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Red Sox Sign Kristian Campbell To Eight-Year Extension

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The Red Sox announced that they have signed prospect Kristian Campbell to an eight-year contract extension which runs from 2025 to 2032 with club options for 2033 and 2034. It is reportedly a $60MM guarantee which breaks down as follows: Campbell, a Beverly Hills Sports Council client, gets a $2MM signing bonus and a $1MM salary this year. He will then make $2MM, $3MM, $4MM, $6MM, $9MM, $13MM and $16MM in the next seven seasons. The first club option is valued at $19MM and has a $4MM buyout, then the second option is worth $21MM. There are also escalators based on awards voting and All-Star selections. The Sox are buying out two of Campbell’s free agent seasons with the options allowing them to extend their window by two more years after that.

Campbell’s stock has been shooting up for quite a while now. The Sox selected him with the 132nd overall pick in 2023, giving him a signing bonus of just under $500K. He played 22 minor league games just after that signing with a strong .309/.440/.471 line.

His success continued in his first full season. Last year, he vaulted from Single-A to Double-A and Triple-A, hitting a combined .330/.439/.558. That production led to a wRC+ of 180. He drew walks in 14.3% of his plate appearances while only striking out 19.9% of the time. He also stole 24 bases while lining up defensively at second base, third base, shortstop and in the outfield.

That huge season shot him up prospect lists heading into 2025. Each of Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, FanGraphs and Keith Law of The Athletic had Campbell among the top ten prospects in the entire league this winter.

That also got Campbell in line to make the majors this year, with second base eventually emerging as the best path. The outfield is already fairly crowded, with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu in there now. Roman Anthony will join that group at some point soon. Then there’s Masataka Yoshida, who largely slotted in as the designated hitter last year. But with the Sox going with Alex Bregman at third and Rafael Devers as the DH, there’s no room for Yoshida in there. Bregman could perhaps opt-out after this year but the Sox could have Marcelo Mayer take over that spot, since Trevor Story has shortstop spoken for.

There are lots of moving pieces but Campbell nonetheless got the second base job to start the year. He actually had a fairly tepid spring showing but the club showed faith in him and he has hit .375/.500/.688 in his first five big league contests.

Though he has made his major league debut, this is effectively comparable to pre-debut extensions. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the benchmark for a guy with no service time is Jackson Chourio’s eight-year, $82MM extension from just over a year ago. That topped the previous record, which was $50MM for Luis Robert Jr., a deal that’s a few years in the past. Campbell got past Robert but didn’t quite get to Chourio’s level but that’s fairly understandable. Campbell is turning 23 in June while Chourio was just about to turn 20 years old in March of last year, with that difference giving Chourio some extra earning power.

It’s perhaps not an accident that the club waited until after Opening Day to get this deal done. It was reported last March that players who sign pre-debut extensions, like Chourio, aren’t eligible for the prospect promotion incentive. To discourage service time manipulation, the current collective bargaining agreement put measures in place to encourage teams to carry top prospects on Opening Day rosters. One of those measures is that top prospects who are called up early enough to earn a full service year can earn their clubs an extra draft pick via awards voting.

Campbell came into this year as a consensus top prospect and cracked the Opening Day roster. That means he can earn the Sox an extra pick by winning Rookie of the Year or finishing top three in MVP voting during his pre-arb years. That would have come off the table if this contract were signed prior to the start of the season but is still in play for Boston now that they’ve waited a few days into the campaign.

For Campbell, it’s easy to see why he preferred to lock up this kind of money earlier in his career. As mentioned, he wasn’t a huge name going into the draft. While some players can earn multiple millions on their signing bonuses, Campbell was limited to under $500K. Even though he cracked this year’s Opening Day roster, he wasn’t going to qualify for arbitration until after 2027. This deal allows him to put some life-changing money in the bank ahead of schedule.

Even the top prospects will sometimes struggle in the big leagues and Campbell was a sort of surprise surger last year. If he hits any speed bumps in the coming years, he is financially secure. He is potentially limited himself in the future, though. If the two options are picked up, he won’t hit free agency until he’s going into his age-33 season.

