This winter should be a busy one for the Boston Red Sox, and their expectation is they’ll come out of it in position to greatly improve off their 2022 campaign.
Sitting nine games out of the last wild card spot on Sept. 7 was not something many were expecting of the Boston Red Sox. That’s their lot in life though, which is the product of underperformance, injuries, and roster holes.
But the Red Sox have gotten decent looks at a lot of their prospects this season, and that should continue this month. And with a fair amount of pending free agents, the Red Sox should have the flexibility to improve the roster via free agency.
One box they checked was re-upping Kiké Hernández, who signed an extension through next season this week. With that came a promise from Chaim Bloom to Hernández that they will be a better team in 2023.
“He knows where I stand. He knows that the most important thing for me is not just the opportunity to play every day but how much it means for me to play every day for a winning team,” he said. “I’m not going to say he promised me, but he promised me that we’re going to be way better next year.”
Sox manager Alex Cora shared his thoughts on that promise during his weekly appearance on “Merloni, Fauria and Mego”.
“We should be better. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and obviously the conversations have started, what we’re planning on doing, all that, and I’m excited about it. It should be an interesting offseason. Of course, there are a few things we have to do with the guys that we have on the roster, and then obviously work hard in the offseason to make us better. I’m excited about it, we started with the right move right there with Kiké. Like I said before, he helps in a lot of ways and it’s a good first step.
Even with Hernández taken care of, the Red Sox have a lot of decisions looming. Xander Bogaerts will all but certainly opt out of his deal, while J.D. Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, Tommy Pham, Michael Wacha, Rich Hill and Matt Strahm all are set to hit the market.
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