would make sense if they considered cheaper and/or younger options.

Put it all together and trading from the rotation seems like a decent possibility, something that MLBTR’s Nick Deeds explored a few weeks back. The Royals currently have Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo, Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic, Noah Cameron, Bailey Falter, Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek, Luinder Avila and Ben Kudrna for five rotation spots. A trade of Wacha or Lugo feels unlikely because they both signed extensions with the Royals in the past 13 months. Bubic has reportedly drawn some trade interest but he might not be able to bring back a massive return. He is down to one year of club control and missed the final few months of 2025 due to a rotator cuff strain.

That perhaps points to Ragans as the most logical candidate, but there are issues there as well. It would be a sell-low move for the Royals. He finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting in 2024 by putting up a 3.14 earned run average over 186 1/3 innings. But in 2025, he spent a decent amount of time on the injured list due to groin and rotator cuff injuries. He only made 13 starts with his ERA jumping to 4.67.

He is still controllable for another three years. He is already signed for $4.5MM in 2026 and $7.5MM in 2027. He would then be controllable for the 2028 campaign via arbitration. Despite his rough 2025, the Royals would surely put a massive asking price on him, considering his talent, affordability and controllability. “I wouldn’t say off limits,” Picollo said, when asked if any of his pitchers are untouchable. “There would have to be a really big return for one [starter] in particular.” That statement seems likely to be in reference to Ragans.

The Royals could perhaps try to trade one of the group including Cameron, Bergert, Kolek, Avila and Kudrna but no one in that group has shown the tremendous ceiling of Ragans. Though those players are still in their pre-arb years, a team looking for a surefire rotation upgrade wouldn’t have as much interest as they would in Ragans.

For the Red Sox, they are a logical trade partner for the Royals. They have been looking for rotation upgrades and have too many outfielders. Currently, their outfield mix consists of Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu and Masataka Yoshida, with prospect Jhostynxon García waiting in the wings.

Trade rumors around this group have been around for quite a while. Anthony and Rafaela have been signed to extensions and seem very unlikely to be available. The Sox would probably love to move Yoshida but his contract and poor performance give him negative trade value. Wilyer and Abreu feel a bit redundant, so it’s those two who often appear in rumors most often. Both are strong defenders who hit left-handed and have notable platoon splits.

Abreu still has four years of club control remaining whereas Duran as three. Duran also qualified for arbitration a year early as a Super Two player, meaning he gets four arb passes instead of just three. While Abreu is still a year away from arbitration, Duran made $3.85MM in 2025 and will get a bump to $7.75MM plus performance bonuses in 2026. The Sox don’t seem to have a ton of powder dry for the rest of the offseason, so perhaps they would lean towards trading Duran. He could perhaps bring back a notable return on the pitching front while also saving the Sox some money.

Duran has slashed .271/.337/.468 since the start of 2024 for a 121 wRC+. He has also stolen 58 bases and received strong grades for his outfield defense. FanGraphs credited with 10.8 wins above replacement over that two-year span.

That kind of production would certainly look good in the Kansas City outfield. Currently, there’s not a lot locked in. Jac Caglianone will probably get another chance, even though he performed poorly in his 2025 debut. Kyle Isbel projects as the favorite in center, mostly on account of his glove. Duran has lots of center field experience but the Sox have been using him in left recently, largely in deference to Rafaela. Guys like Drew Waters, Kameron Misner, John Rave and Dairon Blanco are on the roster but would ideally be pushed down the depth chart.

The Sox already made one notable addition to their rotation by acquiring Sonny Gray from the Cardinals. He’ll slot in alongside Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello as locks for the front of the Boston rotation. That leaves two spots available for guys like Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, Kyle Harrison and others. Crawford and Sandoval are big wild cards after spending 2025 on the IL, while the others are young guys still looking to get fully established in the big leagues.

Reportedly, the Sox are focused on the lineup after the Gray trade but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be interested in further bolstering the rotation if they get a chance. Perhaps the Royals and Red Sox can line something up but there are many other possible paths. If Ragans is available, then the Royals will presumably discuss him with dozens of other clubs and not just the Red Sox. Boston, meanwhile, would surely get plenty of calls if they were willing to deal Duran.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Latest On Red Sox’s Payroll Flexibility

By | at

In the aftermath of the Sonny Gray trade, Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made it clear that the team’s plan was to focus on upgrading an offense that saw Alex Bregman opt out of his contract and head back to free agency this winter (not to mention traded away Rafael Devers back in June). There’s been some talk of the club even signing multiple star bats to help fill out the lineup, pairing a reunion with Bregman with the addition of someone like Pete Alonso or Kyle Schwarber.