For the Sox, they clearly believe the future is bright and have gained some cost certainty and control over essentially Campbell’s entire prime. Should he continue to thrive on the field in the coming years, he’ll be a relative bargain. Even when he’s making eight-figure salaries in the later years of the deal, that’s still well below what top players get on the open market.

It’s the second significant extension they’ve given out in recent days. They inked left-hander Garrett Crochet to a $170MM deal earlier this week. That was a different animal as Crochet is far closer to free agency and more established as a big leaguer.

Another key difference between the two is that Crochet’s deal doesn’t start until 2026 and therefore doesn’t impact Boston’s competitive balance tax number here in 2025, but the Campbell deal does. RosterResource calculates the club’s CBT number at $249MM, beyond the $241MM base threshold. Back in February, president Sam Kennedy said the club was already over the line and planned to stay there.

Christopher Smith of MassLive first relayed the $60MM guarantee. Julian McWilliams of CBS Sports first reported the option values. Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, reported the full annual breakdown and escalators.

Photos courtesy of Kevin Jairaj and Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

MLBTR Podcast: Garrett Crochet’s Extension, Problems In Atlanta, And Other Early-Season Storylines

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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 Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Check out our past episodes!

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

Photo courtesy of Tim Heitman, Imagn Images

Red Sox Sign Garrett Crochet To Six-Year Extension

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Today: The Red Sox have officially announced Crochet’s extension. The full breakdown was reported by Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Crochet gets a $4MM signing bonus followed by a salary of $24MM next year. He then gets $28MM annually from 2027 through 2030, followed by $30MM in 2031. Per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, there’s also a $15MM conditional club option for 2032 if Crochet misses 120 days due to a significant arm injury. His opt-out after 2030 would also be void if such an absence occurs before then.

March 31: The Red Sox have reportedly reached agreement with new ace Garrett Crochet on a six-year, $170MM extension that goes into effect in 2026. The CAA client can opt out after the 2030 season. The deal, which does not have any deferred money, includes an additional $10MM in escalators based on Cy Young finishes and a $2MM assignment bonus in the event of a trade, though there is not any no-trade protection.

Crochet, who turns 26 in June, was on track to hit free agency after the 2026 season. The extension leaves unchanged his $3.8MM salary for this year. It buys out his final arbitration season and five free agent years, though the opt-out means it “only” extends the team control window by four seasons.

Boston acquired Crochet in one of the offseason’s biggest trades. They packaged four prospects, including their two most recent first-rounders Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery, to land the All-Star lefty from the White Sox. Crochet had seemed likely to move at last summer’s deadline until a late revelation that his camp was seeking an extension if he were to continue pitching through a playoff race.

Crochet was wrapping up his first full season as a starting pitcher. The 6’6″ southpaw threw a total of 132 innings in college at Tennessee. His draft year was cut short by the cancelation of the 2020 college season. The White Sox selected him 11th overall and fast-tracked him to the big leagues as a reliever. Crochet pitched well in that role for his first year-plus but blew out his elbow in Spring Training 2022. He underwent Tommy John surgery that cost him that season and limited him to 12 2/3 innings the following year.

By the time he’d returned from the Tommy John rehab, the White Sox were in full rebuild mode. They took the high-upside play of giving Crochet a chance to start going into 2024. They probably didn’t expect him to pitch as well as he did. Crochet’s stuff was still overpowering as a starter. He struck out 35.2% of opposing hitters en route to a 3.02 ERA in 107 1/3 frames through the All-Star Break. Chicago dramatically pulled back his workload after the trade deadline. While they kept him on a regular rotation schedule, the White Sox limited him to 2-4 inning appearances for the final two months of the season. That was a prudent approach to keep him healthy after essentially two straight lost years.

Crochet finished the year with a 3.58 ERA across 146 2/3 innings. He struck out 209 hitters while issuing only 33 walks. No other pitcher with at least 100 innings posted a better strikeout rate than his 35.1% mark. On a per-pitch basis, only Blake Snell got more swinging strikes. Crochet’s already impressive ERA was probably a bit inflated by pitching in front of a poor White Sox defense. His swing-and-miss ability pointed to ace upside so long as he could maintain his stuff while working a regular starting workload for a full season.

