The Time Has Come: Why the Red Sox Must Trade from Their Outfield Depth This Offseason

[Hitch]

44 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I don't want the Sox to trade away much of the future, so they don't have to spend money to fill every hole and upgrade a few slots, but there should be some leeway on trading a couple or three decent prospects or young players to fill a big hole or two.

While we do have a few higher-priced and a couple over-priced players on the roster, and Houck taking up a 2026 slot without pitching one inning, we have some very inexpensive and reasonably priced players under team control form 2+ years.

SPers:

Crochet- 6 yrs at $28.3

Bello- 5 yrs at $9.2

Gray- 1 yr at $21M & Sandoval 1 yr at $9.1M

Crawford- 3 arbs

Houck & Oviedo- 2 arbs

Pre-arb: Harrison, Dobbins, Tolle, Early and more...

RPers:

Chapman- 1 to 2 yrs at $13.3M

Whitlock- 1 yr at $7.5M

Slaten & Weissert- pre-arb

Hicks- 2 yrs at $10.3M

Pre-arbs: Moran, Kelly, Sandlin, Mullins and many more....

C:

Narvaez- pre-arb & Wong- 3arbs

1B:

Casas- 3 arbs

2B:

Romy- 3arbs & DHam- pre-arb

SS:
Story- 2 yrs at $23.3M

3B:
Mayer- pre-arb

LF:

Anthony- 8 yrs at $16.3M plus option

Duran- $7.7M then 2 arbs

Campbell- $7.5M for 7 yrs plus 2 options

CF:
Rafaela- 6 yrs at $6.3M

RF:

Abreu-pre-arb

DH:
Yoshida- 2 yrs at $18M

_________________

We lose Gray, Sandoval & Whitlock after 2026. That's it! That's about $35M coming off the books, too.

W4e lose Duran after 2027, if he's not traded before then. We also lose Yoshida and $18M and Houck plus Oviedo.

We are nicely set up for a 3+ year window.

There is a LOT of continued talk about us being seriously in on Schwarber this week. Confusing to me with the way the roster is currently aligned, but I won't complain if we get him. 

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, Hitch said:

There is a LOT of continued talk about us being seriously in on Schwarber this week. Confusing to me with the way the roster is currently aligned, but I won't complain if we get him. 

Masa and Schwarber don't makes sense together if the Sox are really under budget constraints as we've heard. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

2 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

(applauds)

I agree with your points, and as a loyal fan supportive of the Red Sox with my devotion and hard-earned dollars, I expect and deserve the same respect from the organization in return.

I'm not the least ungrateful for the glory ownership brought from 2004 to 2018. But I'm also not elitist or greedy since then... just a hopeful fan, always looking forward to watching my favorites compete and improve to maybe make a legitimate run at another title.

The 80s were great with my first wife, and I'm glad for the experience. But I didn't sit around at the end of the crappy 90s satisfied with the good old days. It was time to move on, and have something new to look forward to.

 

[moonslav59]

30 minutes ago, Hitch said:

There is a LOT of continued talk about us being seriously in on Schwarber this week. Confusing to me with the way the roster is currently aligned, but I won't complain if we get him. 

I also could see the Mets spending big on everyone but Alonso, so I think we are still in on Schwarber, Alonso and Bregman. I'm not sure I believe that talk about us maybe adding 2 of the 5 targets mentioned, but if one is Okamoto, maybe we might.

[drewski6]

32 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I did not mean to imply it shouldn't be talked about. I talk about it a lot, too.

I'm not happy with JH slowing the spending and avoiding large and long deals, although I can understand why, when the vast majority fail.

I'm in the camp of "I'll believe it when I see it," and since JH has spent big before, it could happen again, but I'm only making suggested moves based on the idea that JH is not going to blow past the second tax line. I'm not even sure he goes past the first line or barely over.That's not close to "praising" greedy rich people.

It's not licking boots by claiming it's "not happen," is "not likely to happen," or "probably won't happen." I call that being realistic not accommodating or accepting it has to be that way. It is what it is. It doesn't have to be, but I'm assuming we stay near the first tax line to maybe just below the second line. There is a chance we got near the second line, but I'll be surprised, if we do.

