Teoscar Hernández is the belle of baseball free agency this week, and the Red Sox are among his most aggressive suitors.
Boston has been linked to or bid on several free agents this offseason, but thus far have spent exactly $1 million in free agency, only adding Cooper Crisswell for pitching depth.
Though not a starting pitcher, Hernández checks off several other boxes on the Red Sox’s list of areas in need of improvement: health, power, defensive acumen among them. He’s proven himself to be one of the game’s most durable outfielders, playing 160 games this season, and 274 over the previous two. He’s prone to striking out – 211 times in ’23 – but averaged 31 doubles and 28 home runs over the past three years and won back-to-back Silver Sluggers in ’20 and ’21. He’s also an above-average defender who led American League outfielders in assists twice (’20, ’23) and double plays turned three times (’19, ’20, ’23). In ’23, he ranked in the 88th MLB percentile in arm value and 82nd in sprint speed.
Hernández is projected to emerge from free agency with a four-year deal. The Red Sox have ample room for such a pact in their long-term financial plans; they reset their luxury tax penalties this year and Rafael Devers’ contract is their only guaranteed money committed beyond 2027.
However, the outfield was also presumed to be one of the more squared away areas of Boston’s roster this offseason. Even after trading Alex Verdugo to the Yankees, the Red Sox have Masataka Yoshida signed through ’27, Rob Refsnyder and Tyler O’Neill for the season, and pre-arbitration outfielders Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, and Ceddanne Rafaela. After struggling in truncated, inconsistent stints over his first two years of partial Major League playing time, Duran made a stunning transformation in ’23, emerging as a strong offensive and defensive contributor. Rafaela is considered a perennial Gold Glove centerfielder, and Alex Cora raves about Abreu’s bat power.
There’s also the organization’s top outfield prospect, 19-year-old Roman Anthony. In his first full professional season, he rose from Low-A Salem to Double-A Portland, and overtook shortstop Marcelo Mayer for the top spot on SoxProspects.com. Though Anthony only played 10 games for Portland before the season ended, he went an impressive 12-for-35 (.343) with four doubles, a home run, 10 runs, eight driven in, three stolen bases, eight walks, and only six strikeouts. Overall, he finished the ’23 MiLB season hitting .272 with a .869 OPS, 17.5% walk rate, and 45 extra-base hits over 106 games. He’s headlining the annual Rookie Development Program at Fenway Park in mid-January, which helps the organization’s most promising prospects prepare for big-league life on and off the field.
However, signing Hernández would also bring a much-needed veteran presence to the outfield; Yoshida had a long and decorated career in Japan before signing with Boston last December and technically becoming a rookie all over again. It would also enable the Red Sox to include one of their younger, club-controlled outfielders in a potential trade package to land an elite starting pitcher.
The new year approaches, and with it, the twentieth anniversary of the historic 2004 season. Fittingly, the top competition for Hernandez is the Angels, Boston’s first-round postseason opponent two decades ago. Perhaps winning this battle against Anaheim will prove to be the first step on the road to unexpected glory, too.
Or at the very least, the Red Sox will have finally spent some money.
Official summons
Police in the Dominican Republic have officially summoned Wander Franco to appear for questioning on Thursday, Dec. 28 at 11 a.m. The news, first reported by Enrique Rojas and Juan Recio of ESPN, comes one day after authorities conducted a pair of raids on the Tampa Bay Rays shortstop’s Baní home and that of his mother, but didn’t find him in either abode.
Franco’s All-Star season came to a screeching halt on August 13 when a woman’s allegations that he’d had a relationship with her when she was underage (18 in the DR) went viral on social media. The league immediately opened an investigation, as did the Dominican authorities. By the end of August, three women had made accusations against him.
Around the league
After agreeing to a one-year contract with longtime Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier on Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays are signing infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a two-year, $15M deal.
Kiermaier spent nine seasons with the Rays before joining the Jays for the ’23 season and winning his fourth career Gold Glove. The Yankees acquired Kiner-Falefa from the Texas Rangers before the ’22 season, and moved him around the diamond. After spending most of his first Bronx season at shortstop, he split ’23 between the three outfield positions and third base, plus eight innings at short and one at second. However, with Matt Chapman currently a free agent, Kiner-Falefa figures to be a solid third-base addition for Toronto; he won a Gold Glove at the hot corner in 2020.
Both contracts are pending physicals, and Kiner-Falefa’s includes another $1M in incentives.
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