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Red Sox Remain Open To Offers On Jansen, Martin, Schreiber

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Kenley Jansen has been the subject of trade speculation for a large portion of the offseason. With the Red Sox’s payroll seemingly pushing against ownership’s spending limit, there’s sense in looking to move the four-time All-Star closer. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe wrote this evening that the Sox remain in contact with other teams about a possible Jansen trade before Opening Day.

He isn’t the only Boston reliever who could find himself on the move. MassLive’s Christopher Smith reports that the Sox have also expressed to other clubs they’re willing to field offers on right-handers Chris Martin and John Schreiber.

Of that trio, Jansen probably has the lowest trade value. That’s more a reflection of his contract than an indictment of his performance. Jansen is set for a $16MM salary in the second season of the two-year free agent deal which he signed last winter. That’s a lofty price tag — especially at a point in the offseason in which many teams could be near their own payroll ceilings — but he remains a very effective late-game arm.

Jansen locked down 29 of 33 save opportunities a year ago. He led the National League with 41 saves for the Braves two seasons back. He has allowed between three and four earned runs per nine in each of the past two seasons, including a 3.63 mark over 44 2/3 innings for Boston.

While that is the second-highest ERA of his excellent career, it remains better than average. That’s also the case for last season’s 27.7% strikeout rate, a personal low that nevertheless topped the league mark for relievers by four percentage points. The 36-year-old found some extra life on his trademark cutter. Jansen averaged 94.3 MPH on the pitch, his highest velocity since 2014.

If Boston wanted to maximize the prospect return, they could offer to pay down some portion of Jansen’s salary. That’s a strategy they took in the Chris Sale deal, sending $17MM to the Braves to convince Atlanta to relinquish Vaughn Grissom. Smith reports that they’re less keen to do so with Jansen, writing that they’ve been reluctant to include cash to facilitate a trade.

That wouldn’t be as significant an obstacle regarding Martin (and certainly not with Schreiber). The former, like Jansen, signed a two-year free agent deal last offseason. While Jansen had a solid first season at Fenway Park, Martin was downright excellent. He turned in a microscopic 1.05 ERA over 51 1/3 innings. His 23.1% strikeout rate was solid and he kept the ball on the ground at a 51% clip. Martin continues to boast perhaps the best control of any reliever in the game. He walked just 4% of opponents a year ago and hasn’t handed out free passes at even a 5% rate in any of the last six seasons.

Boston owes Martin a $7.5MM salary for the upcoming campaign. He’s also set to receive the final $1.5MM of a $4MM signing bonus in June. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, that’s a little below the $9-11MM annual salaries secured this offseason by high-end setup relievers like Robert Stephenson, Héctor Neris, Jordan Hicks and Reynaldo López (the final two of whom will compete for rotation spots). Martin turns 38 in June, but the one-year commitment minimizes long-term downside. His fastball averaged 95.7 MPH last season, right in line with where it has sat throughout his career.

Schreiber, who turns 30 next month, is in a different spot contractually. He’s under arbitration control for three seasons. He and the Sox agreed to a modest $1.175MM salary for the upcoming campaign. The righty was a revelation two years ago, turning in a 2.22 ERA while fanning nearly 29% of opponents. His ’23 campaign wasn’t quite as impressive. Schreiber missed two months early in the year with a teres major strain in his throwing shoulder. He returned in July but worked with sightly diminished velocity relative to the prior season.

In 46 2/3 frames, he turned in a 3.86 ERA. Schreiber punched out a solid 26% of opponents, although his walk rate spiked from 7.4% to an alarming 12.3% clip. While his low arm angle remained a very tough look for right-handed hitters, lefty batters teed off for a .300/.456/.533 line in 79 plate appearances.

Moving Schrieber certainly wouldn’t be about finances. Considering offers on him (or Martin, to a lesser extent) seems more of a broad openness by chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and the front office to consider opportunities that could balance the roster. Boston is still looking for right-handed hitting outfield help and could use additional certainty out of the rotation.

Jason Adam Loses Arbitration Hearing Against Rays

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Reliever Jason Adam lost his arbitration hearing against the Rays, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (X link). He’ll make $2.7MM for the upcoming season instead of the $3.25MM his camp had been seeking.

Adam and the Rays went to a hearing for a second straight offseason. The right-hander was victorious a year ago, securing a $1.775MM salary against the club’s filing figure of $1.55MM. Things went in the opposite direction this winter, meaning Adam’s raise is a little less than $1MM relative to last year’s sum.

