{"id":505258,"date":"2026-01-04T16:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T16:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/505258\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T16:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T16:14:12","slug":"red-sox-news-links-how-does-the-kazuma-okamoto-signing-impact-the-alex-bregman-bo-bichette-markets-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/505258\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox News &#038; Links: How does the Kazuma Okamoto signing impact the Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette markets?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Yet another corner infielder comes off the board. This time it\u2019s Kazuma Okamoto, formerly of Bobby Dalbec\u2019s Yomiuri Giants, who reached a four-year\/$60 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. I won\u2019t pretend to know how good Okamoto will be stateside \u2014 and you should be suspicious of anyone who insists they do. But this move might have some important implications for the Red Sox, as the Jays are (were?) a potential destination for both Alex Bregman and Bo Bichette. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/redsox\/2026\/01\/red-sox-rival-signs-japanese-star-and-it-could-help-bostons-chances-of-alex-bregman-reunion.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(Chris Cotillo, MassLive)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">But even if the Okamoto acquisition puts the Jays out the of Alex Bregman market, that doesn\u2019t mean other teams couldn\u2019t enter it. Here\u2019s one scenario that posits that the Phillies could get involved with Bregman if they fail to resign catcher JT Realmuto. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/phillies\/bryce-harper-elite-lineup-protection-2026-free-agency-20260103.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(Scott Lauber, Philadelphia Inquirer)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">One team that was also in on Okamoto was the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have been unexpectedly active this offseason. Could Ben Cherington pull off a surprise trade involving the Red Sox? Here\u2019s one writer identifying the Bucs as the best trading partners for a potential Jarren Duran deal. <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25340700-top-landing-spot-best-mlb-players-linked-trade-rumors\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(Tim Kelly, Bleacher Report)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">So with the Jays adding Okamoto on top of their recent acquisition of Dylan Cease, how is the AL East looking halfway through the offseason? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonherald.com\/2026\/01\/04\/mlb-notes-how-each-al-east-team-stacks-up-midway-through-offseason\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">As neither Bregman nor Bichette are currently signed, neither one of them cracked this list of the 20 most important people in the Red Sox organization, which was topped by Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony. Where would you slot Bregman if he does end up coming back? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.com\/sports\/morning-sports-update\/2025\/12\/31\/marcelo-mayer-set-to-take-over-no-11-from-rafael-devers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(Pete Abraham, Boston Globe)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Marcelo Mayer landed on that list at number 17. But even when he\u2019s not on the field he\u2019s showing his importance in unique ways. Case in point: he\u2019s officially changing his jersey number to 11, thereby enabling Sox fans to reuse their old Rafael Devers jerseys and keeping them out of the Great Pacific Trash Island. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boston.com\/sports\/morning-sports-update\/2025\/12\/31\/marcelo-mayer-set-to-take-over-no-11-from-rafael-devers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(Hayden Bird, Boston.com)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yet another corner infielder comes off the board. This time it\u2019s Kazuma Okamoto, formerly of Bobby Dalbec\u2019s Yomiuri&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,4,89,15409,2543],"class_list":{"0":"post-505258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-bostonredsox","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-red-sox","14":"tag-red-sox-news","15":"tag-redsox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115837721957564155","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}