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MLB Notebook: Depth in rotation may allow Red Sox to bypass pricey free agent market in hunt for offense
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- MLB Notebook: Depth in rotation may allow Red Sox to bypass pricey free agent market in hunt for offense
Almost from the start, the free agent market has been a model of inefficiency. Bidding furiously against one another, teams pay exorbitant prices for past performance.
The players win, but in the long run, teams often lose — especially on long-term deals which especially tend to not age well.
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Sometimes, free agency represents the only option as that’s where the talent lies. Also, the obsession with retaining prospects often steers clubs away from trading them to fill needs.
But this winter, the Red Sox , through two early offseason trades, may have found a way around this conundrum. After adding Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo , the Red Sox have close to 10 legitimate starting pitching candidates and/or well-regarded prospects: Garrett Crochet , Gray, Oviedo, Brayan Bello , Kutter Crawford , Patrick Sandoval , Hunter Dobbins , Kyle Harrison , Payton Tolle and Connelly Early .
This accounting doesn’t begin to take into account the next tier of pitching prospects, including David Sandlin, Luis Perales and last year’s No. 1 pick, Kyson Witherspoon — all of whom have trade value, too.
Not every pitcher, of course, is proven at the big league level and some — notably Sandoval — are coming off major physical setbacks.
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But still, that’s far more than most organizations and could put them in deals to address their lack of pop in the lineup.
What if, say, the Red Sox succeeded in re-signing Alex Bregman , then packaged Jarren Duan and a young pitcher to land another power bat? That would upgrade the lineup considerably and would enable them to keep their CBT number in the $250 million or so range.
(Keeping the payroll in that area remains an organizational priority, as has previously been reported).
Instead of spending, say, $35 million per season on a seven-year deal for Pete Alonso to add muscle to the offense, the Red Sox could find a bat on the trade market, using Duran (or Wilyer Abreu ) and a young starter as bait.
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The bidding for the likes of Alonso and Kyle Schwarber has yet to even get underway, but it’s easy to anticipate those deals spiraling ever upward with the interest from a handful of big market teams ( Phillies , Mets and others) all positioning themselves for one of the sluggers.
If the Red Sox were to land a run-producing first baseman in such a trade and bring back Bregman, they could use Marcelo Mayer at second, and then turn their attention to upgrading their DH spot.
With the money saved in largely staying out of the free agent market and freed from the long-term Rafael Devers deal, they could perhaps find a creative way to unload Masataka Yoshida ’s remaining salary and fill the DH spot with other options.
By jumping the line early — no other team in the game has struck so quickly for two impact pitchers — the Red Sox have gotten the potentially costly part of their offseason agenda already out of the way.
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Now, as they move on to address the offense and the need for more slug, they’re positioned to give themselves plenty of options, with an exit route available if they don’t want to get into bidding wars for the bat they need.
Just nine months after he signed an eight-year, $60 million deal with the Red Sox, it’s uncertain how Kristian Campbell fits with the organization going forward.
He spent the entire second half of 2025 at Worcester and for now, it’s impossible to know what the team has planned for the future.
One thing is certain: he’s going to play for Caguas, Puerto Rico in winter ball starting soon.
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“I think going into the offseason, getting some of his strength back was a priority,” said Brian Abraham, the director of player development for the Sox. “We feel like he’s in a really good spot physically. He’s been working out, spending some time in Fort Myers, which is great. I think a balance of the physical side but also the game-play side (is important this winter), giving him an opportunity to utilize some of the adjustments he’s made – physically and mechanically — in some game action would be to his benefit."
Where Campbell plays in winter ball is still undecided. He saw action at second and first and some outfield in Worcester.
“Those conversations are ongoing,” said Abraham. “First and foremost, we want to make sure he has his feet underneath him. He’ll go through a swing progression, a run progression to make sure he’s prepared for the game-play portion. He’s been able to play multiple positions over the past year — some of that was for versatility in the big leagues, at other times to potentially make an impact while he was Triple A.
“I think we’re open-minded. But we also want to make sure the work is consistent, wherever he ends up playing while also being able to focus on his bat. We need to make sure the offensive output is at the forefront of what he’s working on. I think we’re still having conversations about where he will be defensively. As he starts to progress and play in games, that will be a little bit of a slower pace because there’s only so much you can do when you’ve been down for a month and a half.”
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It took some time for Campbell to find himself at the plate after being optioned to Triple A, but eventually, that happened as he found himself a more comfortable routine.
“Consistency was the biggest piece, in all facets,” said Abraham. “Workouts, early work, his preparation for games — all those things, I think he was able to get back into a consistent routine that allowed him to have the success that he wanted. And granted, I think he would probably say the overall numbers weren’t exactly what he would have wanted. But I think he saw a lot of progress and improvement that made us feel like he was moving in the right direction and I think that’s all we could ask for.“
Even as he struggled in 2025, Campbell got some valuable insight into what it takes to be successful in the big leagues.
“He got a lot of perspectives,” said Abraham. “He saw what success looked like, and got to see what failure look like. And to see other guys who have a lot of success and how they go about their routines and handle adversity and come out of slumps. or times when they’re not feeling their best, either mentally or physically.
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“The time at Triple A allowed him to get a routine that works for him, preparing his body for a long season that is full of ups and downs, whether you’re at the top of your game or the bottom of your game. He has a better feel for the competition, better feel for how he’s going to be pitched and have an idea of what he needed to do that night at the plate. I think there were a lot of experiences that will allow him to have success moving forward. Sometimes you don’t know what it takes until you’re given the chance to fail or succeed.”
It will help, too, that Red Sox bench coach Ramon Vazquez will serve as the Caguas manager, giving the organization more control of his playing time while enabling good communication.
One of the things that made Gray so attractive to the Red Sox was his low walk rate (5.0). But in his Zoom call with reporters earlier in the week, Gray said he wouldn’t mind walking a few more hitters next year if it meant limiting hard-hit damage.
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He allowed a career-high 25 homers and his hard-hit rate was (40.7 percent) was his highest since the 2017 season.
“Some would say (the low walk rate) is great,” said Gray, “but I’d argue there’s some give-and-take there. Maybe a few more walks could be better – a few more walks and a few less hits, less homers, a little bit less damage.
“That’s something I’d love to get into, situations where walks are OK. It’s OK to walk a guy right here rather than giving up a double or damage or throwing a pitch that could potentially lead to damage.”
In recent seasons, Gray noted, he’s experienced “walks down, strikeouts up, damage up, homers up. Homers are a run, so if there’s a way to get back to limiting damage, punching out people and the walks go up a little bit, that would be OK.”
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