The Red Sox, according to a league source,<\/a> made an offer both fewer in years and dollars to Alonso than Baltimore\u2019s five-year, $150 million deal.<\/p>\nFor now, the Red Sox remain idle in what has become a familiar waiting game.<\/p>\n
Kristian Campbell and the (still) crowded outfield<\/p>\n
Though it seemed inevitable the Red Sox would trade from their group of four outfielders, they have yet to do so. At the Winter Meetings, Breslow presented a scenario in which all four could remain on the team. That surplus helped last year when Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu went down with injuries. Both Abreu and Ceddanne Rafaela are coming off Gold Glove winning seasons, and while Jarren Duran didn\u2019t have as productive a season as 2024, his 4.7 bWAR last year was second on the team to Garrett Crochet\u2019s 6.3.<\/p>\n
If the Red Sox hold onto their outfielders, they\u2019ll need to find a way to get each one playing time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think those four guys make a lot of teams better, including ours,\u201d Breslow said. \u201cWe have to listen (to trade offers) because it would be, I think, irresponsible not to. But the bar we\u2019re going to hold is really high, because each of those guys is capable of contributing multiple wins to our team.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Breslow didn\u2019t mention among those four is that Kristian Campbell has been getting reps exclusively in the outfield in winter ball in Puerto Rico. How he fits in the big league picture is another unanswered question, but the Red Sox want him to focus on solidifying his offensive approach and say they will figure out his best defensive position later.<\/p>\n
In other outfield news, manager Alex Cora spoke last week for the first time this offseason and made a point to address Rafaela\u2019s streakiness at the plate. Though Rafaela won a Gold Glove in center, rounding out his game will be key entering his third full season.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffensively, I think we need more,\u201d Cora said. \u201cThe last two years, August, September, we know he swings, we know he chases, but it goes up. And we have challenged him physically. He tries to gain weight, but it\u2019s hard for him. I would love to eat the way he eats and not gain weight. For him, it\u2019s a challenge. Hopefully, he can gain some pounds in the offseason and get stronger so he can sustain his physicality throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marcelo Mayer hoping to play for Mexico in WBC<\/p>\n
With a slew of big-league players expected to play in the World Baseball Classic, the Red Sox, like most teams, expect to have a broken camp come spring. Mayer, whose parents are Mexican, has expressed a desire to play for Team Mexico alongside Duran.<\/p>\n
Because Mayer is coming off season-ending wrist surgery there are a few more hoops to jump through in terms of team insurance, in case he gets re-injured in the tournament. Cora, who once served as GM of Team Puerto Rico, has an affinity for the WBC and appreciates player involvement, even if it makes spring training tougher with players away from their base camps.<\/p>\n
While Mayer is still vying for a spot on the big league club, Cora said his absence, if granted a WBC spot, wouldn\u2019t affect his standing for making the big league club.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be watching. It\u2019s good competition,\u201d Cora said. \u201cHaving them in the clubhouse is important. There\u2019s certain teams that they\u2019re going to feel it in spring training because there\u2019s a lot of guys from certain teams that are going to play. I\u2019m not into the mode of, if he\u2019s not here, he doesn\u2019t have a chance (to make the opening day roster).\u201d<\/p>\n
Internal candidates for lefty relief help<\/p>\n
A less pressing but still notable area of need is left-handed relief help. At the moment, closer Aroldis Chapman is the lone lefty in the bullpen after Steven Matz signed with Tampa Bay Rays and the Red Sox traded Brennan Bernardino and Chris Murphy.<\/p>\n
A reunion with Justin Wilson remains on the table, but two names already on the roster that have routinely surfaced in recent weeks are lefties Jovani Mor\u00e1n and Tyler Samaniego. Breslow noted last week both lefties are highly thought of, signaling their chances of making the club come spring.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox acquired Mor\u00e1n from Minnesota last winter, and while he pitched most of the season in Triple A, he did make two appearances for Boston in mid August. Mor\u00e1n missed all of 2024 with Tommy John surgery.<\/p>\n
Samaniego was one of three pitchers along with Johan Oviedo the Red Sox acquired from Pittsburgh last month.<\/p>\n
Cora called Mor\u00e1n a \u201cvery intriguing\u201d pitcher because he\u2019s shown an ability to get lefties and righties out equally well. He\u2019s currently pitching in winter ball in Puerto Rico, alongside Campbell, under Red Sox bench coach Ram\u00f3n V\u00e1zquez. Samaniego is a big-bodied lefty with big strikeout numbers, traits the Red Sox value.<\/p>\n
Where Triston Casas stands<\/p>\n
All offseason, Breslow\u2019s comments about not penciling in Casas as the Opening Day first baseman have created speculation about his role. Last week, Breslow tried to offer clarity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not about our confidence in his baseball ability,\u201d Breslow said. \u201cHe\u2019s got the same talent that he had: the ability to manage the strike zone, to hit the ball out of the park. We need that. We\u2019re going to need that. We just don\u2019t want to overly pressurize the situation for guys coming back from a pretty significant injury.\u201d<\/p>\n
So a healthy Casas could indeed be the Opening Day first baseman?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe could, for sure,\u201d Breslow said. \u201cAgain, I don\u2019t want to get too far out in front of ourselves, but he\u2019s a guy who, when he\u2019s on the field, he\u2019s had the ability to impact the game. He just has not, unfortunately, been on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Casas has a lot to prove this spring, with health and durability being the main goal after a series of injuries over the last few years. He also has to prove he can provide consistent production at the plate.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the Red Sox seem willing to let him prove all of that knowing he still has minor-league options. If the Red Sox feel he\u2019s not ready health-wise or at the plate, he could begin the year in Triple A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite flopping on the two biggest free-agent power bats at the Winter Meetings, the Boston Red Sox remain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5156,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-351768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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