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With rotation bolstered, Red Sox turn offseason attention to lineup
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- With rotation bolstered, Red Sox turn offseason attention to lineup
The acquisition of veteran righty Sonny Gray on Tuesday helped upgrade the Red Sox’ starting rotation, one of the priorities chief baseball officer Craig Breslow outlined at the start of the offseason.
Now that that box has been checked, the Red Sox will now turn their attention to upgrading their offense.
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Even before the Sox mustered just one homer, a solo shot, over 27 innings in the postseason, they had identified obtaining more power as another obvious need.
The Red Sox were middle of the pack – 15th out of 30 teams — during the regular season and injuries to Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu in September thinned the lineup.
“We had been pretty transparent about our desire to add to the rotation,” said Breslow in a conference call with reporters Tuesday night, “and our desire to add a bat to the position player side. It’s impossible to know what the order of operations will be, so we’ll continue to look for opportunities to improve the team.
“I wouldn’t say we’re going to exclusively focus on one thing at the expense of the other. We want to be open-minded. So I don’t think this is a close-off-all-opportunities and look exclusively at position players. But I also think there’s a chance that comes into focus in the next couple of weeks.”
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There are two avenues for the Red Sox — trade or free agent market.
The free agent list includes some names of interest, including Pete Alonso and Kyle Schwarber . There are also two Japanese players who’ve been posted: Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamato.
“It still feels pretty early in getting to understand interested teams and interested players,” said Breslow. “I think what’s often overlooked in these processes is that you need to have mutual interest; this isn’t just about the teams that have interest in particular players.
“Players, often for the first time in their careers, get the opportunity to choose where they want to call home for the next one to 12 years at times. So there’s a bit of a feeling-out and getting-to-know each other type of process. i think it’s still pretty early in that.”
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Given the uncertain nature of the Red Sox’ infield — only shortstop Trevor Story would seem to be locked into a set position — there are several potential spots to upgrade offensively. The Red Sox could target first base (Alonso), DH (Schwarber) or third base ( Alex Bregman ).
Or, they could turn to either of the corner field spots, which could accommodate either Murakami or Okamoto.
“The versatility or flexibility is a significant benefit,” said Breslow, “because it doesn’t mean that we don’t have to be rigidly anchored to one position over another. We’ve got a bunch of guys who contributed to wins last year capable of playing multiple positions, whether that be Romy (Gonzalez), Marcelo (Mayer) or (David Hamilton), which gives us a chance to have multiple options in terms of improving our offense.
“So we’ll be creative, we’ll be open-minded about the best way to do that.”
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The trade market is far less defined when it comes to available power bats. A few first basemen — including Houston ’s Christian Walker — are said to be available.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox have the luxury of four everyday outfielders, one of whom could be used in a deal.
“It’s an advantage for us to have four outfielders who have the talent and ability to play every day,” said Breslow. “Now, some would say that if there are opportunities to leverage areas of depth — and maybe outfield is one and starting pitching is another – to address other areas of need on the roster, then we’ll have to consider doing that."
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