Craig Breslow Talks Red Sox’s Offseason

The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays tonight, minutes after wins by the Royals and Tigers. That officially eliminated Boston from playoff contention and turns their attention completely to the offseason. Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow met with the Boston beat before the game. While he didn’t go into too many specifics, he offered a few hints about where the Sox could turn in the winter.

Breslow pointed to the rotation, bullpen and a desire to balance a lefty-heavy lineup among the areas of focus (link via Sean McAdam of MassLive). That not coincidentally overlaps with the Sox’s impending free agents. Nick Pivetta, Tyler O’Neill, Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin, Danny Jansen and Lucas Sims are all headed to the open market. That’s a pair of right-handed bats, one of their top starters, and multiple high-leverage relievers.

Asked about O’Neill specifically, Breslow said the Sox are “definitely interested in having some of those conversations” about a new deal (relayed by Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Boston hit on a buy-low acquisition of the slugger from the Cardinals last offseason. O’Neill leads the team with 31 home runs and sports a .240/.335/.512 slash across 469 plate appearances. He had a trio of brief injured list stints but has been one of the Sox’s best hitters when healthy. O’Neill has been a particularly key piece of maintaining some amount of lineup balance. He has obliterated lefty pitching at a .313/.429/.750 clip in 156 trips to the plate. He’s tied with Aaron Judge for second in MLB (one behind Ketel Marte) with 16 home runs off southpaws.

O’Neill is eligible for a qualifying offer. There’s a good chance the 29-year-old left fielder would accept a one-year offer worth more than $21MM. That’d be a massive jump over this year’s $5.85MM arbitration salary. The Sox may prefer a three- or four-year deal that comes at a more manageable annual rate. O’Neill’s camp will probably look to top the respective $42MM guarantees secured by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Jorge Soler last winter.

Even if they retain O’Neill, that’d leave the Sox with the same lefty-leaning lineup they trotted out this year. They’ll need more contributors via some combination of free agency, trade and internal improvement. Vaughn Grissom is one of the higher-upside righty bats already on the roster. Grissom’s first season in Boston was underwhelming, as he battled injuries and struggled for most of the year. (Chris Sale,…