Red Sox To Begin Playing Marcelo Mayer At Shortstop
The Red Sox will be without Trevor Story for some time after the two-time All-Star underwent sports hernia surgery this week. Interim manager Chad Tracy said Friday that’ll spur a primary position change for Marcelo Mayer, who has been a full-time second baseman this season (link via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic).
Mayer remains at second base for tonight’s series opener against the Twins. Tracy said the 23-year-old infielder is still ironing some things out in drills with interim bench coach/infield instructor José David Flores. The Sox are hoping to have Mayer make his first MLB start at shortstop on Sunday.
The fourth overall pick in 2021, Mayer was a shortstop throughout his minor league career. Most prospect evaluators felt he’d stick at the position despite his 6’3″ height and fringy speed. That was mostly a testament to his fluidity, instincts and arm strength — even if he’s unlikely to be the flashiest defender.
Mayer hasn’t had the opportunity to play shortstop at the major league level; he has three career innings there over two late-game appearances. His first MLB call last May came as the corresponding move for an Alex Bregman injured list placement. Mayer spent nearly two months as the primary third baseman while Bregman rehabbed a quad strain. He moved to second base when the veteran returned. Mayer himself went down with a wrist injury not long after and underwent season-ending surgery.
The Sox stuck with Mayer at the keystone for his first full MLB campaign. They’d initially given some thought to moving Mayer back to third while playing Caleb Durbin at second. Former skipper Alex Cora preferred Durbin at the hot corner. Tracy stuck with that arrangement, as Durbin has played excellent defense despite his lack of production at the dish.
Mayer hasn’t done a whole lot at the plate either. He’s hitting .221/.290/.313 across 146 plate appearances. Mayer has only connected on two home runs without hitting many line drives. He has played pretty well at second base but has been part of a Boston infield that, with the exception of Willson Contreras, hasn’t contributed offensively.
Story was also out to a very poor start (.206/.244/.303). Mayer’s move to shortstop will leave second base to a combination of utility players Nick Sogard, Andruw Monasterio and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Sogard, who started at shortstop tonight, has also begun taking third base reps over Durbin. The Sox have one of the best shortstop prospects in the sport, Franklin Arias, but the 20-year-old is at Double-A and not a factor in the short term.
Trevor Story Undergoes Hernia Surgery
The Red Sox announced that shortstop Trevor Story has undergone surgery to address a sports hernia. He was placed on the 10-day injured list last week. The Sox didn’t announce a timeline in today’s announcement but reporting from last week indicated Story was considering a surgery that would sideline him for six to ten weeks.
Story got out to an awful start this year, hitting .206/.244/.303 through 41 games before hitting the IL. After landing on the shelf, he told reporters that he had been dealing with discomfort since spring training, which perhaps contributed to his poor results. Ideally, the surgery will correct the issue and he can get back on track in the second half of the season.
Injuries have played a huge role in his time with the Red Sox. He and the club signed a six-year, $140MM deal going into the 2022 season. He only played 163 games over the first three years of that deal, missing time due to various issues, most notably internal brace surgery on his throwing elbow.
He was able to stay healthy last year and had a mostly good season, getting into 157 games. His walk and strikeout rates weren’t strong and he got poor grades for his glovework but he hit 25 home runs and stole 31 bases. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep it rolling into 2026. As mentioned, he got out to a poor start and is probably going to be out of action until the All-Star break, give or take.
For now, the Sox will have to cover shortstop without Story. In the past week, most of the playing time has gone to Andruw Monasterio. He is hitting .250/.294/.388 with poor defensive grades, though in a small sample of just 70 innings at short.
Second baseman Marcelo Mayer has said that he would like a shot at moving across the bag. He came up as a shortstop prospect but moved over to second in deference to Story. Manager Chad Tracy seemed open to the idea but only if Story was going to miss significant time. If Story were only going to miss a week or two, then the plan would have been to keep Mayer at second to continue getting accustomed to that position.
Now that Story is likely going to be out for a while, perhaps Mayer will get his shot at shortstop, but there are no guarantees that will be good for the club. Mayer’s second base defense has been slightly above average this year but he’s only hitting .221/.290/.313, a worse line than Monasterio. Perhaps Mayer is capable of more, since he was a notable prospect and hit .271/.347/.471 in Triple-A last year, but he hasn’t clicked in the majors yet.
