The Red Sox reportedly have an agreement with infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a one-year contract, pending a physical. Salary terms for the ALIGND Sports Agency client remain unreported. Boston’s 40-man roster will be at capacity after the signing, so no corresponding move is required.
Kiner-Falefa will apparently be the Sox’s answer at second base after they lost Alex Bregman to free agency. Boston kicked around much bigger possibilities on the trade and free agent markets (e.g. Ketel Marte, Brendan Donovan, Isaac Paredes, Bo Bichette) but couldn’t find a deal to their liking. They reportedly prefer to keep Marcelo Mayer at third base and were looking for a quality defensive player whom they could plug in at the keystone.
A former Gold Glove winner, Kiner-Falefa qualifies on that front. He took home the defensive honor at third base as a member of the Rangers in 2020. He’s a plus defender at any of second base, third base or shortstop. He has more experience on the left side of the infield but carries strong marks from Defensive Runs Saved (+12) and Statcast (+2 Outs Above Average) in nearly 600 career innings as a second baseman.
The flip side is that Kiner-Falefa isn’t going to provide much at the plate. He puts the ball in play but has some of the lowest exit velocities in the sport. He has never reached double digits in home runs in a season, nor has he turned in a .700 OPS in any of his eight years in the majors. Kiner-Falefa is coming off a .262/.297/.334 showing across 459 plate appearances between the Pirates and Blue Jays. He’s a .262/.311/.349 hitter in more than 3300 trips to the dish over his career. He’s a solid baserunner despite average speed, stealing double digit bases in each of the past five years.
Second base was a weak point for the Red Sox last year. Kristian Campbell faded after a monster April and was back in Triple-A by the end of June. He posted disastrous defensive grades and no longer seems to be an option at the position. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has suggested a few times they view Campbell primarily as an outfielder. He’s a good enough athlete to have some promise as a defender on the grass, but Boston’s crowded outfield isn’t going to afford him many opportunities until someone suffers an injury.
The Sox used Romy Gonzalez, Ceddanne Rafaela, David Hamilton and Nick Sogard there in the second half and got just a .242/.292/.333 showing down the stretch. Rafaela is an elite defensive outfielder whom the Red Sox prefer to play in center field. Gonzalez hits lefties well but profiles as a short side platoon bat. Hamilton and Sogard are utility players on a team that expects to contend. Kiner-Falefa probably should be as well, yet there weren’t any clear regulars available in free agency at this stage of the offseason.
Kiner-Falefa is a right-handed hitter whose offensive profile doesn’t change regardless of the pitcher’s handedness. Gonzalez should still take the majority of at-bats against lefty pitching. Kiner-Falefa could slide to third on those days if the Sox want to shield Mayer from same-handed opposition. They might also prioritize having him on the field behind ground-ball pitchers like Brayan Bello and Ranger Suárez while plugging Gonzalez in for a little more offense on days when Garrett Crochet or Sonny Gray take the mound.
It appears the Sox had pushed close to their financial comfort zone after signing Suárez and trading for Gray and Willson Contreras. According to RosterResource, Boston had around $257MM in luxury tax commitments before this deal. They’re a few days removed from giving up a mid-tier starting pitching prospect, David Sandlin, to dump $16MM of the $24MM remaining on the Jordan Hicks contract on the White Sox. (Boston also picked up minor league pitcher Gage Ziehl in that trade.) If the cash considerations are evenly distributed, they saved $8MM on the 2026 payroll, some of which they’re now reallocating to Kiner-Falefa.
The Sox are above the $244MM first tax threshold. They’re second-time payors who pay a 30% tax on their first $20MM in overages, so they’re currently set for a minimal tax bill. That was also the case last year, as they paid a $1.5MM fee for going nearly $8MM above the line. The tax rate climbs to 42% for spending between $264MM and $284MM. There are no draft penalties associated with going into the second penalization tier, so that’d largely be an arbitrary stopping point if that’s where ownership sets the budget.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive first reported the Red Sox and Kiner-Falefa were nearing a one-year deal. ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed an agreement was in place.
