RSS Red Sox Team Notes

[Boston Red Sox]

Breslow: Red Sox Looking For Front-Of-The-Rotation Starter, Middle-Of-The-Order Bat

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has already admitted that the Sox will be looking for starting pitching this offseason. He met with reporters at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas today, including Tim Healey of The Boston Globe, and provided a more specific target area.

“Because of the depth that we’ve built up over the last couple of years, we feel pretty good about just overall starting pitching, maybe No. 3-ish through No. 10-ish,” Breslow said. “And that’s not to take away from guys who are certainly capable of doing more, and more just to say I don’t think we’re going to spend a ton of time trying to add a No. 4, No. 5 starter.”

That’s a logical framing, considering the guys currently on the roster. Garrett Crochet gives the club a clear ace but then there’s a notable gap to the rest of the group. Brayan Bello is probably the #2 guy on paper right now, but he’s not really the kind of dominant force that one thinks of for that kind of role. He has a low-strikeout, high-grounder profile that should make him more of a solid back-end guy than a front-of-rotation killer.

Behind him, there are guys like Kutter Crawford, Cooper Criswell, Tanner Houck, Patrick Sandoval, Kyle Harrison, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and others. Crawford has some intriguing numbers but his ERA has landed north of 4.00 in each of the past two seasons. Criswell is a low-strikeout swingman. Houck had Tommy John surgery in August and is going to miss most or all of 2026, meaning he might get non-tendered. Sandoval missed the entire 2025 season due to his own elbow surgery. Harrison, Tolle and Early are all intriguing young arms but they’re not established at the big league level.

Given the question marks in that group, it’s understandable that the club would be looking for a surefire upgrade. It also perhaps explains why the club didn’t make a qualifying offer to righty Lucas Giolito, who is now a free agent. Giolito posted a 3.41 ERA with the Sox this year but his 19.7% strikeout rate was subpar. He benefited from a .273 batting average on balls in play and 76.7% strand rate, which were both to the fortunate side. His 4.17 FIP and 4.65 SIERA suggested he deserved worse. He also finished the season on the injured list with an elbow issue. Bringing him back would have arguably been adding another No. 4 or No. 5 starter, as Breslow put it.

The Sox surely feel they can and need to do better than that. They were connected to Joe Ryan of the Twins before the deadline and perhaps they will revisit that pursuit. Ryan has a career 3.79 ERA with a 27.6% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate. The Twins appear to be doing some kind of reset and only control Ryan for through 2027, so he could be attainable this winter. Other impact starters potentially available on the trade block include MacKenzie Gore, Freddy Peralta, Sandy Alcantara and others.

Acquiring any of those players would involve giving up talented prospects or big leaguers. The Sox had one of the top farm systems in baseball not so long ago but they traded some notable talent to the White Sox in the Crochet deal and have also graduated a bunch of their top prospects to the majors.

A simpler path would be to just sign a free agent. This winter’s market has notable names such as Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, Ranger Suárez, Michael King, Brandon Woodruff and others. Those players would cost more than the trade targets financially but wouldn’t require the Sox to give up prospects, though everyone in that group aside from Imai rejected a qualifying offer, meaning the Sox would be hurting their prospect pipeline in a different way.

Breslow also pointed to a plan on the offensive side of things. “There is just something about a bat in the middle of the lineup that forces another team to game plan against it that has a compounding effect on the rest of the roster,” Breslow said. “So we didn’t slug nearly as much as I think we can, or we will, and we’ll pursue opportunities to improve that.”

For the entire 2025 season, the Sox finished ninth in the majors in slugging percentage and tenth in isolated power. They’ve also lost some key bats in the past few months. They traded Rafael Devers to the Giants midseason. Alex Bregman opted out of his deal last week and became a free agent.

There are many potential options in free agency, though the Sox have a crowded outfield. The most logical spots to add would be the infield corners. Bregman’s departure leaves third base open. First base is a question mark with Triston Casas still injured. Nathaniel Lowe was holding that spot by the end of the 2025 season but he could be non-tendered this month.

Bringing back Bregman would be one straightforward solution, though it’s unclear if the Sox want to commit to him long-term. He is presumably hoping to land a longer deal this time around, after settling for a three-year, opt-out-laden pact last time. Besides Bregman, other corner infield free agents with big bats are Munetaka Murakami, Pete Alonso, Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, Ryan O’Hearn and others. Willson Contreras and Christian Walker might be available on the trade market.

The free agent market also has Kyle Schwarber, who previously had a brief stint with the Sox that included some memorable time at first base. However, it may be hard to outbid the Phillies. There’s also the fact that Schwarber hits left-handed and the Boston lineup is already loaded with lefties.

“In a perfect world, I suppose we want to balance out the lineup a bit,” Breslow said on the subject. “That said, when you can hit the ball out of the park, it doesn’t really matter.” Murakami, Naylor and O’Hearn are also left-handed, whereas Alonso, Suárez, Contreras and Walker are righties.

It’s unclear what the Red Sox plan to spend on the 2026 squad. According to RosterResource, the club had a $207MM payroll in 2025 but a competitive balance tax number of $245MM. RR projects those numbers for $180MM and $216MM in 2026. Non-tendering Lowe and Houck would add more than $17MM of extra wiggle room.

One area of the roster where Breslow doesn’t plan to make big changes is the shortstop position. Per Christopher Smith of MassLive, Breslow said that Trevor Story will be the shortstop next year. Story recently decided not to opt-out of his contract. He is signed through 2027 with a club option for 2028.

After being injured for most of his first three seasons in Boston, Story had a nice return to form in 2025, despite a slow start. He hit .289/.334/.492 for a 124 wRC+ after the month of May. However, his season-long defensive numbers weren’t great. He was credited with minus-7 Defensive Runs Saved and minus-9 Outs Above Average. Despite that, Breslow and the Sox plan to keep Story out there next year.

There aren’t many great options for external upgrades. Bo Bichette is the top free agent but he’ll be expensive and his defense was worse than Story’s this year. Ha-Seong Kim is a solid defender but his offense wasn’t great in his first season after shoulder surgery. CJ Abrams is arguably the top trade candidate but is also not a great defender.

Internally, there’s an argument for trying Marcelo Mayer at short with Story bumped to second, though Mayer is still fairly unproven. He hit just .228/.272/.402 in his first 136 big league plate appearances. He missed more than a month due to a right wrist sprain.

Breslow also spoke about Mayer and said he needs to add strength. “[Getting stronger] will just help him manage the workload of a full season and just be able to withstand the demands of a full season, which is, frankly, something that he hasn’t been able to do,” Breslow said, per Healey. “And some of those have been just kind of these freak injuries, but others seem to maybe just be the accumulation of workload.” With Story returning to shortstop, Mayer could find playing time at second or third, depending on what moves the Sox make this winter.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...rotation-starter-middle-of-the-order-bat.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Royals Evaluating Outfield Trade Market

The General Managers Meetings are taking place in Las Vegas this week, a setting where teams often start conversations on possible transactions to be made later in the offseason. Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that the Royals are evaluating the outfield trade market.

It’s a logical target for the club. The outfield in Kansas City has been a weak spot for years. 2025 was no exception. The team’s outfielders had a collective .225/.285/.348 batting line this year. That resulted in a 73 wRC+, indicating the club’s outfield group was 27% worse than league average. That was easily the worst mark in the majors, with the Guardians’ jardineros second-last with a wRC+ of 77.

The current group in Kansas City includes Jac Caglianone, Kyle Isbel, John Rave, Dairon Blanco, MJ Melendez, Kameron Misner, Drew Waters and others. Caglianone came into 2025 as a top prospect but struggled badly in his first major league call-up. No one else in the group has any real track record of big league success either.

Upgrading there is an obvious way to improve the club overall. The trade market also makes sense as a way to go about doing it, considering the club’s finances. About a month ago, owner John Sherman said that he expects the 2026 club to have a fairly similar payroll to 2025. RosterResource currently estimates the Royals for a payroll of about $140MM next year. That’s slightly higher than the $138MM RR pegged their spending at the end of 2025.

That doesn’t suggest the front office will have a huge amount of spending capacity. They could lower their commitments by non-tendering some of their arb-eligible players. Jonathan India has the highest projected salary in the Royals’ class at $7.4MM and he’s coming off a poor season. The club could also perhaps trade Kris Bubic and his projected $6MM salary since the rotation could still be in decent shape without him.