If Mayer is going to cover short, the Sox would then have to have someone at second. That could be Monasterio but Nick Sogard and Isiah Kiner-Falefa would be other options. Sogard is currently taking a good amount of playing time from the struggling Caleb Durbin at third. Kiner-Falefa is only hitting .255/.314/.277 this year but has a strong defensive track record.
Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images
Red Sox Notes: Mayer, Narváez, Bello
Red Sox infielder Marcelo Mayer is lobbying for some shortstop time, per Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. Whether or not he gets the chance seemingly depends on how much time Trevor Story is going to miss.
Story has been battling a sports hernia this year and landed on the injured list in recent days. If he undergoes surgery, he’ll miss two months or so, though it’s still not a guarantee that he will go under the knife.
Mayer came up as a shortstop in the minors and also dabbled at second and third base. He has only played the keystone this year and hasn’t even been working out at short, though in the wake of Story’s injury, he plans to start practicing there. He has told manager Chad Tracy that he would like to help the team by moving across the bag. The skipper seems open to it if Story is going to be out a while, though he leans toward keeping Mayer at second if Story is slated for a quicker return.
It’s an understandable position for Tracy. Mayer only played 84 innings at second base in the minors and is still getting accustomed to the position. He is also still young at 23 years old and hasn’t fully clicked as a major league hitter yet, sporting a career line of .223/.278/.359. Mayer was once one of the club’s top prospects and the Sox presumably still hope for him to be a big part of the future, as he is under control for five more seasons after this one. There’s some logic in keeping him with his current plan and not adding a new assignment to his to-do list for just a brief interlude.
Since Story has been sidelined, the Sox have primarily been using Andruw Monasterio at short. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Nick Sogard could also chip in at the position if Mayer is going to be staying at the keystone.
There’s also a situation to watch behind the plate, as Healey notes Carlos Narváez is dealing with an injury to the middle finger on his right hand. Though Narváez says the finger went “a little sideways,” X-rays were negative and he may avoid the injured list. The injury first popped up after a slide and then was aggravated when Narváez hit a ball off the end of his bat.
Most clubs have two catchers on the roster, so it would be a bit risky to proceed with one of them unavailable due to a day-to-day injury. However, the Sox currently have three backstops on the roster, with Mickey Gasper and Connor Wong also present. Gasper has been getting some at-bats as the designated hitter lately and perhaps that would become less likely if Narváez is unavailable. If Boston wants Gasper’s bat in the lineup, they could put him behind the plate while Narváez is hurt, perhaps opening more DH time for Masataka Yoshida.
Turning to the rotation, Chris Cotillo of MassLive suggests that Brayan Bello may get squeezed out of the rotation soon. The righty is having an awful season, with a 7.16 earned run average through 44 innings. The Sox used an opener in front of him for his first two appearances in May, which went well. He only allowed one run in each, going seven innings in the first outing and then 6 1/3 the second time. He got used as a traditional starter again yesterday but allowed seven earned runs in five innings.
Cotillo notes that Garrett Crochet is expected to come off the injured list around the end of this month, which could lead to Bello losing his spot since his rotation mates are faring much better than him. Sonny Gray, Ranger Suárez, Connelly Early and Payton Tolle all have ERAs of 3.21 or lower this year.
Though he signed a multi-year extension with the Sox, Bello does have options and could be sent to the minors if the Sox decide that’s what’s best for him and the team. Pitching from the bullpen could be another possibility, though the club may want to think about the long term. Bello is signed through 2029 with a club option for 2030. Assuming the hope is that he will still be a part of the rotation for years to come, keeping him stretched out may be preferable. On the other hand, he hasn’t been optioned to the minors since April of 2023 and clubs are sometimes reluctant to send guys down after they have seemingly become established as big leaguers.
Photo courtesy of Dan Hamilton, Imagn Images
Red Sox To Use Marcelo Mayer As Starting Second Baseman, Kristian Campbell Optioned To Triple-A
In an unsurprising move, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters (including Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe) that Marcelo Mayer will make the Opening Day roster and act as Boston’s regular second baseman. It isn’t quite an everyday role, as Cora said the left-handed hitting Mayer will be protected against some southpaw pitchers. Veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa or utilityman Andruw Monasterio are both right-handed batters and should be part of this platoon at the keystone.
