It’s New Year’s Day, about a month and a half before the start of spring training. Craig Breslow and the Boston Red Sox front office have a lot of time to sculpt the ball club for the coming season. So far they have concentrated on rebuilding the rotation, bringing in Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler. They’ve added a significant piece to the bullpen in Aroldis Chapman. There have been several other smaller moves to shore up the team’s depth or future.
As I write this, the Red Sox already have a solid lineup: a plus-hitter at 1st, a plus-hitter/defender at short, a plus-hitter at 3rd, an all-star in left, a plus-defender in center, a gold-glover in right. Areas of improvement would be at catcher, with a new backup a necessity, and someone to step forward to command 2nd base.
There are already several internal candidates for 2nd, including David Hamilton — I loved the dynamism of the Duran/Hamilton speed at the top of the lineup last season — Vaughn Grissom and Kristian Campbell. Of these, I suspect Hamilton will be traded, because he bats left and the Sox are in need of right-handed hitters.
One thing fans have been waiting for is the signing of Alex Bregman as a right-handed bat, and possible defensive upgrade at 3rd base. I don’t think this is going to happen. For one thing, I don’t think the team is going to force Rafael Devers to move from 3rd. While Devers is a mediocre defensive 3rd baseman at best, the only other two positions for him are 1st base or designated hitter. Moving Devers to 1st would require the Sox to trade Triston Casas, or make Casas the DH. I don’t like either of those options, and I suspect neither do the Red Sox. Casas has the potential to match Devers at the plate, and is the much cheaper option. I have a feeling Casas would not thrive at DH, because he seems the type who needs action to stay mentally engaged. If the Sox can get a good return for a Casas trade, then maybe that opens a slide of Devers to 1st and Bregman at 3rd, but they won’t sign Bregman before that happens, because it will put the Sox in the position of having to trade Casas and lowering their bargaining power. Barring a Casas trade, however, it doesn’t make sense to sign Bregman to a mult-year deal (which is what he will rightly demand), because if Devers is at 3rd, Bregman’s only other position would be 2nd base, but that would block Campbell or Grissom, which might be okay for one season, but not down the road.
I don’t think the Sox will move Devers to DH for two reasons. First, $30,000,000 is a lot to pay annually for a DH. Second, Devers has a hard enough time being motivated to stay in top shape playing 3rd. DHing isn’t going to get him to work out any harder in the off season.
So, to sum that argument up, the Sox won’t sign Bregman unless they can make a satisfactory trade for Casas first.
But the Sox need at least one right-handed bat. Grissom and Campbell bat right, so if either of them can prove themselves as everyday players during spring training, that will help. Breslow demonstrated a keen ability to find a diamond in the rough when he traded for Tyler O’Neil last offseason. I am confident he can do this again, whether through a crafty trade or free agent signing. They could slot someone into the DH role.
Which gets me to Masataka Yoshida. I am not going to complain about him. He has done reasonably well with his bat, though certainly not living up to his salary. But the Sox need to find him a new home, even if they have to eat some of his contract. They need more production from DH, as well as a place for a right-handed bat to land.
The final thing they need to do for the lineup is fit in a solid number two catcher behind Connor Wong. I am wondering if the reason they are waiting is that Breslow is trying to land a top young catcher via trade to replace Kyle Teel.
Will Breslow sign Tanner Scott to round out the bullpen? That seems like a good idea to me, but I suspect Scott wants more in terms of years than the Sox would be willing to commit to.
All and all, even without any significant additions (other than backup catcher), the Red Sox sport a solid lineup. With their refurbished rotation they are already poised for a big improvement in won-loss record, though they will need to add more to win the AL East.
And I am excited at the potential of Campbell and fellow top-prospect Roman Anthony becoming the best rookie combo since Rice and Lynn.