Image courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images.
Learn to slide!!!!!!!!!
Bregman will be back. Okay, it’ll be Suarez. No, okay, Donovan! IKF. Welcome to Boston.
Lord – Help me!
Fever, it can’t be for much money so once they move Sandoval, a righty outfielder is still likely. Who is the question? Andujar is my guess now. They should have been aggressive from the start and signed Alonso.
*Insert isildur No meme here
& take a lead
i could have scored on that grounder
infuriating
Learn to not slide!!!!! Just run and touch the little white thingy and overrun the white thingy.
Oof
Scraping the barnacles off the barrel with this one
I came to watch the Sox fans heads exploding. Guess it is still too soon? Where is the indignation people!?
Give them time. Implosions are imminent.
Wade – its coming!!
Breslow dumpster divin
101 – Now that everyone else is gone, finally the Sox slithered up to the buffet table and grabbed some remaining scraps.
Finally the power hitting RHB that Breslow promised! He’s good for at least 2 homeruns this season, WOOO HOOO!!!!
Who needs Paredes or Marte when you can have a solid .631 OPS guy for a fraction of the cost!!
They should be all over trying to get Paredes at this point. Marte is supposedly off the market now and would probably cost one of Tolle or Early. Paredes should come cheaper, and his pull-heavy approach should be a good fit at Fenway. He’s also somehow still only like 26, which I can’t believe. Seems like he’s been around for a long time now.
Dude give it a rest. We all know. Literally the same 5-6 sentence summary doesn’t need to be repeated by ever tom dick harry. Is this AI? It’s gotta be AI right?
Paredes is not the answer. Not nearly enough power to make a material difference. They said defense was the priority. Let’s see what happens. in 18, they won with big time hits, pitching and key defense. Maybe 26 will be the same.
Paredes will cost either one of Tolle or Early. Marte more.
Astros71: “Paredes will cost either one of Tolle or Early. Marte more.”
==================
If that’s what they were asking for, I see why Breslow didn’t pull the trigger.
Right handed David Hamilton. Yay
@Fever Pitch Guy
Red Sox ruining baseball!
When the GM says we are prioritizing a power right handed bat it is not a promise. The team is a better team than last year and its being built with short term improvement and long term sustainability. If one cant see the quality and depth of this team then their mind is closed and focused on only the negative. Top 3 rotation in the league and so much pitching depth than we have ever had… Cubs and Bregman will both regret this contract in 3 years and they wont be in a world series by then either. We have 0 bad contracts that we are stuck with.
SoxFan55 – is the goal to be fiscally prudent or gather enough talent to be better than the Blue Jays, Yankees and Mariners?
Why do you care about “bad” contracts? Care about 5 mediocre to less than average platoon players for 162 at 2B…..
Bad contracts lead to bad years in last place or no playoffs. Being smart not overpaying for aging and players in their declining years allows a team that drafts well to continue to invest in young players like Anthony and Crochet and sign one or two good fit free agents when needed or opportunity strikes. Bad contracts and aging players stuck on a roster like Stanton only hurt a team and keep it cyclical.
SoxFan55- so was Alonso a “bad” contract in your opinion?
We are still in the process of building that sustainable success but very close.
Why don’t you wait and see if the Alonso contract is good or bad?
Yes… bad defense and and that has already been an issue for us
Suit – the post was that the Sox aren’t saddled with any bad contracts.
So, I am curious if he thought that the Alonso contract was good or are the Orioles saddled with it? Because my contention is 2yrs of Contreras plus five bad offensive players at 2B aren’t as good as having Alonso behind the top three in the lineup
@SoxFan55, Are you joking? This team is poorly assembled and has many unresolved flaws that were easily resolvable this offseason.
The lineup is absolutely worse than the beginning of last season. Last year’s Opening Day lineup had Bregman and Devers in it. Their bats have basically been replaced by Contreras (whiffs a ton and has never hit more than 24 HR) and IKF, who is one of least valuable hitters in the entire league. It’s true that nothing is guaranteed, but at beginning of offseason Breslow stated publicly about how important it was to add a legit power bat that the opposition has to plan around when facing you, and to put it kindly he failed miserably at achieving what he claimed to prioritize.