Mayer didn’t exactly force the issue by hitting only .214/.389/.321 over 36 plate appearances in Grapefruit League action, but it always seemed like the former top prospect was being lined up for some type of regular role in the Red Sox infield as either the second or third baseman. After the Sox didn’t land such targets as Alex Bregman or Bo Bichette this winter, Caleb Durbin was acquired from the Brewers and will handle third-base duties, leaving second as Mayer’s landing spot.
Selected fourth overall in the 2021 draft, Mayer was a fixture within the top-15 of MLB Pipeline and Baseball America’s top-100 lists in each of the last four years. He made his big league debut last season and hit .228/.272/.402 over 136 plate appearances before suffering a wrist sprain that eventually required surgery. Mayer mostly played third base last year since his call-up coincided with an IL stint for Bregman, though he did make eight appearances at second base and two cameos at shortstop.
Mayer was initially drafted as a shortstop, and that could eventually still end up as his position in the majors once Trevor Story‘s contract is up following the 2027 season. For now, the plan is just to get Mayer acclimated to playing in the bigs and for the 23-year-old to establish himself as at least a solid regular. The Sox don’t need for Mayer to be a star just yet, as it’s a good step in his development for Mayer to just stay on the field altogether after a few injury-marred years.
In other roster news, the Red Sox have optioned Kristian Campbell to Triple-A Worcester, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports. This decision was also no surprise given the crowded state of Boston’s roster, and playing everyday in Worcester makes more sense for Campbell than playing sparingly in a part-time role with the Sox.
A year ago at this time, Campbell was preparing to make his MLB debut, as the Red Sox chose to include the breakout prospect on their Opening Day roster. A fourth-round pick for Boston in the 2023 draft, Campbell tore up minor league pitching in his first two pro seasons, and was hitting so well that he’d earned a promotion to Triple-A before the 2024 season was over. Within a week of his first game in the Show, the Red Sox cemented Campbell’s spot as a cornerstone by signing him to an eight-year, $60MM extension.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly when Campbell hit .313/.420/.515 over his first 119 PA in the majors, but what looked like an epic rookie season quickly came to a halt, as he hit only .157/.241/.220 over his next 141 PA. Campbell’s defense was also a big concern, as he posted -16 Defensive Runs Saved and -8 Outs Above Average across only 471 2/3 innings at second base.
The Red Sox chose to option Campbell to Worcester last June 20, and he didn’t receive another call-up over the remainder of the 2025 campaign. Campbell hit a decent but unspectacular .273/.382/.417 over 319 Triple-A PA, and he spent most of his time on the diamond as a first baseman, as well as seeing time at all three outfield slots in addition to second base.
Where Campbell might end up on the big league roster remains speculative. The Red Sox outfield is already crowded (Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu), plus Masataka Yoshida remains in the outfield and DH mix. Mayer and Durbin have second and third base covered for now. As for first base, offseason acquisition Willson Contreras has two years remaining on his contract, so that’s still a while for Campbell to wait if the Sox potentially now view him as Contreras’ heir apparent. Triston Casas is also still in the first base picture, looking to bounce back from his injury-shortened 2025 season.
Some future trades could potentially clear this situation up to some extent, with Duran, Casas, and Yoshida often mentioned as speculative trade candidates. Campbell’s contract keeps him part of Boston’s future plans and also probably keeps him off the trade market, as any interested teams would be making a $57MM investment in a belief that Campbell will emerge in the big leagues.
Red Sox Notes: Durbin, Infield, Coulombe
The Red Sox have told Caleb Durbin he’ll be the primary third baseman, the infielder told reporters (including Tim Healey of The Boston Globe). Things had clearly been trending in that direction throughout camp, though manager Alex Cora held off on making any formal declarations.
Durbin remains at the position where he started 119 games for the Brewers last year. He’d made three starts at second base for Milwaukee. Durbin started a trio of games at the keystone against 10 starts at third base this spring.
The 26-year-old is coming off a third place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting. He stole 18 bases and connected on 11 homers with a .256/.334/.387 line across 506 plate appearances. The Red Sox acquired him last month in a six-player trade built around Durbin and left-hander Kyle Harrison, who has a good chance to open the season in Milwaukee’s rotation. He has made a strong impression on his new team in camp, batting .394 with five walks and only three strikeouts over 40 plate appearances.
