Despite getting solid production from the catcher spot in 2025, the Boston Red Sox could pursue J.T. Realmuto in free agency.
Per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Jen McCaffrey, the Red Sox are “showing interest” in the three-time All-Star as they explore different ways to improve their offensive production for next season.
The report does note that at this still-early stage of free agency, teams are in contact with a “large number of players” and the “best guess” is that Realmuto ends up returning to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Boston got a breakout season from Carlos Narváez. He hit .241/.306/.419 with 15 homers in 118 games, finishing sixth in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
Narváez is also under team control through the 2030 season and won’t be eligible for arbitration until 2028. There could be concerns about his ability to repeat that 2025 performance because of how he finished the year.
After slashing .273/.347/.439 in 73 games before the All-Star break, Narváez’s production slipped to .187/.233/.387 in his final 45 games. He did have a knee injury that kept him out for three games in August and required surgery in October.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told reporters after the surgery that the team doesn’t “anticipate any issues” for Narváez going into next season.
Realmuto is coming off his worst season since 2015. He hit .257/.315/.384 with 12 home runs in 134 games with Philadelphia. His defensive metrics are all over the place because he is still terrific at throwing out attempted basestealers, but his framing and blocking were both in the bottom 15th percentile of all catchers.
One potential option from Boston’s perspective would be a potential platoon behind the plate. Realmuto hit .277/.337/.406 in 384 plate appearances against right-handed pitching in 2025. Narváez put up a .243/.331/.400 line against lefties.
If nothing else, the Red Sox at least seem open to being creative with how they are looking at ways to upgrade their lineup production. They did finish seventh overall in runs scored, but dropped down to 16th after the All-Star break with 295 in 64 games.