The 32-year-old is coming off a second consecutive very strong performance. Adam turned in a 2.98 ERA through 54 1/3 innings, an impressive follow-up to a dazzling 1.56 mark in the previous season. He punched out 31.1% of opposing hitters, held 11 leads and tallied a career-high 12 saves. An oblique strain cost him most of September and kept him off the playoff roster.

Adam has appeared in parts of six seasons but didn’t break through as a consistent high-leverage presence until landing in Tampa Bay. As a result, he only has between three and four years of MLB service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration two more times, allowing the Rays to keep him under club control until his age-35 season. Tampa Bay still has one more hearing this winter, as they’ve yet to settle on a salary for designated hitter/outfielder Harold Ramírez. That is one of five pending cases around the league; players have won seven of the 11 hearings thus far.

Twins Sign Jeff Brigham, Brian O’Keefe To Minor League Deals

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The Twins announced a batch of non-roster invitees to Spring Training today. It included various players on previously-reported minor league deals, as well as right-hander Jeff Brigham and catcher Brian O’Keefe. It also featured right-handers Jordan Balazovic and Daniel Duarte, both of whom were recently designated for assignment. Darren Wolfson of SKOR North relayed today that Balazovic cleared waivers while Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune was among those to relay the same for Duarte.

It’s a bit of an early birthday present for Brigham, who turns 32 on Friday. The righty is coming off a disappointing year with the Mets. Acquired from the Marlins in November of 2022, he spent 2023 as an up-and-down depth arm for the Mets. He made 37 appearances with the big league club but allowed 5.26 earned runs per nine innings. His 26.3% strikeout rate was quite strong but he also issued walks to 11.3% of batters faced. He also fared poorly in Triple-A, though in a tiny sample of nine innings.

The Mets non-tendered Brigham at season’s end rather than pay him an arbitration salary, which MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected would be $1.1MM. The Twins will take a no-risk look at him in camp and see if there’s anything that intrigues them. He’s not too far removed from better results, as he posted a 3.38 ERA with the Marlins in 2022, as well as a 27.7% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate. But the stuff may be a concern, as his velo has been dropping. His fastball averaged 96.6 miles per hour in 2019 but he missed most of 2020 due to a biceps injury. His fastball velo dropped to 94.5 mph in 2022 and then 93.5 mph last year.

He’ll give the Twins a bit of non-roster bullpen depth, alongside guys like Matt Bowman, A.J. Alexy, Hobie Harris and Jared Solomon. If Brigham is added to the roster at any point, he still has an option year remaining and less than four years of service time.

O’Keefe, 30, has a small MLB résumé, having appeared in 10 games for the Mariners over the past two seasons. He hit .136/.240/.227 in his 25 plate appearances over that span. He’s had just over 1,000 trips to the plate in Triple-A, hitting .247/.333/.475, though with all of that time spent in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Baseball Prospectus has looked kindly upon his framing and blocking throughout his minor league career.

The Twins have Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vázquez set to be their catching duo in the big leagues. The latter appeared in some trade rumors over the winter but nothing has come together. Jair Camargo is on the roster but has options and is likely to be in Triple-A. O’Keefe will likely join him in a non-roster capacity and will be on hand should an injury arise.

Balazovic, 25, was once a top 100 prospect but his stock has fallen significantly of late. He posted a 7.39 ERA in 22 Triple-A appearances in 2022, with Baseball America noting that his stuff had diminished in terms of velocity. In 2023, it was reported in February that he had a broken jaw due to “an altercation away from the field.” He went on to post 5.32 ERA in Triple-A and a 4.44 ERA in the majors. That big league work came with unimpressive peripherals such as a 15.7% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate.

He is now out of options and would need an active roster spot, in addition to a 40-man spot. It seems no club was willing to take a chance on him, despite the former prospect pedigree, so he will stick with the Twins as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have a previous career outright nor the three years of service time that would allow him to elect free agency.

As for Duarte, 27, he finally cleared waivers after spending the winter touring around the league. He was designated for assignment by the Reds in January and then went to the Rangers on a cash deal and then to the Twins on a waiver claim.

He had an ERA of 3.69 with Cincinnati last year but only struck out 16.9% of batters faced while giving out walks at a 14.7% clip. His 50% ground ball rate surely helped but he won’t be able to maintain a .218 batting average on balls in play or 81.6% strand rate going forward.