Cora said the Sox prefer to have Durbin playing one position rather than bouncing around the infield. Locking him in at the hot corner leaves second base as the spot up for grabs. Marcelo Mayer has been the favorite throughout the spring. The Red Sox have yet to commit to carrying Mayer on the Opening Day roster after he hit .228/.272/.402 with a 30% strikeout rate in his first 44 MLB games.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Andruw Monasterio (who came over from Milwaukee in the Durbin trade) would be the alternatives if the Sox want Mayer to open the season in Triple-A. Kiner-Falefa and Monasterio fit best as utility players. They’re each right-handed hitters and could take short side platoon bats if the Sox want to keep the lefty-hitting Mayer away from tough southpaws.
Romy Gonzalez could be back in that role midseason, but he’ll miss at least the first two months. Gonzalez underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder last week. The Sox placed him on the 60-day injured list when they finalized their $1MM free agent deal with lefty reliever Danny Coulombe.
Coulombe had been a Sox target dating back to the Winter Meetings. The team wanted a more established player than Jovani Moran to serve as their top lefty bullpen arm in front of closer Aroldis Chapman. They ultimately added Coulombe for a guarantee marginally above the $780K league minimum, though his deal was initially going to be a little pricier.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that the Red Sox had agreed to terms with Coulombe at a higher number before flagging something in the medical review process. Jen McCaffrey and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic added specifics, reporting that it would have been a $2.25MM base salary with $750K available in appearance-based incentives.
Coulombe’s actual deal comes with the same appearance incentive package. It also includes up to $1.25MM in roster bonuses, as first reported by The Associated Press. He’d earn $250K apiece at 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days on the active roster or MLB injured list — so long as any IL stint isn’t related to his pitching arm.
In each case, the maximum value of the contract would be $3MM. If Coulombe stays healthy and holds his roster spot all year, he’ll come out just as well as he would have if not for the health concern. It’s not clear what specifically the medical staff flagged, though it’s evidently related to his arm in some form. In 2024, Coulombe underwent surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. He missed time in May and June last year with a forearm strain and had a minimal IL stay in September due to shoulder fatigue.
Red Sox Have Not Discussed Long-Term Deal With Marcelo Mayer
The Red Sox have done a few extensions in recent years but it doesn’t seem like there’s anything imminent with infielder Marcelo Mayer. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that the club has not approached Mayer to discuss a long-term deal to this point in time.
It may seem obvious to some that the Sox haven’t looked to lock up Mayer. He is still only 23 years old and hasn’t found major league success just yet. He got into 44 big league games last year but hit just .228/.272/.402.
But teams have been aggressive in signing players to early-career extensions lately. The Sox have also shown a penchant for signing players to extensions generally, regardless of experience, so it’s noteworthy that there’s no progress here.
According to MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, extensions for players with less than a year of service time have become more common. (Link showing guys with no service time; link showing some service time but less than a year.) From 2006 to 2016, there were five. From 2017 to the present, there have been 21, with 11 since July of 2022.
The Red Sox have been involved there. Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Ceddanne Rafaela make up three of the data points in that set of 11. Those represent three of the six total extensions Craig Breslow has signed since taking over as chief baseball officer. He also extended Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello and Aroldis Chapman in deals of varying sizes.
Taking all that into account, extension talks are plausible but it seems the Sox are happy to wait a bit longer in this case. It could be health related, as Mayer has had some trouble staying on the field. He has five professional seasons under his belt but hasn’t topped 91 games played in any of them due to various ailments. Last year, his big league debut was interrupted by a right wrist issue that ultimately required surgery.
“[Getting stronger] will just help him manage the workload of a full season and just be able to withstand the demands of a full season, which is, frankly, something that he hasn’t been able to do,” Breslow said of Mayer in November. “And some of those have been just kind of these freak injuries, but others seem to maybe just be the accumulation of workload.”
Despite the the lack of contract talks, the Sox are showing some faith in Mayer, as they seem to be planning on him being the everyday second baseman this year. It had been reported that they preferred him at third but then they acquired Caleb Durbin from the Brewers. Durbin and Mayer have both been playing second and third this spring but Durbin spent most of his time at third base last year.
“Caleb, he’s playing third base today, again,” manager Álex Cora said this week, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. “We’ll probably decide that next week, but I feel very comfortable with him at third base.” Cora stopped short of making any firm declarations but it seems Mayer will end up at the keystone.
