It's looking increasingly likely that the deal that sent Christian Vazquez to the Houston Astros for Wilyer Abreu will be remembered not only as Chaim Bloom's best trade during his tenure at the helm of the Red Sox, but as one of the best trade's in recent baseball memory. Abreu has already won two Gold Gloves and isn't that far off from making the all-star team.
In 2023, Casas, who made his MLB debut the prior season, was something of a revelation at first base. Over 132 games Casas hit .263/.367/.490 with 24 home runs. That's an .856 OPS and 2.2 bWAR and earned him a 3rd place finish in the AL Rookie of the Year race.
The team is incredibly deep in right-handed bullpen options, with Garrett Whitlock, Justin Slaten, Greg Weissert, and all more or less already assured of roles and a plethora of non-roster invitees including Vinny Nittoli, Kyle Keller, Osvaldo Bido, and Hobie Harris. From the left side, however, Boston has just three credible options: Aroldis Chapman, Jovani Moran, and Tyler Samaniego. Chapman, of course, is locked into the closer role.
I don't like to speak ill of any player. I'd like to say that he's a wonderful person. But, of course, when we had an injury at first base his unwillingness to play that position was extremely discouraging. It was a discouraging episode. Just pick up a glove.
If you're not familiar with the company that is Fanatics and the monopoly in sports apparel it's built over the last decade or so, the long and short of it is this: the company makes cheap-looking jerseys with little care or quality control, but it dominates the market because it enables the billionaire owners who sign exclusive deals with it to make a teeny-tiny bit more money than they used to.
Manager Alex Cora noted that Narv/Narvi/The Narv did a great job exceeding expectations in 2025, per Gabrielle Starr the Boston Herald, while being "banged up" the entire time. Red Sox Hall of Famer and current team staff member Jason Varitek commended him for his preparation and mindset in the clubhouse. Cora himself ordained him as the team's starting backstop, a call that was all but official leading up to Spring Training.
One thing the sabermetric revolution has taught us is that batting order doesn't matter all that much. At least, not in the traditional sense of putting a speedy runner at the the top, someone who can handle the bat and move him over second, and power hitters in the middle. The general consensus now is that a team's best hitter should hit second with a high-OBP hitter in front of him.
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.
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.
Yesterday, I wrote that I'm starting to accept the increasingly likely possibility that the Red Sox are not going to add an infielder before opening day, leaving second base to be covered by a platoon of Romy Gonzalez and David Hamilton. It seems to me to be a clear case of roster mismanagement to enter the season with holes in the infield while the outfield remains overcrowded (arguably for the second year in a row). And yet, Craig Breslow doesn't seem to mind.
Macdonald, 38, deepened his love for the sport during the Pedro Martinez years. As for his playing career, he said he tore his ACL and "got really slow," which forced him to switch from middle infield to third base. He then pointed out his glasses and said he "had the Harry Potter thing going on" because he "couldn't see the dang ball."
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 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).
Even with Lucas Giolito departing in free agency, the Red Sox have eight to ten viable options. They'll be anchored at the top end by Garrett Crochet, Suárez and Gray. It's unlikely that Boston would flip Oviedo within a few months of giving up a reasonably well-regarded outfield prospect (Jhostynxon Garcia) to acquire him. Beyond that, the Sox could dangle any of their starters on the trade market.
The Red Sox are set to host another edition of Fenway Fest this weekend, which looks to be heavily focused on players, autograph sessions, and stories of the 1986 team. It doesn't appear there will be any sessions with ownership or the front office, which is unfortunate because those have provided some of the most interesting moments in recent offseasons when they got booed to the high heavens.
The calendars have been flipped for a few days now, but before we dive headlong into the 2026 sports media scene, your semiloyal scribe (that's me) wanted to jot down a few national and local people, places, and things that I enjoyed or appreciated from the past year on this beat. Twenty-six of them, in fact ... · NBC Sports Boston's "Quick Slants," especially Tom E. Curran's good-natured "Irrelevant Questions" segments with Patriots players. · Phil Perry's knack for good-naturedly shutting down Felger-generated Patriots hot takes with facts and insight. · Lou Merloni's #walkthedog social media clips that never fail to offer clear-eyed assessments of the state of the Red Sox.
According to Alex Speier, the Red Sox continue to pursue one more infield bat, with the targets of that pursuit remaining consistent throughout the offseason: Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Ketel Marte, or Isaac Paredes.
After the 2024 season Rob Refsnyder considered retiring. But he didn't, explaining: "Really it was just the conversation, last year was my last guaranteed deal with here," Refsnyder said. "...I didn't really know the future. If no one has interest then yeah, I'd go on and do the next thing. I'm happy I'm here and this is my last year here that I guaranteed so we'll see what happens."
So why not get even more in the spirit by baking a delightful batch of Christmas cookies? And these cookies aren't just any old sugar cookies-these are the Red Sox Offseason Christmas Cookies! Chock full of anxiety, consternation, and inaction, these cookies taste just like money that isn't being spent, which, if we think about it, is really supposed to be the meaning of Christmas or something, according to Charlie Brown or whatever.
we do in fact have credible reporting that the Red Sox have engaged in trade talks involving at least four former all-stars: Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte, Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes, and Cardinals utility man Brendan Donovan. Of course "talks" could mean anything from "here's our starting offer" to "hey, you wanna give us Ketel Marte? No? Ok, ttyl," so you don't need to much stock into potential trade scenarios now.
