Article: The Red Sox Have to Add an Impact Power Bat This Offseason

[Alex Mayes]

The Boston Red Sox will have to get creative this offseason in order to address all the items on their shopping list. They have many holes to fill before the likes of Alex Bregman and Trevor Story decide if they will be opting out for next season or not. Obviously, the team needs more starting pitching. They attempted to trade for Joe Ryan at the deadline and landed Dustin May in a trade that didn’t do much for the rotation. There will be a ton of focus on the free agent starting pitchers and those available through trades, and we’ll have a lot to say about that here at Talk Sox during the coming months. Perhaps even more pressing for the team, though, is their lack of power on the offensive side of the baseball.

The Red Sox were good but underwhelming in most offensive categories this past season. They slashed .254/.324/.421 as a team and posted a 103 wRC+ and 25.2 WAR. That .254 average was good for fourth in the entire league, but their slugging rank drops to ninth overall. Not a bad spot to be in, but the Red Sox teams that have been world-beaters and championship contenders have always featured a solid amount of thump in the lineup. Sure, a full season with Roman Anthony likely helps get the team over the hump, and hopefully Triston Casas returns to pre-injury form, but counting on him right out of the gate seems irresponsible. There’s a chance Casas could lose the first base competition during spring training to Nathaniel Lowe or even Romy Gonzalez. Considering that Story led the team with just 25 home runs in 2025, what the Red Sox need to do is add a power hitter to the middle of the lineup, even if Alex Bregman returns next season.

The issue though, is that the free agent options are paper thin. There are a good handful of potential free agents that could be considered power hitters; Pete Alonso, Josh Naylor, Eugenio Suarez, Max Muncy, Tyler O’Neill, Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber, and Marcell Ozuna. Yet, there are really only two names on this list that make sense for the Red Sox: Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso.

Schwarber would assume the full-time DH role and is already incredibly familiar with the organization. Alex Cora even seemed to be thinking ahead to this offseason when he made some comments about Schwarber during a media availability session. He’d be welcomed back with open arms by teammates and fans alike. The sticking point with Schwarber, though, is that he'd clog up the designated hitter spot, which is antithetical to the plug-and-play approach the Sox had after trading Rafael Devers. Also, the Phillies are likely going to overextend to keep him around. They have an aging roster, so letting him walk could be in their best interest, but he’s part of the lifeblood of that franchise.

Alonso is much more intriguing, since he would solve the issue of the revolving door at first base. Yes, this means the team would likely punting on Casas, but at this point, that may be the best path forward for both parties. We’ve talked on the Talk Sox Podcast about how it’s entirely possible Casas has played his final out for the Red Sox due to his injury history, and signing Alonso would almost guarantee that to be the case. I don't need to tell you how salivating it would be to see Alonso take aim at the Green Monster; instead, I'll let your imagination do the talking.

Either of these names would be day one impact players for the 2026 season, but neither of them are locks to head to Boston as free agency unfurls. The trade market provides some potentially intriguing names, but unless Craig Breslow suddenly becomes bold enough to dip deep into his farm system coffers, that could be a convoluted path forward as well. Either way, the Red Sox have to add an impact power bat this offseason in order to lengthen the lineup and create more avenues for run-scoring opportunities.

View full article

[mvp 78]

If I had to rank the options:

Alonso - but he's going to be prohibitively expensive

Suarez - only if they can move him to 1b or if they don't re-sign Breggie

Schwarber - he's not leaving Philly though

TO - could be a cheap DH option

Naylor - don't like his fit at Fenway TBH

Ozuna - down year, overall decline? 

Gary Sanchez - wild card add by me, if made into a DH at Fenway he'd hit 30 bombs

Muncy - don't think it'd work here

Tucker - like the player, but too much money and the Sox are set in the OF

O'Hearn/Yaz/Bichette - N/A, don't have the power profile needed

 

[notin]

Hoskins? Bellinger? Munetaka Murakami?

