The next 48 hours could be one of the most fascinating stretches of this decade for the Red Sox. While I think the majority of us would like to see them buy, considering they enter Saturday with a 77% chance of making the playoffs, how much they should buy is a whole other story.
As Matt outlined on Thursday, this is a team that could have Roman Anthony, Garrett Crochet, and Curtis Mead back for the playoffs, so it’s difficult to evaluate how much the Red Sox need to buy. With Anthony finally swinging,
albeit just off of a tee, it’s reasonable to expect him back sometime in September. Mead’s injury is estimated at 6-8 weeks, and while none of us trusts the Red Sox medical staff right now, the “high end” eight-week estimate would have him returning a few days before the end of the regular season. Crochet is more of an unknown, as he hopes to return in some role for the playoffs.
Focusing on the lineup, much of the talk has been about the middle infield and catcher, which is entirely fair. The crazy part is that the Red Sox have a ton of middle infielders that should all be healthy by some time in August, with the exception of Mead. I’ll put them in alphabetical order since I have no idea how to rank them anymore:
Tsung-Che Cheng, Romy Gonzalez, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Marcelo Mayer, Curtis Mead, Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler, Nick Sogard, Trevor Story
At the end of the day, there are nine starting spots and thirteen hitters in total that are standardly on a playoff roster (although teams tend to add a 14th hitter in the three-game Wild Card series). With Willson Contreras and Caleb Durbin being two infielders, there’s a good chance that only four of the nine names above could be on a playoff roster. If the Red Sox decide that they’ll let the injured players like Story and Kiner-Falefa return and see who the hot hand is going into the playoffs, is it possible that they look at different positions to add a bat?
On our latest episode of The Red Seat Podcast, I floated a couple of non-middle infielder names that interested me: Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera and Blue Jays outfielder George Springer. While Herrera could be costly, it feels like he would be a tier down from the Hunter Goodman cost, and the Cardinals and Red Sox have already made multiple deals since Chaim Bloom took over there.
Springer, however, is the one that really piques my interest as a veteran presence with a ton of postseason experience on a young team. On the surface, Springer has had an underwhelming season. His slash line is .234/.317/.403, he missed a few weeks with a fractured toe in April and has only been a designated hitter this season (save for one game in the outfield). Likely limited by the toe injury in the first couple of months, the 36-year-old Springer has been much improved in recent weeks. Since June 14th (29 games), Springer has a 131 wRC+, slashing .284/.344/.483, with 6 HR and 18 RBI, and is 4-for-4 stealing bases.
Springer is coming off a vintage 2025 season, in which he finished seventh in the MVP voting, dropping 32 home runs with a .309 batting average, and put up a 5.2 fWAR season (his best since 2019). That was just an appetizer for what he would do in the postseason, putting up an .899 OPS, and hitting four home runs, including the biggest home run of the ALCS, a three-run shot to win game seven.
At Fenway Park in his career, Springer has been a monster in 51 games (198 at bats). He’s slashed .323/.400/.540 with 10 HR and 41 RBI. And in the postseason, Springer has played in eight of them, totaling 83 games, with an .880 OPS and 23 home runs. He’s played in three World Series, winning one with Houston in 2017. Of course, if there’s an argument for not wanting Springer in Boston, then “Houston + 2017” is always a valid one but Alex Bregman and Alex Cora have been in town, so … I guess I’ve gotten over it.
We also learned on Friday night, via Julian McWilliams, that Springer would be open to a move to Boston:
One destination that interests Springer, according to a source familiar with his thinking, is Boston.
The fit makes sense. Boston is looking for right-handed power, while Springer, a Connecticut native who grew up a Red Sox fan, has long enjoyed hitting at Fenway Park.
This move can be done without mortgaging the future, likely for prospects that are not in the top tier. Defensively, it seems feasible that Springer could play some left field at Fenway Park while the team waits for Anthony to return, before shifting to more of a designated hitter role as the playoffs approach. Trading Jarren Duran for pitching depth would be a corresponding move that I’d be comfortable with.
As all of the middle infield names that were supposedly available this month – C.J. Abrams, Jeremy Pena, Otto Lopez – are now supposedly unlikely to be moved, Craig Breslow may need to pivot to the outfield/designated hitter pool. Sign me up for George Springer at Fenway in October.
