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The Red Sox have had talks with the Rangers about a Corey Seager deal, reports Tim Healey and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Seager joins a growing list of Boston trade targets that includes Ketel Marte, Isaac Paredes, and Brendan Donovan. The club has also been connected to free agentsBo Bichette, Pete Alonso, and Eugenio Suarez. WEEI’s Rob Bradford reports there isn’t any momentum regarding Boston’s pursuit of Seager.
While the club has been connected to several players in the trade market, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow admitted some discussions have been slow to progress. “In a lot of the conversations that we’ve had, a number of teams have conveyed that they’re very comfortable holding onto their players, as are we,” Breslow said. “So that does add a little bit of a layer of difficulty to try to make these things work.”
Seager delivered a typical season in 2025, providing stellar offensive production in between IL stints. The 31-year-old notched a 138 wRC+ across 102 games. Seager fell short of 30 home runs for the first time as a Ranger, largely due to missing time with a hamstring strain (twice) and an appendectomy. His 445 plate appearances were his fewest since his final year with the Dodgers in 2021.
Texas landed Seager on a massive 10-year, $325MM deal ahead of the 2022 season. He’s been an integral part of the lineup over the past four seasons and led the team to a World Series win in 2023. Seager finished second in AL MVP voting that year, but still went home with individual hardware after securing World Series MVP honors.
Seager will make $31MM in each of the next six seasons. There have been whispers that Texas would be trimming payroll this offseason. The team already chose to non-tender Adolis García and Jonah Heim instead of paying their arbitration price tags. The Rangers also traded Marcus Semien, who had three years and $72MM remaining on his contract, but the deal brought back Brandon Nimmo, who is slated to make $101.25MM through the 2030 season. The Mets did toss in $5MM as part of the trade.
Texas could use some help in the rotation and the bullpen. Linking up with Boston in a trade could help cheaply patch those holes. Breslow has said the team is willing to deal controllable starting pitching. Boston bolstered the rotation by adding Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo via trade. Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello are locked into rotation spots, which leaves little room for youngsters Payton Tolle, Connelly Early, and Hunter Dobbins. Veterans Patrick Sandoval and Kutter Crawford are also expected to be back healthy.
Trevor Story served as Boston’s primary shortstop last season. After multiple injury-riddled seasons, the former Rockie came through with a resurgent year. Story launched 25 home runs and stole a career-high 31 bases. He remains on the books for $25MM in each of the next two seasons. The contract also includes a $25MM club option for 2028. Story exclusively played second base in his first year in Boston, with Xander Bogaerts holding down shortstop. He could slide back to the keystone if the club acquires Seager, though that would require some reshuffling with Ceddanne Rafaela and potentially others. Center fielder Jarren Duran has been the subject of frequent trade talks, and his departure would clear a spot for Rafaela in the outfield.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images