Where do Red Sox stand after underwhelming Winter Meetings?

The Winter Meetings have come and gone and while multiple of the top players on the industry uncovered new homes the Red Sox largely came home from Orlando empty-handed Now with both Kyle Schwarber and Pete Alonso no longer available the Red Sox will have to look elsewhere to round out their roster Even without any more major additions the Red Sox should still be good enough to contend for another Wild Card berth but the club remains one or two players short of being a true World Series contender So as Craig Breslow and the front office regroups here s a look at where things stand nowadays and what more necessities to be done to take the club to the next level Related Articles Rule Draft Red Sox acquire reliever from A s lose prospect to White Sox Red Sox suffer another Winter Meetings blow as Pete Alonso picks Orioles Red Sox say young outfielder has earned the right to face more lefties MLB Draft Lottery White Sox win top pick Red Sox to select No Red Sox Rumors Ketel Marte Eugenio Suarez among club s realizable targets Right-handed bats needed If the Red Sox opened the season with the roster they have now their Opening Day lineup would maybe look something like this Roman Anthony LF Trevor Story SS Jarren Duran CF Triston Casas B Wilyer Abreu RF Masataka Yoshida DH Carlos Narvaez C Marcelo Mayer B Ceddanne Rafaela B You can see a couple of obvious problems Without Alex Bregman or someone like him this lineup is much too left-handed Five of the club s top six hitters bat lefty as does Marcelo Mayer who might have that kind of upside if he can stay healthy and develop at the plate Ideally the Red Sox would have at least one more righty bat who could slot into the top five which would make it easier to split up the lefties and leave the club less susceptible to left-handed pitching The other obvious obstacle is the Red Sox still have more starting-caliber outfielders at full strength than they have lineup spots That means the club would once again have to play Rafaela at second base which is ridiculous considering that he s arguably the best defensive center fielder in the sport Re-signing Bregman and trading away one of the outfielders would go a long way towards making this a more functional roster Ideally the Red Sox would pact for either a first or second baseman who could address the club s need for more power That way the club will be covered if Casas isn t available to start the season or in affair Mayer runs into more injury issues this coming year Rotation in good shape You can never have too much pitching and if an opportunity to acquire a frontline starter presents itself the Red Sox should obviously take it But all things considered the starting rotation should be in a good spot heading into next season Right now the Red Sox have a top three of Garrett Crochet Sonny Gray and Brayan Bello along with nearly a dozen other candidates for the last two spots Those arms include veterans Patrick Sandoval and Kutter Crawford each of whom is set to return after missing all of due to injury the newly-acquired Johan Oviedo and younger contenders like Connelly Early Payton Tolle Hunter Dobbins Kyle Harrison Luis Perales David Sandlin Shane Drohan and Tyler Uberstine You d be hard pressed to find another club with that level of quality starting pitching depth Crochet is an unquestioned ace and should once again be a Cy Young contender this coming season Gray is coming off back-to-back -strikeout seasons and his rocky stint in New York aside has been one of MLB s better starters for more than a decade Bello is coming off the best season of his career and is still only and entering the prime of his career If even one of the other guys competing for one of the last rotation spots can step up and establish himself as a playoff-caliber starter the Red Sox should be in good shape Bullpen coming together The Red Sox have had good luck with their current Rule picks with Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten each right away becoming invaluable members of the bullpen upon their arrival Now the club hopes Ryan Watson can make it three for three Watson s acquisition during Wednesday s Rule Draft won t go down as one of the biggest moves of the offseason but his arrival could prove sneaky crucial Breslow admitted he s been eyeing the -year-old right-hander for months and as a Rule pick he ll get a long leash to impact the bullpen He ll join a group that returns closer Aroldis Chapman set-up men Whitlock and Slaten and returnees like Greg Weissert Jordan Hicks and Zack Kelly The top of Boston s bullpen is excellent but the back end still has question marks For one the club requirements more lefties The only lefty relievers on the -man roster besides Chapman are Jovani Moran who appeared in two MLB games last season and just now acquired Tyler Samaniego who has yet to make his big league debut Neither will be assured a big league roster spot out of spring training The Red Sox could use one of their depth starters out of the bullpen Early Tolle Harrison and Drohan are all southpaws but they ll presumably each get an opportunity to compete for a rotation spot this spring The club also necessities to figure out what it can expect to get out of Hicks The hard-throwing righty had a calamitous posting a ERA in appearances including an ERA in outings after his arrival in Boston in the Rafael Devers bargain Hicks is set to earn million in each of the next two seasons but not long ago he was among the majority of dominant relievers in the championship If the Red Sox can get Hicks back to his form when he struck out batters in innings with saves he could help elevate the bullpen into a monster But if not the club will have to hope Watson and whoever else emerges in the coming months can help pick up the slack What now Multiple reports have indicated Bregman is Boston s top free agent priority and at this point the club could really use him back He made an enormous impact on the Red Sox last season both on and off the field and his ability to pull the ball in the air as a right-handed hitter and play excellent defense at third base would fill two key areas of need The club also still requirements a true middle of the order threat who could slot into the three four or five hole A number of reports have disclosed the Red Sox have spoken to the Arizona Diamondbacks about All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte and he would be a fit both in terms of skillset and position Free agent slugger Eugenio Suarez would also fit the bill While Breslow and manager Alex Cora have each noted they re relaxed retaining all of Boston s incumbent outfielders common sense dictates that someone is going to need to go Perhaps particular combination of Duran Abreu or Yoshida would go in a prospective Marte deal or maybe they d be used in a different arrangement for another frontline starter Either way it s not a mystery what the Red Sox have to do