It’s been difficult to diagnose the Boston Red Sox’s recent struggles in the wake of their five-game losing streak and consecutive extra-innings losses to the Milwaukee Brewers. There are issues up and down Boston’s roster, from high strikeout totals to failures with runners in scoring position to positional logjams across the infield and outfield.
The traffic jams have become a huge issue with the Sox’s roster, and multiple players are blocking the promotion of top prospects because they share a position. The most notable example is Trevor Story blocking Marcelo Mayer, an issue that the injury to Alex Bregman eradicated, since Mayer had to be called up anyway.
Story is slashing .218/.263/.318 with 67 strikeouts over 54 games, he hasn’t logged a multi-hit game since May 2, and he owns a ninth percentile range on defense, according to Baseball Savant. Meanwhile, Mayer slashed .271/.347/.471 with an International League-leading 43 RBI before he was called up. Benching or designating Story for assignment seems entirely out of the question, since he’s due over $75 million through the remainder of his contract with the Red Sox.
A similar blockage is happening in the outfield. Red Sox fans have begged for Roman Anthony’s call-up all season, but Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela are in the way of his debut. Rafaela is the odd man out of the two, slashing .232/.283/.356 this year. His long-term extension only complicates matters.
Ceddanne Rafaela’s contract is one of the main factors complicating Red Sox’s Roman Anthony promotion
In recent seasons, the Red Sox have tried to become the Atlanta Braves of the American League. The Braves have become famous for locking up star players at a young age, and they’ve had quite a few success stories with that strategy. Atlanta in 2019 signed a 21-year-old Ronald Acuña Jr. to an eight-year, $100 million contract, and it has since won a World Series. Individually, Acuña’s claimed four All-Star nominations, a National League MVP award, and three Silver Sluggers.
The Red Sox must’ve seen something similar in Rafaela, because they signed him to an eight-year, $50 million deal early last season. It’s a team-friendly deal for the best defensive center fielder in MLB, but his bat doesn’t match up to his defense. Unfortunately, the deal also makes him untradeable, and the Red Sox would be hard-pressed to find a team to take on his salary for the next seven-plus seasons. They also can’t bench or cut him, which would be, essentially, burning guaranteed money.
Boston’s extension for Rafaela seems like it came without much forethought. The Red Sox knew Anthony would arrive in the major leagues within the next two seasons, and locking up Rafaela while Masataka Yoshida is on a long-term contract to play the outfield makes the roster incredibly inflexible. Duran’s breakout 2024 season was a surprise, but Rafaela’s deal alone put the Sox in a much tougher spot when it comes to promoting Anthony.
The Red Sox also didn’t make an effort to trade any of the outfielders blocking Anthony (besides an attempted salary dump of Yoshida, which was never going to work). Duran and Wilyer Abreu both had insane trade value last season after their MVP-caliber and Gold Glove-winning seasons, respectively, and Boston could’ve gotten a sweet deal for either player. Instead, Anthony remains in the minor leagues after Duran has regressed and as Rafaela continues to struggle at the plate.
The Red Sox have seemed determined to sign homegrown players to long-term deals after the infuriating Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts departures. But not every extension is a good one, and Boston boxed itself into yet another roster logjam with the Rafaela deal — or it’s just manipulating Anthony’s service time.