His interest around the league likely stemmed from his strong Triple-A numbers. In 35 innings at that level last year, he had a 3.34 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate, 11.3% walk rate and 51.8% ground ball rate. Like Balazovic, he will have no choice but to accept this assignment and stick with the club as non-roster depth.

Marlins, Yonny Chirinos Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Marlins are in agreement with right-hander Yonny Chirinos on a minor league contract with an invitation to big league camp, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com (X link). A client of MDR Sports Management, he had been non-tendered by the Braves over the offseason.

Chirinos looks for a bounceback after a frustrating 2023 campaign. The 30-year-old hurler had missed most of the 2020-22 seasons on account of elbow injuries. He first suffered a ligament tear that required Tommy John surgery. While rehabbing from that procedure, he fractured his elbow. Chirinos made it back at the tail end of the 2022 campaign and ostensibly began last year at full strength, but his results weren’t what they’d been before the surgery.

In 15 appearances with Tampa Bay, Chirinos posted a 4.02 ERA across 62 2/3 innings. That’s solid enough run prevention but came with a well below-average 11.8% strikeout rate. Chirinos surpassed the five-year MLB service threshold midseason, giving him the right to decline future assignments to the minor leagues. Without that roster flexibility, the Rays designated him for assignment in July. Atlanta nabbed him off waivers.

Chirinos’ time with the Braves was brief. He started five games but was tagged for a 9.27 ERA over 22 1/3 frames. Atlanta placed him on the injured list with inflammation in his elbow. That ended his season and ultimately his tenure with the organization, as they cut him loose at year’s end.

Early in his career, the Venezuelan-born hurler was a solid swing option for Tampa Bay. Chirinos pitched to a 3.71 ERA across 233 innings covering the 2018-19 seasons. His 21% strikeout percentage wasn’t far off the major league average and he showed excellent control, limiting the walks to a 5.9% clip.

Miami will take a low-risk look to see if Chirinos can put the elbow concerns behind him and recapture something like his early-career form. He becomes the latest in a handful of former Tampa Bay players acquired by Miami’s new president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, who’d been the Rays’ GM before taking over baseball operations in South Florida. If Chirinos cracks the big league roster at any point, the Fish would need to keep him in the majors or make him available to other clubs via trade or waivers.

Phillies Claim Kaleb Ort, Designate Diego Castillo

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The Phillies announced today that they have claimed right-hander Kaleb Ort off waivers from the Marlins, with infielder Diego Castillo designated for assignment in a corresponding move. They also announced that right-hander David Buchanan has been signed to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training. Additionally, both right-hander Andrew Bellatti and outfielder Simón Muzziotti cleared waivers and will remain with the organization.

Ort, 32, has been bouncing around the league in recent months. He finished the regular season with the Red Sox but has since gone to the Mariners, Marlins and now the Phillies. The Fish designated him for assignment last week when they claimed righty Declan Cronin.

The righty has flashed some big velo, which has led to big strikeout numbers in the minors but not yet in the majors. He has thrown 51 2/3 innings in the majors over the past three years, averaging 96 miles per hour on his fastball but allowing 6.27 earned runs per nine innings. He only struck out 20.9% of batters faced while walking 10.2% of them.

His work in the minors has been more impressive. Over that same three-year span, he logged 97 2/3 Triple-A innings with just a 2.76 ERA. He struck out 31.1% of opponents while giving out walks at a 10.9% clip.

Those minor league numbers are clearly enticing to clubs around the league, based on how many transactions he’s been a part of this winter. He still has one minor league option remaining, which adds to the appeal. The Phils have a strong bullpen but can keep Ort in Triple-A until a need arises, if he holds onto his 40-man roster spot.

Castillo, 26, has also been roving around the league this offseason. He spent 2023 with the Diamondbacks but was designated for assignment in December. He has since gone to the Mets, Yankees and Phillies on waiver claims, but has been booted off a roster yet again.

He only played in one big league game last year, spending the vast majority of his time in Triple-A. He did a great job of getting on base but provided little power. In 556 plate appearances, he only hit three home runs but drew walks at a 17.4% clip. His .313/.431/.410 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 117.

In addition to that work at the plate, Castillo also has other attractive attributes. He can play all over the field, having lined up at all four infield spots in his career, as well as the outfield corners. There’s also enough speed for him to have stolen 13 bases last year. He still has an option remaining, allowing him to provide a club with some depth all around the diamond. The Phils will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers.

