Red Sox outfielder Rob Refsnyder flirted with retirement last offseason, but ultimately decided to continue his career in Boston. Now that he’s headed into his age-35 season, however, it appears he’s less conflicted about his future. Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reported yesterday that Refsnyder intends to continue his playing career in 2026, and he’s already had “informal talks” with Boston about the possibility of a return.
It’s understandable that Refsnyder would want to keep going after the year he’s had. In 70 games for the Red Sox, Refsnyder raked to the tune of a .269/.354/.484 slash line across 209 plate appearances. That was more or less a repeat of his excellent 2024, and he now enters free agency coming off a two year stretch where he’s slashed .278/.357/.476 in 163 games (516 plate appearances). In that time, he’s clubbed 20 homers with 28 doubles with a 25.6% strikeout rate against a 10.1% walk rate.
That’s incredibly strong production for a bench player, though it should be noted he sports a massive platoon split. Refsnyder is hitting .302/.396/.554 (160 wRC+) against southpaws over the past two years, but in that same time he’s hit a mediocre .250/.310/.387 (94 wRC+) against right-handed pitchers. That production against righties dropped to just .212/.268/.348 (67 wRC+) this season, leaving him has a far less viable bat against same-handed pitching. Even with that step back against right-handers this year, Refsnyder should enjoy a strong market by bench bat standards.
It’s not completely out of the question that a club could see Refsnyder as a candidate for a larger role, given his overall production the past two seasons and solid numbers against same-handed pitching in 2024. His more significant platoon split in 2025 likely puts a damper on those efforts, however, and he still figures to fit best on a team where he can be used as a part-time player. The Red Sox still make plenty of sense for his services given their heavily left-handed outfield mix. Having Refsnyder in the fold to complement Wilyer Abreu, Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, and Masataka Yoshida would go a long way to keeping Boston’s offense balanced next year.
There are a handful of other teams Refsnyder could make plenty of sense for as well, however. The Diamondbacks traded Randal Grichuk away at the deadline but have an outfield and DH mix that’s similarly heavy on lefties with Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy, and Pavin Smith all playing roles. The Cubs could view Refsnyder as an upgrade over Justin Turner who could be deployed as a platoon partner for Moises Ballesteros or Owen Caissie in the event that one of those lefty-swinging rookies takes over Kyle Tucker’s spot in the Chicago lineup. The Royals and Guardians both struggled to get production out of their outfielders this year and could view Refsnyder as a way to significantly improve their offense without breaking the bank.
Sox have lots of lefties. If they think Rob is happy in Boston and can keep hitting lefty pitching, just pay the man what he deserves.
Yeah he smashes lefties
Red Sox have a lot of lefties, but Cora has been vocal about getting Wilyer Abreu more at-bats against lefties, they seem to really like Eaton, Romy can play the OF if needed and Campbell & Garcia offer RH OF depth (with Campbell counting 7.5mil in AAV).
I appreciate everything Reganyder has done, but think he’s more valuable to another team. Whenever he does retire, seems to have a future as a hitting coach.
WC, agree on a hitting coach later but with injuries, Ref is important to Boston. Keep him if you can.
@dewey he’s important if they have two outfielders who can’t hit lefties including one who never plays against them. I’m assuming the Red Sox trade one of Duran/Abreu, at which time Refsnyder would be far less valuable.
With Romy, Campbell, Garcia and Eaton – the need for a RH bench bat simply isn’t there like it will be for other teams and they certainly aren’t offering a larger role. I expect another team to offer him more money and/or a longer contract. I like him very much, but fit and value aren’t what they used to be.
WC – Agreed, Eaton offered a pretty good bat to go along with great base running, and plays multiple positions much better than Refsnyder. Refsnyder has been fantastic while with the Red Sox, but they now have multiple options to fill his role.
He has a chance to double his career earnings with one last trip into free agency even if it’s a one-year $6/m deal!
I’m thinking he’ll explore free agency but will then return to Boston.
His career earnings are around 7..5M.
spotrac.com/mlb/player/earnings/_/id/18012/rob-ref…
Pirates should consider getting him and platooning him with Horowitz at 1B and a little in leftfield.
He might be a good fit for the Pirates, but why would he sign with Pittsburgh?
I would imagine at this point in his career, he wants to be on a team with a shot at something. Boston is a good fit. If not Boston, it would seem likely that some other playoff caliber team would be interested.
He is not a good fit for Pittsburgh.
The Pirates have right handed hitting replacements for Horowitz already.
They trade their rental players to a playoff caliber team at the trade deadline if player does well. I am pretty sure that’s the purpose of the Pirates although they missed the mark this past year.