I don't like it. There have been times I have presented suggested moves based on big spending, so I was being hypocritical to say others should not do that. I was wrong on that.

IMO, JH is not going to go "full throttle" this winter. I'm fine with others thinking he might. Most of us think he should. Maybe only Kimmi is against that idea, but she seems to only be against large and long overpay deals.

I know. One of my bullets was meant to differentiate the people who are trying to be realistic and may have become a bit cynical about current and future spending (you and others) from the annoying posters who make up lies about celebrities who call out billionaire greed and cry "leave the billionaires alone, I wubbbb them and maybe they'll see this and let me in the club"

I have 0 issue with you, never have. I dont see you as a boot licker.

[drewski6]

23 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I agree with your points, and as a loyal fan supportive of the Red Sox with my devotion and hard-earned dollars, I expect and deserve the same respect from the organization in return.

I'm not the least ungrateful for the glory ownership brought from 2004 to 2018. But I'm also not elitist or greedy since then... just a hopeful fan, always looking forward to watching my favorites compete and improve to maybe make a legitimate run at another title.

The 80s were great with my first wife, and I'm glad for the experience. But I didn't sit around at the end of the crappy 90s satisfied with the good old days. It was time to move on, and have something new to look forward to.

 

The bold rings especially true with me.  I wish people would realize how "RS fans" or "certain RS fans" or "some people here"....How condescending that comes across.  And if you wanna condescend to me fine, but you GOTTA bring it.  Dont follow it up with dated clichés, or non-sequiturs, or bad analytics.

Being like "certain red sox fans would just trade all our prospects" or "certain red sox fans here just want to pretend there are no parameters" , and then following that up with faulty logic.....I mean, unfortunately, I learned long ago that the people who have their heels most dug in and act like they have all the answers are usually the dimmest.

It use to bother me, but I have a new expression that helps and that is "a clownboy's gonna clown"

[Hitch]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Masa and Schwarber don't makes sense together if the Sox are really under budget constraints as we've heard. 

Yeah, it really makes little sense, but the main national journos keep banging the drum about it. Cotillo and McAdams think absolutely not.

[Hitch]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I also could see the Mets spending big on everyone but Alonso, so I think we are still in on Schwarber, Alonso and Bregman. I'm not sure I believe that talk about us maybe adding 2 of the 5 targets mentioned, but if one is Okamoto, maybe we might.

Yeah, lots of moving parts. Mixed reports coming out only muddies the waters. 

[Hitch]

Another reason to doubt Schwarber - we lose our 2nd and 5th picks if we sign a QO guy. That doesn't sound like something Bres would do. 

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Yeah, it really makes little sense, but the main national journos keep banging the drum about it. Cotillo and McAdams think absolutely not.

I'll side with the locals then!

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, Hitch said:

Another reason to doubt Schwarber - we lose our 2nd and 5th picks if we sign a QO guy. That doesn't sound like something Bres would do. 

For a DH? No! For a #2? Maybe! 

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, drewski6 said:

I know. One of my bullets was meant to differentiate the people who are trying to be realistic and may have become a bit cynical about current and future spending (you and others) from the annoying posters who make up lies about celebrities who call out billionaire greed and cry "leave the billionaires alone, I wubbbb them and maybe they'll see this and let me in the club"

I have 0 issue with you, never have. I dont see you as a boot licker.

I'm not sure who is saying leave billionaires alone on this site.

These teams are more like toys for some owners. Almost every owner could spend like crazy, and if they all did, at once, it wouldn't really matter if JH did or not.

[Kimmi]

1 hour ago, Hitch said:

Another reason to doubt Schwarber - we lose our 2nd and 5th picks if we sign a QO guy. That doesn't sound like something Bres would do. 

I am one who would really like to see Schwarber rejoin the Red Sox, but that QO definitely puts a wrinkle into things.  Not to mention Yoshida.  I can't see it happening.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Bongslav59, be good now. Kimmi is back. 

And I agree there's no way Brez gives up the money AND draft picks for Schwarbbombs...

... unless we're going full throttle, all-in, Dodgers or Bust, here we come!

