Boston Red Sox News & Rumors

Despite a convincing win over the Braves tonight, the Red Sox sit at a disappointing 23-31 that has them at the bottom of the AL East. A scarcity of great teams in the American League means every club is still within six games of a Wild Card spot, so even the slowest starters can talk themselves into the possibility of turning things around.

That said, the Sox are obviously aware they’ll need to play far better than their current 69-win pace to avoid a sell-off two months from now. The front office already made an early-season managerial change going from Alex Cora to interim skipper Chad Tracy. They also overhauled the hitting coach group in an effort to get more from a dramatically underperforming lineup.

The Sox were 11th in the AL in scoring and dead last in OPS (.667) when Cora and multiple hitting coaches were fired on April 25. They’re up to sixth in the Junior Circuit in OPS since then but second from the bottom in runs scored, better only than a reeling Detroit team. Playing the past three weeks without Roman Anthony hasn’t helped, but the second-year outfielder was struggling even before a wrist sprain sent him to the injured list. The biggest issue is an infield that, aside from first baseman Willson Contreras, has contributed almost nothing offensively.

Reports emerged over the weekend that the Sox were already gauging the trade market for lineup help. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow echoed that in speaking with reporters on Wednesday afternoon (links via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic and Chris Cotillo of MassLive).

“We’ve been aggressive in terms of outreach and trying to identify players that we think can help us. Obviously, we’ve talked about the fact that the league is very compressed and there’s a bunch of teams — despite poor performance — who are still in it,” Breslow said. “The other side of that is that there are other teams in the league who have not played well that otherwise could think about moving players and are saying, ‘Hey, we’re not that far out of it.’”

One could certainly argue the Red Sox themselves are among that group. Breslow confirmed they’re not interested in selling off any veteran pieces this early in the year, telling Cotillo they’re “focused on doing everything we can to turn our season around.” Boston would certainly have some big names they could dangle on the trade front if their performance doesn’t improve.

Sonny Gray will be a free agent when his 2027 mutual option is declined, though the Sox would surely need to cover a portion of the $10MM buyout if they trade him. Contreras is signed through 2027 at a $17.25MM annual value, not including the $8MM the Cardinals sent to Boston as a condition of last offseason’s trade. Aroldis Chapman, probably the second-best reliever in MLB after Mason Miller, has a $13MM option for next year that’ll vest once he reaches 40 innings on the season.

That’s clearly not the short-term focus for Breslow’s front office. They’re looking for ways to inject some life into the offense, ideally via acquiring a right-handed bat. They could upgrade over the middle infield duo of Marcelo Mayer and the currently injured Trevor Story. Offseason trade pickup Caleb Durbin has hit so poorly that he’s losing playing time at third base to Nick Sogard and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Durbin still has a couple minor league options remaining and might need a reset at Triple-A.

It’s unlikely there’ll be any significant trade pieces on the move this early in the season. The Giants could shop Luis Arraez, who is holding his own defensively in a move back to second base. San Francisco already traded Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey in a surprise deal. CJ Abrams would be the prize of the infield trade market, but the Nationals almost certainly aren’t moving him while they’re above .500.

The Twins recently optioned struggling former first overall pick Royce Lewis to Triple-A; perhaps he’d be available as a reclamation target. The Mets’ Brett Baty and Mark Vientos are no stranger to trade rumors. New York would presumably still have a high ask on the lefty-hitting Baty. Vientos hits right-handed but has been a full-time first baseman this year. He’d be a tough fit for Boston unless they move away from their offseason focus on infield defense and install him at third base.

The Red Sox rank 29th of 30 teams in both homers (36) and runs (187), and their collective 89 wRC+ is better than only three other clubs.  The lack of pop has been one of the major factors of Boston’s 22-28 record, and the front office is looking to upgrade the lineup.

Club president Sam Kennedy told WEEI’s Greg Hill in a radio interview yesterday that the Red Sox were looking into trades, and the Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey wrote today that the team would prefer to add a right-handed hitter.  Some positions are obviously more of a need than others, but McCaffrey writes that Boston “is looking to add any offense in general.”

