The Red Sox Offseason Has Been...

Zak Drapeau
7 minutes ago
4 min read

by Zak Drapeau

1/22/2026 - Sportz Nation

Slow.

One word that sums everything up pretty much. The Red Sox made a stunning move toward the beginning of the 2025 season by trading away Rafael Devers that set them to the rebuild we have seen over the past few months.

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Offseason Moves

Below are a list of the Red Sox moves this offseason:

Signed:

Ranger Suarez - 5yr/$130 Million (backloaded)

Trade:

Sonny Gray RHP (Plus $20 M cash)

- Traded for LHP Brandon Clarke and RHP Richard Fitts

Wilson Contreras 1B/DH(Plus $8 M cash)

- Traded for RHP Hunter Dobbins, RHP Yhoiker Fajardo and RHP Blake Aita

Johan Oviedo RHP

- Traded in 5-player deal that included OF Jhostynxon Garcia

Nate Baez (1B/C)

- Traded for Tristan Gray (to clear spot on 40 for Ranger Suarez)

Re-Signed:

Tristan Casas - 1 year deal

Tanner Houck - 1 year deal

Kutter Crawford - 1 year deal

Romy Gonzalez - 1 year deal

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This offseason has been all about building up the rotation behind Crochet and hopefully Bello for next season. With Sonny Gray becoming a back end rotation starter and Johan Oviedo probably becoming an important arm once he recovers from his Tommy John fully. The biggest move was signing Ranger Suarez to a backloaded $130 M deal to be their #2 for the next 5 seasons.

Other pitchers that should have a major role and likely several starts on the season will be youngster Payton Tolle and Kutter Crawford. The bullpen was good not great next year and should likely be the same, with Chapman and Whitlock handling end of game duties and the arms of Jordan Hicks, Greg Weissert, Zach Kelly and Justin Slaten expected to be used the most in relief.

With the starting rotation getting a much-needed upgrade, all eyes will now shift to the field after the Sox did little in offseason acquisitions to bolster their lineup.

Photo by Ashley Green/ USA Today Network via Imagn Images

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The 2026 Boston Red Sox

The Sox made a major jump last season with late season call ups like Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer, not to mention youngster Kristian Campbell who is also expected to be back at the Majors for 2026. Besides a decent trade for an aging Wilson Contreras, who could be seen to be a staple until Tristan Casas gets a clean sheet of health then a platoon guy, the Sox haven't done anything.

The Pitching Rotation and Starting Lineup for the 2026 Red Sox is expected to be:

Rotation:

LHP Garrett Crochet

LHP Ranger Suarez

RHP Sonny Gray

RHP Brayan Bello

RHP Johan Aviedo

Bullpen:

LR: Jordan Hicks

LR: Payton Tolle

LR: Kutter Crawford

MRP: Justin Slaten

MRP: Zach Kelly

MRP: Greg Weissert

SU: Garrett Whitlock

CL: Aroldis Chapman

Starting Lineup:

C - Carlos Narvaez

1B - Wilson Contreras/ Tristan Casas

2B - Romy Gonzalez

3B - Marcelo Mayer

SS - Trevor Story

LF - Roman Anthony

CF - Cedanne Rafaela

RF - Wilyer Abreu

DH - Jarren Duran

Bench - Kristian Campbell

Bench - Masataka Yoshida

Bench - Nick Sogard

Bench - Connor Wong

The only change from the end of last season's lineup will be Contreras but the big difference will be the influx of youth. Anthony, Mayer and Campbell are all 23 years old or younger and are expected to be major contributors in their sophomore campaigns, none more so than Anthony who had an.859 OPS and 3.1 WAR in just 71 games last season.

A very good thing about the Sox roster is the depth, with all areas having at least 1 serviceable backup in case of injuries or for off-days.

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Looking to the Future

All in all, the Red Sox offseason has been considered a disappointment from how little they've added. Most fans expected to get names like Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso and Dylan Cease and while that could have made us contenders this season, it might have ultimately stunted the growth of the team's future.

When it comes to the Red Sox, I'm actually for building for the long-term. Considering the Dodgers '(let's call it... "aggressive") team-building, I just don't see a way for the Red Sox to seriously win a championship this season even if they did make 2 or 3 max contract deals.

With the current Red Sox roster, it seems very likely that the team should consistently improve for at least 3 more years behind players like Crochet, Anthony, Bello and Narvaez to only name a few.

Is Craig Breslow and John Henry being cheap at a time when the "real" players in this league are buying championships? Or are they playing chess when all other teams are playing checkers?