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Problem or Solution: Kristian Campbell
- Story by
- Problem or Solution: Kristian Campbell
The Boston Red Sox are stuck. If you're the type of person who is content finishing third within the division and being bounced by your arch rivals in just a handful of games in back-to-back seasons, you might disagree. If you're not an idiot, you know difficult decisions need to be made and that things need to change.
I've decided to task myself with analyzing which players can be part of the turnaround and which should be shown the door, all as a way to take the heat off chief baseball officer Craig Breslow. If you're not down with that, I've got two words for ya: Problem or Solution?
I genuinely have no idea what the plan is…
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Kristian Campbell was supposed to be part of the future, but the same guy who signed an eight-year contract extension before making his big league debut just spent the entire season in the minor leagues and has been surpassed by several replacement-level players and new acquisitions on the depth chart.
I'd love to blame the organization for all that, but they've tried him at multiple positions and have given him plenty of time to fix the issues that started to plague him at the plate after his torrid start to professional baseball. If you look at his numbers and positions played the last two seasons, you can see that there has been plenty of time and energy placed into making this whole thing work.
2025 (MLB):
67 G (59 2B, 9 OF), .223/.319/.345, 6 HR, 10 2B, 72 K, 29 BB
2025 (MiLB):
65 G (32 1B, 11 2B, 22 OF), .273/.382/.417, 8 HR, 11 2B, 84 K, 38 BB
2026 (MiLB):
108 G (10 DH, 98 OF), .256/.383/.380, 8 HR, 22 2B, 126 K, 73 BB
ONCE AGAIN… I genuinely have no idea what the plan is.
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WHAT WE KNOWThe Red Sox are stuck trying to figure out what to do with this guy — for better or worse.
Campbell spent last season rebuilding his swing, which seemed to be an edict from the organization as it looked to help get him back to being the guy it dished out that contract to. I don't necessarily know if they got him there, but improvements were made and he definitely seemed to find his footing defensively as an outfielder/designated hitter.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOWI don't know if he's good enough to play over the likes of Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, or Curtis Mead.
Boston currently plans to fill all three outfield spots and second base with those four players, while it has also made it known that designated hitter is reserved for players who need a day off from playing the field or veterans who suck doing anything else. I can't see them making that plan work, though, which is both good and bad news for the positionless guy with a big fat contract that needs to be paid out.
BEST-CASE SCENARIO
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The Red Sox are able to turn him into the platoon outfielder that they've needed since losing Rob Refsnyder. If you can get him into the lineup consistently against left-handers, you can get that outfield trio off its feet and try to keep it healthy while also lengthening the lineup.
WORST-CASE SCENARIOIt's a lost cause…
$80 million has been poorly spent and will now sit on the books long enough to make it a consistent issue we have to hear about when discussing why they refuse to spend money year after year.
CONCLUSIONI can't give up on the guy, and neither will the organization. Campbell will be a positive contributor next season.
