The Boston Red Sox have a well-documented logjam in their outfield with four players deserving 162 games of action in Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, and Jarren Duran. It's a clear problem (even if chief baseball officer Craig Breslow won't admit so publicly), and no one's positive exactly which solution Boston has in mind.
Trading one of the four players appears necessary, with Anthony completely off the table in that regard. And while Duran has been by far the most talked about trade chip of the other three (he's been in serious rumors since last season's deadline), some people have whispered that Rafaela could end up getting moved instead.
But if there's even a molecule of plausibility to the Rafaela trade buzz, no one seems to have told Red Sox manager Alex Cora, who appeared on the "Foul Territory" podcast on November 19 and said that he plans to have Rafaela in center field "as long as possible."
Alex Cora says he wants Ceddanne Rafaela to be the Red Sox center fielder for a long time
Alex Cora wants to keep Ceddanne Rafaela in center field as long as possible. pic.twitter.com/sbfMo1xwYP
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) November 19, 2025
When podcast host AJ Pierzynski asked Cora a clever question about Rafaela possibly moving to the infield in 2026, Cora laughed and asserted that Rafaela's game-changing play in center field means he'll be staying at the position moving forward.
It's obvious that Cora values Rafaela's defense in center, and who wouldn't? He just won his first Gold Glove there, and Cora said in a different portion of the interview that he thinks Rafaela deserved the 2025 Platinum Glove, too. Are the Red Sox really going to trade that glove — or two-time Gold Glover Wilyer Abreu — instead of Duran?
Of course, it would be foolish to take Cora's words at face value here. He's on a podcast in front of thousands of people and would say exactly what he just said about Rafaela even if Breslow had told him yesterday that Rafaela's about to get traded.
Still, hearing Cora acknowledge that Rafaela has a game-changing element to his game is a reminder that Duran doesn't. The pecking order of Boston's outfield starts with Anthony and ends with Duran, with Rafaela and Abreu in the middle.
Rafaela's bat often disappears (something Cora alluded to), but it sounds like the Red Sox feel that will become less of an issue as Rafaela's body gets physically stronger. He just turned 25 in September. Abreu is 26.
If Breslow were to trade any Red Sox outfielder not named Duran, it would be because he received an offer he couldn't refuse. An Anthony-Rafaela-Abreu outfield makes too much sense not to lean into. When Cora says he wants to see Rafaela in center field for a long time, he's not alone. Red Sox fans feel similarly.