What you will find is someone with an average-to-plus hit tool, who can make the plays defensively at multiple positions, with a lot of speed on the bases. Durbin slashed .256/.334/.387 in his rookie season, with 11 home runs and 18 stolen bases, which led to third place in Rookie of the Year voting. The ball is usually put into play when Durbin is at the plate.
Neto, 25, is a plus defender with more pop - a combined 49 homers the last two years - and would have been a significant addition. A natural shortstop, Neto could have moved to either second or third for the time being until Trevor Story's deal was up. But predictably, the Angels set a very high bar when it came to the return and the two teams were unable to match up.
I know the language barrier is the language barrier, but it was an outstanding show. And there's a lot of stuff - like this morning I watched it again just to see the details. The cool thing about him, and I'll give him credit because he's developed into this icon, and he's true to his roots. I'm a proud Puerto Rican.
Boston's quest for infield help has been one of their primary offseason storylines, with such names as Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Ketel Marte, Eugenio Suarez, Nico Hoerner, Brendan Donovan and many others reportedly considered as free agent or trade targets. In Donovan's case, Rome and Rosenthal report that the Sox had some negotiations with the Astros and Cardinals about a three-team trade that would've sent Paredes to Boston, Donovan to Houston, and presumably a multi-player prospect package to the rebuilding Cardinals.
And yet, most defensive metrics don't think the Sox are that bad, and some think they are elite. By Statcast's Fielding Run Value as presented by Baseball Savant, the Red Sox had the fifth-best defense in baseball last year. By Statcast's Fielding Run Value as presented by FanGraphs (which is apparently a slightly different thing, though I couldn't tell you how) they were the seventh-best.
Here's a list of unsigned free agent outfielders who hit from the right side of the plate: By the way, that list is ordered by 2025 fWAR, and the only players who posted more than 0.0 wins last year were Andujar (1.1), Marte (0.7), and Pham (0.2). And, oh yeah, Marte and Pham are 37 and 38 years old, respectively.
The Red Sox announced that they have claimed utility player Mickey Gasper off waivers from the Nationals. Washington designated him for assignment last week when they claimed Richard Lovelady. Boston had a couple of 40-man openings after trading Jordan Hicks and David Sandlin to the White Sox a few days ago. This claim moves their count from 38 to 39. More to come.
Good morning! Yet another infield option is off the board, as the Seattle Mariners acquired All-Star Brendan Donavan in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals yesterday. Perhaps you're still holding out hope for an Isaac Paredes deal, but it's looking increasingly likely that the Red Sox will head into Opening Day with Marcelo Mayer at third and a second base platoon of David Hamilton and Romy Gonzalez.
Nittoli is now on the 12th organization of a decade-long professional career. The 35-year-old righty has gotten to the major league level with five of those clubs. His career high in MLB appearances with one team is seven, as he threw eight innings for the Athletics in 2024. Nittoli has had cups of coffee with the Mariners, Phillies, Mets and Orioles as well. He has logged 18 2/3 major league innings, striking out 13 against five walks while allowing five runs.
The 30-year-old was a first-round pick out of the University of Virginia in 2016 by the Angels. He debuted for them in 2019, batting .211/.293/.422 with an 86 wRC+ and a .211 ISO in 164 plate appearances that year. Thaiss has continued to post mid-80s wRC+ values throughout his career. After not getting much playing time from 2020-22, he got an extended look in 2023, making 307 PA in 95 games for the Halos.
We are, as of today, January 29, 2026, 55 days away from Opening Day. It's a little early for countdowns, but in this weird period between building the team and heading to Spring Training, let's go ahead and do one anyway, taking a look at the Red Sox players who have worn number 55. 55 isn't the most popular uniform number but also isn't the least. Just 9 players for Boston have donned it versus 61 players for number 28, the most worn number.
Yes, the man that many Red Sox fans have been shipping out the door in imaginary trade scenarios all offseason is, according to MLB Network, the best left fielder in the game. Of course, the reason why so many fans are keen to ship him out is because of the guy that MLB has at number two on the list - not to mention a couple other guys who will end up on the center and right field lists to be published in a few days.