Buchanan, 35 in May, pitched for the Phils in 2014 and 2015, throwing 192 1/3 innings with a 5.01 ERA. He was stuck in the minors in 2016 and has been overseas since then, going to Japan and then Korea. He pitched for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball from 2017 to 2019, putting up a 4.07 ERA in 433 2/3 innings. He then joined the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization and has been with them for the past four years with a 3.02 ERA in 699 2/3 innings.

The Phillies are set in the rotation with Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez set to be the front five. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski recently spoke about the club’s desire to add more starting depth and then went out and signed Spencer Turnbull. They also have Kolby Allard, Dylan Covey and Max Castillo on the 40-man but Buchanan will give them a bit of non-roster depth.

Bellatti, 32, seemed to be breaking out in 2022 when he posted a 3.31 ERA with a 33.9% strikeout rate. But he couldn’t maintain that in 2023, as his ERA shot up to 5.11 and his strikeout rate dropped to 22.1%. Now out of options, he got nudged off the roster when the Phils acquired Michael Rucker last week and it seems none of the other 29 clubs were willing to grab him. He has previous career outrights and could have elected free agency, but the Phils announced that he will be in camp as a non-roster invitee, so it seems he has decided to stay.

Muzziotti, 25, got to make his major league debut in 2022 but was given just nine plate appearances. He spent all of 2023 in Triple-A, keeping his strikeout rate down to 15.5% but hitting just seven home runs. The resulting .296/.358/.404 slash line amounted to a wRC+ of 93. He stole 26 bases and can play all three outfield spots but no club was willing to take a chance on him. This is his first career outright so he’ll have to stick with the club in a non-roster capacity.

Rangers Sign Adrian Sampson To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced that they have signed right-hander Adrian Sampson to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league Spring Training camp. The righty is a client of Apex Baseball.

It’s something of a homecoming for Sampson, now 32, as he was with the Rangers for three years. Claimed off waivers from the Mariners in November of 2016, he was with the org through the 2019 campaign. By that point, he had thrown 153 major league innings, allowing 5.71 earned runs per nine. He only struck out 17.3% of batters faced but limited walks to a 6% clip.

He went overseas prior to the 2020 season, signing with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization. He posted a 5.40 ERA in his one season in Korea before coming back to sign a minor league deal with the Cubs. He bounced on and off the Cubs’ roster throughout 2021 and 2022, posting solid results but with the numbers under the hood being a bit less impressive. He logged 139 2/3 innings over those two years with a 3.03 ERA, 17.6% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate. His .275 batting average on balls in play and 80% strand rate were both on the lucky side, which is why his 4.28 FIP and 4.44 SIERA were much higher than his ERA.

The Cubs retained him via arbitration for 2023, agreeing to a $1.9MM salary. He battled for a rotation job in camp but was ultimately optioned to the minors. While on optional assignment, he required debridement surgery on his right knee and wasn’t able to pitch much. He was outrighted off the roster in late July and flipped to the Rays a few days later. The Rays released him after about a week, indicating he was only really in the deal for financial reasons. The Cubs saved a bit of money while the Rays got some extra international bonus pool space and minor leaguer Manuel Rodríguez.

Due to his knee issue and getting released in August, he only tossed 28 minor league innings on the year with a 9.07 ERA. With the Rangers, he’ll be looking to bounce back for a club with some notable pitching depth concerns, particularly earlier in the year. Each of Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Tyler Mahle are going to start the season on the injured list due to their respective surgeries. That will leave the rotation as Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney, Dane Dunning and Cody Bradford to start the year, with some of those pitchers having notable injury histories of their own.

The bullpen was already the weakest part of the roster last year and then they lost Aroldis Chapman, Will Smith and Chris Stratton to free agency. They subsequently signed David Robertson and Kirby Yates but Yates is the youngest of the two even though he turns 37 next month.

All told, there could be a need for the defending champions to lean on their non-roster depth this year. Sampson has worked both as a starter and reliever, giving the club depth in both areas. He will jump into a group of experienced guys on minor league deals that includes José Ureña, Shane Greene, Diego Castillo, Austin Pruitt, Chasen Shreve, Danny Duffy and many others. If Sampson is added to the roster at any point, he still has a couple of options remaining.