[mvp 78]

13 minutes ago, notin said:

Hoskins? Bellinger? Munetaka Murakami?

Hoskins and Bellinger aren't FA's yet. 

Murakami hasn't been posted and I'd have no idea how to rank him. 

 

[notin]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Hoskins and Bellinger aren't FA's yet. 

Murakami hasn't been posted and I'd have no idea how to rank him. 

 

Technically none of them are free agents yet.  Bellinger has announced he plans to opt out of his deal.

Hoskins isn’t a free agent yet, but the Brewers have already (successfully) replaced him with 4’3” Andrew Vaughn, who, even through the arb process, will still be substantially cheaper than Hoskins’ option.

Murekami is likely just a name to pop into the occasional clickbait rumor.  Not sure whose radar he will be on or what he would cost.  Or if he will be any good…

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, notin said:

Technically none of them are free agents yet.  Bellinger has announced he plans to opt out of his deal.

Hoskins isn’t a free agent yet, but the Brewers have already (successfully) replaced him with 4’3” Andrew Vaughn, who, even through the arb process, will still be substantially cheaper than Hoskins’ option.

Murekami is likely just a name to pop into the occasional clickbait rumor.  Not sure whose radar he will be on or what he would cost.  Or if he will be any good…

I was just going through the FanGraphs tracker because there are just too many guys to remember at the start of the offseason. 

I think Hoskins would be a better fit than Alonso because of the price point. Would Sox be converting Bellinger to 1b? He's a very good fielder so it'd be a waste. He's also a LH dead pull hitter so not a great fit for Fenway. I'd have him below Schwarber for sure, maybe right above Ozuna. Murakami is apparently a big k% guy and needs to be 1b only. I'd have him below Ozuna just because of the bust potential. 

[notin]

13 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I was just going through the FanGraphs tracker because there are just too many guys to remember at the start of the offseason. 

I think Hoskins would be a better fit than Alonso because of the price point. Would Sox be converting Bellinger to 1b? He's a very good fielder so it'd be a waste. He's also a LH dead pull hitter so not a great fit for Fenway. I'd have him below Schwarber for sure, maybe right above Ozuna. Murakami is apparently a big k% guy and needs to be 1b only. I'd have him below Ozuna just because of the bust potential. 

I think Alonso is possible if the Sox don’t spend or acquire significant money elsewhere.

Like Bellinger, Schwarber is also a lefty dead pull hitter.  But as he regularly tops 400 feet, the deeper parts of Fenway RF might not be so problematic.  But he also strikes me as a free agent likely to attract lots of interest.  Thankfully with Stanton still under contract, fitting him into the Yankee lineup isn’t easy.  Unlike Bellinger, Schwarber is an incompetent fielder.  He did not make it to MLB because of his glove.

Hoskins is the relatively economical smart choice.  At least thats how I see it. He does make sense if Bregman returns.

TO? Is that Tyler O’Neill?  Only played 54 games last year and struggled.  Also doesnt do much vs RHP.  In Boston, would he platoon at DH with Yoshida in your opinion?

[Old Red]

I just don’t see the Red Sox going Large, and Long on anyone, so I think something like a Bregman type contract happening.

[Randy Red Sox]

27 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I just don’t see the Red Sox going Large, and Long on anyone, so I think something like a Bregman type contract happening.

that is certainly been their recent past practice

[mvp 78]

2 hours ago, notin said:

I think Alonso is possible if the Sox don’t spend or acquire significant money elsewhere.

Like Bellinger, Schwarber is also a lefty dead pull hitter.  But as he regularly tops 400 feet, the deeper parts of Fenway RF might not be so problematic.  But he also strikes me as a free agent likely to attract lots of interest.  Thankfully with Stanton still under contract, fitting him into the Yankee lineup isn’t easy.  Unlike Bellinger, Schwarber is an incompetent fielder.  He did not make it to MLB because of his glove.

Hoskins is the relatively economical smart choice.  At least thats how I see it. He does make sense if Bregman returns.

