The Red Sox Need A Right Fielder. Here Are Eight Players Who Could Help.

Exploring trades, free agents, and internal options to try and fix what ails the Sox

The Red Sox need a right fielder. No, it’s not the most interesting intro, but come on, there’s no hiding it. It’s right there on the roster. Boston traded last year’s starting right fielder, Hunter Renfroe, earlier in the off-season to Milwaukee for Jackie Bradley and two prospects, none of whom should be starting in right field. So that’s the situation. What can be done about it?

Well, a lot of things. I’ll get to it all after saying hi. Hi! Welcome to Sox Outsider. I’m Matt Kory. You might know me from The Athletic, FanGraphs, or any of the other places I’ve written for over the years. Now I’m covering the Red Sox here at Sox Outsider. It’s free to subscribe, so kindly click the button and stay a while. Thanks!

Right now Roster Resource lists the Red Sox starting outfield like this:

LF: Alex Verdugo
CF: Enrique Herandez
RF: Jackie Bradley, Jr.

And that’s a bit of a problem. Last year, Bradley was the worst hitter in baseball. I don’t write that to be mean. I mean it exactly. Among all players last season with at least 400 plate appearances, Bradley was the worst hitter in baseball with a wRC+ of 35. One hundred is league average, so 35 is 65 percent below league average. That’s kinda hard to do. Oh, and in case you think I’m cooking the books, if you drop the threshold to 300 plate appearances, or 200, he’s still the worst. You have to go down to 150 plate appearances to get a hitter worse than Bradley, that being Andrew Knapp, a backup catcher for the Reds, and Leody Tavaras, a bad hitter for the Rangers.

I bring all this up to underscore the severity of the problem. Bradley is a wonderful person with a beautiful family, but he just spent a whole season as the worst regular in baseball. That he’s currently slated to start in right field is not a good place to be at.

But even if you saw a fortune-teller who foretold a JBJ bounce back season, or you believe in Bradley’s skillset, which at this point boils down to late inning defensive replacement, it’s borderline malpractice for the Red Sox, a team coming off an ALCS appearance and expecting to compete in a brutally tough division, not to have a better option available. Not to keep beating this sadly deceased horse, but last year Bradley hit lefties better than he hit righties and he couldn’t hit lefties at all (or righties).

So the Red Sox need some help. Fortunately the front office is on it. Chaim Bloom recently intimated that the team might be looking for some outside help.

Red Sox Stats @redsoxstats

The other day, Bloom said he expects league trade action to pick back up again after a mid-camp lull. Feels like the Sox could use a trade or two for fortification, even if we're not getting a blockbuster at this point.

With all that as background, here are some options for the Red Sox to fill that spot on in right field.

Trade Candidates

I went through projections and rosters and projected rosters and came up with a list of six names. None of them will blow your doors off, but all could be some level of useful, which at this point in the offseason with the regular season just weeks away, is about all you can ask for.

Stephen Piscotty, OF, A’s

Piscotty is on the A’s and is in the last season of a contract extension that will pay him $7.5 million this season, so that alone means he’s extremely available. The A’s would be happy to hand him over to the Red Sox for no return whatsoever, but of course the Red Sox don’t want to be on the hook for all of that money unless the A’s are sending a prospect (or two) along in the deal. As that’s not the purview of this article, I’ll leave that option alone (mostly) except to say that Piscotty would likely be cheap to acquire, if the Red Sox saw something useful in him and could work out the money. What could he bring to the Red Sox? He can field his position adequately and he can hit lefties at around a league average clip. No, it’s not spectacular but it’s better than what currently exists.

Chad Pinder, OF, A’s

Pinder is much cheaper ($2.3 million this year) and can play multiple positions, but that’s about where the utility ends. He’s got a career .729 OPS but he hasn’t reached that lofty height since 2018. He is a righty though and as such he can hit left-handed pitching pretty well; a 118 tOPS+ for his career (18 percent above league average) and better than that in 2021.

Acquiring Pinder would be more expensive than Piscotty, but 30-year-old backup outfielders aren’t typically going to break the prospect bank, so this would probably be a case of the A’s being happy to be rid of the difference between Pinder’s salary and which ever major league minimum salary the Red Sox gave them in return.

Anthony Santander, RF, O’s

The Orioles, like the A’s, are usually more than happy to dispose of anything making more than the league minimum salary, but in this case they had a chance to simply not pay Santander this past off-season but instead offered him a contract. I know! I’m shocked too. Santander possesses some skills, so it makes sense a rebuilding team would hold on to him until he proves he’s not worth keeping. He can play an above average right field, and he’s got some real pop in his bat. The problem is the hit tool isn’t good and he doesn’t walk, so the result is batting lines like 2021’s .241/.286/.433.