The Red Sox clearly believe that’s realistic. They parted with a decent amount of prospect talent to acquire Crochet’s final two years of arbitration eligibility. They almost immediately opened extension conversations. Unlike last summer, there was never any doubt that Crochet would pitch into October this year (so long as he stays healthy) regardless of whether a deal got done. Crochet indicated he’d table discussions come Opening Day. That’s a common refrain among players, but it’s not unheard of for players to back off that self-imposed deadline if there’s only a narrow gap as the regular season begins.

Crochet made his first start in a Boston uniform in the interim. He worked five innings of two-run ball with four strikeouts against Texas on Opening Day. While nothing got done last week, he told WEEI’s Rob Bradford on Friday that talks had gone “to the wire” and said that boded well for whenever they reopened discussions. They were evidently close enough to continue communications and get the deal done.

It will not have any impact on this year’s payroll calculations. Crochet is making a modest salary, as his arbitration earning potential had been limited by his lack of innings. That’ll jump beginning next year. The specific salary structure has not been reported, but the contract will count for roughly $28.33MM against Boston’s luxury tax ledger each season from 2026-31.

Crochet would likely have earned something in the $8-10MM range for his final year of arbitration. The Red Sox are valuing the would-be free agent seasons around $32MM annually. That’s a similar range to what Snell commanded in terms of net present value on his five-year free agent deal with the Dodgers. Corbin Burnes got $35MM per season on a six-year deal with Arizona, while Max Fried received a $27.25MM annual value and got eight years from the Yankees. The Red Sox valued Crochet’s free agent years the way they would for a #1/2 type starter.

Crochet technically sets a new standard for starting pitcher extensions in the 4-5 year service bucket. Jacob deGrom’s $120.5MM deal with the Mets from six years ago had been the only nine-figure contract for a pitcher in that service class. Crochet easily topped that. Still, his extension arguably fits better in the 5-6 year service bracket, since it doesn’t go into effect until his final year of arbitration. Nine-figure contracts for pitchers in that class are more common, but Crochet still handily beats the recent guarantees for Luis Castillo ($108MM) and José Berríos ($131MM).

This is the fifth significant contract that the Sox have on the books for at least two years beyond this one. Alex Bregman will make $40MM annually through 2027, though he can opt out after each of the next two seasons and a good portion of his money is deferred. Rafael Devers is signed through 2033 on salaries ranging from $27.5MM to $31MM. Trevor Story will make $25MM per season between 2026-27, assuming he doesn’t opt out next winter. Masataka Yoshida is under contract for $18.6MM annually for another two years.

It’s a risky move for the Red Sox, one that reaffirms their belief that Crochet will be a top-of-the-rotation starter for years to come. They’re buying what they expect to be his prime, as he’s signed from ages 26-32. If he stays healthy and lives up to the ace potential, Crochet could opt out before his age-32 season and potentially command another five- or six-year contract.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that the Red Sox and Crochet agreed to a six-year, $170MM deal beginning in ’26 with the opt-out and no deferred money. Robert Murray of FanSided was first with the $10MM in escalators, which Mark Feinsand of MLB.com specified were based on Cy Young placement. Feinsand had the assignment bonus and absence of no-trade protection.

Image courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images.

Offseason In Review: Boston Red Sox

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After finishing 2024 with an 81-81 record, the Red Sox rose from their lengthy slumber to once again assert themselves as a force in the offseason market with substantial upgrades all around the roster. Will it be enough to get back to the postseason?

Major League Signings

2025 spending: $79.55MM
Total spending: $172.3MM

Option Decisions

Trades and Waiver Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

After four straight seasons without a playoff berth, the Red Sox entered the winter with plenty of positive signs. Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, and Richard Fitts looked like an enviable nucleus of young rotation talent under team control, while Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu enjoyed breakout seasons in the outfield. With the best young talent, including baseball's #1 prospect Roman Anthony, and three other top-50 talents in Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell, and Kyle Teel knocking on the door, it seemed clear that the time was now for the club to push its chips in and force open a new competitive window.