If Mayer is able to stay healthy and have a breakout season in 2026, perhaps the Red Sox would be more willing to start extension talks. He has 128 days of service time right now and would be at 1.128 if he earns a full service year in 2026. Players generally get more earning power as they accrue service time and move closer to free agency, but even in that scenario, Mayer would still be five years from the open market and at least one year from arbitration.
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Dyer, Imagn Images
Red Sox Notes: Infield, Gonzalez, Abreu
This morning’s surprise acquisition of Caleb Durbin in a six-player trade with the Brewers gave the Red Sox the additional infielder they’ve been coveting but also created questions about the infield alignment. Durbin can play both second base and third base. Both positions are generally unsettled for the Red Sox.
Manager Alex Cora touched on the matter in his first media session of spring, indicating that for the time being, the team isn’t going to commit to one defensive setup just yet (link via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Each of Durbin, touted prospect Marcelo Mayer and veteran utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa can play either second base or third base.
The situation is further muddied by the fact that infielder Romy Gonzalez is behind schedule due to a shoulder issue that bothered him throughout the offseason (links via MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and the Globe’s Tim Healey). Gonzalez suffered the injury in Boston’s 160th game of the season. He rested it and rehabbed it throughout the winter and believed the issue to be behind him but instead aggravated it when starting a hitting program last month. He’s since received a platelet-rich plasma injection and is aiming to be ready for Opening Day, but that’ll depend on how his shoulder progresses (or does not progress) during the Grapefruit League schedule.
Whether at second base or third base, Durbin figures to be in the lineup every day. He’s a fine defender at either position and had relatively neutral platoon splits in 2025. Neither he nor Mayer will work at shortstop, per Cora. Trevor Story was always going to get the majority of reps there, but it seems Kiner-Falefa is the primary backup at the moment. If both Story and Kiner-Falefa were to go down with an injury, perhaps the Sox would rethink utilizing Mayer and/or Durbin there, but that’s not in the cards for the time being.
Ideally, Gonzalez would be healthy enough to take regular at-bats against left-handed pitching. He decimated southpaws at a .331/.378/.600 clip in 2025 and owns a lifetime .302/.345/.527 slash against them. Against lefties, the Sox could theoretically go with Gonzalez at second base and Durbin at third base, then switch to a combination of Mayer and Durbin against right-handed opponents. Mayer hit .260/.333/.462 against righties in 2025 (majors and minors combined) but just .230/.260/.378 against left-handers.
Utilitymen Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler, both acquired alongside Durbin, could both factor into the mix as well. Monasterio swings from the right side of the plate and can play all four infield positions. Seigler is a lefty-swinging catcher/infielder who’s played far more second base than catcher in recent seasons. It’s a long shot that either would claim a starting role, but both will be in the mix for bench jobs.
There are still questions in the outfield as well. Much has been made of Boston’s outfield group, which consists of Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu and, to a lesser extent, Masataka Yoshida. There are more bodies than at-bats to go around. Cora plainly said today that the Red Sox view Abreu as an everyday player and plan to get him at-bats against both lefties and righties (via MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith). They want to keep Rafaela in the outfield as often as possible, too, due to his superlative center field defense.
That’s a departure from the manner in which Abreu has been deployed in the past. The 26-year-old has logged just 145 of his 849 major league plate appearances against lefties (17%) and turned in a bleak .205/.271/.318 slash in that time. A poor spring showing could always change that plan, but it’d be a notable role change for Abreu. If he can improve to even passable but below-average output against southpaws with more exposure, it’d be a boon for the Sox on the defensive side of things, given that Abreu grades out as one of the better right fielders in the game.
If both Rafaela and Abreu are in the outfield most days, that leaves Duran, Anthony and Yoshida in the mix for left field and DH work. Presumably, the bulk of that time will go to Duran and Anthony. Both are superior defenders to Yoshida, and both have performed better at the plate as well.
