“Our hope is that we’re having a lot of meetings here over the next few days,” said chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, not confirming or commenting on any meeting in particular. “Players have come to the Winter Meetings — I think I came to Winter Meetings. It’s a great opportunity to have face-to-face interactions. And I think there’s a level of sincerity and authenticity that you’re able to relay in person that maybe doesn’t come across over a phone call or Zoom.”
As the market for hitters percolates, the Red Sox remain much where they were at the start of the offseason: in great need of at least one bat. What was a priority a month ago has become — following the acquisition of a pair of starting pitchers — the priority.
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Alex Bregman remains available on the free agent market after batting .273 with 18 home runs and 62 RBIs in 114 games last season.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Alonso isn’t the only option, with Alex Bregman, Kyle Schwarber, and Bo Bichette also available via free agency (plus trade targets that include the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte). But he does fit what the Red Sox are looking for.
“Home runs are a foolproof way to put runs on the board,” Breslow said. “Typically, that type of profile comes with a tradeoff, most often contact ability, which is another area that we feel like we need to improve the identity of the offense. But at the end of the day, we’re trying to score as many runs as possible.
“There are a few different paths to doing that. I think that the true middle-of-the-order bat that can hit the ball out of the park — it has probably outsized impact on the rest of the lineup because of the way you have to attack someone [and] the on-base implications it can have.
“And so, again, we’re going to consider all ways of improving the team, but finding someone in the middle of the order [who] hits the ball out of the park is a really good place to start.”
Into Monday evening, little transactional action had occurred — not just with the Red Sox, but across baseball. Throughout the day, team executives and agents lamented that it felt like everybody was waiting for some other team to make the first move.
“I don’t know if everybody’s kind of waiting for the shoe to drop or what,” Breslow said. “There’s really no way to predict [when the markets will move] outside of identifying the targets and staying engaged with them.”
Righthander Sonny Gray, recently acquired in a trade with the Cardinals, received high praise from his former manager, Oliver Marmol.Jeff Roberson/Associated Press
Sonny Gray, leader?
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol raved about righthander Sonny Gray, whom the Red Sox traded for last month. His review had little to do with his front-half-of-the-rotation performance.
“This is a guy that competes really well, prepares on a completely different level,” Marmol said. “I think back to the first bullpen he threw with us in spring training, just the intentionality behind it. He allowed others to see what it looks like to prepare extremely well, and a lot of those young guys started to mimic it, which is what you want in some of your leaders.”
Aaron Boone, Gray’s Yankees manager, was less effusive after Gray said last week he never wanted to play for the Yankees to begin with and was excited to hate them as a member of the Red Sox.
Boone indicated he knew at the time that Gray, who struggled, did not particularly enjoy New York, “but I don’t know about ‘hated.’
“Any time a player comes out and says that [it’s surprising]. But that’s all right. He’s in Boston now. He’s not supposed to like us anyway,” Boone said. “That being said, I’ve always really liked Sonny, gotten along well with him. Spice up the rivalry a little. There’s nothing wrong with that. But I was a little surprised how deep he went.”
Breslow on Johan Oviedo
The other new starter, Johan Oviedo, was “a guy that we had targeted pretty early in the offseason,” Breslow said. The Red Sox liked what he showed in his late-season, nine-game return from Tommy John surgery (and a lat injury), particularly the movement of his fastball.
“We think we’ve got a guy who has not yet met his upside, and that upside is that of a legitimate major league starting pitcher,” Breslow said.
Oviedo had been part of a rotation surplus for the Pirates, who acquired outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia as the headliner in the five-player trade.
“It stinks losing a guy like that, when you look at a guy that’s going to be in the rotation,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “From our standpoint, in order to get Garcia, it was we had to give up something to get something.”
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was pleased with the medical update on Marcelo Mayer, who had right wrist surgery in August.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Marcelo Mayer, who had a check-in with Sox medical staff last week, is fully cleared following right wrist surgery in August. He also seems to be meeting Breslow’s challenge of putting on muscle. “He’s doing really well. He’s stronger. He has put on some weight,” Breslow said. “He looks more physical. It feels like he has developed his offseason to getting bigger and stronger, which is great.” . . . The Sox expect that neither Garrett Crochet nor Roman Anthony will participate in the World Baseball Classic in March, per Breslow. He said of Anthony: “Just coming off the [oblique] injury, we’ll be pretty sensitive to that.” . . . Breslow on Triston Casas, who rented a house in Fort Myers, Fla., as he continues to rehab his left knee injury: “He is definitely a factor because we still feel like he has an immense ceiling. We haven’t seen it, but I don’t think it’s a talent problem. I think it’s just a matter that he comes into spring training healthy and prepared to take on workload.”
Ben argues the credibility of the HOF is in question with Jeff Kent getting elected over Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens.
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.