Red Sox
“A few of them were just very clear – [the Red Sox] are acting like a small market team.”
After Red Sox chairman Tom Werner promised the team would go “full-throttle” in terms of improving the roster this winter, some people in the industry are reportedly unsure of their standing in the MLB.
Multiple executives have recently questioned Boston’s status as a big market team due to their lack of aggression and moves this offseason, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.
“I’ve talked to a lot of agents this week and I made it a point to … talk to rival executives, talk to agents to see what the Red Sox were doing,” Cotillo said on his “Fenway Rundown” podcast on Friday. “A few of them were just very clear – [the Red Sox] are acting like a small market team. ‘They like my player, but they are not going to be the aggressive bidders.’”
Before Friday, the organization had spent just $1 million in free agency (signing right-handed pitcher Cooper Criswell to a one-year, $1 million contract). The Red Sox also traded outfielder Alex Verdugo to the New York Yankees for three pitching prospects, as well as acquired outfielder Tyler O’Neill from the St. Louis Cardinals.
While its rival Yankees acquired one of the hottest trade candidates in outfielder Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres, Boston’s roster remains largely unchanged.
The Red Sox similarly missed out on free agents Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto after being strongly linked to the latter.
“They no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt, because they have not proven to us over time that they are going to make these moves (adding top free agents or making meaningful trades),” Cotillo said. There are real concerns around baseball … that they even have the money or the resources or the will to go out and make these moves.”
However, several top free agents and potential trade options remain, particularly starting pitchers, something Boston has acknowledged it needs.
Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell, and Marcus Stroman have yet to sign with a team. Shane Bieber and Dylan Cease have been reported as being on the trade table. All five are rotation arms.
Cotillo’s podcast partner, Sean McAdam, said a source pumped the brakes on the possibility of Boston signing with at least one of those names, though.
“In the aftermath of the Yamamoto news, one industry official was speculating on how the Red Sox might pivot to find the necessary starting pitching,” McAdam wrote at MassLive on Dec. 24. When I suggested free agent Jordan Montgomery as a good fall-back option, the official scoffed and offered that even Montgomery would be too expensive for the Red Sox’s current budget plans.”
McAdam explained on the podcast that Boston is not eyeing those top-tier free agents that are still on the market.
“They are clearly looking at the lower half, maybe even lower-third, of the free agent market to address these needs,” McAdam said.
While the offseason is still young and there are still plenty of moves the Red Sox can make, the organization’s “full-throttle” promise has yet to be fulfilled.
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