Even if the club does pinch a few pennies, they’re not going to suddenly become favorites for a big free agent like Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger. Re-signing Mike Yastrzemski is feasible but it’s understandable that president of baseball operations J.J. Picollo would check to see what’s available on the trade market.

Morosi mentions the Red Sox and Angels as possible trading partners. Those seem like speculative picks but they make sense. The Angels have a question in center field but have a crowded mix in the corners. Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, Jo Adell and Jorge Soler give them four options for three spots, between the two outfield corners and the designated hitter slot. Trout isn’t going anywhere and Soler has negative trade value at the moment, since he is owed $13MM next year and is coming off a down season.

Trading one of Adell or Ward seems like the move for the Angels, as that could clear up the logjam while potentially adding some much-needed pitching help. MLBTR put both of them on our recent list of the Top 40 Trade Candidates for this offseason. Last week, Morosi reported that the Halos would indeed listen on Ward and Adell.

Ward has the better track record. He has essentially been a 20-plus homer guy for four years now. He only got to 14 long balls in 2023 but was limited by injuries to just 97 games. He just hit 36 homers in 2025 with a strong 11.3% walk rate to boot. Reviews on his defense are mixed. He’s been credited with seven Outs Above Average in his career but minus-14 Defensive Runs Saved.

Adell got many chances with the Angels and didn’t take advantage of most of them but he has shown some promise lately. He did 20 homers in 2024 and 37 this year. His walk and strikeout rates are poor, limiting the overall value of his offense, but he was still a decent contributor in 2025. His .236/.293/.485 line translated to a 112 wRC+. His defensive grades were poor in center but more passable in right.

Though Ward has the longer résumé, the trade value might be comparable. Ward is just one year from free agency and is projected for a salary of $13.7MM next year. Adell, meanwhile, is projected for just $5.5MM and can be controlled through 2027.

The Red Sox have a well-known glut of outfield options which currently includes Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Masataka Yoshida and Jhostynxon García. Anthony signed a big extension with the club and isn’t going anywhere. That’s likely also the case for Rafaela, who also signed an extension and is an elite glove in center. García isn’t yet proven at the major league level but is optionable and swings from the right side, a potential asset in a lefty-heavy lineup.

Duran and Abreu are fairly redundant as lefty-swinging corner guys. Both cracked the aforementioned MLBTR list of Top 40 Trade Candidates for this winter. Duran has more big league experience and has shown a higher ceiling but he’s down to three years of club control and will make $7.7MM in 2026. Abreu, on the other hand, hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and still has four seasons of club control remaining.

Both the Angels and Red Sox plan to compete in 2026. If either club were to trade an outfielder, they would likely be looking for a return that would help the big league club, as opposed to prospects. Both clubs could use pitching, which is something the Royals have. MLBTR’s Nick Deeds recently took a look at the club’s rotation depth and the possibility that the club could leverage that into an offensive upgrade.

The offseason is still young, so there are still many possible paths for the Royals to take. In addition to the Angels and Red Sox, clubs like the Cardinals, Twins, Diamondbacks and others could have outfielders available, while signing Yastrzemski or someone similar is possible as well.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/royals-evaluating-outfield-trade-market.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Reds, Red Sox Have Expressed Interest In Devin Williams

The Red Sox and Reds are among roughly a dozen teams that have expressed early interest in free agent reliever Devin Williams, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya reported last night that the Dodgers had also shown interest, while Fish on First’s Kevin Barral linked the Marlins to Williams a few weeks ago.

Williams was one of the three to five best relievers in MLB throughout his time with the Brewers. He pitched to a 1.83 earned run average over parts of six seasons in Milwaukee. That included three straight sub-2.00 ERA showings between 2022-24. Among relievers with 100+ innings over that stretch, Williams trailed only Edwin Díaz and Félix Bautista with a 39.5% strikeout rate. The only real concern were the back fractures that cost him the first half of the ’24 season.

Milwaukee traded Williams to the Yankees before his final year of arbitration. He had the worst season of his career in the Bronx. Williams turned in a 4.79 ERA over 62 innings. He started the year poorly enough that he lost the closer role in April. Williams reclaimed it in June when Luke Weaver went on the injured list but scuffled again in July. The Yankees acquired David Bednar at the deadline to push Williams into a setup role for the remainder of the season.

While it was clearly an uneven season, there’s still reason to expect a return to form. Williams fanned an excellent 34.7% of batters faced while getting swinging strikes nearly 17% of the time. Those aren’t quite at the same level as his Milwaukee days, but they’re still top 15 marks in MLB. His 94.1 MPH average four-seam fastball speed was in line with his career levels. Williams continues to get ridiculous movement on the changeup/screwball that has been his signature pitch. Opposing hitters had a lofty .339 average on balls in play when runners were on base. Some teams could chalk that up as poor sequencing luck and continue to project Williams as a top 10 reliever moving forward.

The poor season meant the Yankees weren’t willing to risk Williams accepting a $22.025MM qualifying offer to return to the Bronx. MLBTR ranked his earning potential second among relievers behind Díaz, predicting that the strong peripherals would lead a club to offer him a four-year, $68MM deal. That’d require a team to overlook the unsightly ERA, though, so it’s certainly not out of the question that he’s forced to settle for a shorter-term contract. Robert Suarez, Kyle Finnegan and Pete Fairbanks are among other closers available on the free agent market.

Sammon heard from a few scouts who were divided between Williams and Suarez as the second-best free agent reliever after Díaz. It could lead clubs to have differing opinions on his market value. If Williams were to command a four-year deal, for instance, it’d be quite surprising if the Reds win the bidding. Cincinnati has spent in that range for mid-tier hitters but rarely spends big on relievers. Their two-year, $16MM deal for Emilio Pagán is their biggest signing of a pure reliever in the past decade. They did go to two years and $26MM for Nick Martinez, but he could step into the rotation as needed. Cincinnati could use a closer with Pagán returning to free agency, but they’d probably be a realistic suitor for Williams only if he takes a pillow contract.

The Red Sox also haven’t made many long-term bullpen investments, but they’re better positioned to offer a multi-year term at eight figure salaries. They signed Kenley Jansen for two years and $32MM a few seasons ago. They’ve given Aroldis Chapman successive $10.75MM and $13MM deals for 2025-26. Chapman will remain the closer, but Williams doesn’t seem wedded to getting a ninth-inning opportunity, so Boston could target him as their top right-handed setup arm.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/reds-red-sox-have-expressed-interest-in-devin-williams.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

MLBTR Podcast: Surprising Option Decisions, Qualifying Offers, And Paul DePodesta

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

• The gambling scandal involving Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz of the Guardians (3:15)
• Shane Bieber deciding to stay with the Blue Jays (8:35)
• Jack Flaherty deciding to stay with the Tigers (18:45)
• The Rays declining their club option on Pete Fairbanks (26:00)
• Trevor Story deciding to stay with the Red Sox (35:35)
• The Tigers issuing a qualifying offer to Gleyber Torres (43:20)
• The Cubs issuing a qualifying offer to Shota Imanaga (46:25)
• The Red Sox not issuing a qualifying offer to Lucas Giolito (53:10)
• The Yankees not issuing a qualifying offer to Devin Williams (55:20)
• The Rockies hiring Paul DePodesta as president of baseball operations (1:00:00)

Check out our past episodes!

• Offseason Preview Megapod: Top Trade Candidates – listen here
• Bo Bichette’s Health, Kazuma Okamoto, And Dylan Cease’s Market – listen here
• The Phillies’ Outfield, Tarik Skubal, And Hiring College Coaches – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...ons-qualifying-offers-and-paul-depodesta.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Latest On Red Sox’ Pursuits

The Red Sox are considering adding a high-leverage reliever to bolster their bullpen, according to reporting from Ken Rosenthal, Will Sammon and Katie Woo of The Athletic. That aligns with recent reporting from Sammon that the Sox are interesting in Devin Williams. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow acknowledged this possibility, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, but maintained that the rotation is a bigger priority.

“We can do a better job of preventing other teams from scoring. There are a bunch of different ways to do that. We’ll be open-minded about all of them,” said Breslow. “The most straightforward is building out a better starting rotation. I’ve talked a bunch about that. Another way is to continue to improve our infield defense, and another is to make sure that when our starters hand the ball to our relievers, any leads that we have we’re preserving. So, I think we’ll look at it from all angles, but I think our priority remains starting pitching and position players.”