Yoshida remains a square peg for the Sox’ roster, but he’s owed $36MM over the next two seasons and no team is taking on that sum (or even a notable portion of it). The former NPB star hit .266 last year but with a paltry .307 on-base percentage and just a .388 slugging percentage. By measure of wRC+, he was 12% worse than average at the plate. The Sox could still try to find him some occasional at-bats against right-handed pitching. He’s a career .295/.345/.451 hitter in those spots but has hit lefties at only a .237/.310/.340 pace since coming to MLB. In 755 innings in left field, he’s been dinged for negative marks by both Defensive Runs Saved (-4) and Outs Above Average (-8).
Latest On Red Sox’ Infield Pursuits
The Red Sox pivoted quickly after losing out on third baseman Alex Bregman, bringing lefty Ranger Suárez in to join an already deep rotation. They’re still in the market for help on the infield, and comments from chief baseball officer Craig Breslow at Suárez’s introductory press conference perhaps shed some light on the potential moves they could yet have in store (links (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com, Rob Bradford of WEEI and Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic).
“I don’t think there’s a question anymore that the identity of our team and the strength of our team is going to be our pitching and our ability to prevent runs,” Breslow said .
Breslow, unsurprisingly, wouldn’t comment directly on whether any subsequent additions are on the horizon. The third-year baseball ops leader acknowledged (via Bradford) that “teams call about some of our depth” but added that it’s “hard to tell” whether anything will come together in the near future, just given the sudden nature with which offseason negotiations can either accelerate or crumble at any given point.
Regarding the team’s in-house options, McCaffrey reports that the organization prefers Marcelo Mayer at third base rather than at second base. That’s not necessarily set in stone, and the Sox would presumably be open to Mayer at second base if an unexpected opportunity arose at the hot corner, but it’s nevertheless notable that that’s where they’d lean, all else being equal. Breslow emphasized that the Red Sox “will be very mindful of the defensive skill set” of any addition to the infield. McCaffrey suggests that the ideal target for the Red Sox would be a plus defensive second baseman.
That’s not great news for Eugenio Suárez, who has drawn some level of interest from Boston, Pittsburgh and the incumbent Seattle. (Surely, others are also in the mix to varying extents.) The 34-year-old is fresh off a 49-homer campaign and would absolutely give the Sox the power bat they said they were targeting early in free agency, but Breslow’s comments following the Bregman pivot seem more focused on defense, and Suárez was dinged for negative grades by both Defensive Runs Saved (-6) and Outs Above Average (-3) between the D-backs and Mariners this past season.
On the flip side, it only further strengthens the idea of Boston taking a genuine run at Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner or, to a lesser extent, Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan. Hoerner is the premier second base defender in MLB and is earning $12MM in the final season of his contract. He hit .297/.345/.394 with a microscopic 7.6% strikeout rate and 29 steals this past season. The Cubs have at least heard out interested teams on Hoerner, particularly after signing Bregman, but they’d need immediate MLB-ready help on the pitching side of things to even consider moving him. It’s also feasible that they could listen on young infielder Matt Shaw, but he’d also come with a lofty ask given his six years of remaining club control.
Circling back for a third separate trade with the Cardinals, where Breslow’s predecessor Chaim Bloom is running baseball operations, would be highly unusual — but the fit is sensible. Bloom obviously is quite familiar with many of Boston’s farmhands, and the Cardinals are looking to max out Donovan’s trade value while he still has two seasons of club control left. Donovan is a left-handed hitter and isn’t as strong defensively as Hoerner, making him a lesser fit, but the multiple seasons of control and ability to pretty seamlessly slide to third base or left field — depending on team health/needs — is certainly appealing.
Payroll-wise, there shouldn’t be much off the table for the Sox. RosterResource pegs them at about $197MM in actual cash payroll, which is down from 2025’s mark and not close to the franchise-record $236MM Opening Day mark. Their $265MM luxury tax ledger is far heftier, thanks in large part to backloaded deals for Suárez, Roman Anthony, Brayan Bello, Kristian Campbell and Ceddanne Rafaela. They’re second-time payors who are currently in the second penalty tier, thus subjecting them to a 42% tax on the the next $19MM or so that they spend.
If the Red Sox were to add another $20MM or more to the CBT ledger, that’d bump the tax rate to 75% for subsequent additions and, more notably, drop their top pick in the 2026 draft by ten spots. That’s probably the primary deterrent to spending beyond that point, though with the possible exception of Eugenio Suárez, none of the potential infield targets in question would thrust Boston into the third tier of penalization anyhow.