While there was some skepticism about the club's intentions at the outset of the offseason, particularly after last winter's "full-throttle" comments led to a quiet offseason that brought little new talent into the fold, the club quickly showed itself to be a legitimate threat to spend when it emerged as a surprise finalist for the services of Juan Soto alongside expected contenders like the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, and Blue Jays. The Red Sox ultimately fell short of that pursuit, finishing alongside Toronto ahead of L.A. but behind the two New York teams. Even as Soto landed in Queens, however, Boston's apparent willingness to give out a contract in the range of $700MM made clear they were serious about improving this winter.

In the aftermath of Soto signing elsewhere, the Red Sox had two main priorities to address: adding a big right-handed bat to the lineup, and bringing in an ace (preferably one that throws left-handed) to lead their young but talented pitching staff. Initial attempts to bring in players like Max Fried (who eventually signed in the Bronx) and Teoscar Hernandez (who eventually returned to the Dodgers) fell apart, but the Red Sox didn't let the league's biggest spenders nabbing their top targets stop them from addressing their needs in a big way. During the Winter Meetings, the Red Sox echoed the Chris Sale trade by swinging a blockbuster with the White Sox that saw them surrender a bevy of talented prospects in exchange for an extremely talented southpaw.

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Red Sox, Kristian Campbell In “Deep Talks” On Extension

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The Red Sox and star prospect Kristian Campbell are in “deep talks” regarding a potential contract extension, according to a report from Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The terms of the potential deal between the sides are not yet clear. For his part, Campbell told reporters (including WEEI’s Rob Bradford) after this evening’s game that his camp is talking to the Red Sox about an extension but would not say whether or not he’d consider a deal to be “close” or not. While Campbell wouldn’t tip his hand about the negotiations, Cotillo reports that one source described the deal as “close” and adds that a source with the Red Sox described the team as “hopeful” that a deal would come together.

Campbell, 22, was Boston’s fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft. Despite his later-round draft status, he hit quite well in 22 games down the stretch in his draft year before exploding onto the prospect map last year. After starting the season at the High-A level, Campbell blitzed through the minor leagues to reach Triple-A by the end of the season, slashing a sensational .330/.439/.558 along the way with 20 homers, 32 doubles, and 24 steals in 115 games along the way while splitting time between shortstop, second base, and the outfield. Campbell’s incredible performance made him a consensus top-10 prospect in the sport over the course of a single season, as he had not cracked a single major top-100 list prior to the 2024 campaign.

After making to to Triple-A before the end of the year last season and doing well for himself there (.286/.412/.486 in 85 PAs), Campbell was bandied about throughout the winter as a potential option for the club’s Opening Day second base job. Those plans appeared likely to be scuttled when the club signed Alex Bregman to round out their infield last month, which led many to assume he would fill the void at the keystone with Rafael Devers entrenched at third base. The club’s desire to give Campbell a path to playing time in the majors changed things, however, and the Red Sox positioned Bregman as their Opening Day third baseman instead. That pushed Devers into a DH role and opened up second for a competition between incumbent options David Hamilton and Vaughn Grissom as well as prospects Campbell and Marcelo Mayer.

Hamilton’s solid 2024 and strong spring, Mayer’s blistering performance during camp, and struggles from Campbell himself during Spring Training all made the camp battle for the second base so competitive that just under 31% of respondents to an MLBTR poll last week selected Campbell as the club’s Opening Day second baseman. He departed camp with the keys to the position nonetheless after being viewed as the favorite for much of the spring. The Red Sox are, of course, only three games into the regular season at this point. Even so, rostering Campbell has looked like a wise decision so far as he’s collected five hits in ten at-bats with a double, a home run, and two walks while playing adequate defense both at second base and in left field.

With a player who could be a burgeoning star on their hands, the Red Sox appear to be wasting no time in attempting to lock him up beyond his standard six years of club control, which figure to keep him in town through the end of the 2030 season as things stand. The club reportedly had interest in exploring deals with their top prospects—Campbell, Mayer, and outfielder Roman Anthony— as far back as January. While the club appeared focused primarily on attempting to lock up ace southpaw Garrett Crochet during Spring Training, a pursuit they ultimately fell short in, the Red Sox demonstrated their comfort with continuing negotiations into the season just last year when they extended utility man Ceddanne Rafaela on an eight-year, $50MM deal.

