The Red Sox announced this morning that they’ve exercised their club option on outfielder Rob Refsnyder for the 2025 season. Refsnyder will make $2.1MM in 2025.
The decision to exercise Refsnyder’s option was surely an easy one for the Red Sox, given the low financial cost associated with the deal and his excellent 2024 campaign. Though Refsnyder was only a part-time player for the Red Sox this year with just 307 trips to the plate across 93 plate appearances, the 33-year-old slashed an excellent .283/.359/.471 with a 130 wRC+, including a .302/.393/.548 with a 160 wRC+ against left-handed pitching. That ability to rake against southpaws is particularly valuable for the Red Sox due to their lefty-heavy lineup, where Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, and Masataka Yoshida are all swing lefty in the outfield mix.
Refsnyder hasn’t simply been a one-season wonder, either. The veteran has provided the club with quality production off the bench in each of his three seasons in Boston, slashing a solid .278/.367/.427 (122 wRC+) in 727 trips to the plate with the club since he first joined them back in 2022. That sort of steady production in a bench role can be difficult to come by, making today’s decision to bring Refsnyder back for 2025 something of a no-brainer. The biggest possible hurdle to Refsnyder returning to the Red Sox next year was the possibility that he could contemplate retirement following the 2024 campaign, but he put those questions to bed in late September when he suggested that he would be open to playing “a couple more years” before hanging up the cleats.
Obvious as the move to bring Refsnyder back into the fold for 2025 was, however, it only serves to highlight just how crowded the club’s outfield mix has become. Duran and Abreu figure to get the lion’s share of starts in two of three outfield spots next year with both Refsnyder and Yoshida also on the roster as players restricted to outfield and DH duties. Ceddanne Rafaela, meanwhile, is capable of playing all over the diamond but is the club’s best defensive center fielder on the roster and not nearly as well regarded defensively when on the infield dirt.
Playing time figures to be further complicated by the impending arrival of top prospect Roman Anthony, another lefty swinging outfielder, and the club has also been heavily rumored to have interest in adding an everyday player who hits from the right side like incumbent slugger Tyler O’Neill or 2023-24 offseason target Teoscar Hernandez to the lineup this winter. With so many outfield options to be considered, it would hardly be a surprise if the Red Sox looked to deal from their outfield mix in order to clear up playing time and address the rotation. If such a trade does come to pass, however, Refsnyder is unlikely to be the one departing the Red Sox. Moving on from his $2.1MM salary would be relatively inconsequential in the great picture of Boston’s financial outlook, and one year of a part time player is unlikely to command a major return on the trade market.