However, Breslow did radically upgrade the pitching rotation and it is arguably the deepest in MLB. That alone should raise the floor on the win total, but also the ceiling is limited by having an inflexibly built roster with a mostly lefty lineup with two slow-footed lefty DHs, 4 starting outfielders, half the infield has a poor injury history and many question marks about their abilities, but we do have a good catcher. I like Narvi, he’s quite underrated, one of the best defensively and I believe can be better with the bat than what we’ve seen so far. In the bullpen, Chapman and Whitlock are great, but the relievers beyond them are mostly poor. It remains to be seen if any of the 10 or so starting pitching candidates will be used in the pen, or start the season in AAA, or get traded.
There’s good and bad with this team. The good is mostly Roman Anthony’s greatness, Crochet, Suarez, and the starting pitching depth. The bad is a poorly assembled team that isn’t built to function well. It will be hard for Cora to utilize roster well with the limitations of it. What happens when both Casas and Yoshida are on the roster at the same time as 4 outfielders? There’s only one DH slot to pass around and with Contreras at 1B, Cora’s bench might be quite limited the way things are constructed right now.
It’s frustrating to see the Red Sox so focused on avoiding the next luxury tax tier when other teams in the division take steps to improve their lineups. Yes, our pitching will be good and that will result in wins. But our lineup might not be competitive or complete enough to realistically compete well in the toughest division in baseball
Fever- This must be an inexpensive contract to bring him in as a utility guy who has been known as a decent defender. It would not make sense for him to have a full time role as he doesn’t provides less upside than some of the in house candidates. I can’t imagine there is not another move or two coming. I think of him as a replacement for Hamilton.
Replacing Bregman with IKF. Nice.
HBan22 – Contreras + IKF doesnt even get you back to Bregman.
Replacing Bregman with Mayer…. Falfela is filling a need at second.
Soxfan55- no, your replacing the guy who stands to the right of third base with Mayer. As a potential right handed impact (power) bat in the lineup youre replacing Bregman with Conteras and IKF
One way to look at it. Bregmans production will be replaced by Mayer. Contreras stabilizes production and defense at first and falfela/romey stabilize defense and avg production at 2nd. With a top 3 pitching staff and top 3 outfield. Much improved team. Romero is close to ready to take over 2nd and he has some pop.
Sad- Let’s not assume he is going to be given a full time role. He may be more of a utility/bench guy. When we see details of the contract we will know better. I would much rather have him playing than Hamilton.
SoxFan55 – if Bregman stayed Mayer was the full time 2B. His production was never meant to replace Bregman’s…
Uncle – you could be right. As a bench/utility/injury replacement, I say fine.
Unfortunately, if thats his role, than that leaves us with Hamilton, Romy, Sogard and Gaspar at 2B
Agree, we are still missing an offensive piece to the puzzle. This certainly is not that.
Hamilton needs to go. IKF is taking his place. We will see what they get out of Gaspar, I am not expecting much. This is not the exciting move I was hoping for, but I don’t hate it if they can find another player who can provide the right handed power bat somewhere in the lineup. Romy and IKF is better than Romy and Hamilton. Not great, but better.
They’re replacing the production at 1st, 3rd and 2nd from last year with Contreras, IKF/Romy and a full year of Mayer. Romy and Mayer moved around last year, so it’s not as clear cut as it could be, but it looks like a wash to me (unless Mayer explodes…one way or the other).
As of now, Rafaela at 2nd/SS against RHPs seems like the way to go. IKF provides depth, an occasional platoon with Mayer and a defensive replacement at 2nd or 3rd.
We didn’t get a big upgrade offensive as we had hoped, but the starting pitching has been greatly improved.
IKF may be viewed as 3B depth in case Mayer gets injured or struggles offensively.