It was part of an organizational shift towards locking up young talent earlier in their careers last spring, which also saw the club sign right-hander Brayan Bello to a six-year, $55MM extension. Campbell is generally viewed as being on another level compared to those two, however, even as Rafaela and Bello were impressive prospects in their own rights. It’s possible that prospect pedigree and offensive upside could translate to a healthier guarantee, with the eight-year, $82MM deal Jackson Chourio signed with the Brewers prior to the 2024 campaign serving as another potentially relevant point of comparison.

Whatever the financial cost ends up being, it will likely pale in comparison to what Campbell would make on the open market if he were to hit free agency ahead of his age-29 season after fulfilling his potential. That potential for an enormous discount would be offset by the considerable risk assumed by the Red Sox in the event of injury or under-performance on the part of Campbell. Jon Singleton and Scott Kingery are among the handful of examples of players who signed extensions at the outset of their MLB careers who went on to fizzle out in the majors, though the Red Sox surely have plenty of confidence in Campbell to avoid the same fate.

Red Sox Notes: Devers, Mayer, Fulmer

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Rafael Devers’ position switch from third base to DH has been one of the offseason’s top subplots, as it dovetailed with Boston signing Alex Bregman to a three-year, $120MM contract to become the club’s new everyday third baseman.  Red Sox manager Alex Cora added another wrinkle to the situation when speaking with reporters (including The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey) yesterday, noting that Devers isn’t in the third base plans at all, as Romy Gonzalez will step in at the hot corner when Bregman needs a day off.

“Raffy is going to DH,” Cora said.  “We had a conversation, we talked about it.  He’s DHing.  He’s the DH of the Boston Red Sox.  One thing is we don’t want him to overthink it.  Don’t get caught up in the whole thing.  He’ll be OK.”

It isn’t known how the Sox might adjust if Bregman were to miss an extended amount of time on the injured list, yet Cora’s statement pretty plainly underscores Boston’s commitment to keeping Devers in a batter-only capacity for the time being.  McCaffrey writes that Devers is still taking grounders at third base as part of pregame warmups, possibly as a way of maintaining some part of his past pregame routine while adjusting overall to his new reality as a designated hitter.

The early results haven’t been great, as Devers is 0-for-8 with seven strikeouts in his first eight trips to the plate in 2025.  Naturally, two games is a minuscule sample size, and some rust was probably expected given how Devers only appeared in five Spring Training games.  Devers spent a good chunk of the offseason dealing with inflammation in both shoulders, and thus the Red Sox lessened his workload in camp as Devers worked his way back to full health.  The shoulder issue’s impact on Devers’ also surely factored into the team’s decision to keep Devers in a DH capacity.

While plans may change as the season develops, it would certainly seem like the Sox are trying to ease Devers into a full-time DH role over the long-term.  Bregman can opt out of his contract after the season, and while Devers could potentially be moved back over to third base after a year off, it would seem more likely that the Red Sox would use Bregman’s departure as a way to get star prospect Marcelo Mayer into the lineup.

Mayer made his Triple-A debut in Worcester’s game with the Syracuse Mets yesterday, and it is widely expected that the infielder will be making his MLB debut at some point in 2025.  If Mayer had had his way, he would’ve skipped Triple-A entirely and already be part of the Sox roster after posting huge numbers in Spring Training.

“Based on performance, I feel like I did earn a spot on that team,” Mayer said in an interview on WEEI’s Jones & Keefe show.  “With that being said, things didn’t go my way and now I’m here [in Triple-A] and I’m just going to get after it every single day, and keep doing what I’m doing.”

The comments caused a bit of a stir on social media, yet Cora told MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith and other reporters that he “100 percent” wants to see his players share Mayer’s confident attitude.  Obviously Mayer’s production will dictate how quickly he might join the Show, yet given the crowded nature of Boston’s current roster, it will be interesting to see how the Red Sox will carve out playing time for the fourth overall pick.  Since the Sox don’t want to call Mayer up just to have him ride the bench, perhaps some kind of injury might need to arise before a Mayer promotion is really on the radar.