The Sox had one of the best bullpens in baseball in 2025. Their collective 3.41 earned run average was second only to the Padres. A lot of that was thanks to Aroldis Chapman being almost unhittable but they also got good results from guys like Garrett Whitlock, Greg Weissert and Brennan Bernardino, who are all slated to be back in 2025. Per The Athletic, the idea would be to add to an area of the roster that is already a strength to create a super bullpen, while keeping Chapman in the closer’s role.

That is one way they could go but Breslow has been pretty open about his desire to target a front-of-rotation arm and a middle-of-the-order bat. As with any baseball executive, it’s possible there’s some gamesmanship at play, but the rotation and the lineup are logical targets for Boston. Their rotation has a clearcut ace in Garrett Crochet but the other options are either uninspiring or unproven. The lineup has a lot of talent but they lost Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman in the past few months, so adding another bopper makes sense.

A baseball offseason can be unpredictable, so it’s understandable that Breslow would be open to pivoting as things change, but it’s probably fair to expect bullpen to be a lesser priority. Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, Ranger Suárez, Michael King and Brandon Woodruff are some of the notable starters out there in free agency. MacKenzie Gore, Sonny Gray and Brady Singer could be available on the trade market. Bregman, Pete Alonso, Kyle Schwarber, Munetaka Murakami and Eugenio Suárez are some of the big free agent bats, with Taylor Ward and Adolis García some of the speculative trade candidates.

If the Sox eventually decide they do want to make a splash on the bullpen, they likely wouldn’t go after Edwin Díaz, with Chapman already in the closer’s role. Other notable free agent relievers include Williams, Ryan Helsley, Brad Keller, Robert Suarez, Raisel Iglesias, Kyle Finnegan, Luke Weaver, Tyler Rogers, Seranthony Domínguez and Pete Fairbanks. Some of the notable trade candidates include JoJo Romero, Jose A. Ferrer and Victor Vodnik.

RosterResource projects the club for a payroll of $180MM next year, with a competitive balance tax number of $216MM. They finished last year with a $207MM payroll and $245MM CBT number. Assuming they plan on spending at a similar level in 2026, they have a little more than $20MM in wiggle room but it’s possible their postseason finish in 2025 prompts them to take things up a notch.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/latest-on-red-sox-pursuits.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Red Sox Outright Luis Guerrero

Red Sox right-hander Luis Guerrero, who was designated for assignment last week, went unclaimed on outright waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Worcester, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. He lacks the service time or prior outright needed to elect free agency, so he’ll remain with the organization as non-roster depth.

Guerrero, 25, has pitched 27 1/3 innings of relief for Boston over the past two seasons. He sports a sharp 2.63 ERA in that time and sits 96.9 mph with his heater, perhaps making it a bit surprising that he went unclaimed at first glance. However, Guerrero went on the injured list with an elbow sprain back in June and never returned — though he never required any type of surgery to address the injury. The Sox moved him to the 60-day IL in August. Guerrero also has poor command, walking nearly 15% of his opponents against just a 17.6% strikeout rate in the majors.

The hard-throwing Guerrero’s minor league numbers are more alarming. He has a respectable enough 3.89 ERA in parts of three Triple-A seasons but saw that mark jump to 4.39 in 2025. He’s walked or plunked an untenable 17.4% of his opponents at the top minor league level, and in 2025 walked nearly 19% of the minor league hitters he faced in 31 innings.

Guerrero has, at times, posted gaudy strikeout and swinging-strike rates. The velocity is impressive, and he has a pair of minor league options remaining. That all makes him a nice depth piece whom the Sox are surely glad to retain, but he’ll need to further refine his well below-average command if he’s to carve out a steady role in a major league bullpen. Assuming his elbow is healed, he’ll be in big league camp with the Sox and hope to pitch his way back into the mix for a 40-man roster spot.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/red-sox-outright-luis-guerrero.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Dustin May “Fully Back To Normal” After Elbow Injury

Free agent right-hander Dustin May is “fully back to normal” and says that his elbow feels great, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive. May went on the injured list on September 9 with right elbow neuritis and did not pitch for the rest of the regular season or during the Wild Card Series.

May split the year between the Dodgers and the Red Sox, with a 4.96 ERA in 132 1/3 innings across 25 appearances (23 starts) along with a 21.1% strikeout rate and a 9.6% walk rate. He made 19 appearances (18 starts) with the Dodgers through July 31, recording a 4.85 ERA in 104 innings, although he did post a slightly above average groundball rate at 43.8%. That production declined after he was traded to the Red Sox. In six appearances (five starts) in Boston, May posted a 5.40 ERA in 28 1/3 innings and saw a slight uptick in walks while striking out just 19.5% of hitters. His expected metrics, including a 6.26 xERA and a 5.39 FIP following the trade, were in line with that performance.

Injuries have unfortunately been a theme of May’s career. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021 and only made six starts upon his return in 2022. He then made just nine starts in 2023 while he dealt with a right forearm strain, although he did post a solid 2.63 ERA in 48 innings in those starts. The next year, he suffered an injury to his esophagus which required surgery, causing him to miss the entire season. His 132 1/3 innings in 2025 were actually a career high. Before that, May had maxed out at 56 innings in 2020. Though the esophagus tear was obviously not baseball-related, it’s clear the injuries have taken a toll on May’s raw stuff. His sinker, which he used 33.6% of the time in 2025, fell to 94.5 mph after sitting at 96.6 mph in 2023. His four-seamer and cutter saw similar declines in velocity. While his sweeper was a plus pitch with above-average break, all three of his fastballs were negatives according to Statcast’s run value metric.

Still, May has enough of a big-league track record to garner interest as a free agent this offseason. He has a 3.86 ERA in 324 career innings along with a 46.6% groundball rate, a 21.9% strikeout rate, and an 8.3% walk rate. The groundball rate will be intriguing for teams in need of back-end depth, while the strikeout and walk rates are serviceable. He earned $2.135MM in his final year of arbitration in 2025 and will pitch most of next year at age 28.

Photo courtesy of Paul Rutherford, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/dustin-may-fully-back-to-normal-after-elbow-injury.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Red Sox Likely To Tender Contract To Tanner Houck

The Red Sox are planning to tender a contract to right-hander Tanner Houck, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The club has until Friday evening to change its mind but it seems they are planning to keep Houck on the roster.

Friday at 7pm Central is the deadline for clubs to decide whether or not to tender contracts to pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible players. Teams and players don’t need to decide on a salary by that date. They have until January 8th to file salary figures. But the team needs to make a decision by Friday as to whether they are committed to paying the player or not. If the player is still on the roster beyond the deadline, the team will have to eventually pay him something, with various outcomes still possible at that point. A non-tender on Friday allows the team to walk away without paying anything.

Houck is arguably a borderline case on account of his health. He just had Tommy John surgery in August. He will likely miss the entire 2026 season. He can be retained via arbitration through 2027, at which point he is slated for free agency.

With 2026 likely to be a recovery year for Houck, the decision is more about 2027. The Sox could pay him for the 2026 season, hoping that the investment pays off in the following year. That’s something that teams often do in free agency. Pitchers recovering from surgery often sign two-year pacts, with the signing team knowing that they are probably only going to get meaningful return on investment in the second year, while the player banks a bit of cash while recovering.

The Sox themselves did this last offseason, as they signed Patrick Sandoval to a two-year, $18.25MM deal. The lefty didn’t pitch for the Sox in 2025 but they will hopefully get something out of him next year. Other pitchers got similar deals recently. Shane Bieber got $26MM from the Guardians last winter, for instance, with an opt-out halfway through. A year earlier, Tyler Mahle got $22MM from the Rangers, with no opt-out. The Brewers gave Brandon Woodruff two years and $17.5MM when he was recovering from shoulder surgery.

Investing in Houck will cost less than that. He made $3.95MM in 2025, his first of three arbitration seasons. He only made nine starts in 2025 due to his arm issues but players going through arb usually see their salaries hold fairly steady when they miss significant time. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Houck for the same $3.95MM salary in 2026. If he stays on the roster and is tendered a contract for 2027 as well, he would likely end up in the same range again.

Essentially, tendering Houck a contract for the next two years will probably cost the Red Sox about $8MM total. They could also walk away after 2026 if he experiences some sort of setback, cutting their losses. The roughly $8MM would be less than half of what they paid to Sandoval and the guarantees of those other aforementioned deals. Houck doesn’t have the same track record as those guys but has shown plenty of potential, particularly in 2024 when he logged 178 2/3 innings with a 3.12 earned run average, 20.7% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk rate and 55.9% ground ball rate.

