Trending Trade: Red Sox Reportedly Closing on Veteran To Bolster Positional Player Depth, their are to make a few moves before setting their roster
The Boston Red Sox are expected to make a few moves before setting their roster and with so many marquee players remaining, still have time to make a splash.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is seeking a starting pitcher and an impact right-handed bat with positional versatility.
While those pending additions have the fans patiently waiting, they also will continue to add depth throughout the final stages of the offseason and spring training. The latest player Boston reportedly is interested in fits into the depth category.
“Free-agent second baseman/left fielder Tony Kemp has drawn interest from the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, according to sources,” FanSided’s Robert Murray reported Sunday.
Kemp hit .209 with 21 extra-base hits including five home runs, 27 RBIs and a .607 OPS in 124 games for the Oakland Athletics last season. Defensively, the 32-year-old is nothing to write home about either.
If Breslow does add Kemp, it will simply be to shore up a middle infield group that is patiently waiting for players such as Marcelo Mayer and Nick Yorke to elevate into the big-league conversation.
Kemp is in the 100th percentile for strikeout rate and 76th for walk rate — meaning he puts together solid at-bats. That said, he’s not very productive even when putting the ball in play with regularity.
This is the time of year when every team takes shots on a slew of players that are not worth getting excited about but could contribute down the line.
Further Reading:
Red Sox prospect could solve big problem, ‘make some All-Star teams,’ expert says
It’s been a while since the Boston Red Sox had a sure thing at catcher. However, they may soon have a long-term solution in the form of catcher Kyle Teel.
That’s the way The Athletic’s Keith Law laid it out in the 2024 edition of his Top 100 MLB Prospects, where Teel ranked No. 24. Law notes that Teel “was the best catcher in the 2023 draft class” and is an “unusually good athlete” for a catcher.
Teel at 54 was the third-best placement of any Red Sox prospect in Law’s rankings, coming in behind Marcelo Mayer (No. 8) and Roman Anthony (No. 22). On top of raw talent, Teel also comes in with the potential to solve a long-term problem for Boston.
“He could come into some pull-side power with a few small adjustments at the plate, depending on how Boston wants to develop him; a catcher who hits a ton of line drives and is at least an average receiver is good enough to make some All-Star teams, and he’d solve a problem the Red Sox have had for years at that position.”
It’s been a while since the Red Sox last had an All-Star catcher. The last time it happened was in 2010 with Victor Martinez.
The Red Sox took Teel with the No. 14 pick of the 2023 MLB Draft, a selection that was commonly dubbed a steal. Law himself wrote at the time that he was “shocked” to see Teel still on the board when Boston picked him and that “Red Sox fans should be ecstatic.”
Keep an eye out for MassLive’s list of the top 25 prospects in the Red Sox system this week, with five players being released each day. You can expect to see Anthony’s name on Friday when the farm system’s top five prospects are revealed.
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