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The Pink Sox are open to including one other right-handed hitter to their outfield combine, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow tells Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. To that finish, Abraham studies that Boston stays in touch with free agent outfielder Adam Duvall’s camp.
Duvall had a stable, if unstable, 2023 season. Signed to a one-year, $7MM contract over the offseason, he was arguably the most effective hitter in MLB for the primary couple weeks. Duvall ran a .455/.514/1.030 line over his first 37 plate appearances earlier than fracturing a bone in his left wrist whereas diving for a fly ball. The damage price him two months.
He was mired in an prolonged hunch upon coming off the injured listing, limping to a .175/.253/.313 exhibiting by way of the All-Star Break. Duvall discovered his stride once more popping out of the Break, raking at a .293/.349/.654 clip by way of the top of August. The 12 months ended on a dismal notice, as he struck out in over 40% of his plate appearances whereas hitting .149/.177/.324 from September 1 on.
Regardless of the intense peaks and valleys, Duvall’s total offensive manufacturing was nicely higher than common. He hit 21 homers with a .247/.303/.531 slash in 353 plate appearances. Boston’s determination to offer him practically 500 innings in heart discipline predictably didn’t work out nicely, as he rated between three and 5 runs beneath common by Statcast and Defensive Runs Saved. Duvall has been a plus defender in left discipline all through the course of his profession although. Between the sturdy nook outfield protection and 30-homer upside, he’s a precious participant regardless of excessive strikeout totals and subpar on-base marks.
The Angels are the one different group that has been publicly linked to Duvall this offseason. At age 35, it appears possible he’ll signal one other one-year pact, though there’s an outdoor likelihood he lands a second assured season.
Breslow wasn’t with the Sox after they signed Duvall final January. But the entrance workplace has sought right-handed energy within the outfield all through his first offseason on the helm. Boston already swung a commerce for Tyler O’Neill. They had been linked to Teoscar Hernández earlier than he signed a one-year, $23.5MM pillow contract with the Dodgers. Duvall could be considerably cheaper.
Even because the Sox pursued Hernández, they’d pointed to the rotation as their greatest precedence. Boston took a rebound flier on Lucas Giolito. Not lengthy thereafter, they subtracted Chris Sale within the commerce so as to add Vaughn Grissom from the Braves. Whereas Giolito appears a safer guess than Sale to log a full workload, the pair of strikes leaves the Sox with the identical variety of starters that they had in the beginning of the winter.
Breslow informed Abraham the present rotation consists of 4 pitchers: Giolito, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Nick Pivetta. That’d go away Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Josh Winckowski competing for the ultimate spot. Offseason acquisitions Cooper Criswell and Max Castillo are among the many depth choices on the 40-man roster.
In fact, that’s not essentially the combination they’ll take to Spring Coaching. Breslow conceded their efforts so as to add rotation assist have to date “been a problem” however mentioned they’re “nonetheless engaged in conversations with free brokers and groups through commerce.” The Sox have been loosely tied to high arms Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery (extra so the latter) through the offseason, however more moderen studies indicated they had been wanting on the subsequent tiers down. With mid-level arms like Shota Imanaga and Marcus Stroman lately coming off the board, the free agent provide is dwindling past Snell and Montgomery.
That hints at payroll questions which have hung over the offseason. The Sox opened the 2023 season with a participant payroll within the $181MM vary, in keeping with Cot’s Baseball Contracts. That ranked twelfth within the majors, their first time exterior the highest 10 this century. Roster Resource tasks their 2024 payroll in an identical vary, somewhat underneath $178MM. They’re nearly $40MM away from subsequent 12 months’s base luxurious tax threshold.
An offseason headlined by Giolito and commerce pickups of Grissom and O’Neill presumably isn’t what many within the fanbase envisioned. That’s very true after group chairman Tom Werner vowed in early November the group would go “full throttle” to place their two straight final place finishes behind them.
Werner walked that phrasing again in a dialog with Sean McAdam of MassLive this afternoon. “Possibly that wasn’t probably the most suave method of claiming what I wished to say, which is that we’re going to be urgent all levers to enhance the group,” he mentioned. “Ultimately, no one’s pleased with our efficiency the previous couple of years. Some years, we go after any person who’s about to be a free agent, or was a free agent, because it pertains to Trevor Story or Raffy Devers.”
After noting the group made an unsuccessful run at Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Werner added the Sox “actually aren’t pleased with the present roster because it was on the finish of final 12 months, so if I used to be going to say it once more, I’d say that we’re going to be urgent all levers and weren’t going to be pleased with only one (technique) — that features free company, trades or expertise from Triple and Double A. … Ultimately, we don’t have a line by way of our payroll that we take a look at as a lot as trusting that Craig goes to ship on his assurance that we’re going to be aggressive.“
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