If the Sox were to non-tender Houck, it would probably suggest that they don’t expect him to fully return to that level in 2027, though there also could be other contributing factors. There’s no injured list in the offseason, so the Sox do have to keep Houck on the roster throughout the winter. Tomorrow is the deadline to add players to a 40-man roster to protect them from being selected in the Rule 5 draft. The Sox currently have a full 40-man and need to open some spots, assuming they want to add a few guys. Cotillo mentions the possibility of a lockout disrupting 2027, which could prevent the Sox from benefiting from Houck’s eventual return. However, front office still have to plan as though the season will be played, as there’s no certainty around the labor dispute right now.

The Sox currently have Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello under club control through at least 2030. Other than that, there’s not a ton of certainty. Kutter Crawford has posted decent results and should be in the mix. He’s under club control through 2028. The aforementioned Sandoval is signed for just one more year. Guys like Connelly Early, Payton Tolle and Kyle Harrison are in the mix but still aren’t proven big leaguers. The Sox plan to add to the rotation this offseason but haven’t done so yet.

Even if a pitching staff looks good on paper, injuries are always inevitable, so it’s anyone’s guess what the depth will look like by the time Houck is back on a big league mound. He has also had some success as a reliever, so perhaps there’s a scenario where he gets pushed to the bullpen, especially if there are workload concerns in the coming years. Time will tell how it plays out but it appears the Sox would like the payoff to be with Houck pitching in Boston.

Photo courtesy of Rick Osentoski, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/red-sox-likely-to-tender-contract-to-tanner-houck.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

White Sox To Acquire Chris Murphy

The Red Sox are trading left-hander Chris Murphy to the White Sox, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The Red Sox are receiving a catcher in return, per Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic. That catcher is Ronny Hernandez, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe.

Murphy, 28 in June, made his big league debut as a long reliever with Boston in 2023. He logged 47 2/3 innings over 20 appearances, allowing 4.91 earned runs per nine. His 23.1% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 44.7% ground ball rate were all pretty close to league averages. He couldn’t carry that over in 2024, as he required Tommy John surgery in April of that year.

He was on the injured list until midway through the 2025 season. He logged another 34 2/3 innings in the big leagues this year with a 3.12 ERA. His 20.3% strikeout rate was down a bit and his 13.5% walk rate was a notable jump, though perhaps some post-surgery rust was at play. His ground ball rate climbed to 54.3%.

Boston had a bit of a roster crunch today and needed to make some cuts. Both Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Winckowski were designated for assignment today and flipping Murphy also opens up a spot.

For the White Sox, they are rebuilding and have more ability to see if Murphy finds another gear in 2026 and moving forward. He still has an option, meaning they could keep him in the majors or minors or shuttle him back and forth throughout the next season. He came up as a starter, so it’s possible they could try stretching him back out, or they could keep him in a relief role. He has a bit more than two years of service time, meaning he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and can still be controlled for another four seasons, maybe even five if he spends a long time on optional assignment.

More to come.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/white-sox-to-acquire-chris-murphy.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Red Sox Select David Sandlin, Shane Drohan, Tyler Uberstine

The Red Sox announced that they have selected left-hander Shane Drohan as well right-handers David Sandlin and Tyler Uberstine to the roster. They opened 40-man spots by designating right-hander Josh Winckowski for assignment, trading left-hander Brennan Bernardino to the Rockies and trading left-hander Chris Murphy to the White Sox, moves which were previously reported. The three selections were reported by Chris Cotillo of MassLive prior to the official club announcement.

Boston already lost Drohan once in the Rule 5 Draft. The White Sox picked him back in 2023, but Drohan underwent a nerve compression procedure in his shoulder during spring training 2024 and began the season on the 60-day IL. He was hit hard when he was cleared for a rehab assignment, returned to the Red Sox, and finished the year back on the IL with shoulder troubles.

Unsurprisingly, that injury-wrecked season kept him from being selected in the 2024 Rule 5. That worked to Boston’s benefit. A healthy Drohan bounced back with 54 innings of 3.00 ERA ball. He struck out 34.5% of opponents against a 9.4% walk rate while sitting 93-95 with his four-seamer. Drohan still missed ample time on the injured list — this time due to a forearm issue — but he’s typically been productive when healthy, thanks largely to a plus changeup. He’ll turn 27 in January.

Sandlin, 25 in February, came to the Red Sox from the Royals in a 2022 swap sending righty John Schreiber to Kansas City. He reached a career-high 82 1/3 innings while pitching in Double-A this season and working to a tidy 3.61 earned run average with strong rate stats. The Sox moved him to a relief role upon bumping him to Triple-A, likely to manage his workload after pitching just 57 innings in 2024 and 66 innings in 2023. It was a struggle, as the righty was tagged for a 7.36 ERA while pushing his innings count far into uncharted territory. He wound up with an overall 4.50 ERA in 106 1/3 frames.

The 26-year-old Uberstine was Boston’s 19th-round pick in 2021. He split 2025 between Double-A and Triple-A, tossing 120 1/3 innings with a combined 3.58 ERA. Uberstine fanned 26.9% of opponents against an 8% walk rate. He’s a bit undersized at 6’1″ and 200 pounds, but he’s had success at nearly every minor league stop. Were it not for a Tommy John procedure that wiped out all of his 2023 season and most of his 2024 campaign, Uberstine may already have gotten a big league look. Now, coming off a healthy 120 innings with strong results, he figures to be in line for a call to Fenway Park at sometime in 2026.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...vid-sandlin-shane-drohan-tyler-uberstine.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Mariners Acquire Alex Hoppe, Designate Tayler Saucedo For Assignment

The Mariners announced that they have acquired right-hander Alex Hoppe from the Red Sox in exchange for minor league catcher Luke Heyman. Hoppe has been selected to the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Left-hander Tayler Saucedo has been designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Chris Cotillo of MassLive first reported that Hoppe was heading to the Mariners. Tim Healey of The Boston Globe first reported that Heyman was heading to the Sox.

Hoppe, 27 in December, was a sixth-round pick of the Sox in 2022. Since then, he has been working as a pure reliever in the minors, with good amounts of strikeouts and ground balls but also some wildness.

Dating back to the start of 2024, Hoppe has thrown 127 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A, allowing 5.01 earned runs per nine. His 12% walk rate in that time is quite high but he also punched out 23.6% of batters faced and got opponents to hit the ball into the dirt more than half the time.

Perhaps the Sox didn’t have much faith about Hoppe reining in his control going forward, or perhaps he was just the casualty of a roster squeeze. The Sox have been busy today, shuffling guys around to make space on Rule 5 deadline day. In addition to this deal, they also sent lefties Brennan Bernardino and Chris Murphy to the Rockies and White Sox respectively. Giving Hoppe a roster spot would have required opening another 40-man spot.

Instead, they have flipped him to the Mariners, getting back a non-roster prospect in exchange. Heyman, 22, was taken by the Mariners in the 14th round of the draft just a few months ago. He showed big power in his college career but hasn’t yet made his professional debut. He gives the Sox a long-term lottery ticket behind the plate while the M’s get more immediate pitching depth.

To make room for Hoppe, the Mariners have nudged off Saucedo. The 32-year-old lefty has some decent big league work on his track record but he spent most of 2025 on optional assignment, only making ten big league appearances. He exhausted his final option season in the process. Saucedo qualified for arbitration a year ago and made $937,500 in 2025. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a small bump to $1.1MM next year. It seems the M’s weren’t planning to tender him a contract.

They will have some time to explore trade interest. Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, the lefty posted a 3.54 ERA over 86 1/3 big league innings, with most of his success due to a strong 55% ground ball rate. With those numbers and three years of club control, he could entice some teams. However, given his out-of-options status, he’d be hard to roster. It’s possible he ends up non-tendered on Friday, which would send him to free agency.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/mariners-to-acquire-alex-hoppe.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Rockies To Acquire Brennan Bernardino

The Red Sox have traded left-hander Brennan Bernardino to the Rockies for a minor leaguer, reports Hunter Noll of Beyond the Monster. That minor league is Braiden Ward, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.

