The Boston Red Sox are still in search of an additional right-handed hitter in order to, as baseball chief Craig Breslow has said, “equalize” an offensive lineup dominated by left-side swingers. But slowly and steadily almost all of the most productive hitters in free agency have come off the board. Among the big names, only former Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman and New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso remain.
But there are other, perhaps lesser names still available who could be likely signed for a lower price tag than either Bregman or Alonso. The Athletic put together an inventory on Friday of all the 2024 free agent hitters who rated at least average in run production, and it includes some available hitters who could provide value for teams that either cannot or will not sign either of the remaining big two.
“Average run production” is judged for purposes of the list by the statistic Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+), a measure of offensive production that adjusts for ballpark factors and other variables, then scales the results so that a score of 100 represents the average MLB hitter.
On The Athletic’s list, only four above-average hitters remain available as free agents – and two are former Red Sox players. One, J.D. Martinez, was a key member of the Red Sox’s dominant 2018 Word Series championship team. Martinez belted 43 home runs that season and drove in a league-leading 130. His 2018 wRC+ was a whopping 170. For comparison, Juan Soto’s 2024 wRC+ was 180 – and that got him a $765 million 15-year contract.
But Martinez has slipped considerably since then and managed a wRC+ of only 108 in 2024 for the New York Mets. More MLB:Red Sox Predicted to Swing Blockbuster Trade for $260 Million 8-Time All-Star The other former Red Sox player on the list, however, was a favorite of Boston fans and players alike in 2023 – his one year on the team. Though he is now 40 years old, Justin Turner still managed a 117 wRC+ in 2024, when he played 91 games for the Toronto Blue Jays, who traded him to Seattle, where he played another 48 for the Mariners.
“Turner was a great clubhouse presence during his one-year stint with the Red Sox in 2023. In addition, he racked up 2.1 WAR while hitting 23 homers from the right side,” wrote Adam Morgan of the Talk Sox blog earlier in January. Ultimately, Morgan was skeptical of the value in bringing Turner back. But the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers star — who was part of the Dodgers’ World Series championship in the COVID-shortened 2020 season — would come cheaply. He was paid $13 million in 2024 and may in all likelihood accept less for what could be his final MLB season.
It should be noted, as well, that Turner’s 117 wRC+ in 2024 was a slight improvement from his production in Boston the previous year, when he recorded a 115 wRC+ score.