Still time to complete the AL East bingo card, Rays next year and a mid season trade to the Orioles and he’s done it.
Bad – Steve Pearce says hello.
He did all five consecutively.
I mean I guess he raises the floor… but I think an argument can be made that he actually lowers the ceiling versus someone like Romy who might actually knock in some runs and hit a few HRs
This is exactly what worries me about this signing. IKF is one of the least valuable hitters in MLB, all of what limited value he brings is from his glove, so as an everyday player he takes at-bats away from Romy, and Romy took a huge step forward last year. On a rate basis Romy was way above average in several hitter categories. Now maybe he platoons with Mayer at 3B or backs him up? Plus, Casas returns by May. Then with him and Yoshida there’s two lefty DHs on a roster with mostly lefty batters. I have to think a big trade still happens before Spring is over. Four high quality outfielders. A mostly lefty lineup. A gajillion starting pitchers, and not much quality relievers after Chapman and Whitlock. This team does not feel assembled well
Romy will get plenty of at bats against lefties as he has been. If Yoshida is traded or doesn’t hit, Romy will DH against lefties, etc. Also IKF at this stage will not start 130 games.
Whether it was Bregman or not, it was always going to be a defensive plus. IKF isn’t going to blow anyone away with his pop, but he hits for decent average and gold glove capable and can mix and match positions.
trot – He’s won no Gold Gloves in a regular season and he’s a career .660 OPS hitter.
But sure, Cora will love constantly moving him around the field.
Ironically, the only position he hasn’t played ….. is first base. LOL
Fever- In the article above it says he is a former Gold Glove winner. That was where that came from. I don’t know if it is accurate but it is in the article.
Uncle- 2020 was a 60-game joke, not a regular season. That’s what I meant 😉
Fever- Ah, now I get what you meant. Did not realize it was the shortened season.
IKF is insurance for Story and Mayer. In that regard it’s a good move.
Dewey – if that were the case shouldn’t we have an everyday 2B already?
I am concerned that IKF is about to play 115 games at 2B
Decent average?? IKF is a career .262 hitter who also doesn’t walk much. He had an incredibly bad .297 onbase% in 2025. His wRC+ was 75, which by that metric means his hitting is 25% worse than the production an average MLB hitter. IKF is the definition of well below average, as a hitter. In fact, his batting run value (which is a great all-around hitting metric) places him in the bottom 5% of MLB hitters. Another way of looking at that, is that IKF’s batting run value is worse than 95% of MLB. That’s really, really bad
With the glove though, his reputation is that of a good glove man. However, when looking at his fielding run value in 2025, his performance has declined quite a bit in the field. His fielding run value in 2025 was a -2, which was worse than 65% of MLB.
Overall, this is a terrible acquisition by the Red Sox. The Red Sox would be better served by any of their current bench players (and even some of their minor leaguers) than they would rolling IKF out there. This signing has me convinced that Breslow is not that bright a baseball mind in areas outside of starting pitching. Playing IKF literally makes the team worse. If he’s used sparingly as a backup glove off the bench and a pinch runner then that might be ok (he is a good base runner), but I think the intent is likely for him to start at 2B for 2026, and that’s an awful plan
Thirdbaseman – I agree with you. All the credit in the world to Breslow for building a starting rotation that could be first in the league, and, is literally 8 deep.
He does not have the ability to build a 26 man roster with all of the parts complementing each other in a way that the sum is greater than all the parts.
Third- It is all relative. Compared to Hamilton with his .198 average last year, he is a decent hitter. Not great, but not terrible.
What is the average BA for a hitter in the past decade? We don’t even need him to play full time. If people are throwing out advanced metrics, take a look at Romy’s ranks last year and tell me he won’t be the primary 2B this year. Don’t forget about Campbell, whom they still hope can be 2B/OF and certainly have nowhere to play him in the OF. IKF is the right complement to this group without mortgaging our top prospects for aging and/or subpar defenders.
Ladies and gentlemen, we found our second baseman
… ok *shrug*
MAKIN MONEY MOVES!
Would honestly rather have Romy out there instead of IKF.
