5 right-handed hitting options for the Red Sox at the trade deadline
The Boston Red Sox sound like buyers at the 2024 trade deadline.
That’s only if you interpret recent comments by Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow a certain way, but he is ostensibly pointing his team in the direction of adding at the deadline rather than selling or standing pat. Breslow recently said on NESN that the Red Sox have “put themselves in a position where they need to be taken seriously” and that “we need to be thinking about opportunities for us to improve the club.”
When he later joined Tom Caron and Alex Speier on the NESN podcast “310 to Left” on Tuesday, Breslow avoided saying definitively that the team has “picked a lane” in terms of buying or selling. But this could simply be a semantics battle, as Breslow could be rejecting the idea of “buying” as going all-in or giving up major assets to make a big-time addition. The Red Sox don’t necessarily need to go that far.
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But when Breslow says the Red Sox need to think about opportunities to improve, he should be taking his own word seriously. Because they will have options to get better in key areas – one of which is right-handed hitting. The Sox lean heavily left-handed in their lineup, and could certainly fit another righty into the mix, particularly in the outfield and at designated hitter.
Red Sox Trade Deadline Options: Right-Handed Hitters
For this story, we’re looking at relatively realistic additions that wouldn’t carry a huge price tag or cost big-time prospect capital, and would be coming from bad teams that are likely sellers at the trade deadline. Here are five possible options for Boston…
Brent Rooker, Oakland Athletics
Rooker finally found his power stroke with the A’s, his fourth team in five major league seasons. He’s currently eighth in the American League with 21 home runs and fifth with a .942 OPS for Oakland, which is toiling at 37-61 on the season. And he hits the ball hard, as he sits sixth in all of baseball with a 42.5% hard-hit rate (via Fangraphs).
However, Rooker’s pure production compared to some other options on this list may make him a tad expensive for Breslow’s liking. The A’s would be selling high, here. But Rooker has an attractive contract, with a $750,000 salary and arbitration eligibility for the next three seasons (via Spotrac).
Rooker would fit in nicely with the Red Sox as a right-handed corner outfielder who could spell Masataka Yoshida at DH, especially against lefties.
Lane Thomas, Washington Nationals
Thomas is a year removed from launching 28 homers for the Nationals in 2023. This season he’s regressed closer to the mean, as his home run rate is down and his BABIP is closer to league-average. But Thomas is 15th among all right-handed outfielders in ISO (.152), which measures raw power, and he reached an excellent .201 mark in that category in 2023.
The solution for Thomas would be to only play him against lefties. He’s sporting a .350 batting average and .980 OPS against southpaws this season, with three home runs and five doubles in 80 at-bats. And he mainly plays right field, which would make him a logical fit for the Red Sox as a righty in the lineup. And he may come at a bit of a discount with a $5.45 million salary and only one more year of team control.
Taylor Ward, Los Angeles Angels
Ward has averaged 25 home runs per 162 games from 2022 to now. He hits the ball hard – he’s second in the majors among right-handed outfielders, behind only Aaron Judge, with a 40.7 hard-hit percentage. And he crushes lefties, with a .957 OPS against them so far in 2024, while his .274 BABIP suggests he’s been a little unlucky with balls in play this season.
The thing with Ward is that he mainly plays left field, so some shuffling would be needed to put both him and fellow righty Tyler O’Neill in the lineup. But at $4.8 million with two more years of team control, the 30-year-old Ward could be a relatively affordable get with the upside to provide the Sox with the right-handed power they desperately need.
Brenton Doyle, Colorado Rockies
Doyle has 15 home runs and an .815 OPS for the Rockies so far in 2024, and as an added bonus, he plays Gold Glove-winning defense in center field. His hitting numbers may be a bit inflated due to where he plays, but he does clearly hit lefties better than righties (.829 OPS versus .810).
Due to Doyle’s two-way potential at the plate and in the field, the last-place Rockies (34-63) may actually be inclined to hold onto him. But for the Red Sox, it’s certainly worth making a phone call.
Bryan De La Cruz, Miami Marlins
The Marlins are reportedly not interested in trading De La Cruz at the deadline, but we’re not totally buying that. Miami is second-to-last in the majors at 33-63, and De La Cruz should draw legitimate trade interest with his 16 home runs.
The concern is, De La Cruz has three more years of team control and he’s still just 27 years old. So, it may take a price that Breslow is unwilling to pay in order to pry him out of Miami. But as a right-handed corner outfielder with some pop, he fits the profile of what the Red Sox need.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.
