The Boston Red Sox have four major league outfielders under contract for next season. Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu and Roman Anthony are all set to return.
At times this season, for Red Sox manager Alex Cora to get each of his players at-bats. On top of that group, Rob Refsnyder hit against lefties while Masataka Yoshida earned playing time at designated hitter.
Until his injury, Anthony was in the lineup almost every day, against both lefties and righties. Anthony’s performance left two outfield spots for several other players, forcing Rafaela to the infield at times. Going into next year, the outfield is an area many have identified in need of a shakeup. Cora gave his input on the roster construction at the end-of-season press conference.
“If I have four [outfielders], I can manage them. You find ways, and at the end of the day, the deeper the [better] to be honest with you, and that’s something that we got tested at the end of the season. We cannot control injuries, we cannot control slumps,” Cora said.
Yoshida’s presence on the roster presents its own challenge. He’s shown the ability to be a productive bat, but has also been streaky and needs to hit his way out of slumps. That, combined with his limited defensive ability, makes it hard to use the DH spot to rotate through outfielders. Wilyer Abreu is similar in his streakiness, but provides much more defensively.
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On top of that, Refsnyder is a free agent, but the team might be interested in bringing him back. He’s purely a platoon outfielder at this point in his career, but he’s a great weapon to deploy against left-handed pitching.
A trade involving an outfielder could be in the cards for the future. On top of the outfielders at the major league level, Nate Eaton and Jhostynxon Garcia are depth pieces. Nick Sogard and Kristian Campbell have also spent time in the outfield. With the entire offseason ahead of them, the Red Sox outfield could look very different entering 2026.