Michael Fulmer is also in Worcester, and will be working as a starting pitcher during his time in the minors, Red Sox senior director of player development Brian Abraham told Smith.  There is some flexibility at play since Abraham said “as of right now” Fulmer will start, but the Sox seem interested in stretching Fulmer out to see what he can do in a potential return to a starting role.

Beginning his career as a starter with the Tigers, Fulmer enjoyed some instant success in capturing AL Rookie of the Year honors in 2016.  Injuries (including a Tommy John surgery that cost him all of 2019) necessitated a move to the bullpen in 2021, and Fulmer seemed to thrive in that role while pitching with the Tigers, Twins, and Cubs over the 2021-23 seasons.  Unfortunately, Fulmer continued to battle health problems, and he underwent a UCL revision in October 2023 that cost him another full season, as he didn’t pitch at all in 2024.

The Red Sox inked Fulmer to a two-year minor league contract in February 2024, with the understanding that he’d take the first year to rehab and then prep for a return this season.  Fulmer told Smith that he and Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow even discussed a possible return to starting pitching when the contract was first signed, and Fulmer is open to working in any capacity.

“If it sticks, it sticks.  If it doesn’t, then I go back to the bullpen,” Fulmer said.  “I did the transition once and it was a fairly easy transition. I’ve enjoyed both [roles].”

Red Sox, Garrett Crochet Expected To Table Extension Talks

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March 28: While talks are on pause because of Crochet’s self-imposed Opening Day cutoff, it seems the sides got relatively close. Crochet tells WEEI’s Rob Bradford that discussions went “down to the wire” and that he didn’t feel there was a large gap. Asked by Bradford if that provided reason for optimism whenever talks resume — presumably next offseason — Crochet replied that was “definitely fair to say.”

March 27: Earlier this month, newly-acquired Red Sox southpaw Garrett Crochet set a deadline of Opening Day in extension talks with his new club. With Crochet scheduled to take the mound for Boston against the Rangers this afternoon, that deadline has now passed and it seems as though no deal is in place between the sides. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo relays that chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters “not to expect” a Crochet extension at this point, while WEEI’s Rob Bradford adds that Breslow said he intends to respect Crochet’s stated desire to not negotiate during the season.

Ever since Crochet came to Boston in a trade where the Red Sox surrendered a package of four prospects headlined by top-100 talents Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery, hammering out an extension with the southpaw has seemed likely to be a priority for the club with just two seasons remaining until the southpaw reaches free agency. The 2024 All-Star made his first career MLB start on Opening Day for the White Sox last year, but that lack of experience did little to slow him down as he pitched to a 3.58 ERA (115 ERA+) while posting a sterling 2.69 FIP and striking out an incredible 35.1% of his opponents in 32 starts.

As much as the 2024 campaign did to establish Crochet as one of the league’s premiere front-of-the-rotation arms, however, it did little to settle his value on a long-term deal. As previously mentioned, the lefty had no experience as a starter in the majors or minors prior to 2024 due to injuries limiting him throughout his young career. He’d not thrown even 55 innings in a professional season before 2024, and even last year he threw just 146 innings while averaging roughly 3 1/3 innings per start in the second half. The fact that the lefty has not yet participated in a full MLB season with a starter’s typical workload works against Crochet’s value, even as the 25-year-old’s youth, tantalizing stuff and huge strikeout numbers make a case for him as among the most valuable assets in the sport.

Given the uncertainty surrounding Crochet’s value, it’s not necessarily shocking the sides were unable to agree to terms. Reporting last summer indicated that Crochet may have been targeting Tyler Glasnow’s $136.5MM guarantee with the Dodgers as a ballpark comparison for his extension talks with the White Sox, though it’s unclear how his demands may have changed after moving to Boston. That sort of outlay for a pitcher with Crochet’s health question marks may have been difficult for the Red Sox to stomach without getting to see him pitch up close, and now it appears they’ll have that opportunity in 2025. There’s nothing stopping the sides from resuming extension talks next offseason, though considering that it’ll be Crochet’s final before free agency it’s likely that another strong season from the lefty would leave the Red Sox to pay nearly full-market value in an extension next winter.

