MLB Agents: Red Sox 'Committed to Adding High-End Talent' in 2024 Free Agency

The Boston Red Sox may be hitting free agency with a purpose this winter.

According to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, "Several agents, [Scott] Boras among them, have mentioned that the message from the Sox has been that ownership is committed to adding high-end talent and the team plans to be active in the free agent market."

The Red Sox have frustrated their fans in recent seasons by not ponying up the big money it would have taken to sign home-grown stars, in particular trading Mookie Betts and letting Xander Bogaerts depart in free agency.

The Red Sox haven't been completely immune to spending, of course. There was the six-year, $140 million contract given to Trevor Story in 2022. Or the 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension for Rafael Devers in 2023.

But last season, the Red Sox ranked 11th in baseball in overall payroll at $190 million, per Spotrac, trailing AL East rivals like the New York Yankees ($309.4 million, second in baseball) and the Toronto Blue Jays ($218.4 million, ninth).

In 2023, the team ranked 13th. For a big-market team with rabid fans who expect to see a winner out on the field, it represented—fairly or not—a lack of commitment to building a title contender. And it's been given extra weight by the fact that Boston has missed the playoffs in three straight seasons.

Heading into 2025, the Red Sox currently rank 13th in payroll at $107.6 million, so they should have the financial flexibility to be players in free agency. Whether that means reaching the astronomical heights to get into the Juan Soto sweepstakes remains to be seen, but there are other good players available.

And the Red Sox, seemingly, are open to potentially pursuing them.

"Without getting kind of into specifics, I think we have to be open to improving our team and I don't think we've been shy about the fact that our position player group is further ahead than our pitching group," Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters on Tuesday. "And so as it relates to upgrades, it will require really elite talent in order to upgrade the position player group in certain instances. So we'll kind of focus our attention appropriately. But we're going to engage. We're going to explore anything that we think makes us better."

Granted, the Red Sox echoed a similar message last offseason and didn't follow through. But fans will be expecting more this winter.