Red Sox mailbag, part 2: Bregman angst, payroll questions, Crochet extension talk

In Part 1 of our Red Sox mailbag that published on Thursday, we looked at a potential opening-day lineup, Kristian Campbell and Roman Anthony promotion timelines, Masataka Yoshida s future, additional bullpen help, Nick Pivettas status and more.

In Part 2, well address a lot of Alex Bregman angst, Garrett Crochet and Tanner Houck extensions, payroll questions, the catching situation and more.

Growing tired with the mania surrounding the desire of so many for the Red Sox to sign Alex Bregman.

Seems to me that along with a likely continued performance decline, signing him would require him playing out of position and blocking a few phenoms who are ready.

In short, not worth it.

What say you? Anonymous I think the mania is more about the need in the immediate future for a right-handed bat and the fact that Bregman is available and a very good hitter at Fenway, which we looked at here .

But I do agree that theres some trepidation in being saddled with an aging veteran on a big contract.

The Red Sox have been burned by bad long-term deals in the past and with so many middle infielders in the mix both now and in the near-term players they plan to sign to their own long-term deals Bregman would create a roadblock.

So while its a tricky set-up for the future, he would undoubtedly strengthen the lineup in the present, which is why I think people are so anxious about it.

Advertisement Fans have been asked to wait for a window of contention for years now.

The team already bolstered the rotation, but it feels like an incomplete roster without a more solid offense.

Part of the problem is Bregman is seeking a deal of six years or so.

The Red Sox reportedly were willing to go up to four years, which would allow them to shift some players around the diamond, but six years makes it tough.

Please comment on Roman Anthony versus Wilyer Abreu for right field defense.

Lance K Considering Abreu just won a Gold Glove in right field in his first year in the majors I cant imagine the club moving him off the position anytime soon.

Anthony is considered a strong to above-average defender, and while hes mostly played center in the minors, its likely he lands in a corner spot in the majors because of his limited range.

I think on a long-term basis, Abreu sticks in right and Anthony in left.

Jarren Duran is under control for three more years and could slide back to center, where he was markedly improved last year, even if hes generally a better option for left.

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said recently that Ceddanne Rafaela is a guy that we will try to keep in center as much as possible.

The club thinks he could benefit from playing one position this season rather than moving back and forth from the outfield to the infield.

In the future, once hes more established, Rafaela may end up moving around if Abreu is in right, Duran is in center and Anthony is in left.

I am happy with the work the Sox have done with the rotation, but I really think they need a righty masher to provide protection for Rafael Devers in the lineup.

It looks increasingly unlikely to me that theyre going to sign Bregman and I dont see many other good options left on the market.

Do you think they might be holding out until next year to make a bigger move (Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.?) or do they just hope Kristian Campbell is that guy? Thanks! Scott G We got a lot of questions about whether the team is strategically not signing Bregman or trading for Nolan Arenado because theyre eyeing Guerrero, whos set to hit free agency after the 2025 season.

I get the idea, and it makes sense in theory, but teams rarely plan things that way because there are so many variables at play whether Guerrero remains healthy, whether he actually wants to sign with the club, whether the Dodgers come through and offer a billion dollars, etc.

Yes, he would offer a strong right-handed bat next to Devers.

But I dont think theyre approaching this season as we wont acquire X-player because we are eyeing Guerrero next year.

Advertisement I think Campbell will get a real chance, but as for an option who is still available, I had wondered how much of a fit Justin Turner would be on a one-year deal, given his leadership and desire to return to Boston after 2023.

Id been meaning to dig into Turners numbers and then came across a post from RedSoxStats on Bluesky with an interesting point about Turners numbers last season.

Turner really only had one rough month last season that made it look like he had a really subpar season.

In May, he posted a woeful .349 OPS, but in the other five months he averaged an .802 OPS.

Its not perfect, but he was a good fit in Boston and would offer another option at first base/DH for the Red Sox.

Im scratching my head about the state of Red Sox catching.

Whats their thinking on (1) Connor Wong s prognosis for improvement behind the plate, (2) Carlos Narvaez , and (3) that dude we picked from the Giants ( Blake Sabol ) whose stats suggest a very bat-first kid with not-yet-all-that in the glove? Elaine A Even when Kyle Teel was still in the mix, the Red Sox were clear that Wong would still be the starting catcher for 2025.

Now that Teel has been traded, yes, the catching depth has diminished significantly.

Wong started the year off well at the plate last year, but hit a wall midseason and his defense was subpar.

At Fenway Fest, he was as big as Ive ever seen him and he noted he spent most of the winter eating to bulk up his frame.

I think that will help him throughout the year with his durability and consistency behind the plate.

I do think Narvaez has a leg-up on the others here.

Hes a strong defensive catcher and even though hes played just six big-league games with the Yankees , the Red Sox seem to be high on him, especially considering they traded right-hander Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz , a promising young pitcher, to the Yankees for him.

Another interesting note on Narvaez, Red Sox catching coordinator Tyson Blaser, assistant hitting coach Dillon Lawson and minor league field coordinator Andrew Wright are all new to the Red Sox from the Yankees within the past two years, where they overlapped with Narvaez.