Yankees Claim Jordan Groshans, Designate Matt Krook

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The Yankees announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed infielder Jordan Groshans off waivers from the Marlins. New York designated lefty reliever Matt Krook for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Miami designated Groshans for assignment last Tuesday as the corresponding transaction when they traded for fellow infielder Jonah Bride. Groshans heads back to the AL East, the division in which he began his career. A highly-regarded talent in high school, he was drafted 12th overall in 2018 by the Blue Jays. His stock had dipped by the 2022 trade deadline, when Toronto flipped him to the Fish for relievers Anthony Bass and Zach Pop.

Groshans got to the big leagues not long after that trade. He appeared in 17 MLB contests, hitting .262/.308/.311 with one home run through his first 65 plate appearances. Miami optioned him back to Triple-A to open the 2023 campaign. Groshans spent the whole year there, thanks in large part to a mediocre offensive season.

The right-handed hitter put up a .243/.339/.330 slash line over 528 trips to the plate. He showed strong awareness of the strike zone, walking at a 12.5% clip while striking out only 17.4% of the time. Groshans provided very little impact when he made contact, though, hitting just six home runs, 20 doubles and a triple. He split his defensive work between the two corner infield spots, playing mostly third base. Groshans had experience in the middle infield early in his career but was always viewed by most prospect evaluators as a better fit at the hot corner.

Last year was Groshans’ first minor league option season. New York can still send him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for the next two years if they keep him on the 40-man roster. He slots in at the back of an infield depth chart that also features Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera and Jorbit Vivas behind the starting group of Anthony Rizzo, Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu and Anthony Volpe.

Taking a flier on Groshans could come at the expense of Krook, a 29-year-old who made his major league debut last season. The Oregon product pitched in four MLB games, walking six batters and allowing 11 runs in four innings. While that’s obviously a dismal small-sample showing, Krook turned in a 1.32 ERA through 34 frames in Scranton. He punched out 39% of batters faced in Triple-A.

The 6’4″ southpaw clearly has swing-and-miss potential, yet he has never thrown strikes at a tenable rate. Krook walked over 18% of opposing hitters with the RailRiders last season. He’d issued free passes at a 12.1% rate there the year before that, leading New York to move him to the bullpen by 2023. That didn’t result in the necessary step forward in his command, but it’s possible another team takes a flier given the gaudy minor league whiff rates. The Yankees have a week to trade Krook or attempt to run him through waivers.

Reds Claim Bubba Thompson, Designate Levi Stoudt

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The Reds announced to reporters, including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com, that they have claimed outfielder Bubba Thompson off waivers. He had been designated for assignment by the Twins last week. In order to open up a spot for Thompson, the Reds designated right-hander Levi Stoudt for assignment.

Thompson, 26 in June, has been on the roster carousel for the past six months. Designated for assignment by the Rangers in August, he has since gone to the Royals, Reds, Yankees, Twins and now the Reds again on waiver claims. The high level of interest is a reflection of his elite speed and strong defensive abilities, while his tenuous hold on a roster spot is a result of his poor work at the plate.

He received 241 plate appearances with the Rangers over the past two seasons, walking in just 4.6% of them while striking out at a 29.9% clip. His .242/.286/.305 batting line translates to a wRC+ of just 65, indicating he’s been 35% worse than the league average hitter. He’s been better in the minors but still subpar. In 740 trips to the plate at Triple-A since the start of 2022, he has a 7.4% walk rate, 24.1% strikeout rate and .283/.346/.442 batting line for a wRC+ of 96.

But he’s one of the fastest runners in the game, with Statcast considering him to have 100th percentile sprint speed. He has 22 steals in 27 attempts at the major league level and dozens more in the minors. That speed has helped him earn strong defensive grades during his time in the big leagues.

He still has two option years and is clearly attractive to clubs around the league, either as a depth piece getting regular at-bats in the minors or a speed-and-defense guy off the bench. The Reds like him enough that this is the second time they have claimed him of late. He could wind up off the roster again in short order, but if he sticks, he’ll be fighting for a spot on their depth chart. They will have TJ Friedl, Will Benson, Jake Fraley and Stuart Fairchild in their outfield mix, while their crowded infield could push guys like Spencer Steer and Jonathan India to the grass.

