After the Boston Red Sox lost Alex Bregman in free agency this past offseason, the organziation was linked to a handful of infielders around the league to come in and help fill the roster hole.

Boston ended up signing veteran Isiah Kiner-Falefa in free agency and acquiring Caleb Durbin from the Milwaukee Brewers in free agency. In the trade market, guys like Ketel Marte, Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw, Brendan Donovan and Isaac Paredes were all connected to the Red Sox. Boston came out of nowhere to land Durbin, though. In free agency, one guy who was floated as a fit in free agency at the time was veteran utility man Luis Rengifo, but he ended up joining the Brewers.

With Boston facing off against the Brewers on Monday night, Rengifo came to town with Milwaukee and said to Marcos Grunfeld of ElEmergente.com that he was actually “close” to signing with Boston.

The Red Sox were interested in the veteran

“Luis Rengifo just confirmed to me that he had a meeting with the Red Sox during the winter. He was ‘close’ to signing with them. Other sources confirmed that during the winter,” Grunfeld wrote.

Rengifo would’ve fit the Kiner-Falefa role. He has seen time at second base, shortstop, third base, left field, center field, right field and designated hitter throughout his career to this point. He’s a switch-hitter and he had a stretch over with the Los Angeles Angels when he was one of the best overall utility players in the league from 2022 through 2024. Over that stretch, he slashed .273/.323/.431 with 39 homers, 133 RBIs, 36 stolen bases, 50 doubles, nine triples and 141 runs scored in 331 games played with 6.1 wins above replacement.

He took a step backwards in 2025, though. He slashed .238/.287/.335 with nine homers, 43 RBIs and 10 stolen bases in 147 games played. Rengifo is an intriguing player, but if the Red Sox had signed him, it wouldn’t have been much different than the move they made to bring Kiner-Falefa to town.

Rengifo is a .217 hitter so far in six games, whereas Kiner-Falefa has gotten into four games and hasn’t recorded his first base hit yet of the season. Boston is set with Marcelo Mayer at second base and Caleb Durbin at third base. Plus, Andruw Monasterio is yet another utility option on the bench right now for Boston. It’s always interesting to hear about guys the club was interested in, but this one isn’t game-changing.