That could prove to be easier said than done, however, as a report from MassLive’s Sean McAdam suggests the Red Sox might not have that sort of room in the budget. According to McAdam, the Red Sox are willing to pass the luxury tax threshold as they did in 2025. With that being said, however, McAdam reports that doing so would leave the club “absorbing a moderate financial loss,” and that Boston is hesitant to spend beyond that level and incur bigger deficits.

Some fans will surely balk at the idea that one of the sport’s most valuable brands and franchises is operating at a loss, especially following an offseason where the team made an offer north of $700MM to Juan Soto.  It’s easy to see why Soto specifically would be a player the team was willing to make an exception for based on his youth and incredible talent, but it’s also worth remembering that the books of the league and individual franchises are generally closed and not publicly available. That means claims of losses from most franchises and ownership groups cannot be independently verified.

Of course, whether fans take Boston’s claims about profitability at face value or not won’t change their short-term payroll plans. The Red Sox spent just under $245MM in 2025 for luxury tax purposes, according to RosterResource. Their projected luxury tax payroll for 2026 stands at $223MM. That means they have just $22MM left in payroll flexibility if they plan to spend at the same level they did last year. Of course, it should be noted that there could be at least some wiggle room within McAdam’s reporting. While he makes clear that the Red Sox won’t be floating a $300MM payroll on level with the Yankees, the second level of the luxury tax sits at $264MM this year. If the Red Sox simply want to stay under that second threshold, they’d have as much as $40MM in spending capacity this winter.

There’s other ways payroll could come down. The Red Sox would surely love to find a taker on Masataka Yoshida or Jordan Hicks. The pair will make a combined $30.5MM in 2026 for luxury tax purposes, and while rival clubs surely won’t be interested in absorbing all of that salary (at least without sending their own bad contract back in exchange), it’s not impossible that Breslow could trade one or both players with cash included in order to save a bit of money. Jarren Duran has been in trade rumors for years, and dealing him would offload the $7.7MM salary he’s owed for 2026.

Bregman, Alonso, and Schwarber are all predicted by MLBTR for an annual salary between $26MM and $28MM. Even if the Red Sox were willing to push right up against the second threshold of the luxury tax, adding two of those bats would be impossible without shedding significant salary elsewhere. If the Red Sox are committed to remaining around the $245MM mark in 2026, then even bringing in one of those bats is likely to require moving some salary. With that said, all indications point to the club being willing to take a big swing on at least one of the offseason’s top hitters.

Some lower level bats Boston has been connected to like Kazuma Okamoto ($16MM), J.T. Realmuto ($15MM), and Jorge Polanco ($14MM) are predicted for significant more affordable annual salaries, however. Adding one star player such as Bregman alongside a player like Polanco or Realmuto from the next tier down in free agency might be doable within the team’s apparent financial limitations, though even that would require some salary to be moved out if the club is going to avoid the second luxury tax threshold. Those pieces wouldn’t have the guaranteed impact of someone like Schwarber, but would still represent a significant on-paper improvement over internal options like Kristian Campbell and Connor Wong.

Perhaps there’s a trade candidate or two who could make sense for the Red Sox, allowing them to add a bat for a relatively small financial outlay and potentially move out salary in a trade. Brendan Donovan ($5.4MM), Ryan Jeffers ($6.6MM), and Alec Bohm ($10.3MM) are all projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for affordable arbitration salaries this year and placed in the top half of MLBTR’s Top 40 Trade Candidates list for the current offseason. Bringing one of those players into the mix would add a complementary bat to the lineup while still leaving ample room in the budget for a big swing at someone like Bregman or Alonso.

