Heading into this offseason, the Boston Red Sox were quite public about their desire to add an impact, right-handed bat to their lineup. Chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow has repeatedly stated that a righty hitter is one of the club’s top priorities before they embark on the 2025 campaign.
But with the Red Sox first full-squad workout of spring training, with all players required to report, scheduled for just 10 days from today the Boston franchise has not made a move to acquire that righty hitter. In fact, the Red Sox’ entire offseason has effectively ground to a halt. Since the calendar flipped to 2025, the Red Sox have made only one addition to their 40-man roster. That was Blake Sobol, a third-year catcher who saw action in just 11 Major League games for the San Francisco Giants last season.
Sobol is seen as a depth piece for the Red Sox and is unlikely to see action at the big league level except in case of emergency.
Red Sox Have Pursued Nolan Arenado in Trade Talks
While the Red Sox have done basically nothing for more than a month, that does not mean they have not been attempting to make moves â and one of the biggest in which they are reportedly involved is a potential trade for St. Louis Cardinals veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado. Arenado is reported to have a strong interest in coming to Boston. But no deal has been made yet and according to multiple reports on Friday, the Red Sox may now face a new rival in the competition for eight-time All-Star’s services.
That competition, according to the reports, comes from the Red Sox longtime arch-rival, the New York Yankees.
Arenado will be playing the final two years of an eight-year, $260 million contract extension he signed with his original team, the Colorado Rockies, prior to the 2019 season. Whether the Cardinals are willing to absorb a portion of the $37 million Arenado is owed for those two seasons could be the key to any deal.
Talks between the Red Sox and Cardinals fell apart in January when Boston demanded that St. Louis absorb $20 million of Arenado’s upcoming paycheck, according to John Denton of MLB.com. But Denton also reported that negotiations on an Arenado trade between the two teams have picked up again in February.
But this time, the Yankees are also at the table, according to Denton, threatening to swoop in and sign their AL East rival’s coveted trade target out from under them.
Should the Red Sox be worried? As Ryan Garcia of the New York-centric sports site Empire Sports Media wrote, the Red Sox could put together a more attractive trade package.
Yankees in on Trade Talks but Have Less to Offer
“Baseball America ranked the Yankeesâ farm system 25th in the sport, while the Red Sox ranked first on their list, so in terms of prospect ammo, New York has far less to offer,” Garcia noted.
He also sounded a pessimistic note about Arenado’s fit with the Bronx Bombers.
“Yankee Stadium does not fit what Nolan Arenado brings to the table offensively, as heâs a pull-happy hitter who has lost most of his raw power,” Garcia wrote. “It would take the Cardinals eating some significant money and other teams refusing to part ways with prospects to even remotely make sense of an Arenado pursuit.”
Denton reported that the Cardinals are interested in making the Red Sox No. 22-ranked prospect, right-handed power bat Blaze Jordan, a key to the Arenado trade.
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