Bernardino, 34 in January, has pitched between 50 and 52 innings for Boston in each of the past three seasons. He has a 3.46 ERA, 23.6% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate over 153 1/3 innings during that time. An indie ball find by the Mariners back in 2022, Bernardino has carved out a role as a solid middle reliever, though his average sinker dipped from 91.4 mph in ’24 to 90.7 mph this past season. That modest velo dip was accompanied by more problematic downturns for his strikeout rate (24.8% in ’24, 19.6% in ’25) and walk rate (9.7% in ’24, 11.6% in ’25).

Colorado can control Bernardino for another four years. He’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $1.1MM in arbitration this season. He’s a Super Two player, so he’d be due three more raises after that if the Rox keep through his entire six-year window of control.

The 26-year-old Ward was the Rockies’ 16th-round pick in 2021. He hit .290/.395/.391 in 368 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A last year. Ward fanned at just a 16.6% clip and walked 9.5% of the time he stepped into the batter’s box. He’s a center fielder with plus speed who’s also seen time at second base. Ward will be eligible to be selected in next month’s Rule 5 Draft, though the Red Sox are presumably confident he won’t be taken.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/rockies-to-acquire-brennan-bernardino.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Red Sox, Connor Wong Avoid Arbitration

The Red Sox announced Thursday that they’ve signed catcher Connor Wong to a one-year contract for the 2026 season, thereby avoiding arbitration. He’ll be paid $1.375MM next year, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports. Ari Alexander of 7News adds that Wong would earn $25K for reaching each of 250, 300 and 350 plate appearances, bringing his maximum earnings to $1.45MM.

Wong, 29, had a breakout 2024 showing at the plate when he hit .280/.333/.425 with 13 homers in a career-high 487 plate appearances. He wasn’t able to replicate that production in 2025, however, and wound up posting a career-worst .190/.262/.238 slash (39 wRC+). That came in a smaller sample of 188 turns at the plate. As Wong struggled, he also lost his grip on the starting job to rookie Carlos Narvaez, who’ll head into 2026 atop Boston’s depth chart behind the dish.

Though Wong’s bat cratered this past season, he did make some notable improvements in his framing and blocking — at least in the eyes of Statcast. He’s still not a plus defender, but those gains and the promise he showed at the plate in 2024 will be enough to keep him with the Sox as a backup to Narvaez. Wong also has a minor league option remaining, so if the Sox want to bring in some additional catching help for the MLB roster, they could option Wong without needing to place him on waivers.

This was Wong’s first offseason of arbitration eligibility. He’s under club control through the 2028 season, though that’ll only come into play if he’s able to bounce back in 2026. If last year’s struggles persist into next season, Wong’s hold on his roster spot will be tenuous.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/red-sox-connor-wong-avoid-arbitration.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Red Sox Designate Nathaniel Lowe, Josh Winckowski For Assignment

The Red Sox announced that first baseman Nathaniel Lowe has been designated for assignment. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reported the move shortly before the official announcement. That opens a 40-man spot for Tristan Gray, who has been acquired from the Rays. The Sox are also designating right-hander Josh Winckowski for assignment, reports Ari Alexander of 7 News. That will open another 40-man spot, presumably for Boston to add someone ahead of today’s Rule 5 protection deadline.

The moves are effectively early non-tenders. Friday afternoon is the deadline for teams to decide whether or not to tender contracts to their arbitration-eligible and pre-arb players. But as mentioned, today is the deadline for adding players to the 40-man in order to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. By cutting these two players now, the Sox have made space for adding Gray and someone else in the coming hours.

It’s not a surprise that Boston isn’t bringing Lowe back. He was a midseason desperation addition. The Sox lost Triston Casas to injury early in the season, leaving a hole at first base. They had been patching that over with guys like Romy González and Abraham Toro. Lowe became available in August when the Nationals released him. He has a good overall track record but was having a bad season. The Sox were able to grab him for essentially nothing to bolster their first base group down the stretch.

The Sox also could have kept Lowe for 2026 via arbitration but it never seemed likely they would do so. He qualified for Super Two status going into 2023, giving him four arb passes instead of the usual three. He had already raised his salary to $10.3MM in 2025. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected him for a $13.5MM salary in 2026, which will be his age-30 season. The Sox presumably had no intention of paying that after Lowe hit .228/.307/.381 for a 91 wRC+ this year. They have Casas potentially coming back in 2026 and they could also pursue external additions.

Technically, Boston has some time to try to trade Lowe but other teams presumably aren’t keen on him at that $13.5MM price point either. He will likely stay in DFA limbo until Friday and then be non-tendered, becoming a free agent.

Once he’s officially on the open market, he will be an interesting bounceback candidate. As mentioned, his 2025 season wasn’t good, but he was a solid everyday first baseman for the Rangers for many years. From 2021 to 2024, he got into at least 140 games in four straight seasons, including at least 157 in the first three. He launched between 16 and 27 home runs in each of those. He also had a walk rate of 12.5% or higher in three of the four. He had a combined .274/.359/.432 slash line and 124 wRC+ for that span. FanGraphs credited him with 10.8 wins above replacement.

That strong performance helped the Rangers win the 2023 World Series and also pushed Lowe’s salary up into eight-figure territory. Those factors combined with his down year to make him a clear non-tender candidate.

Based on his track record, some club should give Lowe a big deal at some point, though at a lesser price point than his projected arbitration salary. He will jump into a first base market that has already seen Josh Naylor come off the board. Pete Alonso, Ryan O’Hearn, Luis Arráez and others are still out there, while Christian Walker and Willson Contreras are potential trade candidates.

Winckowski, 28 in June, has spent the past few years working in a swing role for the Sox. He has logged 242 1/3 innings over 21 starts and 100 relief appearances, allowing 4.20 earned runs per nine. His 18.2% strikeout rate is subpar but his his 8.3% walk rate is around average and his 51.6% ground ball rate quite strong.

He only logged 11 2/3 innings in the majors in 2025. He spent most of the first half on optional assignment in the minors. In June, the Sox called him up and put him on the big league 60-day injured list due to a a flexor strain in his right elbow. That allowed them to open a 40-man roster spot. Winckowski stayed on the IL for the rest of the year, collecting service time along the way. The IL goes away five days after the World Series, so he retook a 40-man spot at that time.

His current health status is unknown but he was going to be on the roster bubble regardless. He exhausted his final option season in 2025. He also pushed his service time just over the three-year mark, therefore qualifying for arbitration. He is projected for a salary of $800K next year. That’s barely above the league minimum, which will be $780K next year. But for a guy who was hurt for most of 2025 and can’t be easily sent to the minors anymore, the Sox aren’t keen to pay him at that level.

While he’s in DFA limbo, they could try to trade him elsewhere. He can be controlled for another three seasons and is relatively cheap. But it’s also possible he gets non-tendered alongside Lowe on Friday and ends up a free agent.

Photos courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Kevin Jairaj, Eric Canha, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/red-sox-designate-nathaniel-lowe-for-assignment.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

American League Non-Tenders: 11/21/25

Every American League team has officially announced their non-tender decisions. It was a quiet evening in terms of subtractions, with only the Rangers parting with any marquee players. All players who were non-tendered are free agents without going on waivers. A few teams dropped pre-arbitration players from the back of the 40-man roster. It’s possible they preferred not to expose them to waivers and are hopeful of re-signing them to non-roster deals.