In other Red Sox news, Sean McAdam of MassLive reported this afternoon that outfielder Masataka Yoshida is headed to Boston for a consultation as he deals with a back issue. McAdam adds that Yoshida, who is on the injured list as he rehabs from offseason shoulder surgery, will remain in Boston to continue his rehab following the consultation. Yoshida was previously expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment as he builds up arm strength ahead of a return to the outfield for the first time (aside from a one-inning cameo last year) since 2023, though it now appears he’ll rehab with the big league club for at least the time being. A career .285/.343/.433 hitter across two seasons in the majors, Yoshida served as Boston’s regular DH last year but was bumped out of that spot by the signing of third baseman Alex Bregman, who pushed incumbent third baseman Rafael Devers to DH.

Red Sox Place Liam Hendriks On 15-Day IL

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March 28: Despite the season-opening IL placement, Hendriks is not facing a severe injury, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic writes. He’s already been examined by Dr. Keith Meister, who performed his Tommy John surgery, and received a cortisone injection to help alleviate some inflammation and discomfort stemming from a compressed nerve. There’s no structural damage in Hendriks’ elbow. He’ll be shut down from throwing for three to five days but expects to resume throwing during next week’s series against the Orioles.

March 27: The Red Sox announced a slate of transactions to finalize their Opening Day roster, including a surprise placement of righty Liam Hendriks on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation. Fellow right-hander Cooper Criswell, who had appeared ticketed for Triple-A Worcester, will instead break camp with the big league club.

Boston also selected the contracts of lefty Sean Newcomb and top prospect Kristian Campbell. Both have formally made the Opening Day roster. Lefties Chris Murphy and Zach Penrod were placed on the 60-day injured list to open spots. Murphy is recovering from UCL surgery performed last spring. Penrod was diagnosed with a left elbow sprain earlier in camp.

Additionally, the Red Sox placed Masataka Yoshida on the 10-day IL as he continues building back up from offseason shoulder surgery. Righties Brayan Bello (shoulder strain), Kutter Crawford (patellar tendinopathy) and Lucas Giolito (hamstring strain) were all placed on the 15-day IL, as expected.

Hendriks, who turned 36 last month, is entering the second season of a two-year, $10MM deal. The Red Sox signed him knowing that he’d miss most of all of the 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. The expectation early in camp was that he and offseason signee Aroldis Chapman could compete for ninth-inning work. The tide changed quickly. Chapman fanned 14 of the 30 batters he faced and held opponents to two runs in 7 1/3 innings. Hendriks allowed seven runs on 14 hits in just 6 1/3 frames. He didn’t walk anyone but also only whiffed four of the 32 hitters he faced.

The Red Sox haven’t yet provided a timetable for when Hendriks might return to the mound. For now, there’s no indication that he’s dealing with a long-term injury. Presumably, manager Alex Cora will have more information regarding his potential timetable when he meets with the media later today.

Dodgers Acquire Noah Davis From Red Sox

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The Dodgers announced that they’ve acquired righty Noah Davis from the Red Sox in exchange for cash. He’ll go onto the team’s 40-man roster and be optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Los Angeles placed righty Emmet Sheehan, who’s recovering from last year’s Tommy John surgery, on the 60-day injured list to create roster space.

Davis had been a non-roster player with Boston after signing a minor league deal. It seems likely that he had an upward mobility clause in his deal, which if exercised requires his current club to make him available to all 29 other teams and let him go if another team is willing to put him on the 40-man roster.

Davis, 28 next month, is a former 11th-round pick by the Reds who’s spent the bulk of his career in the Rockies organization. Cincinnati traded him to Colorado in 2021’s Mychal Givens swap. He’s pitched in three MLB seasons with the Rox, logging a grisly 7.71 earned run average in 51 1/3 innings. Davis has fanned 17.3% of his opponents against a 9.2% walk rate. Both are worse than the league average (the strikeout rate in particular).