TO? Is that Tyler O’Neill?  Only played 54 games last year and struggled.  Also doesnt do much vs RHP.  In Boston, would he platoon at DH with Yoshida in your opinion?

Yeah, TO = O'Neill. He's just not a good fit for BAL. I think he was decent in BOS where his pull AIR worked out well. Would he come back? Does Brezzz want him back? IDK. Yeah, he's just a bench RHB. 

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

If I had to rank the options:

Alonso - but he's going to be prohibitively expensive

Suarez - only if they can move him to 1b or if they don't re-sign Breggie

Schwarber - he's not leaving Philly though

TO - could be a cheap DH option

Naylor - don't like his fit at Fenway TBH

Ozuna - down year, overall decline? 

Gary Sanchez - wild card add by me, if made into a DH at Fenway he'd hit 30 bombs

Muncy - don't think it'd work here

Tucker - like the player, but too much money and the Sox are set in the OF

O'Hearn/Yaz/Bichette - N/A, don't have the power profile needed

 

O'Hearn over Hoskins?

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

O'Hearn over Hoskins?

Hoskins still has a mutual option and wasn't listed on the FanGraphs tracker. 

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, Old Red said:

I just don’t see the Red Sox going Large, and Long on anyone, so I think something like a Bregman type contract happening.

E Suarez turns 35 in July. He may get a 2-3 year deal, which is not long, but will be large.

He could be a guy we look at other than Bregman. He's not a good defensive 3Bman, but he could be signed to play 1B and be the much needed back-up to Mayer at 3B.

It's been a very long time since the last large and long deal JH has approved. Of course, the Devers extension was one, but look how quickly that one lasted. It's easy to predict another one is not in the works, and I feel the same way.

Our last longest and largest deals- many were not terribly large and non were beyond 5 years, except for Story, since the Price signings so many years ago.

Since 2016

$217M/7 Price '16

$145M/5 Sale '20 extension

$140M/6 Story '22

$120M/3 Bregman w opt outs

$120M/6 Bogey '20 extension w opt out

$110M/5 JD '18

'90M/5 Yoshida '23

$83M/4 Porcello '16 extension

$68M/4 Nate '19

 

[notin]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Hoskins still has a mutual option and wasn't listed on the FanGraphs tracker. 

Schwarber and, when he officially opts out, Bellinger will carry QOs.  Ditto Tucker.

Alonso and Suarez cannot be offered one, as both have been tagged before…

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, notin said:

Schwarber and, when he officially opts out, Bellinger will carry QOs.  Ditto Tucker.

Alonso and Suarez cannot be offered one, as both have been tagged before…

Just going with what FanGraphs has listed. 🫠

[notin]

20 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Just going with what FanGraphs has listed. 🫠

Do they list QOs?

[mvp 78]

12 minutes ago, notin said:

Do they list QOs?

https://www.fangraphs.com/roster-resource/free-agent-tracker?undefined&pos=

[harmony]

10 hours ago, notin said:

Hoskins? Bellinger? Munetaka Murakami?

Any interest in Kazuma Okamoto, who strikes out far less frequently than Munetaka Murakami?

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=okamot002kaz

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/kazuma-okamoto/sa3063134/stats?position=1B/3B

[Hugh2]

11 hours ago, harmony said:

Any interest in Kazuma Okamoto, who strikes out far less frequently than Munetaka Murakami?

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=okamot002kaz

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/kazuma-okamoto/sa3063134/stats?position=1B/3B

18% is certainly reasonable.  I do wonder how much that goes up when he comes to USA. 

It's been said that the K rate goes up 5-6% which I decided to lazely studied this morning and appears to be BS.  Some players K rate moves much higher or not at all (Ichiro Suzuki).

Seiya Suzuki saw his K rate jump over 50% if we see that in Okamoto he'd have a K rate around 30%.  That might be too high for him to tap into his power. 