Sabol is also on the 40-man roster alongside Narvaez and I could see him being depth at Triple A.

The team does have three other non-roster invitees, Nathan Hickey , Mark Kolozsvary and Seby Zavala , in the mix.

Its possible the club will try to add a veteran like Yasmani Grandal or James McCann, but I think Wong and Narvaez will be the duo.

Where does the Red Sox payroll now rank among MLB teams, and how does it compare to last year? Trying to measure the teams spoken commitment to doing what it takes to win the AL East.

Les G Last year, the Red Sox finished with a payroll of about $226 million for luxury tax purposes.

So far this winter, theyve spent about $209 million on their 2025 roster, about $32 million below the $241 million threshold.

It should be noted, that like last year, the Red Sox may end up signing some of their existing players to extensions this spring, which would bump up the payroll for 2025, but obviously not add to the group of players.

Advertisement According to FanGraphs, Bostons current payroll puts them 11th in the league in spending.

They trail three American League teams the Yankees ($303 million), Astros ($236 million) and Rangers ($234 million) and seven NL teams the Dodgers ($382 million), Phillies ($307 million), Mets ($297 million), Padres ($245 million), Braves ($230 million), Giants ($221 million) and Diamondbacks ($214 million).

Any updates on how the extension discussions with Crochet are progressing and what do you think will be some reasonable numbers and structures that can work for both sides? Also, do you believe the team is also interested in extending Houck? Gerard G Shortly after Crochet was traded he said he hadnt thought much about an extension, but at Fenway Fest earlier this month I followed up with him and he was a bit more forthright.

Crochet said there have been preliminary conversations already between his agents and the Red Sox front office.

Staying in Boston long term is something that has a lot of merit in my mind and something that I think would be awesome, he said.

But in the meantime, Im just focused on spring, getting ready for the upcoming season.

As for what a deal could look like, Crochet doesnt turn 26 until June and has two more years of control on his current deal.

In arbitration this season, hes making $3.8 million.

Last summer, The Athletics Tim Britton took a look at a Crochet extension and what that might look like .

Given Crochet has only pitched one full season as a starter, there arent many comparable pitchers, but Britton landed on Spencer Strider , who signed a six-year, $75 million deal with the Braves in 2023 after one year of starting.

Strider signed the deal when he was five years away from free agency, though, so its a bit different than where Crochet is at with two years until free agency.

Using Striders template, Britton projected a five-year, $110 million deal for Crochet.

It seems a reasonable estimate, given Crochet is likely to make $10-20 million in arbitration the next two years.

A five-year deal would give the Red Sox three more years of control where Crochet would be making an average of about $30 million under these terms, roughly the going salary for top starters.

The AAV across the five years would come to $22 million through his age-31 season and hed still hit the market at a relatively young age.

As for Houck, hes older, turning 29 in June, but still has three full years of team control.

Hes currently making $3.95 million.

A five-year deal would take him into his age-33 season.

If he made between $8-15 million in arbitration the next three years, totaling about $30 million, a five-year, $70 million deal would give him about $18 million in each of his last two seasons of the deal.

The Red Sox would have to determine if they think Houck will be the same pitcher at 33 that he is now.

Have you heard anything about the Red Sox pitching development this offseason that is noteworthy? In the second year of Andrew Bailey/Craig Breslow, are they planning on changing their approach at all? Lessening the emphasis on breaking balls? What is their plan to get guys like Houck to maintain throughout the season? Chris W The breaking ball stuff last year was something we picked up on after watching the starters in the early part of the season.

Then, of course, we asked about it.

So I wouldnt say the team has laid out any specific plans of attack, but I will say entering the offseason there was a lot of talk about adding physicality to the pitching staff, in terms of pushing pitchers to work out harder, which would lead to more durability and greater velocity.

I dug into this a bit here in the fall on a piece on Baileys first year .

As simple as it sounds, added strength helps pitchers repeat deliveries and push off the mound repeatedly with more ease.

Cora also is an advocate.

Advertisement The training environments we have to make it tough on you, like be willing to look bad and fail in training, Cora said last fall.

So youre ready for spring training.

The physicality.

The relievers, pitchers, theres a lot of room for improvement physically.

Meanwhile, in the farm system, theres been a heavy emphasis on getting pitchers on par with the position players.

You saw the makings of that last summer when they drafted 14 pitchers with their 20 picks.

We had another question that tied into this topic, but more based on physical changes for position players.

The Red Sox were vocal about changing Devers workouts with conditioning this winter to help him avoid injuries and be more consistent on defense.

Yoshida stayed in Boston most of the winter to rehab from shoulder surgery, but it was clear the team wanted him working with their staff to make sure he was on track.

I mentioned in the first mailbag that Vaughn Grissom looks much stronger and Wong also looks noticeably stronger.

Id throw Anthony and Campbell into that mix as well.

Both looked bigger than when we saw them in the fall.

Well see how this all translates to the field and the mound, but Cora was vocal about getting his team in better shape for 2025.

(Top photo of Bregman: Tim Warner / Getty Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.