Triston CasasBillie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images
Reuter’s Farm System Ranking: No. 13 (OF Roman Anthony, SS Marcelo Mayer, 2B Kristian Campbell, SS Franklin Arias all Tier 1)
Trade Chips: 1B Triston Casas
Current Estimated Opening Day Payroll: $168M
After talk of Boston wanting to sign not one but two of the big three starting pitchers available in free agency, the Red Sox ended up with none of Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell or Max Fried, instead trading for Garrett Crochet and signing Walker Buehler to a one-year deal (with a mutual option for a second year).
After taking that—let’s call it ‘more budget conscious’—approach to addressing their starting rotation woes of the past few years, they presumably have a fair amount of money left to spend. Their estimated payroll is just a couple million below where they started last season ($171M), but that was their lowest such mark since 2014, leading the majors in spending in each of 2018 and 2019.
Perhaps they are now a distant fifth behind the Dodgers, both New York teams and the Phillies in terms of willingness to spend in 2025, but are the Boston Red Sox seriously going to spend less than the Padres, Diamondbacks, Rangers and Angels?
Suffice it to say, either Alex Bregman or Pete Alonso heading to Beantown still feels plausible, if not more likely to happen than not. And if they do land one of those expensive, slugging, corner infielders, Triston Casas lands on the trade block in a hurry—if he isn’t already there.
Moreover, even after giving up quite a bit from their farm system to acquire Crochet, they still have some top-notch trade chips down in Worcester, and/or the prospects necessary to replace, say, Trevor Story or Masataka Yoshida, if they wanted to trade those expensive veterans instead.
One parting thought on the Red Sox’s offseason plans: If they don’t sign one of the few potentially nine-figure-contract free agents still on the board, they darn well better at least sign Crochet to a long-term deal. It would be outrageous if they gave up four prospects for him, didn’t spend to surround him with enough talent to win the AL East in 2025 and then also lost him as a free agent after the 2026 campaign.