(we don't even know if Abreu or Mayer can hit lefties yet)

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, Kimmi said:

I am one who would really like to see Schwarber rejoin the Red Sox, but that QO definitely puts a wrinkle into things.  Not to mention Yoshida.  I can't see it happening.

I can't blame the team for not wanting to lose picks, but there are a few guys out there w/o QOs, if that is the stumbling block.

[Larry Cook]

On 12/5/2025 at 9:40 AM, mvp 78 said:

Masa and Schwarber don't makes sense together if the Sox are really under budget constraints as we've heard. 

Doesn’t schwarber hit left handed??  Do we really need another lefty? 

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Doesn’t schwarber hit left handed??  Do we really need another lefty? 

If it's him, yes! (Note: we face LHPs about 30% of the time.)

His splits in '25: 

.964 v L and .904 v R.

2024: .898 v .824

Career: .778 v .875

Also...

Alonso hit RHPs (.929) way better than LHPs (.729) in '25. Both 2024 splits were worse than KS (.783 v .803). He has career reverse splits: .865 v R and .835 v L.

[Larry Cook]

26 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

If it's him, yes! (Note: we face LHPs about 30% of the time.)

His splits in '25: 

.964 v L and .904 v R.

2024: .898 v .824

Career: .778 v .875

Also...

Alonso hit RHPs (.929) way better than LHPs (.729) in '25. Both 2024 splits were worse than KS (.783 v .803). He has career reverse splits: .865 v R and .835 v L.

Never been a fan of schwarber or Alonso, but I think our offseason success or failure is tied to where schwarber signs !!  

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Doesn’t schwarber hit left handed??  Do we really need another lefty? 

I don't think so.  FG has Yoshida as .768, and Schwarber as .833.  With limited money, upgrading for another 65 points isn't worth the $135M/5.

[Larry Cook]

3 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I don't think so.  FG has Yoshida as .768, and Schwarber as .833.  With limited money, upgrading for another 65 points isn't worth the $135M/5.

So who is worth us acquiring???

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Never been a fan of schwarber or Alonso, but I think our offseason success or failure is tied to where schwarber signs !!  

Who else can we get to fix the power void? If we don't get a top bat like Schwarber, Alonso or K Marte, we'll probably need two. Bregman and Bichette have a lot of value, but neither fixes the power problem. Suarez is old. Polanco might have had a lucky season. 

I'm not seeing anyone else available. Who are you a fan of?

[JoeBrady]

33 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

So who is worth us acquiring???

It depends on price, of course, but the guys I would consider:

• Trade Duran++ for a #2 or #2 potential.
• Okamoto, because he is righty, and his ability to play 1st and 3rd makes him a great fit if we are going with Casas and Mayer.  Even if those two, plus Yoshida, come out firing, Okadata can still get a lot of ABs with days off, tough lefties, injuries, etc.
• I'm still a fan of Kim.  Signing him to SS and moving Story to 2nd is a huge improvement to our fielding.
• Polanco is a good fit at 2nd, but only at two years.  All three of these guys are cheap enough that, if Miami offers to trade us Alcantara, for example, we can do so without worrying about the payroll.

And while no one is going to like it, and at the risk of being included in the billionaire bootlicker club (the BBC) there would be some merit to dropping under the cap for one season to reset the penalties.  Regardless of JH's wealth, losing a #2, a #5, and $1M international spending is still a consideration.

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

It depends on price, of course, but the guys I would consider:

• Trade Duran++ for a #2 or #2 potential.
• Okamoto, because he is righty, and his ability to play 1st and 3rd makes him a great fit if we are going with Casas and Mayer.  Even if those two, plus Yoshida, come out firing, Okadata can still get a lot of ABs with days off, tough lefties, injuries, etc.
• I'm still a fan of Kim.  Signing him to SS and moving Story to 2nd is a huge improvement to our fielding.
• Polanco is a good fit at 2nd, but only at two years.  All three of these guys are cheap enough that, if Miami offers to trade us Alcantara, for example, we can do so without worrying about the payroll.

And while no one is going to like it, and at the risk of being included in the billionaire bootlicker club (the BBC) there would be some merit to dropping under the cap for one season to reset the penalties.  Regardless of JH's wealth, losing a #2, a #5, and $1M international spending is still a consideration.