Here’s a full list of today’s activity in the AL, while the National League moves are available here. All projected salaries are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

• The Angels announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Gustavo Campero and catcher Sebastian Rivero. Campero is a depth outfielder who has hit .202/.272/.346 over the past two seasons. Rivero operated as the club’s third catcher for most of the season but spent the final few weeks on the active roster. Neither player had been eligible for arbitration. All their arb-eligible players were easy calls to retain.
• The Astros technically made one non-tender, dropping infielder Ramón Urías after he was designated for assignment earlier in the week. He’d been projected at $4.4MM.
• The Athletics officially non-tendered outfielder JJ Bleday, the club announced. He’d been designated for assignment on Tuesday, so this was inevitable unless they found a trade partner. Bleday had been projected at $2.2MM.
• The only non-tenders for the Red Sox were first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and reliever Josh Winckowski, each of whom had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. Lowe was projected at $13.5MM, while Winckowski was at $800K.
• The Guardians non-tendered outfielder Will Brennan and relievers Sam Hentges and Nic Enright. The latter had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. Hentges hasn’t pitched since undergoing shoulder surgery in September 2024. He underwent a right knee procedure a few months ago and will be delayed this offseason. Brennan only appeared in six MLB games this year and underwent Tommy John surgery while in the minors in June. He’d been projected at $900K.
• The Mariners non-tendered reliever Gregory Santos, reports Francys Romero. He’d only been projected at $800K, narrowly above the MLB minimum, so the move was about dropping him from the 40-man roster. Seattle acquired the 26-year-old righty from the White Sox over the 2023-24 offseason. He has only made 16 MLB appearances with a 5.02 earned run average over the past two years because of lat and knee injuries. Seattle also non-tendered relievers Trent Thornton and Tayler Saucedo (the latter of whom was designated for assignment on Tuesday). Thornton had been projected at $2.5MM and is coming off a 4.68 ERA through 33 appearances. He suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in August.
• The Orioles non-tendered swingman Albert Suárez, the team announced. Everyone else in their arbitration class was offered a contract, surprisingly including first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan). Suárez, 36, was a solid depth starter in 2024. He was limited to five MLB appearances this past season by a flexor strain but is not expected to require surgery.
• The Rangers non-tendered each of Adolis García, Jonah Heim, Josh Sborz and Jacob Webb. MLBTR covered those moves in greater detail.
• The Rays only non-tendered outfielders Christopher Morel and Jake Fraley, each of whom had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reported last night that the Rays were open to bringing back Fraley at a lower price than his $3.6MM arbitration projection.
• The Royals non-tendered outfielder MJ Melendez and reliever Taylor Clarke, per a club announcement. Melendez, who’d been projected at $2.65MM, was an obvious decision. The former top prospect never developed as hoped and is a career .215/.297/.388 hitter over parts of four seasons. Clarke isn’t as big a name but comes as the more surprising cut. He’d been projected at just $1.9MM and is coming off a 3.25 ERA with a 21.4% strikeout rate over 55 1/3 innings out of the bullpen.
• The Tigers are non-tendering utility player Andy Ibáñez, according to Romero. He’d been projected at $1.8MM. The righty-hitting Ibáñez had been a solid short-side platoon bat for Detroit between 2023-24. His production against southpaws dropped this year (.258/.311/.403), limiting his value. The Tigers optioned the 32-year-old to Triple-A in early June and kept him in the minors until shortly before the trade deadline. Detroit also dropped the six pitchers they’d designated for assignment earlier in the week: Tanner Rainey, Dugan Darnell, Tyler Mattison, Jason Foley, Jack Little and Sean Guenther.
• The only Twins non-tender was outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who’d been designated for assignment this morning to make room for the Alex Jackson trade. Everyone in the arbitration class was brought back.
• The White Sox non-tendered outfielder Mike Tauchman, as first reported by Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. The lefty hitter turned in a solid .263/.356/.400 line in 93 games this past season. Tauchman has gotten on base at plus rates in three straight years but was also non-tendered by the Cubs a year ago. The 34-year-old (35 next month) had been projected for a $3.4MM salary. The Sox also announced they’ve dropped lefty reliever Cam Booser and first baseman Tim Elko. Neither had been eligible for arbitration. The former posted a 5.52 ERA in 39 appearances after being acquired from the Red Sox last winter, while the latter hit .134 in his first 23 MLB games despite a 26-homer season in Triple-A.
• The Yankees announced five non-tenders. Relievers Mark Leiter Jr., Scott Effross, Jake Cousins and Ian Hamilton were all cut loose, as was pre-arbitration righty Michael Arias. Leiter, who’d been projected at $3MM, never clicked in the Bronx after being acquired at the 2024 deadline. He posted a 4.89 ERA in 70 innings as a Yankee. Hamilton, Effross and Cousins were all projected just above the MLB minimum but are cut to clear roster space. Hamilton was on and off the active roster and posted a 4.28 ERA in 40 big league frames this year. Effross was limited to 11 appearances and has been plagued by various injuries for the past three and a half years, while Cousins is working back from Tommy John surgery. Arias has never pitched in the big leagues and could be brought back on a minor league deal.

The Blue Jays tendered contracts to all unsigned players on the 40-man roster.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/american-league-non-tenders-11-21-25.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Red Sox Trade Luis Guerrero To Rays

The Red Sox and Rays have swapped right-hander Luis Guerrero and infielder Tristan Gray, per announcements from both clubs. Boston recently designated Guerrero for assignment and passed him through waivers unclaimed. The Red Sox designated first baseman Nate Lowe for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Gray.

Tampa Bay could have just claimed Guerrero off waivers but seemingly didn’t want to commit a 40-man roster spot to the hard-throwing but command-challenged righty. The 25-year-old has posted a strong 2.63 ERA in 27 1/3 innings for the Red Sox over the past two seasons and averages a potent 96.9 mph on his heater. However, he ended the season on the injured list due to an elbow issue and has regularly displayed alarming command (or lack thereof) both in the majors and upper minors.

Guerrero has walked nearly 15% of his major league opponents against a tepid 17.6% strikeout rate. He carries a 3.89 ERA in three Triple-A seasons but has walked or plunked a colossal 17.4% of his Triple-A opponents. That includes a walk rate just under 19% in 2025.

At times, Guerrero has posted gaudy strikeout and swinging-strike rates. The velocity is impressive, and he has a pair of minor league options remaining. That makes him an intriguing roll of the dice for Tampa Bay, but his health and troubling lack of command make him more of a project than a sure thing — small-sample major league ERA notwithstanding.

Guerrero would hardly be the first live-armed prospect to land in Tampa Bay and flourish, of course, and there ought to be ample opportunity in Kevin Cash’s bullpen. The Rays declined their $11MM club option on longtime closer Pete Fairbanks, making him a free agent. Holdovers include Edwin Uceta, Griffin Jax, Garrett Cleavinger, Bryan Baker and Mason Montgomery, but there’s plenty of innings for Guerrero (and others) to claim if he can impress in spring training or in the early portion of the Triple-A season.

As for Gray, he’s a 29-year-old with limited MLB experience across parts of three seasons. He tallied 86 plate appearances with the Rays in 2025 and hit .231/.282/.410 with three homers and five doubles. Gray walked at a 7% clip and fanned at a 22.1% rate in his 30 games with Tampa Bay. He split the bulk of his season between the Triple-A affiliate of the White Sox, slashing .270/.333/.472 in 282 turns at the plate.

Gray is a left-handed hitter with considerable experience at all four infield positions. He’s played more second, short and third than first base but still has 938 innings even as a first baseman. He also has a minor league option remaining. He’ll go on Boston’s 40-man roster as a depth piece who can be stashed in Triple-A Worcester, though he’s not a lock to make it through the offseason on the 40-man roster. Guerrero will be in camp with the Rays as a non-roster invitee and head to Triple-A Durham if he doesn’t make the club next spring.

MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo first reported that Guerrero had been traded to Tampa Bay.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/red-sox-trade-luis-guerrero-rays.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Red Sox Interested In Bo Bichette, Kyle Schwarber

With holes to fill in the lineup, the Red Sox are exploring two of the bigger free agent bats on the market. WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports that “the Red Sox have shown interest in” Bo Bichette, and MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports that the club has likewise “checked in on Kyle Schwarber.”

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow’s recently commented that Boston is looking to add extra pop to its lineup, and either player would certainly fit in this regard. Schwarber is an elite power bat coming off a career year, hitting 56 homers and slashing .240/.365/.563 over 724 plate appearances for the Phillies. Bichette rebounded from an injury-shortened down year in 2024 to hit .311/.357/.483 with 18 homers over 628 plate appearances for the Blue Jays this sesason.

The injury bug did bite again for Bichette, as a knee sprain kept Bichette sidelined for most of September and most of the Jays’ playoff run until he was able to return in the World Series, but he still did plenty to re-establish himself as one of the preeminent infield bats in the sport. MLB Trade Rumors ranked Bichette second on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, and projected the shortstop to land an eight-year, $208MM contract.

Schwarber ranked ninth on the list with a five-year, $135MM projection. Schwarber is entering his age-33 season and is basically a full-time designated hitter, but while teams have traditionally been wary of committing major dollars to such aging and defensively limited players, Schwarber’s numbers are so outsized that he’ll very likely command a lengthy contract. There is also a sense that his market could be driven upwards by the Phillies, who have been very open about their desire to re-sign the slugger.