AL East Notes: Bellinger, Tucker, Maton, Campbell

By | at

As usual, the Yankees have been linked to many of the top names on the free agent market, with Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger noted as two of the more prominent players on New York’s radar.  How exactly the front office is ordering their internal wish list remains to be seen, but Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that Tucker “appears to be a backup plan” to Bellinger.  Familiarity and defensive flexibility are the key elements, as Heyman notes that the Yankees already know Bellinger can handle playing in the pressurized environment of the Bronx.  Tucker is primarily a right fielder who would have to move over to left field in New York due to Aaron Judge’s presence, while Bellinger brings more defensive utility as a player capable of playing all three outfield positions and first base.

It can also be assumed that the Yankees would prefer paying Bellinger’s lower price tag  — MLBTR projects Tucker to land an 11-year, $400MM deal, whereas Bellinger is projected for a relatively more modest $140MM over five years.  Signing Tucker would also cost the Yankees draft picks and international bonus money, whereas those qualifying offer-related penalties don’t apply if Bellinger is re-signed.

Here’s some more from around the AL East…

  • The Blue Jays had interest in Phil Maton before the veteran reliever signed with the Cubs, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reports.  This tracks with the Jays’ previous interest in the righty, as Toronto was previously linked to Maton when he was a free agent last winter and at the trade deadline before Maton was dealt from the Cardinals to the Rangers.  Toronto is known to be looking for a reliever to supplement or even replace Jeff Hoffman in the closer’s role, but Maton also would’ve been a good addition as a bullpen workhorse who has shown an ability to handle higher-leverage work in the past.
  • Kristian Campbell will be playing winter ball, the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier reports, as the Red Sox continue to look to get Campbell on track after a shaky debut season in the majors.  A meteoric rise in his first two pro seasons earned Campbell a spot on Boston’s Opening Day and an eight-year, $60MM extension shortly thereafter, but he hit only .223/.319/.345 over 263 plate appearances as pitchers adjusted quickly to Campbell after his hot start.  Demoted to Triple-A Worcester in June, Campbell hit decently well at Triple-A but with little power, and he also was toggled around the diamond seeing time at first base, second base, and all three outfield positions.  Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told Speier and other reporters earlier in November that Campbell was focused on regaining some weight and becoming stronger to better handle the grind of a full season.  The pricey contract along will keep Campbell involved in Boston’s plans, though it remains to be seen how he’ll fit into a 2026 team that has a crowded outfield, and has been linked to multiple major free agent infielders.

Latest On The Red Sox Search For Position Players

By | at

With Sonny Gray now in the rotation, the expectation is that the Red Sox will now move onto adding a prominent bat as the next item on their to-do list, with such major names as Pete Alonso, J.T. Realmuto, Kazuma Okamoto, and former Boston players Alex Bregman and Kyle Schwarber linked to the team.  Reports indicate that the Sox might try to acquire more than one player from that group, but Alex Speier of the Boston Globe also lays out a different path.  According to sources, Speier writes that the Red Sox are considering adding not necessarily two top-tier stars, but rather a bigger name and then “an additional complementary position player.”

Speier cites Jorge Polanco as a model for this type of addition, so it would seem like the idea is still to add a prominent everyday bat rather than a true platoon type, for instance.  But, someone like Polanco wouldn’t be as expensive as the other free agent targets, and an older player (Polanco turned 32 last July) on a shorter-term contract might have more appeal for a Boston team deep in younger position players.

For instance, if the Red Sox signed Alonso and Polanco, they’d have first base covered with Alonso, Trevor Story returning at shortstop, Polanco toggling between second and third base, and Marcelo Mayer able to gain playing time at whichever position Polanco wasn’t playing.  Re-signing Bregman would create an infield alignment of Bregman at third base, Story at shortstop, Mayer probably as the primary second baseman, and Polanco perhaps getting some time at first base.  Polanco has all of one career MLB game as a first baseman, but as injuries limited his on-field time in 2025, a shift over to first base duty makes sense for Polanco as he gets deeper into his career.

In short, there are plenty of approaches the Red Sox can take, as right now Story seems to be the only infielder truly locked into a regular role heading into 2026.  Triston Casas is penciled in at first base but has been often mentioned as a trade candidate, Mayer is a top prospect who is still unproven at the big league level, and any number of players (i.e. Ceddanne Rafaela, Romy Gonzalez, Kristian Campbell, David Hamilton) could factor into the infield picture as well.  If not Polanco himself, another multi-position infielder in that mold would help the Red Sox juggle the playing time situation.