Kim or Polanco, right? No place for Story with both, unless someone plays 3B.

I like these ideas but am not sure about Kim.

[JoeBrady]

26 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Who else can we get to fix the power void? If we don't get a top bat like Schwarber, Alonso or K Marte, we'll probably need two. Bregman and Bichette have a lot of value, but neither fixes the power problem. Suarez is old. Polanco might have had a lucky season. 

I'm not seeing anyone else available. Who are you a fan of?

Do we need to fix the power void?  We were 6th in scoring despite not having anyone with more than 25 HRs, and finished only 20 runs behind the Brewers for 3rd place in scoring, who themselves didn't have a 30-HR hitter.

[JoeBrady]

9 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Kim or Polanco, right? No place for Story with both, unless someone plays 3B.

I like these ideas but am not sure about Kim.

Each idea stands on its own, though you could add Okomoto + either Kim or Polanco, though I don't see that as necessary.

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Do we need to fix the power void?  We were 6th in scoring despite not having anyone with more than 25 HRs, and finished only 20 runs behind the Brewers for 3rd place in scoring, who themselves didn't have a 30-HR hitter.

We did that with 334 PAs from Devers (15 HRS .504 SLG) and 495 PAs from Bregman (18 HRs .462 SLG) not to mention 11 HRs from 328 PAs by Refsnyder (.484 SLG) and Lowe (.420 SLG). That's 44 HRs out of 186.

Devers and Ref were 1-2 on the team in SLG, with Bregman 6th and Lowe 9th.

We need power and a big RHB. To me, more than we need a #2 SP'er.

I think we need 2 big bats.

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

It depends on price, of course, but the guys I would consider:

• Trade Duran++ for a #2 or #2 potential.
• Okamoto, because he is righty, and his ability to play 1st and 3rd makes him a great fit if we are going with Casas and Mayer.  Even if those two, plus Yoshida, come out firing, Okadata can still get a lot of ABs with days off, tough lefties, injuries, etc.
• I'm still a fan of Kim.  Signing him to SS and moving Story to 2nd is a huge improvement to our fielding.
• Polanco is a good fit at 2nd, but only at two years.  All three of these guys are cheap enough that, if Miami offers to trade us Alcantara, for example, we can do so without worrying about the payroll.

And while no one is going to like it, and at the risk of being included in the billionaire bootlicker club (the BBC) there would be some merit to dropping under the cap for one season to reset the penalties.  Regardless of JH's wealth, losing a #2, a #5, and $1M international spending is still a consideration.

Yikes….. Okamoto, Polanco, Story, Mayer, Anthony, Rafaela, Abreu, W/ Romy/ Yoshida @DH……. Bottom 10 offense with high strikeout rates here we come!

[UtahSox]

One of Red Sox biggest advantages is that Mets plan to DH Soto eventually. Can Soto hang on 3-4 years out there in RF? I think Mets will push hard for PA on a 3-4 yr deal…. Offering a 5 to 6 year deal is our biggest positive. We have to get pete Alonso from my vantage point he just checks the most boxes. 

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

Do we need to fix the power void?  We were 6th in scoring despite not having anyone with more than 25 HRs, and finished only 20 runs behind the Brewers for 3rd place in scoring, who themselves didn't have a 30-HR hitter.

Did you watch the playoff series? 0 RBI’s ZERO out of 3 OF and 1b……. 3 hits out of 42 AB out of Rafaela, Abreu, Lowe, Romy and Duran just need some home run threats SOMEWHERE. Too hard to score striking out like we did, this offense needs a power boost.

[moonslav59]

29 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Did you watch the playoff series? 0 RBI’s ZERO out of 3 OF and 1b……. 3 hits out of 42 AB out of Rafaela, Abreu, Lowe, Romy and Duran just need some home run threats SOMEWHERE. Too hard to score striking out like we did, this offense needs a power boost.

One series does not predict what we get going forward. I'm fine with out OF, even if we trade one (not Anthony.) I also think K Campbell offers nice depth and a RHB option.

We need some power from the infield or DH.