Red Sox: Ranking Boston’s nine upcoming free agents by importance

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 15: From left, Red Sox Owner John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, CEO Sam Kennedy, and Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom attend a press conference addressing the departure of Alex Cora as manager of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on January 15, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. A MLB investigation concluded that Cora was involved in the Houston Astros sign stealing operation in 2017 while he was the bench coach. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JANUARY 15: From left, Red Sox Owner John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, CEO Sam Kennedy, and Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom attend a press conference addressing the departure of Alex Cora as manager of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on January 15, 2020 in Boston, Massachusetts. A MLB investigation concluded that Cora was involved in the Houston Astros sign stealing operation in 2017 while he was the bench coach. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
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Red Sox DH J.D, Martinez
FT. MYERS, FL – MARCH 23: J.D. Martinez #28 of the Boston Red Sox walks through the tunnel before a Grapefruit League game against the Minnesota Twins on March 23, 2022 at jetBlue Park at Fenway South in Fort Myers, Florida. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

Nine Free Agents for the Red Sox

During the off-season and so far this entire season the two of the biggest Red Sox stories have been about signing Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts to contract extensions. I have been confused most of the time and even fell into the same boat of everyone else wanting Bogaerts and Devers to be extended.

I looked it up last week and it turns out that neither of them needs to sign either of them to a contract extension this year. Devers has one more year of arbitration and Bogaerts is signed through 2027. He can opt out after this year, so they just need to convince him to buy into this team.

While looking this up it got me interested in who will be a free agent after this year. When I did the research for this article, I was only looking at the guys on the current active roster that are healthy.

I had ten guys, but my list is now at nine because one of the men on the list was Travis Shaw. With him being DFA’d, I will now rank the nine free agents on the Red Sox and how important I think they are to return for the 2023 season and beyond.

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