While more rotation moves might yet be in the offing, acquiring Gray relatively early in the offseason gives the Red Sox some measure of relief in knowing that at least one frontline arm is in the fold, giving the club more flexibility in broadly assessing its options on the position-player front.  Budget-wise or luxury tax-wise, there is nothing necessarily preventing Boston from making multiple splashes in free agency, but one big-ticket signing and another more modest signing would probably be preferable from a payroll perspective.

Red Sox Sign Vinny Capra To Minor League Deal

By | at

The Red Sox have signed infielder Vinny Capra to a minor league deal, according to the transactions tracker on Capra’s MLB.com profile page.

Capra, 29, has played in the majors in parts of four seasons since making his big league debut back in 2022. A 20th-round pick by the Blue Jays in the 2018 draft, Capra climbed the minor league ladder until he made an eight-game cameo in Toronto throughout the 2022 campaign. He was non-tendered shortly thereafter, and while he re-signed with Toronto on a minor league deal he was traded to Pittsburgh in exchange for catcher Tyler Heineman in April of the 2023 campaign. Capra has been riding the waiver wire ever since, with brief stints in the majors and longer track records at Triple-A for each of the Pirates, Brewers, and White Sox organizations.

He spent the 2025 campaign with Milwaukee, Chicago, and the White Sox Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte. This season was by far Capra’s largest opportunity in the majors, as he appeared in 47 MLB games with 105 trips to the plate between the Brewers and White Sox after topping out at nine games and 21 trips to the plate across his three previous years as a big leaguer. Unfortunately, Capra didn’t do much with the opportunity as he hit just .125/.157/.177 in that time, with a 23.8% strikeout rate against a microscopic 2.9% walk rate and just three extra-base hits.

It wasn’t exactly a strong impression, but Capra’s ability to capably handle second and third base as well as shortstop and even occasional work in the outfield still makes him a solid depth piece for virtually any team on a minor league deal like this one. While he’s yet to break through in the majors, his numbers at Triple-A are quite respectable, including a .286/.384/.440 slash line with Charlotte this year. That lifted his career line at Triple-A to .272/.368/.389 across 257 games.

For the Red Sox, Capra is unlikely to be much of a consideration for a big league bench job headed into Spring Training. The team seems likely to add at least one infielder, whether that be a reunion with Alex Bregman or the addition of a new bat like Kazuma Okamoto. That new addition will likely join Trevor Story and Marcelo Mayer as regulars on the infield, with players like Kristian Campbell, David Hamilton, Romy Gonzalez, Nate Eaton, Vaughn Grissom, Nick Sogard and Tristan Gray all also in the mix for time on the infield among players on the club’s 40-man roster. If injuries or a 40-man roster crunch thin out that group, perhaps then Capra could enter Spring Training in competition for a bench spot alongside players like Gray, Sogard, Grissom, and Eaton.

Red Sox Interested In Pete Alonso, Kazuma Okamoto

By | at

The Red Sox are looking to bolster the lineup. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that the Sox are considering signing one or maybe two of Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso, Kazuma Okamoto, J.T. Realmuto and Alex Bregman. MLBTR covered the club’s interest in Schwarber and Realmuto earlier this month. Bregman was with the Sox in 2025 and team employees often complimented him for his skills and leadership abilities, so it’s unsurprising that they would want him back.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow admitted earlier this month that the Sox would be looking for front-of-the-rotation starter and a middle-of-the-order bat this winter. While some Boston fans weren’t thrilled with the move, the Sox feel they ticked off the first box by acquiring Sonny Gray from the Cardinals this week. After the Gray trade, it was reported that the Sox would be shifting their focus to the lineup.

There are certain spots on the field where it’s easier for the Sox to add. They appear to be set in the outfield, so much so that a trade to clear out some space feels inevitable. Masataka Yoshida is perhaps slated to be something like an everyday designated hitter at the moment, though it’s possible a trade of him or another outfielder will open that spot a bit more. On the infield, Trevor Story is going to be back at shortstop.

The infield corners are more open. With Bregman opting out of his deal, third base is free. The Sox could fill that spot internally with Marcelo Mayer but he could also take over at second base. Triston Casas is a possibility at first but the Sox likely don’t want to rely on him after a 2025 wherein he struggled before suffering a season-ending knee injury.