The Red Sox are very familiar with Schwarber, as he posted big numbers and quickly became a clubhouse favorite after Boston acquired him from the Nationals at the 2021 trade deadline. Schwarber was just a rental pickup as he entered free agency that winter and signed his four-year, $79MM deal with Philadelphia. On paper, Schwarber might not be an entirely ideal fit for the Sox since he’ll monopolize the DH spot and add another left-handed bat to an already lefty-leaning lineup, but these could be relatively minor concerns given the upside of Schwarber’s offense.

Bichette is a right-handed hitter, but his defensive fit is an open question, as whether or not Bichette remains at shortstop will be one of the key subplots of his free agency. Bichette’s defense has been a question mark for years, and such public metrics as Defensive Runs Saved (-12) and Outs Above Average (-13) hated his glovework in 2025.

In the early days of the offseason, suitors “haven’t been scared off of Bichette at shortstop,” ESPN’s Jeff Passan writes, and it isn’t yet known if Bichette and his reps at Vayner Sports are marketing him strictly as a shortstop, or if Bichette is open to a position change. He did make his big league debut at second base during the World Series, in a nod to the physical limitations of his PCL sprain.

As it relates to the Red Sox, Trevor Story is lined up as the team’s shortstop. Story’s own defensive metrics were well below average in 2025, marking a surprising decline for a player who has been a very strong defensive shortstop for much of his career. Breslow has said that Story will play shortstop next year, but since Story has shown a willingness to play other positions in the past (he was Boston’s regular second baseman when healthy in 2022), it is possible some shifting could go on within the Sox infield. The simpler solution would be to just slot Bichette at second base alongside Story at shortstop, or Bichette could potentially factor into Boston’s third base picture.

The Sox have a prominent free agent infielder of their own in Alex Bregman, who MLBTR projects for a six-year, $160MM contract. This puts Bregman as less expensive than Bichette and only a bit pricier than Schwarber. Beyond just the cost of pure dollars, the Sox would need to give up draft pick compensation for signing a qualifying offer-rejecting free agent like Bichette or Schwarber, whereas Bregman could be re-signed for just money. Bregman is also a known commodity for the organization, and he made a big impact both on and off the field in his one season in Boston.

That said, Bichette is also almost four years younger than Bregman and five years to the day younger than Schwarber. Top prospect Marcelo Mayer made his MLB debut in 2025 and seems poised to take on a more regular role somewhere in Boston’s infield, so Mayer could conceivably take over Bregman’s old spot at third base while Bichette plays second or shortstop. With Triston Casas rumored to be a trade candidate, first base has also been mentioned as target area for Boston, with names like Pete Alonso, Kazuma Okamoto, and Munetaka Murakami floated as speculative candidates to join the Sox.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/red-sox-interested-in-bo-bichette-kyle-schwarber.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Red Sox Release Yasmani Grandal

The Red Sox released catcher Yasmani Grandal earlier this month, reports Matt Eddy of Baseball America. Grandal stepped away from the organization back in June. There’s been no word regarding a potential retirement.

Grandal joined Boston on a minor league deal in April. He played in 23 games at Triple-A, posting a solid 110 wRC+ with his typically strong plate discipline (15 strikeouts to 13 walks). Grandal last suited up for Worcester on June 1, going 1-for-2 with a pair of walks. Manager Chad Tracy told MassLive’s Katie Morrison-O’Day that he talked to Grandal the next day about his future. “I knew he was going to pack up and go…his response was ‘it’s time to be dad.’”

Grandal was placed on the restricted list on June 4. Tracy was complimentary of the veteran’s time with the team. “He didn’t isolate himself, he was right in the middle of everything teaching young guys,” Tracy said. “It was great.”

The 37-year-old last appeared in the big leagues in 2024 with Pittsburgh. He played in 72 games with the Pirates, slashing a respectable .228/.304/.400. He hit nine home runs in his only year with the club.

Grandal has played for five different teams across 13 MLB seasons. He was taken by Cincinnati in the first round of the 2010 draft. The Reds shipped him to the Padres in the Mat Latos trade. He debuted with San Diego in 2012. Grandal was part of another significant trade in 2014, heading to the Dodgers in the Matt Kemp deal. He became one of the most productive backstops in the league with LA, hitting 73 home runs across three seasons. Grandal went to the Brewers as a free agent in 2019 and socked a career-high 28 home runs. He cashed in on that season by signing a four-year, $73MM deal with the White Sox.

Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/red-sox-release-yasmani-grandal.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Red Sox Interested In J.T. Realmuto

The Red Sox are showing interest in free agent catcher J.T. Realmuto, per a report from Ken Rosenthal and Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic, though they note that there’s still an expectation Realmuto will re-sign with the Phillies.

Realmuto has been one of the best catchers of recent history, if not the very best. He has been a mainstay in the big leagues for over a decade now. From 2015 to 2025, he appeared in at least 125 games in all but one full season. The only exception was 2024, when a knee injury limited him to 99 contests. For that 11-year span, he led the majors among primary catchers with 1,362 games played and 36.7 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs.

The question now is what he can be in the future. He will turn 35 years old in March. In 2025, he slashed .257/.315/.384. That resulted in a 94 wRC+, indicating he was 6% below league average. That’s still passable for a catcher but it was the first time Realmuto finished below the century mark since 2015. His glovework also seems to have tailed off a bit, per outlets like FanGraphs, Statcast and Baseball Prospectus. He can still throw out attempted base stealers and is decent in terms of blocking but all outlets agree his framing has been subpar for the past three seasons.

Flaws aside, Realmuto is still the top free agent catcher this winter. MLBTR predicted him to land a two-year, $30MM deal, though a three-year isn’t totally out of the question. Other on the market include Victor Caratini and Danny Jansen. The Rangers recently added Jonah Heim to the pile when they non-tendered him last week.

Many in the baseball world expect Realmuto to end up back in Philadelphia. He has been with the Phillies since 2019 and has already re-signed with them as a free agent once. As mentioned in the report from The Athletic, his family owns a home in Clearwater, Florida, the spring training home of the Phillies. While Realmuto is a free agent, the Phils currently have Rafael Marchán and Garrett Stubbs as their top catchers. They have to do something to improve their catching corps. However, the Phils have a bunch of other priorities this winter. They also want to re-sign Kyle Schwarber and remake their outfield.

For the Red Sox, there’s little harm in checking in to see if there’s a chance they can pry Realmuto away, as their catching group could be strengthened. Carlos Narváez had a nice rookie season in 2025 but he’s still fairly inexperienced and trailed off as the season went along. He hit .241/.306/.419 for a 97 wRC+ for the whole year but just .187/.233/.387 for a 64 wRC+ in the second half. Connor Wong seemed to take a step forward in 2024 but then hit just .190/.262/.238 in 2025.

Both of those catchers are still optionable, so it’s possible for the Sox to sign Realmuto and bump one down to Triple-A as depth. Realmuto’s right-handed bat would fit nicely on a lineup that leans left-handed right now, though Narváez and Wong are also righties. It’s also possible the Sox would be drawn to Realmuto as a veteran clubhouse leader for a team that skews young and inexperienced.

The Sox will have to balance that pursuit with other priorities. One big target for them this winter was to bolster the rotation and they acquired Sonny Gray from the Cardinals earlier today. They will probably look for more pitching and could try to re-sign Alex Bregman.

RosterResource projects the Sox for a $177MM payroll and $223MM competitive balance tax figure. Last year, those numbers finished at $207MM and $245MM. That could give them something like $20-3oMM to play with if they are willing to spend similarly in 2026, though it’s possible their playoff berth in 2025 prompts them to push things up higher.

Their ability to pursue a notable catching upgrade will depend on what they have to spend and how things proceed with their other targets. Even if they can’t pluck Realmuto from Philadelphia, perhaps they will turn to some of the other available backstops.

Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/red-sox-interested-in-j-t-realmuto.html

 

[Boston Red Sox]

Cardinals Trade Sonny Gray To Red Sox

The rebuild is underway in St. Louis. The Cardinals and Red Sox announced a trade sending right-hander Sonny Gray and cash considerations to Boston in exchange for righty Richard Fitts, left-handed pitching prospect Brandon Clarke and a player to be named later or cash. The Cardinals are reportedly including $20MM to help offset Gray’s salary.