Why didn’t Boston bring back Refsnyder? IKF. How does it feel to be the reason for a WS loss???
I mean, there were multiple reasons why they lost.
The type of chip on the shoulder that’s unpredictable.
Same! Or at the very least, a platoon of Romy and Eaton.
He’ll get his at bats in on left handed statrting pitching
100%. Hopefully IKF is nothing more than a back-up at multiple positions, because he is definitely not a starting calibre player. Romy needs to be the starting 2B. A way better hitter and improved on defense as the year went on.
Following the footsteps of HOFer Rob Ref!
“Best SS in the league” – Aaron Boone
Clipper – hmmmm, i notice he isn’t still on the Yankees
“They reportedly prefer to keep Marcelo Mayer at third base and were looking for a quality defensive player whom they could plug in at the keystone.”
If they want qualify defense, why did they sign IKF?
Isn’t David Hamilton better than?
IKF is the better defender and has more positional flexibility. Hamilton doesn’t have the arm for 2nd or 3rd.
sry, ss or 3rd*
The sooner we can move on from Hamilton the better. Speedy but otherwise below average and don’t see upside. He’ll be DFAed or traded by this time next year.
Underwhelming
If im trying to be hopeful, maybe this gives us leverage in trading since we technically arent knocking on death’s doorsteps if we dont get a second baseman?
Cheeezus cripes!
Guess Red Sox are serious about committing to defense to win games. Who needs to produce runs when you can stop the other team from scoring…
Seriously though it’s plain as day that Bregman had no plan beyond Bregman and after that failed, there was no other plan. Unless you consider a plan to be: 1) add starting pitching. 2) add more starting pitching. 3) ignore infield and lineup deficiencies. 4) pivot to defense-first mindset. 5) sign superstar of the bottom-of-the-barrel dwellers, the 0.7 fWAR, 75 wRC+ Isiah Kiner-Falefa!
Guess the Sox finally got that high impact righty slugger Breslow talked about prioritizing at beginning of this winter
I would argue that Bregman’s first plan should always be Bregman 🙂
That was not on my bingo card. In fact IKF signing with any contending team was not.
He is good on defense but the Sox already had a glove first 2B.
The Falafel guy.
An Astros and Red Sox deal pretty much dead. However, Falefa is likely a bench guy on this sort of team, so yeah. Good pickup for the bench. He joins another one of our rivals.
He’s not a bench pickup. He was picked up to be the starting 2B, which is embarrassing.
I truly hope he does not start more than 20 or 30 games in 2026. He is far worse than Romy, about on par with Hamilton, and maybe a bit behind Eaton as well. If he does, that is a bad sign for Boston.
Waited all winter for this…..not surprised though. I like IKF but it’s not what the team needed
IKF at 2B would be perfectly decent if the rest of your lineup is set but when you’re banking on a rookie 3B and a platoon DH who doesn’t hit for power, IKF ain’t gonna cut it.
Defensively, an excellent move. Offensively, it leaves something to be desired. But hopefully, Mayer and Anthony provide the offense that was lost in losing Bregman.
I think Contreras will pretty much replace Bregman’s offense and the offense is pretty much the same as last year. So, they still could use another bat.
IKF has been playable vs RHP in a reverse split. Which should pair well with Romy. Remains to be seen if this works out, but another guy at the bottom with a chance isn’t as bad as doing nothing.
And there you have it IKF to Boston…Yanks feel like they already have what they need in Caballero and Rosario& no need to reunite with IKF…Still thinking that Andy Ibanez,after having just gotten dfa’d by the Codgers, could be another fine claim for an IKF type hustler despite having to shell out a salary slightly above league minimum.Step up Cashman and make Ibanez a Yankee. His versatility would pay dividends when the injuries start piling up
This guy hit 36 homeruns this is the bat we need oh yeah thats his total for his career nice job Breslow you needed a homerun hitter and you got a utility hitter.
