A Different Path for the Offseason
It’s definitely unlikely. But Alec Bohm would be interesting.
Photo Credit: Mitchell Layton (Getty Images)
The offseason is currently in the waiting phase as many players are meeting with teams to see their options but hardly anyone is making any moves just yet. The Boston Red Sox are currently exploring the Juan Soto sweepstakes and it’s difficult to gauge just how invested the Red Sox really are. With little verified information, I’m left speculating almost 24/7 what the Red Sox could do this winter. Boston has a clear offensive need, a right-handed power bat. I came up with an outside-the-box idea to acquire that right-handed power bat and the move would give the Red Sox lineup a much needed boost in a variety of areas. Hear me out.
The Red Sox lost their lone right-handed power bat in Tyler O’Neill and they will have to either bring him back or replace him. If they choose to let O’Neill officially walk, the likely candidate to replace him would be Teoscar Hernandez. The Boston lineup desperately needs a righty that can hit 30+ home runs. Hernandez is capable of doing just that however it may be hard to lure him away from LA. If the Red Sox do not bring back one of those two options, finding right-handed power becomes tougher. The only other free agent options are Willy Adames, Alex Bregman, and Pete Alonso. All three of those players will be 100+ million dollar signings. I don’t see the Red Sox committing the necessary dollars to any of those players because the Red Sox still need to add a front of the rotation starter. This is where a trade could come into play.
According to the GOAT Jeff Passan, Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm is on the trade block and Buster Olney believes that Bohm will get traded this offseason. The Phillies are looking to shake things up to try to find a mix that can get over the hump in October. If you’re a Red Sox fan, you may be wondering where I am going with this because the Red Sox have their franchise player in Rafael Devers locked up for the next 9 years at third base. Before you decide to close the tab and never come back to this post, let me explain.
Let’s start with who Alec Bohm is as a player in case you aren’t watching the Philadelphia Phillies on a second TV while the Sox are playing. Bohm is a 28 year-old third baseman who had a slash line of .280 / .332 / .448 and produced a 115 wRC+ last season. I talked earlier about how the Red Sox needed to find a right-handed power bat and Bohm isn’t necessarily that as he only hit 15 home runs in 143 games. However, Bohm did drive in 97 runs for the second consecutive season, which is only 2 less than Teoscar Hernandez and 36 more than Tyler O’Neill. Where Bohm sacrifices a little in power, he makes up for by putting the ball in play (14.6% K-rate) and hitting with runners in scoring position (career .312 with RISP). The lower K-rate would be a welcome addition to a Red Sox lineup that struck out the third most in all of baseball. Bohm’s K-rate is less than half of both O’Neill’s (33.6%) and Hernandez’s (28.8%).
The only reason the Phillies are listening to offers on Bohm is because of his second half collapse. Through the first 94 games, Alec Bohm was one of the better hitters in the National League as he was an All-Star. Bohm slashed .295 / .348 / .482 with 11 home runs and 70 runs batted in. In his final 49 games, Bohm slashed .251 / .299 / .382 with 4 home runs and 27 RBI. His poor second half performance carried into October and Bohm was benched at times. Some would look at this and say they would not want to part with a talented young player for someone who melted down in the second half. I believe that the talent is clearly there and Bohm is someone worth buying low on as he has some characteristics in his offensive game that the Red Sox lineup desperately needs.
Defensively, Bohm took a big step forward in 2024. From 2021-2023, Bohm was a defensive liability with -40 defensive runs saved. However, last season saw the Phillies third baseman improve to be an average third baseman with 0 DRS. If you like Outs Above Average (OAA), Bohm ranked 11th among all third baseman with 3 OAA, which was the same number he had in 2023. You could look at Bohm’s defense in two ways. One, he had a better year in 2024 but he will likely revert back to his old ways. At the very least he probably will not age well defensively. Two, he has made the necessary adjustments to be at least an average defender, which is a significant upgrade from Rafael Devers.
Now, I realize I must answer the most important question: Where is Alec Bohm going to play?
Photo Credit: Diamond Images (Getty Images)
Bohm has played first base over the last 2 seasons. He played 553 innings in 2023 and produced -6 OAA and last season he played 107 innings at the position and produced 2 OAA. Bohm’s ability to play both corner positions is an intriguing quality. Rafael Devers will be entering his age 28 season and I do not think it is in the best interest of the Red Sox for Devers to occupy the DH spot for the next 9 seasons. There is no denying that Devers is a below average defensive third baseman. Last season Devers had -9 defensive runs saved and he has never had a season that ended with a positive number. In Outs Above Average, Devers ended with -6. The reasoning behind not moving Devers to DH full-time is I like the idea of the DH spot being an opportunity to give a player a rest but keep their bat in the lineup.
The Red Sox corner infielders, Rafael Devers and Triston Casas, have struggled to stay healthy over the last couple of seasons. Devers dealt with a nagging hamstring injury a few years ago and last year he had bad shoulders for the entire season. Triston Casas had a shoulder injury that ended his rookie campaign and a rib injury that cost him over half of last season. If Alec Bohm can play some time at first base like he did in Philadelphia, it would allow Alex Cora to move pieces around. If Devers, Bohm, and Casas could split time between first base, third base, and DH, it may help keep Devers and Casas healthy.
The player I left out in this equation is their DH from 2024, Masataka Yoshida. In my opinion, the Red Sox cannot seriously contend in 2025 if Yoshida is their DH. They need to balance the lineup with right-handed bats. DH is the one position they can easily upgrade with a RH bat and a power bat. Whether it’s Yoshida coming off of the bench, which would be a really expensive bench player, or a trade, Yoshida’s role on next year’s team must be different.
The last question is how would Boston acquire Bohm. The Phillies main two outfielders are Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh with Johan Rojas as their other outfielder. There’s no question that the Red Sox could deal from a position of strength to acquire Bohm from the Phillies. The obvious pick would be Wilyer Abreu, who would fit well in Citizens Bank. I don’t see a 1-1 swap possible as I feel 5 years of team control of Wilyer Abreu is more valuable than 2 years of team control of Alec Bohm. However, I think a deal could be made with those 2 players being the center pieces. If the Red Sox could find a way to have Yoshida be a part of the deal with Boston eating some of the remaining money, I think I would have to seriously consider.
The question that Craig Breslow and all of Red Sox Nation will have to ask is what Wilyer Abreu’s stock really is. Can he be one of the main pieces in a deal to acquire a front of the rotation arm? If the answer is yes, it would make sense to keep Abreu until the right deal presents itself for a much needed starting pitcher. If not, I think it would be in the Red Sox best interest to deal from a position of strength to acquire a much needed right-handed bat. Boston could save the money that would have been used to acquire an impact right-handed bat and use it on pitching, which is the team’s greatest need.
There are many avenues the Red Sox could go over the next couple of weeks. We should get an answer from Juan Soto in the next week or so. If the Red Sox lose out on Soto, how they pivot will be telling. Although I think the trade scenario that I mapped out above seems unlikely, I do think Craig Breslow and the front office will need to find creative solutions to fill some of the needs this roster has this winter. The Winter Meetings will take place from December 9-12. I have a feeling that there will be fireworks!