Gray, who turned 36 earlier this month, opted not to waive his full no-trade clause last offseason when the Cardinals laid out their plan to take a step back and focus on player development rather than their typical win-now mantra. Following the team’s playoff miss in 2025, however, Gray publicly acknowledged that he would “definitely” consider trade scenarios as the Cardinals lean even further into a multi-year rebuilding effort. “I signed here two years ago with the expectation of winning and trying to win, and that hasn’t played out that way,” he said in September. “I want to win.”

He’ll get that opportunity to win in Boston, joining a Red Sox rotation headlined by Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet and an offense anchored by budding superstar Roman Anthony. Boston secured a Wild Card berth in the American League this past season, and though they fell to the Yankees two games to one in that series, they’re a clear win-now club with postseason aspirations. The same cannot be said for the Cardinals.

Gray was heading into the final guaranteed season of a three-year, $75MM contract originally signed in St. Louis, when he was coming off his own Cy Young runner-up performance with the 2023 Twins. It was a heavily backloaded contract, paying the right-hander $35MM in 2026 plus a $5MM buyout on a $30MM club option for the 2027 season. The contract stipulated that even if the option was picked up, Gray could opt out and head back into free agency.

That deal has been slightly restructured. The new arrangement pays Gray $31MM in 2026 and includes a $10MM buyout on a $30MM mutual option for 2027. The amended deal reinforces the fact that Gray is a one-year rental — it’s been more than a decade since a mutual option was exercised by both parties in MLB — but it also comes with some perks for him.

Gray is now guaranteed an extra million dollars — likely a kicker for him to waive his no-trade protection — and he’ll now receive the full buyout on his 2027 option. Under the previous contract, if the Red Sox had picked up Gray’s option, he’d have forfeited the $5MM buyout by opting back into free agency. Now, he’ll receive a fully guaranteed $41MM for one year.

Because the Cardinals are kicking in $20MM, only $21MM of Gray’s $41MM guarantee will count against the Red Sox’ luxury tax total. Gray has already received a qualifying offer in the past (from the Twins in ’23), so he won’t be eligible to receive one from the Red Sox at season’s end.

Gray tossed 180 2/3 innings of 4.28 ERA ball in 2025 and had a more encouraging 26.7% strikeout rate and 5% walk rate. Metrics like SIERA (3.29) and FIP (3.39) feel he was far better than his earned run average.

By today’s standards, Gray is a workhorse. With the exception of the shortened 2020 season (when he made 11 of 12 possible starts), the former first-round pick has started at least 24 games every year since 2019, averaging 29 starts per 162-game season in that time. Gray hasn’t gotten back to the level of performance he displayed in that second-place Cy Young finish with Minnesota, but he posted a 4.07 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 5.4% walk rate and 43.2% grounder rate in 347 innings across his two seasons in St. Louis.

Gray will join Crochet and Brayan Bello in the top three spots of manager Alex Cora’s rotation. The remaining two places will be sorted out either later this offseason or next spring. Rotation candidates include veteran Patrick Sandoval (who signed a two-year deal last offseason while rehabbing Tommy John surgery), righty Kutter Crawford (who didn’t pitch in ’25 owing to oblique and wrist injuries, the latter requiring surgery), Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, Kyle Harrison, Hunter Dobbins and Luis Perales.

The Sox have several other starting pitchers on their 40-man roster, including a few just-added names (David Sandlin, Tyler Uberstine, Shane Drohan) ahead of the Rule 5 protection deadline. It’s a deep crop of arms that positions Boston well, both in terms of navigating inevitable injuries next year and in exploring the trade market for further roster upgrades.

Of course, the Red Sox don’t have to exclusively shop on the trade market for upgrades. Including Gray’s $21MM, the Sox are now projected for about $176.75MM in 2026 payroll, per RosterResource. That’s more than $30MM shy of last year’s spending, and it’s certainly feasible that ownership would push the envelope even further. Boston has trotted out Opening Day payrolls as high as $236MM in the past. The addition of Gray leaves them about $21MM shy of the first tier of luxury tax penalization. The Red Sox have paid the luxury tax in two of the past four seasons, including 2025. Simply put, there’s ample room for additional spending.

For the Cardinals, the trade trims $20MM off the books and brings in a pair of promising arms. Fitts is big league ready and could step right into the St. Louis rotation. The 25-year-old (26 next month) made 11 appearances for the Red Sox in 2025, including 10 starts. He was tagged for a 5.00 ERA in that time due to an extreme susceptibility to home runs (11 homers, or 2.20 HR/9). However, Fitts posted a respectable 20.5% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate in the majors, and he was solid in the minors as well (3.60 ERA, 21.3 K%, 8.7 BB% in 30 innings).

Originally a sixth-round pick by the Yankees back in 2021, Fitts landed in Boston by way of the 2023 Alex Verdugo trade. (Though new Cardinals president of baseball ops Chaim Bloom formerly ran the front office in Boston, he’d already been replaced by Craig Breslow by the time of that trade, so there’s no prior connection between Fitts and Bloom.) Fitts ranked 11th among Red Sox farmhands in 2024 and 12th in 2025, per Baseball America, whose scouting report pegged him as a back-of-the-rotation starter or multi-inning reliever.

Fitts averaged a hearty 95.9 mph on his four-seamer in 2025 and complemented the pitch with a slider, curveball and newly implemented sinker. BA’s scouting report on the righty noted that he struggles to miss bats within the zone, and the numbers have thus far borne that out. Fitts missed bats off the plate with his sweeper/slider, but opponents made contact on 87.5% of his pitches within the strike zone — a couple percentage points higher than the 85.4% league average. The addition of that sinker/two-seamer looks to have helped Fitts bolster his ground-ball rate, as it enjoyed a nice bump both in Triple-A and the majors, now sitting at 43.6% — just north of the 41.8% league average.

Whether Fitts settles in as a fourth starter or moves into a bullpen role, he should pitch plenty of innings in St. Louis this season. He’s controllable for a full six seasons, as he finished the year eight days shy of one full year of major league service. Fitts also still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, which only gives the Cardinals more flexibility with him in the years ahead.

Clarke, 22, was Boston’s fifth-round pick in 2024. He sat fourth among Red Sox prospects (and 86th in the game overall) on the midseason rankings from FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen. Clarke ranked fifth among Red Sox prosects on MLB.com’s midseason rankings. He was not included in Boston’s top 10 on yesterday’s latest prospect rankings from Baseball America.

Though he was drafted in ’24, Clarke didn’t make his pro debut until ’25. He split this past season between the Red Sox’ Low-A and High-A affiliates, working to a combined 4.03 ERA in 38 innings (14 starts). Clarke sits 97 mph with his heater and draws praise for a plus-plus (70-grade) slider. He currently lacks an average third pitch, however, and his command is clearly a work in progress. That velocity and slider combo blew hitters away in the low minors (34.5% strikeout rate), but Clarke also walked a whopping 15.5% of his opponents — including an 18.1% walk rate in High-A against more advanced hitters.

Listed at 6’4″ and 220 pounds, Clarke has a starter’s build and two potent weapons in his arsenal. The new Bloom-led Cardinals will be tasked with refining Clarke’s command and perhaps incorporating a third pitch to help him more capably combat right-handers, who drew a walk in nearly 18% of their plate appearances against Clarke. If Clarke can’t find a third pitch or hone his command any further, it’s easy to imagine that fastball/slider combo playing up in a late-inning relief role.

Overall, it’s a nice return for the Cardinals, who secure an MLB-ready arm and a high-risk but high-upside prospect — all while trimming $20MM off the books. Today’s trade only further cements that the Cardinals are shifting their focus to the future. Further trades are sure to follow, with Brendan Donovan, JoJo Romero, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado and Lars Nootbaar among the possibilities.

As for the Red Sox, they’ll pay a relatively steep price (both in terms of dollars and talent) to add a durable veteran starter with plus rate stats and a nice postseason résumé (3.26 ERA in 30 1/3 innings). Gray clearly makes them better, and the Boston front office seems comfortable paying a higher short-term price to maintain some long-term flexibility. Whether they pursue further upgrades in the rotation or now turn their attention to the infield corners, the bullpen or their oft-discussed outfield logjam, the Red Sox have payroll space and a nice stock of young pitching to give them plenty of options in further augmenting their 2026 roster.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported that Gray was being traded to Boston. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the Cardinals’ return. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported specifics surrounding the slight restructuring of Gray’s contract. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reported the specific amount of cash Boston was receiving from St. Louis.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/11/cardinals-trade-sonny-gray-red-sox.html