Red Sox got one foot in and one foot out. IKF is a great defender and would make a great role player on a team with some big moves around it. This ain’t it though. They made a big trade for Crochet last offseason, extended him, and then don’t properly build around that move. I don’t get it.
Okay I guess. Not clear that this is an upgrade, outside of having more ML experience
The defense overall got better. That’s fine. At more than one point this season, IKF is gonna make a big play to get out of a jam. Or turn a tough DP. And we fans will be like, yeah! Great pick up!
The pitching staff is good w this move for sure.
Let’s hope they are going to move some of their other pieces and view IKF as utility backup. Otherwise inexcusable. Maybe now they pivot again and sign Framber. Sheesh.
Sure it’s not a big signing but you already have a better team than at least half the league…
Ok, so let me see here…..
Hamilton, Romy, IKF, Sogard, Gaspar, Campbell…..
How in the world is this better than spending $15m on Eugenio Suarez and playing Mayer at 2B???
Who said Suarez would have signed that contract with Boston? He has past experience in Cinci, and turned down a 2 year from Pittsburgh.
The the air has left the room. they signed a bat to already weak lineup. talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Garbage!!! Rather not of signed anyone then waste this money
This is fine if it’s a depth move, not the starting 2b.
Topper47 – depth for who? The existing 2B quartet of Hamilton, Sogard Rkmy and Gaspar?
IKF may be depth for 3B as Mayer seems to get injured. He won a gold glove at 3B in 2020.
89 wins last year and the team is markedly better this year.
That is ALL.
Good night.
By WAR you’d think he is a good player but it doesn’t measure baseball IQ
cost the blue jays the world series
still pissed about that
Lots of hate towards the dude, but IKF is a solid player. Not flashy, but a good dude to have on any club. tbh. Not sure about being THE starter at 2nd, but he’s a good plugable role player.
Whoopdeedoo. Lets goo! This is that middle of the order bat we’ve been waiting for. It’s gonna be an awesome 80 win season.
Falafel is a popular Middle Eastern street food consisting of deep-fried balls or patties made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or a mixture of both. Known for its crispy exterior and soft, savory interior, this protein-rich, plant-based dish is blended with herbs (parsley, cilantro) and spices (cumin, coriander).
Key Details About Falafel
Ingredients: Primarily ground chickpeas or fava beans, seasoned with onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, cumin, and coriander.
Preparation: The legumes are soaked (not cooked) and blended with herbs/spices, formed into balls or patties, and then deep-fried.
Serving: Typically served in a pita pocket with tahini sauce, hummus, and fresh or pickled vegetables.
Dietary: It is naturally vegan and vegetarian.
Origin: It originates from the Middle East, with strong ties to Egyptian and Levantine cuisine.
Falafel is favored for its earthy, herbaceous flavor and is often eaten as a snack, in a sandwich, or as part of a meze platter.
Related video thumbnail
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Homemade Falafel Recipe
Hilltop Recipes
This can’t be the answer – two David Hamiltons? Please. This can’t be the answer.
Great replacement for Bergman! LFG
You guys should trade for gorman and jojo. Probably wouldn’t cost alot
He’s a decent, useful player, and Boston has had an excellent off-season.
Brian, my friend, ummmmm
When they go low, we go Breslower.
We all need to relax – not the move we wanted – but team is better than last year and we have moveable parts for transactions mid season when we see what we really have – is the team acting cheap now – sure – but instead of overpaying right now let’s let the games begin!
Most real fans recognize this is going to be a very good team.
What you have here is a whole slew of angry trolls.
Can we now put to rest trade rumors for Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw
Romy is gonna be playing second base, but they did need someone in the utility role. That’s what this is.
On prom night, Boston pivoted from the cheerleader captain to the girl with braces and a mustache.
Hamilton, Kiner-Falefa, and Gonzalez with spot appearances of Rafaela is probably manageable.
Hamilton and Kiner-Falefa could both have bounce back seasons. Kiner-Falefa could be a back up for a Mayer absence in a pinch.
Overall, not a great signing, but it covers the bottom lines. Would be nice if there is more story to come.
Seattle won this trade!