Readers — Red Sox fans in particular — are encouraged to check out the three linked pieces in full, as each has more extensive quotes from Breslow on the team’s offseason goals and the team’s pursuit of (Ranger) Suárez.
Breslow: Red Sox Looking For Front-Of-The-Rotation Starter, Middle-Of-The-Order Bat
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has already admitted that the Sox will be looking for starting pitching this offseason. He met with reporters at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas today, including Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, and provided a more specific target area.
“Because of the depth that we’ve built up over the last couple of years, we feel pretty good about just overall starting pitching, maybe No. 3-ish through No. 10-ish,” Breslow said. “And that’s not to take away from guys who are certainly capable of doing more, and more just to say I don’t think we’re going to spend a ton of time trying to add a No. 4, No. 5 starter.”
That’s a logical framing, considering the guys currently on the roster. Garrett Crochet gives the club a clear ace but then there’s a notable gap to the rest of the group. Brayan Bello is probably the #2 guy on paper right now, but he’s not really the kind of dominant force that one thinks of for that kind of role. He has a low-strikeout, high-grounder profile that should make him more of a solid back-end guy than a front-of-rotation killer.
Behind him, there are guys like Kutter Crawford, Cooper Criswell, Tanner Houck, Patrick Sandoval, Kyle Harrison, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and others. Crawford has some intriguing numbers but his ERA has landed north of 4.00 in each of the past two seasons. Criswell is a low-strikeout swingman. Houck had Tommy John surgery in August and is going to miss most or all of 2026, meaning he might get non-tendered. Sandoval missed the entire 2025 season due to his own elbow surgery. Harrison, Tolle and Early are all intriguing young arms but they’re not established at the big league level.
Given the question marks in that group, it’s understandable that the club would be looking for a surefire upgrade. It also perhaps explains why the club didn’t make a qualifying offer to righty Lucas Giolito, who is now a free agent. Giolito posted a 3.41 ERA with the Sox this year but his 19.7% strikeout rate was subpar. He benefited from a .273 batting average on balls in play and 76.7% strand rate, which were both to the fortunate side. His 4.17 FIP and 4.65 SIERA suggested he deserved worse. He also finished the season on the injured list with an elbow issue. Bringing him back would have arguably been adding another No. 4 or No. 5 starter, as Breslow put it.
The Sox surely feel they can and need to do better than that. They were connected to Joe Ryan of the Twins before the deadline and perhaps they will revisit that pursuit. Ryan has a career 3.79 ERA with a 27.6% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate. The Twins appear to be doing some kind of reset and only control Ryan for through 2027, so he could be attainable this winter. Other impact starters potentially available on the trade block include MacKenzie Gore, Freddy Peralta, Sandy Alcantara and others.
Acquiring any of those players would involve giving up talented prospects or big leaguers. The Sox had one of the top farm systems in baseball not so long ago but they traded some notable talent to the White Sox in the Crochet deal and have also graduated a bunch of their top prospects to the majors.
A simpler path would be to just sign a free agent. This winter’s market has notable names such as Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, Ranger Suárez, Michael King, Brandon Woodruff and others. Those players would cost more than the trade targets financially but wouldn’t require the Sox to give up prospects, though everyone in that group aside from Imai rejected a qualifying offer, meaning the Sox would be hurting their prospect pipeline in a different way.
Breslow also pointed to a plan on the offensive side of things. “There is just something about a bat in the middle of the lineup that forces another team to game plan against it that has a compounding effect on the rest of the roster,” Breslow said. “So we didn’t slug nearly as much as I think we can, or we will, and we’ll pursue opportunities to improve that.”
For the entire 2025 season, the Sox finished ninth in the majors in slugging percentage and tenth in isolated power. They’ve also lost some key bats in the past few months. They traded Rafael Devers to the Giants midseason. Alex Bregman opted out of his deal last week and became a free agent.
There are many potential options in free agency, though the Sox have a crowded outfield. The most logical spots to add would be the infield corners. Bregman’s departure leaves third base open. First base is a question mark with Triston Casas still injured. Nathaniel Lowe was holding that spot by the end of the 2025 season but he could be non-tendered this month.
Bringing back Bregman would be one straightforward solution, though it’s unclear if the Sox want to commit to him long-term. He is presumably hoping to land a longer deal this time around, after settling for a three-year, opt-out-laden pact last time. Besides Bregman, other corner infield free agents with big bats are Munetaka Murakami, Pete Alonso, Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, Ryan O’Hearn and others. Willson Contreras and Christian Walker might be available on the trade market.
