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

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.

#9: Red Sox SP Rich Hill

Number 9 on my list is starting pitcher, Rich Hill. Hill has not been bad this year. He has a 3.71 ERA. Considering this man is 42 years old, he is throwing the ball pretty well. He has never had an awful season in his 18-year career.

He has a career ERA of 3.80 and is four strikeouts shy of 1,200 career strikeouts. The Red Sox needed to sign some cheap arms this last offseason and that is what was done. Hill has been a serviceable arm and has gone out and done exactly what the Red Sox have asked and needed him to do.

The reason I have him ranked as least important is because the Red Sox have plenty of young arms that they are starting to trust and can take Hill’s spot in the rotation. Right now they have Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck, and Nick Pivetta as their young arms.

You currently have Houck in the bullpen with Whitlock and Pivetta in the rotation. Next year, all three men can be in the rotation leading to no longer needing Hill’s services anymore.

#8: Red Sox C Kevin Plawecki

Next on my list is catcher Kevin Plawecki. Plawecki does not do much for me, and he’s not that good at the plate. While he has had two of his best seasons in his career with the Red Sox, he is currently having one of his worst seasons this year. Not a good thing to be doing in a contract year.

I would not mind letting him walk this year, especially when you take a look at what the Red Sox have in Worcester. You have Plawecki’s replacement, Connor Wong, sitting right there waiting. Wong is not a guy that is going to impress with his bat and hit for a bunch of dingers, but he will be a wall behind the plate.

He is also someone the current Red Sox pitching staff love working with. When he was up earlier this season, there were reports that Wong was loved behind the plate because he was so calm and collective. It does make sense considering a lot of the young pitchers are familiar with working with him.

I love Plawecki and what he has done for this team, but the time has come once again for the Red Sox to move on from a catcher to a call-up of a young hopeful stud.

#7: Red Sox RP Matt Strahm

Coming in at number seven on my list is relief pitcher Matt Strahm. This was a tough one. Two relief pitchers are up for a new contract at the end of this year and I decided to put first-year Red Sox reliever, Strahm here at number seven.

I do not know if it is recency biased or what, but I do not mind letting Strahm walk away. It is hard to see consistency with Strahm. His career ERA is like a wave. His ERA has gone from 1.23 up to 5.45 down to 2.05 up to 4.71 down to 2.61 up to 8.10 down to what is currently a 3.52.

I really do not like seeing that in a pitcher. I would understand if the good and bad seasons were clumped together. That would make me more comfortable with him, but the fact is he shows very little consistency. He does make me happy that by looking at his stats he should have a good year this year.

I feel like the Boston bullpen always has a few slots that are a revolving door anyway, so it would not surprise me no matter how well Strahm does if he does not return.

#5: Red Sox SP Nathan Eovaldi

Coming in at number five is Nathan Eovaldi. Eovaldi is one heck of a pitcher, and he’s aging been like a fine wine. He has only gotten better with age while being with the Red Sox. His ERA has progressively improved each season.

Even though he is one of the best pitchers on this Red Sox team, the reason I have him coming in at number five is because of how much money it will cost to keep him around.

Currently he is making $17 million a year and he has earned every single penny of that. From what he did in the 2018 World Series Championship run to becoming an ace due to all the injuries that are going on with Chris Sale.

He is going to be paid more than that $17 million and I could see him making between $20-25 million a year. Knowing this Red Sox regime, they are not going to pay him especially when other younger players deserve to get paid.

The only chance I see the Red Sox bringing Eovaldi back is if Sale decides to opt out and the chances of that happenig are slim to none as I doubt anyone will want to pay Sale anything close to what he is making.

#4: Red Sox C Christian Vázquez

Coming in at number four on my list is Christian Vázquez. I have him here at four because it would be great if he returned but if he didn’t it would not hurt the team too much offensively but would defensively. The best analogy I can think of is that he is the Jackie Bradley Jr of catching.

He is occasiaonly going to have a good bat, but he will always be stellar defensivley. I firmly believe Vázquez is very underratted behind the plate. He has never had a powerful bat and there has only been one season where his amount of homeruns was north of 10.

That was in 2019 when he had 23 home runs. The other seasons he has had 1, 1, 5, 3, 7, 6, and so far this season 1.  He is not a power hitter and I do not think he will ever be a power hitter. As I mentioned above, he’s also similar to Jackie in that his paycheck comes thanks to his defensive abilities.

Looking at his defensive stats he has never let more than 11 balls pass by him in a single season. He also averages only 23 wild pitches per season. Those are some pretty good stats behind the plate. Add in his stellar caught stealing numbers every season and there’s a reason why he’s on this team.

Would I love to see Vázquez return next season, yes. I love him behind the plate and I want Vázquez back, but I don’t think he is as important as these next three guys

#3: Red Sox RP Hansel Robles

The first thing I am going to say about Hansel Robles is make this man the closer already. He is one of the few relievers that I firmly believe in and trust to close it out.  Combine his 1.74 ERA and his lack of free passes, he is making a serious case for the job.

In his eight years in the majors, he has never had a WHIP above a 1.75. In 2019, when he was given a chance to be the closer for the Los Angeles Angels he had 27 save oppurtunities and he recoreded 24 saves that season in those chances.

He currently is averaging one strikeout every inning he pitches in. His ERA is one of the best in the bullpen. Simply put, he deserves more opportunities. He deserves a contract to stay in Boston and continue the dominace he has been showing this season.

Plus his entrance music is the Undertaker’s theme song and that is prettyt awesome!

Robles is currently a dominant relief pitcher. He has yet to give us a reason to not want him back and to be pitching for the Red Sox. I hope he is with us for years to come!

#2: Red Sox SP Michael Wacha

Post your Fozzy memes or your Shakira memes because it’s Michael Wacha time. I have always wanted Wacha in Boston. As soon as he left I wanted him here. He has had a few bumps in the road, but that happens to a lot of players. He is currently dominating for the Red Sox.

He has had five starts so far this season. In those five games, he has won three and lost zero of them. He only has 19 strikeouts which averages to about four per game. The fact his strike-out average is that low and his ERA is at a 1.38 shows just how good of a pitcher her is.

The one reason I have Wacha here and not flipped with Eovaldi once again comes down to his price tag. Wacha is not going to be anywhere near the price that Eovaldi brings in. If Wacha keeps up what he is doing then I can see his next contract being in the 3-4 years 30-45 million dollar range.

I believe the Red Sox would rather deal out that kind of money to Wacha than the big chunk of change that Eovaldi will be paid.

#1: Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez

My number one, most important player for the Red Sox to re-sign is Julio Daniel Martinez. JD Martinez has made this team better since his first year joinng the team. He brings a next level of leadership and seemed to help everyone’s bat.

He has had one bad year and that was the Covid shortened season. If you take out that one season, the lowest batting average J.D. has had was a .286. J.D.’s worst year would be most guys’ best.

Taking out his Covid season he has hit atleast 28 home runs. The way he watches his own tape and improves himself is very rare in batters. He has said he does not want to be anywhere else.

He wants to be in Boston and he continues to show Boston why they should want him there. Martinez is a leader of this team. He has a very close relationship with the core and the manager of the team.

J.D. deserves whatever money he gets paid. The Red Sox can be smart and bring this man back or they can be like the Astros and let him walk. I know what I would do and that is bring him back. Pay him the money and show Xander that he should return.