Stoudt, now 26, came to the Reds as one of the players in the 2022 Luis Castillo trade. He was a prospect of note in the M’s system but his results have not carried up to the higher levels of the minors or to the majors. He got a brief MLB debut last year, throwing 10 1/3 innings with 11 earned runs allowed. His 82 1/3 Triple-A innings resulted in a 6.23 ERA, 15.1% strikeout rate and 13% walk rate.

It was obviously a challenging year for him and he’s now been squeezed of the Reds’ roster. They will have a week to find a trade for him or pass him through waivers. He still has a couple of options and there are lots of club in need of pitching, which could perhaps help him find a new club in the coming days.

Red Sox Pursuing Outfield Additions

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As players begin arriving to spring training, the Red Sox are still looking to add to their roster. Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports that the Sox have been in active pursuit of outfield options recently, suggesting a right-handed bat is the preferable addition. (Notably, he adds that Boston was not “meaningfully” involved in Jorge Soler’s market in the late stages of his free agency before he agreed to a three-year deal with the Giants.)

A right-handed outfield bat is a generally sensible addition for the Sox, whose current outfield alignment features three lefty bats (Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida) and one right-handed bat (Tyler O’Neill). Manager Alex Cora said today that Yoshida will see the most time at designated hitter of any of his current outfielders, but he’ll still see some work in the field as well (X link via Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe).

Top prospect Ceddanne Rafaela will get a chance to make the Opening Day roster as well and would add a right-handed bat to the bunch, but it’s also possible he’s ticketed for Triple-A to begin the season. Rafaela made his MLB debut last year but posted a tepid .241/.281/.386 slash with a 31% strikeout rate in 89 plate appearances. He’s still only played 48 games at the Triple-A level, and good as they were (.312/.370/.618 in 219 plate appearances), that’s a relatively small sample. He’ll need to earn a spot with a strong showing in camp. If Rafaela does make the roster, Cora noted that he’ll be the primary center fielder (X link via the Globe’s Alex Speier). “The defensive game is elite,” Cora said of Rafaela. “It’s a game-changer.”

As things stand, the Red Sox have a pair of right-handed outfield options on the bench in Rob Refsnyder and Bobby Dalbec. Refsnyder is a 32-year-old journeyman but does have a solid track record against lefties, including a .308/.428/.400 slash in 145 plate appearances last season. Dalbec, 28, has a minor league option remaining but has long seemed like a change-of-scenery candidate as a former top infield prospect who doesn’t have a clear role with the club. Neither player came up as an outfielder, and neither is considered to be an especially strong defender on the grass.

If the Sox prefer to turn to the free agent market, there are plenty of righty bats still available. Randal Grichuk, Michael A. Taylor, Tommy Pham and Adam Duvall all remain unsigned. Pham (2022) and Duvall (2023) have both played with the Red Sox recently, though they were acquired under now-former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom’s watch. All four members of that quartet have experience across the outfield, although at this point only Taylor is considered an above-average option in center field (where he rates as one of the game’s premium defenders at the position).

While none of the free agents remaining in this tier of players is a star by any stretch of the word, each is affordable and can fill a clear role on a number of teams. As such, the Sox have competition for signing any of the bunch. The D-backs, for instance, have been tied to Grichuk, Pham and Duvall as they seek a right-handed complement to Joc Pederson at designated hitter. The Twins have been on the lookout for a righty outfield bat for much of the offseason after seeing Taylor become a free agent. Minnesota has reportedly shown interest in Duvall, specifically, but has had interest in Taylor throughout free agency as well. The Phillies could conceivably be in the mix for an outfield bat after an injury to Brandon Marsh. The Padres have considered a reunion with Pham.

Speaking of the Padres, it’s at least worth pointing out that San Diego has reportedly expressed interest in a trade involving Duran, though there’s never been any indication the two parties are close to a deal. But as the Sox look for ways to add to their collection of outfielders, it bears mentioning that the addition of a free agent could at least make the idea of moving Duran a bit more palatable. Boston would presumably prefer MLB-ready pitching in such a swap, however, and that’s an area the Padres themselves are also a bit thin, which complicates the scenario.

The Red Sox currently project for a $177.5MM payroll with about $198MM worth of luxury tax considerations, per Roster Resource. That $177.5MM projection is more than $20MM away from last year’s year-end payroll of about $199MM and miles away from the franchise-record $236MM, set back in 2019. Over the past month, the Red Sox have been specifically connected to Duvall, Pham and first baseman/outfielder Garrett Cooper (who is reportedly nearing a decision in free agency).

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