The free agent market also has Kyle Schwarber, who previously had a brief stint with the Sox that included some memorable time at first base. However, it may be hard to outbid the Phillies. There’s also the fact that Schwarber hits left-handed and the Boston lineup is already loaded with lefties.
“In a perfect world, I suppose we want to balance out the lineup a bit,” Breslow said on the subject. “That said, when you can hit the ball out of the park, it doesn’t really matter.” Murakami, Naylor and O’Hearn are also left-handed, whereas Alonso, Suárez, Contreras and Walker are righties.
It’s unclear what the Red Sox plan to spend on the 2026 squad. According to RosterResource, the club had a $207MM payroll in 2025 but a competitive balance tax number of $245MM. RR projects those numbers for $180MM and $216MM in 2026. Non-tendering Lowe and Houck would add more than $17MM of extra wiggle room.
One area of the roster where Breslow doesn’t plan to make big changes is the shortstop position. Per Christopher Smith of MassLive, Breslow said that Trevor Story will be the shortstop next year. Story recently decided not to opt-out of his contract. He is signed through 2027 with a club option for 2028.
After being injured for most of his first three seasons in Boston, Story had a nice return to form in 2025, despite a slow start. He hit .289/.334/.492 for a 124 wRC+ after the month of May. However, his season-long defensive numbers weren’t great. He was credited with minus-7 Defensive Runs Saved and minus-9 Outs Above Average. Despite that, Breslow and the Sox plan to keep Story out there next year.
There aren’t many great options for external upgrades. Bo Bichette is the top free agent but he’ll be expensive and his defense was worse than Story’s this year. Ha-Seong Kim is a solid defender but his offense wasn’t great in his first season after shoulder surgery. CJ Abrams is arguably the top trade candidate but is also not a great defender.
Internally, there’s an argument for trying Marcelo Mayer at short with Story bumped to second, though Mayer is still fairly unproven. He hit just .228/.272/.402 in his first 136 big league plate appearances. He missed more than a month due to a right wrist sprain.
Breslow also spoke about Mayer and said he needs to add strength. “[Getting stronger] will just help him manage the workload of a full season and just be able to withstand the demands of a full season, which is, frankly, something that he hasn’t been able to do,” Breslow said, per Healey. “And some of those have been just kind of these freak injuries, but others seem to maybe just be the accumulation of workload.” With Story returning to shortstop, Mayer could find playing time at second or third, depending on what moves the Sox make this winter.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Red Sox Promote John Soteropulos to Assistant Hitting Coach
The Red Sox have made John Soteropulos an assistant hitting coach, reports Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. Soteropulos had been a minor-league hitting coordinator since 2023. Before joining Boston’s organization, Soteropulos was a trainer at Driveline Baseball.
McCaffrey adds that Soteropulos worked with minor leaguers on boosting bat speed and exit velocity during his time as a hitting coordinator. That group included top prospects Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony, and Marcelo Mayer. The trio debuted in 2025, with varying results.
Campbell made the team out of camp. He hit .301 through April, then fell off a cliff in May, batting .134. He continued to scuffle into June and found himself back in the minors. Mayer got the call at the end of May. He showed big power, though it came with strikeout issues. A wrist injury ended his season in July. Anthony had by far the most success of the bunch. He joined the big-league club a few weeks after Mayer. Anthony shook off a slow June to put up a massive July and August. He posted a .920 OPS and a 156 wRC+ from the beginning of July through the first week of September, when he injured his oblique. The strain would end his season.
Boston’s hitting coach is Pete Fatse. He joined the team as an assistant hitting coach in 2020, before being promoted to the head job in 2022. Dillon Lawson is also joining the staff as an assistant hitting coach. He served as hitting coach for the Yankees from 2022 until midway through 2023.
Add Soteropulos to the growing list of employees to make the jump from Driveline to big-league organizations. Driveline founder Kyle Boddy spent time with multiple teams, including as a consultant with the Red Sox. Eric Jagers, the company’s former Manager of Technical Development, is currently the Vice President of Pitching for the Mets. Sam Briend, who led Driveline’s pitching development program in Seattle, has been the Yankees’ Senior Director of Pitching since 2019.