He concerns me, but yet I'm intrigued still. 

 

[moonslav59]

These guys from Japan will likely be cheaper than the big boppers like Alonso and Schwarber- maybe even than Suarez. There is also more risk involved- see the Yoshida signing.

We know JH likes cheap, so maybe we go that route.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

35 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

These guys from Japan will likely be cheaper than the big boppers like Alonso and Schwarber- maybe even than Suarez. There is also more risk involved- see the Yoshida signing.

We know JH likes cheap, so maybe we go that route.

The range for Japanese imports is only between two inhumans: Ichiro and Ohtani.

For maybe a better perspective: in Yoshida's last half decade in Japan, he was good for at least 20 homers, a .330 batting average and .900 OPS. He also walked more than he struck out.

In the big leagues, however, baseball-ref's Most Similar Batter is Pancho Herrera. So Masa is not a big dog in the majors, but a sidekick to the Cisco Kid. 

Yoshida's Most Similar Batter through age 30 is Les Fleming. Just be glad it isn't More Flailing.

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

The range for Japanese imports is only between two inhumans: Ichiro and Ohtani.

For maybe a better perspective: in Yoshida's last half decade in Japan, he was good for at least 20 homers, a .330 batting average and .900 OPS. He also walked more than he struck out.

In the big leagues, however, baseball-ref's Most Similar Batter is Pancho Herrera. So Masa is not a big dog in the majors, but a sidekick to the Cisco Kid. 

Yoshida's Most Similar Batter through age 30 is Les Fleming. Just be glad it isn't More Flailing.

Yoshida was 29 when we signed him, I believe. Some of these guys are younger.

IMO, we need 2 big bats, 1 big one if Breggie returns, and with a likely limited budget, we may need to think outside the box.

[mvp 78]

Yoshida NPB OPS 960, 135 HR, 307 K, 3251 PA

Murakami NPB OPS 951, 246 HR, 977 K, 3780 PA

 

[notin]

So who knew this?  And no one ever mentions him?

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/josh-bell-605137?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb

 

[moonslav59]

He'd be at a price JH would love.

[mvp 78]

16 hours ago, notin said:

So who knew this?  And no one ever mentions him?

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/josh-bell-605137?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb

 

Batting run value: 48th percentile

His swing profile would produce less than 20 HR's at Fenway per Statcast. That's why I didn't mention him previously. His x metrics have looked strong, but he underperformed them last season and his numbers have been about the same since 2021. He sprays the ball around, but his EV is only 59th percentile and he's slooooow. Because a lot of his swings go up the middle and he has more warning track power, he's getting less and less HR's. In Boston, he'd at best be a 20 HR, 740 OPS DH. That's a lower OPS than Masa had 23-24. 

[Hitch]

I wanted Alonso last off season. I want him again this one. Defence is a bit of a worry but that bat would be big. 

[mvp 78]

On 10/13/2025 at 8:35 PM, harmony said:

Any interest in Kazuma Okamoto, who strikes out far less frequently than Munetaka Murakami?

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=okamot002kaz

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/kazuma-okamoto/sa3063134/stats?position=1B/3B

RHB. What's his PULL AIR %? 😉

From looking at his bref and this MLBTR article, he's more interesting to me than Murakami (team captain, better defense, power profile, better k rate). The only sticky issue is that his team doesn't like to post players. 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/npb-kazuma-okamoto-tatsuya-imai-posted-mlb-free-agents.html

[harmony]

16 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

RHB. What's his PULL AIR %? 😉

From looking at his bref and this MLBTR article, he's more interesting to me than Murakami (team captain, better defense, power profile, better k rate). The only sticky issue is that his team doesn't like to post players. 

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/09/npb-kazuma-okamoto-tatsuya-imai-posted-mlb-free-agents.html

This Seattle fan is biased after witnessing a Kazuma Okamoto home run on April 9 in Yokohama.😉

https://npb.jp/bis/eng/2025/games/s2025040900135.html