Alonso is one of the better power bats in the league. He has been good for about 40 homers per full season, give or take a few, throughout his career. He just hit 38 bombs this year. His 8.6% walk rate was a career low but his .272 batting average a career high. Put it all together and he slashed .272/.347/.524 for a 141 wRC+, the eighth-best wRC+ tally among qualified hitters in the majors this year.

Despite his skills with the bat, his market is unclear. He’s not a great defender and he’s not a burner on the basepaths. He was a free agent a year ago, coming off a lesser platform season, and didn’t find the long-term deal he was looking for. He returned to the Mets on a two-year, $54MM deal with an opt-out halfway through.

After putting together a better season at the plate, he opted out to take another crack at finding that elusive long-term deal. He is reportedly hoping to get a seven-year commitment this winter. That’s an ambitious ask for a guy who is about to turn 31 and isn’t known for his athleticism, though he is apparently willing to spend more time as a DH going forward. MLBTR predicted him for a four-year, $110MM deal.

Alonso would undoubtedly add some thump to the Boston lineup. The fact that he hits right-handed should also be attractive, since the current group skews to the left side. The question will be if they can line up on a price. There’s still belief in some circles that the Mets and Alonso could reunite again, though he presumably has interest from plenty of other clubs as well, in addition to the Red Sox.

RosterResource estimates the Sox currently have a competitive balance tax number of $223MM, a little more than $20MM below next year’s $244MM base threshold. They have been willing to occasionally pax the tax in recent years. It appears they went a bit over the line in 2025. Perhaps reaching the postseason and developing a young core will convince ownership to push spending a bit higher in 2026.

Okamoto would be more of a wild card since he doesn’t yet have major league experience, but he’s also plenty interesting. From 2018 to 2024, he hit at least 27 home runs in each season for the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. In 2025, he was limited by injuries to just 69 games but had his best performance on a rate basis. He hit 15 homers in that time and slashed .327/.416/.598 for a 210 wRC+.

Defensively, he has primarily been a third baseman in Japan but has also spent a decent amount of time at first with brief stints in left field. Some scouts believe he can handle third base in the big leagues for a while but others feel he would be better off at first. He’s currently 29 years old and will turn 30 at the end of June. Like Alonso, he swings from the right side and would be a good fit for the lefty-heavy lineup.

There’s always a risk that a wild card player like this won’t be able to adjust to the major leagues as hoped. This is something that Boston fans know well, having watched Yoshida struggle lately. But Okamoto has plenty of appeal. MLBTR predicted he could land a four-year, $64MM deal, which doesn’t include the posting fee which would be owed to the Giants. He has already been connected to the Pirates but should have lots of other suitors as well.

If the Sox end up adding a player who projects to spend a lot of time at first, it would presumably increase the chances of Casas ending up on the trade block. He has already been in plenty of trade rumors over the years. As mentioned, the DH spot is already a bit crowded, so it would be hard for Casas and someone like Alonso to co-exist on the same roster.

Casas still has options and could technically be sent to the minors but he’s overqualified to be a depth piece. From 2022 to 2024, he hit 42 home runs in 840 plate appearances. His 26.9% strikeout rate was a bit high but he drew walks at an excellent 14.2% pace. Overall, he hit .250/.357/.473 for a 127 wRC+. His 2025 saw him put up a dismal .182/.277/.303 line but that was in a tiny sample of 112 plate appearances and with a .217 batting average on balls in play. His walk rate had dropped to 9.8% but he also improved his strikeout rate to 24.1%.

It would be understandable if the Sox don’t want to bank on Casas after those struggles and the surgery to address the ruptured patellar tendon in his left knee. But if they replace him with a more reliable option like Alonso, then it would make sense to flip Casas for pitching or some other upgrade. He is still controllable for three seasons and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a modest $1.7MM salary next year. MLBTR listed Casas 24th on our list of the Top 40 Trade Candidates at the start of the season.

Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images

Cardinals Trade Sonny Gray To Red Sox

By | at

The rebuild is underway in St. Louis. The Cardinals and Red Sox announced a trade sending right-hander Sonny Gray and cash considerations to Boston in exchange for righty Richard Fitts, left-handed pitching prospect Brandon Clarke and a player to be named later or cash. The Cardinals are reportedly including $20MM to help offset Gray’s salary.