Willson Contreras leads the Sox with a 140 wRC+ and has first base locked down.  Catcher is probably not a major position of need since Connor Wong is providing roughly league-average offense, even if Carlos Narvaez isn’t hitting much.  Mickey Gasper has also hit well in a small sample size since being called up from Triple-A a couple of weeks ago, giving the Red Sox even more depth at the catching position.

Wilyer Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela have been very productive, while Masataka Yoshida has been so-so as a part-time DH and outfielder.  While Jarren Duran has struggled and Roman Anthony is on the injured list, the Red Sox outfield is still crowded enough that the team would likely only be looking to add a part-time bat in that area.  Since Rafaela is the only right-handed bat within that group of five outfielders, this is where another righty-swinger might come in handy for platoon purposes, as Anthony’s continued absence creates some opportunity for playing time on the grass.

Shortstop, second base, and third base are the most obvious target areas, as the Sox have gotten little to nothing from Marcelo Mayer, Trevor Story, Caleb Durbin, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.  Story will be gone for at least the next six weeks recovering from hernia surgery, and Mayer will now move from second base to get some playing time at shortstop in Story’s absence.  Maybe it’s possible that the shift back to his original position could increase Mayer’s overall comfort level and unlock his bat against Major League pitching, but in any case, the Red Sox still want to give Mayer regular looks at the big league level.

Durbin was the centerpiece of a six-player trade with the Brewers in February, so the Sox aren’t going to entirely abandon him despite Durbin’s extreme struggles at the plate.  IKF was signed to a one-year, $6MM deal over the winter and was viewed as a part-time player at best, so reducing his playing time (or maybe releasing him entirely) in favor of another right-handed hitting infielder seems like the most probable option.  Andruw Monasterio and Nick Sogard are also around in the infield mix but the Red Sox might prefer an external answer and a more proven bat.

Whether such an established bat can be found just two months into the season remains to be seen.  Though we’re less than a year away from the June blockbuster that saw the Red Sox themselves send Rafael Devers to the Giants, it is more likely that any external additions come in the form of a waiver claim or a trade for a recently-designated player rather than the Sox landing a true everyday starter type.

Teams generally prefer to wait until much closer to the trade deadline to pull the trigger on truly significant deals (whether as buyers or sellers), and all the parity in the American League adds another layer of difficulty to trade talks.  Only five AL teams have winning records, leaving 10 clubs still technically in contention — for all their issues, the Red Sox sit two games out of a wild card slot.

Kennedy alluded to the situation by saying “there’s some National League teams that are, I’d say, more engaged in conversations than typical at this time of the year….Will we be able to get a deal done or match up on something I have no idea is the truth, but there’s conversations, there’s urgency, and that’s something that’s that’s important, and hopefully something that could be done, you know, earlier rather than later.”

Among teams not expected to contend this season, the Cardinals and White Sox both have winning records, so they’re probably going to play things out further before considering selling.  The Angels should be in sell mode but rarely operate in such a fashion.  The Rockies, Marlins, and Nationals are all likely open for business already when it comes to moves, and one wonders if Washington’s CJ Abrams might be on Boston’s radar if chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is open to a major infield shakeup.  Nats president of baseball operations Paul Toboni came to his current job after a decade in the Red Sox front office, so Toboni has plenty of knowledge about the Boston farm system.

The firing of manager Alex Cora just 27 games into the season indicates there’s plenty of pressure on the organization to turn things around, and Breslow’s job security has also come into question since Cora’s removal.  With this in mind, it is possible Breslow might be more open to dealing prospects if it means adding a major bat quickly.  Top prospect Franklin Arias is surely unavailable and Breslow will be understandably hesitant about dealing from the team’s minor league pitching depth.  But, since asking prices are always inflated in trade talks at this time of the year, rival front offices are surely going to try and capitalize on any perceived desperation on Boston’s part.