The Boston Red Sox bolstered their rotation with the additions of Sonny Gray and Ranger Suárez, along with a premium bat in Willson Contreras. As well, the New York Yankees traded for Ryan Weathers and re-signed star outfielder Cody Bellinger. But it's the Baltimore Orioles that have significantly revamped their disappointing roster from 2025 so far by recruiting Shane Baz, Ryan Helsley, Zach Eflin, Taylor Ward and of course star slugger Pete Alonso.
Guerrero returns to affiliated ball after spending the 2025 season in Japan. The hulking 6'8″ righty signed with the Chiba Lotte Marines last offseason. It was his second stint with the club, as Guerrero also pitched for the Marines back in 2022. His first stint went better than last year's, as he allowed a 6.41 ERA over 19 2/3 NPB innings. He spent the majority of the season with their minor league affiliate as a result.
Good morning! MLB Network just completed its annual exercise in ranking the top-100 players in Major League Baseball. You already know who number 1 is, and he doesn't play for the Red Sox. But Garrett Crochet does, and he led the way for the Sox by coming in as the 12th-best player in the game. Rounding out the rankings for the Sox were Roman Anthony (41), Jarren Duran (58), Ranger Suárez (79), and Aroldis Chapman (81).
BOSTON (AP) - Left-hander Ranger Suárez and the Boston Red Sox finalized their $130 million, five-year contract on Wednesday. Suárez gets a $3 million signing bonus, payable within 30 days of the deal's approval by Major League Baseball, and salaries of $7 million this year, $15 million in 2027, $30 million in each of the following two seasons and $35 million in 2030. The deal includes a $35 million mutual option for 2031 with a $10 million buyout.
The Baseball Hall of Fame will have two new members in a few months, as Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones were officially elected yesterday. The two Red Sox legends on the ballot, Dustin Pedroia and Manny Ramirez, failed to hit the 75% vote threshold. Pedroia, though, is only in his second year on the ballot and saw his vote percentage jump from 11.9 to 20.7, which bodes well for his campaign going forward.
Good morning! Boston saw its first significant snow storm of 2026 yesterday, and it's well below freezing today. In other words, it very much does not feel like baseball season here. But baseball is being played all around the world, including in the Dominican, where a spot in the LIDOM championship series was decided by a walkoff walk: Game 1 of the championship series is on Wednesday and you can stream it on MLB.TV.
I mean, Drake's gotta hold on to the ball better going forward. Even against Jarrett Stidham, we can't afford to put the ball on the turf four or five times against a tough Denver defense on the road. I'm gonna need more help from the left side of the O-line, too-Will Campbell, I still believe in you, but come on dude. The defense has been hummin', though, and I can't imagine Stidham will play a 100% clean game. Go chase after him, make him poop his pants, and go win us a conference title.
Those efforts shouldn't be taken as a knock against Carlos Narvaez, who turned in an impressive 2025 season that earned him a sixth-place finish in AL Rookie of the Year voting thanks to a combination of league average offense at the plate and elite defense behind it. It seems likely that Narvaez would remain the primary catcher in Boston even if they were to find another backstop to bring into the mix.
That contract came in just $10MM ahead of Boston's own offer in terms of sticker price, but deferred money and the lack of a no-trade clause further depreciated the Red Sox' offer relative to that of the Cubs. The loss of Bregman left chief baseball officer Craig Breslow to search for a pivot, and he found just that yesterday when he signed southpaw Ranger Suarez to a five-year deal.
Bo Bichette agreed to a three-year, $126 million contract to join the Mets on Friday, according to multiple reports. The Red Sox had been linked to the former Blue Jays shortstop in recent weeks, with rumors about Boston potentially landing Bichette heating up in the aftermath of Alex Bregman's departure. But with Bichette off the board and Bregman now with the Cubs, the Red Sox' options to improve their infield are starting to become more and more limited.
Good morning! Kyle Tucker signed a massive free agent deal with the Dodgers last night. Don't waste your breath arguing that this is bad for baseball. It isn't. There is no evidence whatsoever that the Dodgers are causing fans to lose interest in the sport. In fact, the evidence suggests that they are increasing interest on both the national and international scale.