Gray, who turned 36 earlier this month, opted not to waive his full no-trade clause last offseason when the Cardinals laid out their plan to take a step back and focus on player development rather than their typical win-now mantra. Following the team’s playoff miss in 2025, however, Gray publicly acknowledged that he would “definitely” consider trade scenarios as the Cardinals lean even further into a multi-year rebuilding effort. “I signed here two years ago with the expectation of winning and trying to win, and that hasn’t played out that way,” he said in September. “I want to win.”

He’ll get that opportunity to win in Boston, joining a Red Sox rotation headlined by Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet and an offense anchored by budding superstar Roman Anthony. Boston secured a Wild Card berth in the American League this past season, and though they fell to the Yankees two games to one in that series, they’re a clear win-now club with postseason aspirations. The same cannot be said for the Cardinals.

Gray was heading into the final guaranteed season of a three-year, $75MM contract originally signed in St. Louis, when he was coming off his own Cy Young runner-up performance with the 2023 Twins. It was a heavily backloaded contract, paying the right-hander $35MM in 2026 plus a $5MM buyout on a $30MM club option for the 2027 season. The contract stipulated that even if the option was picked up, Gray could opt out and head back into free agency.

That deal has been slightly restructured. The new arrangement pays Gray $31MM in 2026 and includes a $10MM buyout on a $30MM mutual option for 2027. The amended deal reinforces the fact that Gray is a one-year rental — it’s been more than a decade since a mutual option was exercised by both parties in MLB — but it also comes with some perks for him.

Gray is now guaranteed an extra million dollars — likely a kicker for him to waive his no-trade protection — and he’ll now receive the full buyout on his 2027 option. Under the previous contract, if the Red Sox had picked up Gray’s option, he’d have forfeited the $5MM buyout by opting back into free agency. Now, he’ll receive a fully guaranteed $41MM for one year.

Because the Cardinals are kicking in $20MM, only $21MM of Gray’s $41MM guarantee will count against the Red Sox’ luxury tax total. Gray has already received a qualifying offer in the past (from the Twins in ’23), so he won’t be eligible to receive one from the Red Sox at season’s end.

Gray tossed 180 2/3 innings of 4.28 ERA ball in 2025 and had a more encouraging 26.7% strikeout rate and 5% walk rate. Metrics like SIERA (3.29) and FIP (3.39) feel he was far better than his earned run average.

By today’s standards, Gray is a workhorse. With the exception of the shortened 2020 season (when he made 11 of 12 possible starts), the former first-round pick has started at least 24 games every year since 2019, averaging 29 starts per 162-game season in that time. Gray hasn’t gotten back to the level of performance he displayed in that second-place Cy Young finish with Minnesota, but he posted a 4.07 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 5.4% walk rate and 43.2% grounder rate in 347 innings across his two seasons in St. Louis.

Gray will join Crochet and Brayan Bello in the top three spots of manager Alex Cora’s rotation. The remaining two places will be sorted out either later this offseason or next spring. Rotation candidates include veteran Patrick Sandoval (who signed a two-year deal last offseason while rehabbing Tommy John surgery), righty Kutter Crawford (who didn’t pitch in ’25 owing to oblique and wrist injuries, the latter requiring surgery), Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, Kyle Harrison, Hunter Dobbins and Luis Perales.

The Sox have several other starting pitchers on their 40-man roster, including a few just-added names (David Sandlin, Tyler Uberstine, Shane Drohan) ahead of the Rule 5 protection deadline. It’s a deep crop of arms that positions Boston well, both in terms of navigating inevitable injuries next year and in exploring the trade market for further roster upgrades.

Of course, the Red Sox don’t have to exclusively shop on the trade market for upgrades. Including Gray’s $21MM, the Sox are now projected for about $176.75MM in 2026 payroll, per RosterResource. That’s more than $30MM shy of last year’s spending, and it’s certainly feasible that ownership would push the envelope even further. Boston has trotted out Opening Day payrolls as high as $236MM in the past. The addition of Gray leaves them about $21MM shy of the first tier of luxury tax penalization. The Red Sox have paid the luxury tax in two of the past four seasons, including 2025. Simply put, there’s ample room for additional spending.

