Another year, another sobering postseason defeat at the hands of the New York Yankees. For the Boston Red Sox, this routine is getting tiresome. Major changes are needed in the offseason, even if better health for Roman Anthony and Garrett Crochet (hopefully) provides a nice boost in 2027. These players won't be back.
OF Jarren Duran
Red Sox fans wanted Jarren Duran gone last winter. And this summer, at the trade deadline. And pretty much every day in between, and since. It's not the healthiest relationship, to put it bluntly. Duran's attitude and off-field transgressions have not helped him, but he's also just ... not playing well.
This was a rock-bottom season for the 30-year-old. He managed 22 home runs and 21 stolen bases, which looks nice on the surface, but he hit .207 with a .627 OPS and 69 wRC+. He was on track for a career high in strikeouts, if not for games missed. Duran has a killer arm and the speed-power combo is tantalizing, but he's far too unreliable at the plate and every trend line points in the wrong direction. He should be on the trade block as soon as possible.
LHP Patrick Sandoval
Patrick Sandoval's return from UCL surgery this season was not so triumphant. He made 15 appearances (13 starts) with a 5.12 ERA and 1.68 WHIP, notching 73 strikeouts in 70.1 innings. While there's hope the 29-year-old can look more like his pre-2025 self with greater remove from his injury, the Red Sox are simply too deep on the mound to justify keeping him around.
Once Garrett Crochet, Kutter Crawford and Johan Ovideo are ready for proper workloads again in 2027, available innings will be scarce in the rotation. Sandoval has the deception and swing-and-miss arsenal to potentially thrive in a bullpen role — his changeup is still a knockout pitch — but he'll probably look for a better opportunity elsewhere.
LHP Aroldis Chapman
Aroldis Chapman has aged into his late 30s with remarkable grace. He's still a wipeout closer, in many ways improving since he joined the Red Sox in 2025. Chapman is a back-to-back All-Star, with a 1.92 ERA and 1.12 WHIP this season. He put up 71 strikeouts in 51.2 innings, compensating for a slight downturn in velocity with sharper command and better secondaries.
Boston would no doubt love to re-sign Chapman, but there's a rabid market for high-leverage relievers and Boston already has a ready-made closer in Garrett Whitlock, who's under club control through 2028. The Red Sox don't need to focus all their financial resources on Chapman when their bullpen can survive without him.
INF Isiah Kiner-Falefa
This was a less disastrous season for Isiah Kiner-Falefa than a lot of Red Sox fans expected, but the journeyman infielder still offers precious little at the plate. He finished the season with a .633 OPS and 80 wRC+.
The defensive metrics are elite, but Boston has an abundance of quality infielders on the roster. Andruw Monasterio, Nick Sogard and Anthony Seigler all made strong cases for more at-bats this season, while top prospect Franklin Arias ought to debut in 2027. Curtis Mead will return from injury, too, coming off of a career year before he suffered a season-ending injury right after Boston's trade deadline acqusition. There's simply no space on the roster for IKF long term.
DH Masataka Yoshida
Masataka Yoshida's contract has become a sunk cost for the Red Sox, but he was quietly a very solid situational hitter this season. He finished with a .746 OPS and 108 wRC+, with better splits against lefties (.774 OPS) than righties (.743 OPS). Yoshida is somewhat out of fashion as a slap-hitting DH with little value as a base-runner, but he never strikes out and he can provide value in a streamlined role.
The contract has made it hard to trade him, but Yoshida is a free agent after the 2027 season. Boston might need to eat some of Yoshida's $18.6 million salary, or attach prospect capital to get him off the books, but a salary dump is finally a logistical possibility. Given the depth of quality position players on Boston's roster, wasting a 26-man spot on Yoshida is less than ideal. This could be the offseason that Boston finally finds a taker on the trade front.
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