The Red Sox may have missed on a winter bat, but they also may have dodged a much uglier mistake.
According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Boston was one of several clubs that checked in with the Rangers about Corey Seager last offseason. Rosenthal reported that Texas made its stance plain: “We would need to be overwhelmed.”
That’s the kind of answer that can save a front office from itself. Seager is 32 now, and the version of him available in 2026 does not look much like the star who once carried a massive reputation.
He’s hitting .182 this season, and injuries have kept him from playing more than 123 games in a regular season since 2022. On top of that, he’s making a huge salary, the sort of contract that would have asked Boston to pay a premium for a player trending the wrong way.
For Red Sox fans who were already fed up with Trevor Story before he landed on the IL this season, Seager would have been a brutal substitute. The reaction would not have been pretty.
The Seager revelation also puts a different light on the criticism aimed at Craig Breslow over the winter. Plenty of fans were furious when Boston came up empty in Alex Bregman’s free agency, and that frustration made sense at the time. But Bregman hasn’t exactly lit it up this year, which makes the miss sting a little less.
Breslow’s fallback options have helped soften the blow, too. Ranger Suarez has been excellent for the Red Sox in 2026, and Caleb Durbin has completely turned around a rough opening stretch. That’s two Breslow moves, and both have paid off.
Willson Contreras has been part of the positive side of the ledger as well. The fiery first baseman is in the middle of a career offensive year and has an All-Star Game and Home Run Derby berth to go with it.
So while Breslow has taken plenty of heat, the picture looks a bit different now. The Red Sox are on a winning streak, they’re within reach of the Wild Card, and the front office’s offseason failures suddenly look less disastrous than they did a few months ago. And if Boston did seriously explore Seager, the Rangers’ answer may have spared them from an even bigger headache.
In Other News...
Ceddanne Rafaelas Favorite Former Red Sox Teammate Will Hit Fans Hard
All-Star media day tends to produce the usual mix of polished answers and safe praise, but Ceddanne Rafaela gave Red Sox fans a more personal reminder of what was lost when Boston reshaped its roster during the 2025 season. The center fielder, now an MLB All-Star in his own right, was asked to name his favorite former teammate and answered with a player who once sat at the center of the clubs lineup and its identity.
For Boston, the response lands with a little extra weight because it comes from a young player who has become part of the teams present while still carrying a clear appreciation for its recent past. Even with the trade chatter that has followed the Devers move and the other pieces tied to it, Rafaelas reflection was less about transactions than about a teammate he clearly valued, which is the sort of detail that tends to stick with fans long after the deadline noise fades. [Read more 🡒]
Red Sox Make Curious Deadline Move During Playoff Push
As the Red Sox keep pressing through the deadline stretch, they added another layer of roster flexibility by bringing in Jahmai Jones from Detroit in exchange for a player to be named later. The move is the kind that fits a club trying to stay nimble in a playoff race, especially with Boston using a 40-man spot that opened when Danny Coulombe was designated for assignment.
Jones arrives with a bit of a journeyman track record, having already spent time with several big league clubs, including the Yankees. Detroit moved on after a rough first half at the plate, but Boston is betting there is still something to work with, and now the next question is how quickly he can carve out a place once the roster has to tighten again. [Read more 🡒]