Almost from the beginning, the free agent market has been a model of inefficiency. Competing furiously against each other, teams pay exorbitant prices for past performances.
Players win, but in the long run, teams often lose, especially on long-term deals that tend not to age well.
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Sometimes free agency represents the only option since that is where the talent lies. Furthermore, the obsession with retaining prospects often keeps clubs from negotiating them to cover needs.
But this winter, the Red Sox, through two early offseason trades, may have found a way to solve this conundrum. After adding Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo, the Red Sox have about 10 legitimate starting pitching candidates and/or highly regarded prospects: Garrett Crochet, Gray, Oviedo, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, Hunter Dobbins, Kyle Harrison, Payton Tolle and Connelly Early.
This accounting doesn’t begin to take into account the next tier of pitching prospects, including David Sandlin, Luis Perales and last year’s No. 1 pick, Kyson Witherspoon, all of whom also have trade value.
Of course, not all pitchers are proven in the big leagues and some, notably Sandoval, are coming off major physical setbacks.
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But still, that’s a lot more than most organizations and could put them in deals to address their lack of lineup pop.
What if, say, the Red Sox managed to re-sign Alex Bregman and then package Jarren Duan and a young pitcher for another power bat? That would improve the lineup considerably and allow them to keep their CBT number in the roughly $250 million range.
(Maintaining payroll in that area remains an organizational priority, as previously reported.)
Instead of spending, say, $35 million per season on a seven-year deal for Pete Alonso to add muscle to the offense, the Red Sox could find a bat on the trade market, using Durán (or Wilyer Abreu) and a young starter as bait.
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The bidding for players like Alonso and Kyle Schwarber hasn’t begun yet, but it’s easy to anticipate those deals will get bigger and bigger with interest from a handful of big-market teams (Phillies, Mets and others), all positioning themselves for one of the sluggers.
If the Red Sox were to get a run-producing first baseman in such a trade and bring back Bregman, they could use Marcelo Mayer at second and then turn their attention to improving their designated hitter spot.
With the money saved by largely staying off the free agent market and freed from the long-term deal with Rafael Devers, perhaps they could find a creative way to get rid of Masataka Yoshida’s remaining salary and fill the designated hitter spot with other options.
By jumping the line early (no other team in the game has hit so quickly for two impact pitchers), the Red Sox have already eliminated the potentially costly part of their offseason schedule.
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Now, as they move to address the offense and the need for more slug, they are positioned to give themselves plenty of options, with an exit route available if they don’t want to get into bidding wars for the bat they need.
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Just nine months after signing an eight-year, $60 million contract with the Red Sox, it’s unclear how Kristian Campbell will fit into the organization going forward.
He spent the entire second half of 2025 in Worcester and for now it is impossible to know what the team has planned for the future.
One thing is certain: he will soon be playing for Caguas, Puerto Rico in winter baseball.
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“I think before the offseason, getting some of his strength back was a priority,” said Brian Abraham, Sox director of player development. “We feel like he’s in a very good position physically. He’s been training, spending some time in Fort Myers, which is great. I think a balance of the physical side but also the game (it’s important this winter), giving him the opportunity to use some of the adjustments that he’s made, physically and mechanically, in some actions of the game would be to his benefit.”
It has not yet been decided where Campbell will play in winter baseball. He saw action at second and first and in some outfield at Worcester.
“Those conversations are ongoing,” Abraham said. “First and foremost, we want to make sure he’s got his feet under him. He’s going to go through a swing progression, a run progression to make sure he’s prepared for the part of the game. He’s been able to play multiple positions over the last year, some of them were for versatility in the big leagues, other times to potentially make an impact while he was Triple A.
“I think we’re open-minded. But we also want to make sure that the work is consistent, wherever he ends up playing and at the same time being able to focus on his bat. We need to make sure that the offensive production is at the forefront of what he’s working on. I think we’re still having conversations about where he’s going to be defensively. As he starts to progress and play in games, it’s going to be a little bit slower pace because there’s only so much you can do when you’ve been out for a month and a half.”
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It took some time for Campbell to find himself at the plate after being optioned to Triple A, but that eventually happened as he found a more comfortable routine.
“Consistency was the most important piece, in all facets,” Abraham said. “The workouts, the early work, his preparation for games… all of those things, I think he was able to get back into a consistent routine that allowed him to have the success that he wanted. And sure, I think he’d probably say the overall numbers weren’t exactly what he would have wanted. But I think he saw a lot of progress and improvement that made us feel like he was moving in the right direction and I think that’s all we could ask for.”
Even while struggling in 2025, Campbell gained valuable insight into what it takes to succeed in the big leagues.
“He had a lot of perspectives,” Abraham said. “He saw what success looks like and he got to see what failure looks like. And he saw other guys who are very successful and how they go about their routines and handle adversity and get out of the rough patches… or times when they’re not feeling their best, mentally or physically.
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“The time in Triple A allowed him to get a routine that works for him, preparing his body for a long season full of ups and downs, whether you’re at the top or at the bottom of your game. He has a better feel for the competition, a better idea of how he’s going to be pitched and he has an idea of what he needed to do that night at the plate. I think there were a lot of experiences that will allow him to be successful in the future. Sometimes you don’t know what it takes until you have the opportunity to fail or succeed.”
It will also help that Red Sox bench coach Ramón Vázquez serves as Caguas’ manager, giving the organization more control of his playing time while also allowing for good communication.
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One of the things that made Gray so attractive to the Red Sox was his low walk rate (5.0). But on his Zoom call with reporters earlier in the week, Gray said he wouldn’t mind walking a few more hitters next year if it meant limiting the hardest hit damage.
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He allowed a career-high 25 home runs, and his hard-hit rate (40.7 percent) was his highest since the 2017 season.
“Some would say (the low walk rate) is great,” Gray said, “but I would say there’s a give and take there. Maybe a few more walks might be better: a few more walks and a few less hits, less home runs, a little less damage.”
“That’s something I’d love to get into, situations where walks are OK. It’s OK to walk a guy right here instead of giving up a double or damage or making a pitch that could potentially cause damage.”
Over the past few seasons, Gray noted, he has experienced “walks, strikeouts, increased damage, increased home runs. Home runs are a career, so if there’s a way to get back to limiting the damage, hitting people and increasing the walks a little bit, that would be nice.”
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