Red Sox Floated As One Of Top Landing Spots For Former Most Valuable Player
The Boston Red Sox could end up being a thorn in the rival New York Yankees' side this offseason.
Boston has money to spend and now a new chief baseball officer leading the baseball operations department. It's unclear exactly what route the reported hire Craig Breslow will want to go but he has a lot of work to do. Much of the speculation so far this offseason has been about pitching and it has been rightfully so. Boston's biggest need is at least one or two top-of-the-rotation hurlers this offseason and this will be done either through free agency or through trade.
While this is the case, it could never hurt to add more pop to the lineup. Chicago Cubs star Cody Bellinger likely will be the top offensive player available -- not named Shohei Ohtani -- and if the Red Sox trade away one of their current outfielders could make sense as a fit. Bleacher Report's Zachary Rymer even placed the Red Sox at No. 5 on his list of top-10 landing spots for the 2019 National League Most Valuable Player.
"Between Masataka Yoshida, Jarren Duran and Alex Verdugo, the Red Sox already have three left-handed-hitting outfielders lined up in left, center, and right," Rymer said. "If an opening is going to materialize, though, it could happen via a trade of Verdugo. The Red Sox were listening on him ahead of this summer's trade deadline, and his iffy relationship with manager Alex Cora may be an excuse for them to do so again this winter.
"As much as the Red Sox could use Bellinger's bat, what they really need is his glove. Their minus-51 Outs Above Average was by far the worst such mark of 2023, so having a defender who could greatly improve not one but two positions would be huge."
There has been plenty of rumblings that Verdugo or Duran could be traded this offseason. Verdugo seems to be the most likely option and if he is dealt away could help bring in a new starter. If the team did this, bringing in Bellinger would make sense. He returned to star form this year with Chicago and finished the season with 26 home runs, 97 RBIs, 29 doubles, and an impressive .307/.356/.525 slash line.
Bellinger has been linked on numerous occasions to the Yankees and they seem like the frontrunner to land him right now. If the Red Sox could swoop in and make the surprise move, it certainly would be nice.
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