Despite the shaky track record, Davis has held his own (relatively speaking) in an intensely hitter-friendly environment with the Triple-A Pacific Coast League’s Albuquerque Isotopes (the Rockies’ top affiliate). His 5.06 ERA in 133 1/3 innings there doesn’t look like much, but he ranks 19th in the PCL in ERA over the past three seasons (among pitchers with 130+ innings). Only four pitchers in that span have kept an ERA under 4.00 in as many innings.

Davis had a decent spring. He allowed five runs in 9 1/3 frames, which isn’t great, but did so while yielding only seven hits and recording a 9-to-1 K/BB ratio. He’ll give the Dodgers some rotation depth at a time when Sheehan, Gavin Stone, Clayton Kershaw, River Ryan, Tony Gonsolin and Kyle Hurt are all on the injured list.

Red Sox Notes: Eovaldi, Zavala, Gambrell

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Nathan Eovaldi started for the Red Sox on Opening Day each year from 2020-22, pitching a combined 16 1/3 innings with a 2.76 ERA. Today, the Red Sox will face their former no. 1 starter on Opening Day, sending their new ace, Garrett Crochet, to the bump against Eovaldi and the Rangers.

Facing Eovaldi is never an enviable task – the right-hander has a winning record and an ERA under 4.00 in each of the past five seasons – but the Red Sox, in particular, probably aren’t thrilled to be meeting up with their old friend this afternoon. After all, they made an effort to re-acquire him this past offseason, and as it turns out, they were the runner-up for his services. According to Rob Bradford of WEEI, six teams showed legitimate interest in signing Eovaldi this winter, but the veteran’s decision ultimately came down to Texas or Boston. However, it’s not known how much money the Red Sox were willing to offer or if their final bid came close to the three-year, $75MM guarantee he landed with the Rangers.

Interestingly, Boston’s trade for Crochet came together less than 24 hours after Eovaldi signed with Texas. That’s not to say the Red Sox wouldn’t have pursued Crochet if they landed Eovaldi, but it’s a possibility worth considering. If that’s true, one could argue that missing out on Eovaldi was the best possible outcome for Craig Breslow and company. Eovaldi is a great pitcher, but Crochet is coming off an All-Star season and already looks like a strong early contender for the AL Cy Young.

Of course, the Red Sox would have been even better off with both Crochet and Eovaldi atop their rotation, especially now that so many of their other starters are on the IL, namely Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello, and Kutter Crawford. And while the Red Sox surely have high hopes for the free agents starters they added this offseason – Walker Buehler and Patrick Sandoval – Eovaldi would have been a far less risky signing.

In other Red Sox news, catcher Seby Zavala has accepted his outright assignment and will begin the season with the Triple-A WooSox, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The 31-year-old was informed last week that he would not be making the Opening Day roster. While the minor league deal he signed with Boston in November included an assignment clause that allowed him to seek out an opportunity on another team’s 40-man roster, it appears he was not able to find such an opportunity and has instead reported to Triple-A. A veteran of five big league seasons, Zavala is a plus defender with 183 games of MLB catching experience. He will offer the Red Sox depth behind starting catcher Connor Wong, backup Carlos Narvaez, and Blake Sabol, who has a spot on the 40-man roster but will start the season at Triple-A.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have released Grant Gambrell, a minor league right-handed starter (h/t to Christopher Smith of MassLive). Gambrell was one of five players Boston received in 2021 as part of the three-team trade that sent Andrew Benintendi to the Royals. The Red Sox initially acquired outfielder Franchy Cordero from Kansas City and right-hander Josh Winckowski from the Mets, while Gambrell was one of three players to be named later, along with fellow righty Luis De La Rosa and outfielder Freddy Valdez. As Smith points out, Winckowski is now the only player from that trade who is still playing in the Red Sox organization. Gambrell had pitched relatively well in Boston’s system over the past two years, putting up a 3.81 ERA and 4.29 FIP in 41 games (39 starts). However, he was never a top prospect, and now 27 years old, the Red Sox have evidently decided he does not fit into their future plans.

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