Red Sox CEO Craig Breslow met with the Boston Celtics on Monday to discuss the team’s season. MLBTR has already forwarded Breslow’s notes to Lucas Giolito again Roki Sasakirespectively. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo and Boston Globe’s Alex Speier were among those to discuss some of Breslow’s comments.
Most notably, the CBO pushed back against trade rumors surrounding the first baseman Places to stay in Triston Casas. “I’m not sure where it came from. We don’t buy Triston,” Breslow said. “We see him as a guy who can hit in the middle of the lineup for a very long time here in Boston. I’ve seen some speculation about what deals may or may not have existed, or may or may not have been proposed, and nothing was even remotely close. Of course we don’t buy him.“
Reports have generally portrayed the Sox as open to a Casas trade without suggesting they are trying to deal him. That was mostly in the context of trying to make a deal with Seattle for a controllable starter. Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of the Seattle Times reported during the Winter Meetings that the Mariners turned down interest from the Sox in exchange for Casas and a minor league starter. Bryan Woo or Bryce Miller. Boston doesn’t seem to be interested in Casas Luis Castillo frame. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand wrote last week that the Sox would have wanted Seattle to participate underwater. Masataka Yoshida agreement in that case.
In any case, it seems more and more likely that Casas will stay with the Red Sox going into next season. Boston added Garrett Crochet again Walker Buehler rotation already included Brian Bello, Tanner Houck again Cutter Crawford. Giolito is preparing for an Opening Day return from internal surgery. That gives the Sox at least six active starts, on the season Cooper Criswell again Richard Fitts are available as depth options. Garrett Whitlock he may return to the fold when he returns from elbow surgery.
While the rotation may no longer be dominant, Breslow has highlighted two long-term targets: the right-handed bat and the bullpen. They have made progress in the last place, to deliver Aroldis Chapman again Justin Wilson strengthening on the left side. Whitlock again Liam Hendriks he could go in with a second-year forward Justin Slate in the later innings. Whitlock, Hendriks, and Wilson all come with serious question marks. Chapman’s scattershot command makes him something of a wild card. Slaten, who is just one season removed from the Rule 5 draft, may be the team’s safest reliever.
Relievers are hard to project, and the Sox have a more flexible bullpen than most contenders. There’s a good amount of upside, but it’s no surprise that Breslow indicated they’ll be looking at some extras. The free aid market hasn’t gone away yet. Only three relievers – Clay Holmes, Blake Treinen again I’m Garcia – signed multi-year agreements. Holmes appears to be hitting his stride after signing a three-year contract with the Mets. Chapman again Nick Martinez (who accepted a qualifying offer from Cincinnati) are the only other relievers to sign more than $10MM guaranteed.
The slowly improving relief market partly reflects a weaker-than-average free agent pool. However, the top two relievers, Tanner Scott again Jeff Hoffmanstay unsigned going into the new year. Carlos Estévez, Kirby Yates, AJ Minter again David Robertson some nurses have not yet signed. Ryan Helsley is the top name on the trade market, although the Cardinals appear to prefer to hold him until the deadline.
Contrary to the bullpen, Boston has yet to make a right-handed hitting move out of the backup catcher business. Carlos Narvaez. The Sox lost Tyler O’Neill in a group that was already very left. Breslow also revealed that the Sox are looking for production that contributes to “the right-handed bat comes out of the middle of the range.” He left open the possibility of internal development but noted that “definitely also participate in the discussions of players who are not yet in the organization.”
He is a top free agent, righty-hitting infielder Alex Bregmanhe has been linked to the Sox in recent weeks. Asked if the Sox were still involved with Bregman, Breslow pointed back to the need for right-handed hitting in general. “As you can imagine, I’m not going to talk about pursuing something. I can say that the right handed bats that we feel would play well in our park are of interest to us, and we are always busy in many areas.“
Breslow added that the Red Sox don’t want to move Rafael Devers hot corner. That doesn’t rule out Bregman, who would be a huge upgrade over Boston’s in-house options at second base (ie. Vaughn Grissom, David Hamilton, Romy Gonzalez). Outfielders who hit the switch Anthony Santander again Jurickson Profar guessing possibilities. Pete Alonso he might be the best right-handed hitter unsigned, but he could be a solid plan unless the Sox deal Casas or shed most of Yoshida’s contract.
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