Boston is already a playoff caliber team that he is familiar with, enjoys playing for, and is well-liked by the fans. There’s no need whatsoever for him to sign with Pittsburgh and wait to see where they’d trade him in July.
A return to pinstripes?
I think him being a right handed hitter may hurt him in dont they need lefties?
What, so they can try and make him a 2B again? 🙂
It’s possible depending on their outfield makeup next year. Right now Judge is the only guy locked in. 2 lefties, Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger, are both walking. They’ll likely try to bring back Belli, but he actually has reverse splits so they don’t need a righty backup for him. It sounds like they may give Dominguez the 3rd spot and he’s a switch hitter, but he’s not been remotely effective when hitting as a righty.
If next year’s outfield is Judge, Bellinger and Dominguez, then a Refsnyder/Dominguez platoon could actually work well, at least on paper.
They’ve got Dominguez playing winterball now so I think HOFer Ref will be scooped up by the time they can evaluate.
Nice. One of the greatest legends of the game.
We’re talking about the GOAT here let there be no question
@DockEllisDee
First ballot HOFer, for sure.
He’s a lot better at baseball than you are at commenting.
@GhostofThomasHamilton
What from my post made you think otherwise?
Nothing.
Infeed.
If he resigns, then the couple times I mentioned Castellanos as a potential replacement are irrelevant, and I think I’d be happy about that
No thank you. Ref may not be a good defender but Caste shouldn’t own a glove.
I said that I’d prefer to keep Refsnyder. You said no thank you to something you agree with.
He’s just padding the HoF stats at this point.
Hopefully the Sox bring him back. He’s too valuable off the bench to have him play against them
If Jhostynxon Garcia (Password) were ready to take on the Refsnyder role as a RH OF platoon bat., then I think the Sox might let Refsnyder walk. However, Garcia is not ready and will spend at least half of 2026 in AAA. Refsnyder got 2.1 mil in ’25, so a raise to 3.5 (give or take a half mil) seems plausible, moreso if Duran is traded.
Unless password then becomes a trade prospect in package for pitching
Kristian Campbell is another RH bat that may be ready during the 2026 season. I tried to locate his numbers against LH pitching, but couldn’t find them.
After April, he sucked against both lefties and righties.
Dewey: I know he did with the Red Sox, but what about in AAA?
The Phillies need a RH bat to platoon with Marsh. What if they sign Schwarber and Bellinger, let JT and Ranger pass, and have an outfield of Bellinger, Crawford and Marsh/Refsnyder?
That would be great, but signing Schwarber would eat up anything they have for Bellinger.
A return to the Sox seems like the obvious option, apparently he would have retired last offseason but a Red Sox coach talked him out of it. He seems like someone who is likely to remain in a job with the Sox after his playing career. All that said though, if a team viewed him as an everyday outfielder and offered him commensurate money, he’d have a hard time turning that down.
Why would any team view him as an everyday OF – he has never been an everyday player and is heading into his age 35 season as a guy that only hits lefties and is not a good defensive OF.
Gig economy bat.
Not that long ago, when Refsneider was with the Yankees that he was the bulls eye for countless comments about how bad a player he was and that he wasn’t worth a box of balls or a barrel of Double Bubble…..yeh…all you arm chair GM’s you know who you are……Ref’s been a valuable addition to the Sox and has rounded into a pretty good ML ballplayer over his career…..Sox should keep him around…
I like Ref, and he is very good at his role of a lefty masher off the bench. I’d be happy to keep him around. Shouldn’t take much more than a modest raise to keep him happy enough to stay, I’d think.
I’m guessing Ref wouldn’t be resigned, if they resign him, until after the Rule 5 draft with the 40 man roster crunch they have.
For sure, there is some shuffling around to do so locking him up one more year isn’t and shouldn’t be the top priority. But they can solve that problem of timing with a simple “hey, we want you back, this is the number we are thinking about bringing you back at, that said we have to unclog the 40 man a little before we can officially do anything so just sit tight and we will come back to you and get this done”
Unless the Red Sox are deciding to not go “all in” this coming season (which I believe would be a big mistake), there simply is not room on next year’s roster. And for what he can get on the open market, not worth the extra money for the Red Sox, who should be loaded on offense after free agency is over.
Nice
Higher ticket prices, or lefty masher?
So much hate towards Yoshida by the fans and press but he ended up with some big hits for them again when injuries knocked others out of the line up. All the talk about no room for 5 OFer’s and ultimately injuries nearly left them with less than 3 OFer’s.