Red Sox Linked To Projected $25 Million First-Time All-Star By Insider

Could this addition help fix the Red Sox lineup?

Jun 17, 2022; Denver, Colorado, USA; A detail view of a San Diego Padres hat on a glove in the dugout in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox can be a championship contender in 2025 if everything breaks right. That's an exciting place to start.

However, if the Red Sox are going to pull off the 10 to 15-win improvement necessary to become a great team, they'll need to solve a list of roster inadequacies. Specifically, Boston needs at least one right-handed bat, a marquee starting pitcher, and a high-leverage, hard-throwing reliever.

Addressing the lineup cannot be ignored, even though Boston generally had good team stats as an offense in 2024. When left-handed pitchers faced the Red Sox, they generally had their way, thanks to nearly all of the dynamic, young hitters in the Boston lineup batting from the left side.

Adding a righty hitter is the primary objective, but what if that righty happens to be able to bat from both sides? San Diego Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar, a 2024 National League All-Star, was named a fit for the Red Sox by Christopher Smith of MassLive on Sunday.

"Switch hitter Jurickson Profar also makes sense," Smith said. "The 31-year-old free agent had an .839 OPS, 24 homers and 29 doubles in 158 games for the Padres this season."

The risk with Profar is that he's never been even an average major-leaguer anywhere but San Diego. We even saw him leave the Padres in 2023, become one of the worst players in the league with the Colorado Rockies, then return to San Diego and have an All-Star season on a $1 million contract.

This time around, Profar will assuredly be more expensive. Spotrac currently projects him for a two-year, $25 million contract, which isn't a massive pill to swallow, but could backfire if Profar isn't able to sustain the momentum he built in 2024.

Ultimately, Profar may well prove to be a risk worth taking. But it would also be dangerous for the Red Sox to make him their primary offseason target and miss out on more proven bats as a result.

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