The entire package is still promising enough that it would likely cost something useful or at least potentially useful to acquire him, which might be a bridge too far for the Red Sox.

Aristides Aquino, OF, Reds

A current member of the Reds roster, so again, a player who is entirely expendable on that basis alone, Aquino is only 27 and has ridiculous raw power. However, outside of a month and a half in 2019 when he looked like peak Babe Ruth at the plate, he’s not done a whole lot. Aquino does come with more upside than anyone so far on this list, and as a 27-year-old who isn’t arbitration-eligible yet, he’s likely not going to come cheap. Then again, he’s not very good, so maybe he won’t be too expensive. As a baseline, he can hit lefties even if it’s not anything special.

Wil Myers, OF, Padres

Myers is the best player on the list so far, but he’s also the most expensive, clocking in at $22.5 million in this, his final season under contract before becoming a free agent. Myers can play just about any outfield position, but nine out of 10 doctors wouldn’t recommend it. What he is is an above average hitter overall who becomes All Star level against lefties. And due to his contract the Padres would pay his plane fare to get him out of San Diego. The holdup is that the Red Sox don’t want to take on $22.5 million in salary right now (or at any time, really).

What could happen is the Padres could pay part of Myers’ contract and ship a decent prospect Boston’s way as an incentive to take their bad contract, sort of a bigger money repeat of the Adam Ottavino deal last off-season. If they can find a way to make the money work, this is probably the best of all possible options for the Red Sox because, A) it makes Boston’s major league roster much better right now, B) it improves their farm system as well, and C) it’s not your money so who cares?

Free Agents

There just aren’t many free agents left this late in March, but there is one who might be a fit.

Michael Conforto, OF, FA

A former first rounder of the Mets, Conforto is coming off a tough final season in New York. Also, he’s left-handed and doesn’t hit left-handed pitching well, so from that standpoint he’s redundant with JBJ’s skillset. Except, he really isn’t because Conforto is actually a good hitter. His wRC+ since 2017 are 147, 119, 127, 158, and 106. If the Red Sox were to sign him, he’d be the regular right fielder and JBJ would be the fourth guy who would come in and play right as a defensive replacement.

Thing is, that would be fine! And, like Myers, it would make the Red Sox better right now! What it would also do, again, like Myers, is make them more expensive. Unlike Myers whose contract runs out after the 2022 season, Conforto is likely looking for a longer term contract than just a single season, and likely at around what Myers is due this season. If the money could be worked out (and the loss of the draft pick for signing him swallowed), it’s potentially a good fit, though there hasn’t been any rumors about a Conforto-to-Boston signing so don’t hold your breath.

Internal Options

Now we move from the realm of the fantasy into the realm of the likely. Yes, I’m talking about Rob Refsnyder.

Jarren Duran/Christian Arroyo/Rob Refsnyder

Here are three guys who could help the Red Sox bridge the gap between right now and the future of right field for the RedSox. The first is Jarren Duran, who may yet earn a role on the 2022 Red Sox, but it won’t be out of the gate as he was just sent down to the minors to start the season. After last season’s struggles that’s likely for the best. If Duran can establish himself offensively the Red Sox won’t need to spend $20 million on an imperfect fit on the free agent market or grab the latest cast-off from a last place roster. Duran superficially checks all the boxes or most of them, as an outfielder with extreme speed and good power. Yes he’s a lefty, but if it works who cares. You find a spot for the guy and worry about platoon splits later.

Right now though, he needs time in Triple-A to figure things (like his stance and how to play outfield) out. He’s not young for a prospect, but there is time. The guy has skills, so we may yet see Duran again in 2022.

After signing Trevor Story, Christian Arroyo suddenly became not-a-second-baseman. As such, the Red Sox have been trying him in the outfield. He’s not going to be an All Star right fielder, but then neither were Stephen Piscotty or Chad Pinder. It’s not about that, it’s about raising the floor above Unacceptably Lousy, and if Arroyo, who can hit above that floor, and do so against lefties too boot, can play the occasional outfield corner, at least until something better and/or more permanent comes along, well hooray. And, bonus, Arroyo is already on the Red Sox roster so no need to do anything. That saves Chaim Bloom a call in which he has to pretend to remember the name of the Reds’ GM.

Finally we come to Refsnyder. A 31-year-old journeyman (the Red Sox are his fourth AL East team), he plays both infield and outfield, and does so from the right side and with a bit of pop. Let’s get this straight though: he’s not a good hitter. Last season’s OPS+ of 66 was both bad and the best he’s posted since 2016. So don’t expect much (there’s a reason he was a minor league free agent signing), but as a placeholder until the front office can figure out anything better, he’s not a season-melting option.

So that’s kinda it. Now’s the time I turn to you. Anyone on the list above stand out? Who did I forget? Is there anyone out there you think the Red Sox could or should get? Let me know in the comments below!

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