Boston

Red Sox

The Red Sox didn’t waste any time bringing back Campbell and Bryan Mata on Friday, signing each to minor league contracts just hours after they were non-tendered. Campbell missed the majority of the 2024 season due to shoulder woes, appearing in just eight games for the Red Sox and posting a troublesome 16.20 ERA and 2.40 WHIP over his 6 2/3 innings of work. He’ll continue to serve as extra bullpen depth.

Well that didn’t take long. Mata was non-tendered on Friday evening, but just a couple of hours later he was brought back on a minor league deal. The former top prospect has struggled to live up to his billing thus far, but if he’s able to stay healthy he certainly has the stuff to get his career back on track.

He adds that those aren’t the only four teams interested in the 25-year-old left-hander. Crochet’s trade deadline value was up in the air because of workload issues in his return from Tommy John and because of his move from the bullpen to the rotation. Now, though, it’s less complicated; he’s simply a young pitcher with ace ability and two years of control left before free agency. The White Sox are almost surely going to move him and net themselves an outstanding return. They’re focusing on top position prospects now after targeting young pitchers in previous trades and at the top of the draft.

Tigers’ owner Chris Ilitch is on record saying that he’ll be willing to spend once the team is ready to contend, and the fact that the Tigers surged to the postseason in 2024 proves that they are ready. Bregman has a strong working relationship with Tigers’ manager A.J. Hinch. The Astros are intent on doing everything that they can to keep the 30-year-old superstar, so the Tigers may need to overspend to secure his services. The Red Sox have also inquired on Bregman and expect all of the usual suspects to be in the mix as well.

Red Sox president of baseball operation Craig Breslow also said at the start of the offseason that the Red Sox would likely try to trade away some left-handed hitting this offseason, so Morosi’s report seems consistent with that. Even though Abreu received AL Rookie of the Year votes and just won his first Gold Glove, the Red Sox have plenty of outfield options and could see Abreu as the ticket to get a young starting pitcher onto their roster. Morosi specifically mentions the Mariners as a trade partner, and we know the Red Sox reached out to them last offseason about trading for one of their young starters. If the Red Sox were to land Juan Soto, trading Abreu would make even more sense. Still, even without Soto, the Red Sox also have Jarren Duran, Ceddane Rafaela, Roman Anthony, who is the top prospect in baseball, and Kristian Campbell, who is the 10th overall prospect in baseball, all competing for MLB at-bats in 2025.

Feinsand notes that Fried “may be the most sought-after arm” this offseason. That’s, in part, due to a career 3.07 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 863 strikeouts in 884 1/3 innings, but also because Fried is expected to command less on the open market than both Burnes and Snell. Given that the Red Sox need a left-handed starter and that Lucas Giolito and Max Fried were high school teammates, Feinsand suggests that Boston couldn’t be an intriguing destination for the 30-year-old. Other likely suitors are the Braves, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, and Mets.

The Red Sox’s interest had already been noted over the weekend, but now we know that Snell has already met with them. Boston seems dead set on adding a frontline starting pitcher this offseason, and they have no lefties in their rotation so Snell would make some sense. The Dodgers also seem intent on adding at least one big starting pitcher this offseason since their injury-plagued rotation caused them to rely on bullpen games in the postseason. Snell signed a two-year, $62 million deal with the Giants last offseason but opted out after a tremendous year, so he will likely be looking for a much longer contract this time around.

Eaton bolsters the Red Sox’ organizational position player depth heading into next season. The 27-year-old, who has made appearances at four different spots defensively in the big leagues since 2022, spent all of last year at Triple-A Omaha in Kansas City’s system, batting .259/.299/.439 with 16 homers and 27 steals across 464 plate appearances. He’s a non-factor for fantasy purposes at the moment. However, it wouldn’t be shocking if he were in the mix during spring training for a bench role on Boston’s season-opening roster.

Zavala fortifies Boston’s catching depth behind Connor Wong. He makes sense as a temporary stopgap until top prospect Kyle Teel is ready to ascend to the big leagues at some point next year. The 31-year-old journeyman backstop holds a lifetime .613 OPS in 194 contests in the majors since 2019.

TINSTAAPP. The unquestioned top pitching prospect in Boston’s system for the last several years, Mata never quite broke through as injuries have derailed his career. The 25-year-old righty has yet to arrive in the big leagues and missed all of last year due to a right shoulder issue.