For the Cardinals, the trade trims $20MM off the books and brings in a pair of promising arms. Fitts is big league ready and could step right into the St. Louis rotation. The 25-year-old (26 next month) made 11 appearances for the Red Sox in 2025, including 10 starts. He was tagged for a 5.00 ERA in that time due to an extreme susceptibility to home runs (11 homers, or 2.20 HR/9). However, Fitts posted a respectable 20.5% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate in the majors, and he was solid in the minors as well (3.60 ERA, 21.3 K%, 8.7 BB% in 30 innings).

Originally a sixth-round pick by the Yankees back in 2021, Fitts landed in Boston by way of the 2023 Alex Verdugo trade. (Though new Cardinals president of baseball ops Chaim Bloom formerly ran the front office in Boston, he’d already been replaced by Craig Breslow by the time of that trade, so there’s no prior connection between Fitts and Bloom.) Fitts ranked 11th among Red Sox farmhands in 2024 and 12th in 2025, per Baseball America, whose scouting report pegged him as a back-of-the-rotation starter or multi-inning reliever.

Fitts averaged a hearty 95.9 mph on his four-seamer in 2025 and complemented the pitch with a slider, curveball and newly implemented sinker. BA’s scouting report on the righty noted that he struggles to miss bats within the zone, and the numbers have thus far borne that out. Fitts missed bats off the plate with his sweeper/slider, but opponents made contact on 87.5% of his pitches within the strike zone — a couple percentage points higher than the 85.4% league average. The addition of that sinker/two-seamer looks to have helped Fitts bolster his ground-ball rate, as it enjoyed a nice bump both in Triple-A and the majors, now sitting at 43.6% — just north of the 41.8% league average.

Whether Fitts settles in as a fourth starter or moves into a bullpen role, he should pitch plenty of innings in St. Louis this season. He’s controllable for a full six seasons, as he finished the year eight days shy of one full year of major league service. Fitts also still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, which only gives the Cardinals more flexibility with him in the years ahead.

Clarke, 22, was Boston’s fifth-round pick in 2024. He sat fourth among Red Sox prospects (and 86th in the game overall) on the midseason rankings from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen. Clarke ranked fifth among Red Sox prosects on MLB.com’s midseason rankings. He was not included in Boston’s top 10 on yesterday’s latest prospect rankings from Baseball America.

Though he was drafted in ’24, Clarke didn’t make his pro debut until ’25. He split this past season between the Red Sox’ Low-A and High-A affiliates, working to a combined 4.03 ERA in 38 innings (14 starts). Clarke sits 97 mph with his heater and draws praise for a plus-plus (70-grade) slider. He currently lacks an average third pitch, however, and his command is clearly a work in progress. That velocity and slider combo blew hitters away in the low minors (34.5% strikeout rate), but Clarke also walked a whopping 15.5% of his opponents — including an 18.1% walk rate in High-A against more advanced hitters.

Listed at 6’4″ and 220 pounds, Clarke has a starter’s build and two potent weapons in his arsenal. The new Bloom-led Cardinals will be tasked with refining Clarke’s command and perhaps incorporating a third pitch to help him more capably combat right-handers, who drew a walk in nearly 18% of their plate appearances against Clarke. If Clarke can’t find a third pitch or hone his command any further, it’s easy to imagine that fastball/slider combo playing up in a late-inning relief role.

Overall, it’s a nice return for the Cardinals, who secure an MLB-ready arm and a high-risk but high-upside prospect — all while trimming $20MM off the books. Today’s trade only further cements that the Cardinals are shifting their focus to the future. Further trades are sure to follow, with Brendan Donovan, JoJo Romero, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Lars Nootbaar among the possibilities.

As for the Red Sox, they’ll pay a relatively steep price (both in terms of dollars and talent) to add a durable veteran starter with plus rate stats and a nice postseason résumé (3.26 ERA in 30 1/3 innings). Gray clearly makes them better, and the Boston front office seems comfortable paying a higher short-term price to maintain some long-term flexibility. Whether they pursue further upgrades in the rotation or now turn their attention to the infield corners, the bullpen or their oft-discussed outfield logjam, the Red Sox have payroll space and a nice stock of young pitching to give them plenty of options in further augmenting their 2026 roster.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported that Gray was being traded to Boston. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Cardinals’ return. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported specifics surrounding the slight restructuring of Gray’s contract. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reported the specific amount of cash Boston was receiving from St. Louis.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top