The Red Sox and Pirates made a roster-balancing deal Thursday night as a prologue to Winter Meetings, with a five-player swap headlined by outfield prospect Jhostynxon Garcia (who heads to Pittsburgh) and pitchers Johan Oviedo and Tyler Samaniego (who head to Boston). Here’s the complete trade:

Pittsburgh receives:
OF Jhostynxon Garcia
RHP Jesus Travieso

Boston receives:
RHP Johan Oviedo
LHP Tyler Samaniego
C Adonys Guzman Read the rest of this entry »

A lot has happened since we launched the 2026 version of the We Tried tracker a few weeks ago. With the Winter Meetings about to kick off, we’ve seen 14 We Trieds from 10 different teams concerning eight different free agents. (As always, you can keep track of them all at this link.) That may sound like a lot this early in free agency, but it’s worth noting that 10 of our Top 50 free agents are already off the board (though three of those players accepted the qualifying offer, which means nobody had the chance to try). I suspect we’re a bit behind last year’s pace. Hopefully more news about teams’ pursuits will leak out in the coming months. The big number we’re shooting for here is 100: Last year, the offseason closed with 99 We Trieds. Let’s make it to triple digits!

More will certainly come. Raisel Iglesias is currently leading the pack with four We Trieds, but don’t be surprised if Ryan Helsley overtakes him. Multiple reports said that fully half the teams in the league were interested in Helsley, but we only have two actual We Trieds so far, and one came from Helsley himself. Helsley told reporters that the Tigers were particularly interested in signing him as a starting pitcher, which isn’t a surprise, but his phrasing was particularly fun. He said the Tigers were “in on me heavy.” Honestly, I don’t have any jokes here. It’s just a slightly odd grammatical construction that I will probably think about twice a day for the next few years of my life. Before this week, you could be in on something. You could maybe even be heavily in on it. But now you can be in on it…heavy. Sometimes language evolves just like lifeforms, one mutation at a time. Read the rest of this entry »

2026 Baseball Operations Summer Intern

POSITION OVERVIEW:
The Baseball Operations Internship program offers hands-on experience across the operations domain. Interns will contribute to both daily functions and longer-term growth of the department. The program will look to enhance candidate expertise and help build strong foundations across the broader baseball operations infrastructure. Interns will support a wide variety of day-to-day processes and projects within the operations domain.

These processes may include supporting the baseball operations chief of staff and leadership, baseball strategy, baseball initiatives, and both major and minor league operations. This role is designed to build a strong baseball operations foundation, combining curriculum and project-based education, day-to-day project and task execution, and exposure to decision-making processes at the highest level of the game. Prior baseball experience is not mandatory for success in this role.

TIMELINE AND LOGISTICS:
Applications must be submitted by December 16th, 2025 to ensure consideration. This is a Summer Internship program running from late May to early August+, pending candidate availability. The hourly rate for this position is $20.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Assist with day-to-day baseball operations, including helping with administrative duties, strategic initiatives, content development, logistical management, and research. 
• Prepare and maintain information and materials for key front office decision making and operation. 
• Support content generation for leadership decision making and communication.  
• Provide strategic and logistical support for important baseball events such as the MLB Draft and Trade Deadline. 
• Operate and train critical player tracking and player development technology. 
• Conduct market research relevant to emerging projects for baseball strategy and initiatives groups. 
• Creatively pursue ways to improve operations processes and generate ideas for future team projects. 
• Develop core baseball operations competencies through hands-on experience, education, and mentorship. 

COMPETENCIES DEVELOPED:

• Analytical Thinking: Develop a strong knowledge of modern baseball metrics, development practices, and evaluation skills. 
• Communication & Teamwork: Work effectively across groups, presenting information clearly to varied constituents and collaborating in a fast-paced environment. 
• Task Prioritization & Execution: Proactively manage multiple tasks under pressure with high attention to detail, balancing project urgency and impact.   
• Innovation & Adaptability: Develop proficiency with cutting-edge technology within and outside of baseball, while contributing ideas for process improvement and optimization.  
• Growth Mindset: Show humility, curiosity, and commitment to continuous personal and professional development. 

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

• Willing to work nights, weekends, and holidays. 
• Ability to multitask in stressful situations. 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. 
• Experience with SQL, R, Python is a plus but not required. 
• Fluency in Spanish is a plus but not required. 
• Current undergrad or graduate students entering their final year of studies is preferred, but open to all applicants. 
• Prior baseball or sport experience is not required. 

OUR CULTURE
All Baseball Operations staff are expected to excel across universal competencies related to problem solving, teamwork, communication, and time management, as well as values such as honesty, humility, relentlessness, and a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

This internship is designed as a pathway for motivated individuals to grow skills in preparation for future roles in Baseball Operations. Interns will complete the program with meaningful real-world experience, professional mentorship, tailored education from curriculum and project-based learning opportunities, and the opportunity to contribute directly to the success of the Boston Red Sox.

At the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Sports Management, we go beyond embracing diversity. We’re committed to living by our values, strengthening our community, and creating a workplace where people genuinely feel like they belong.

Too often, job seekers don’t apply to positions because they don’t meet every qualification. If you love this role and are great at what you do, we encourage you to apply. Your unique skills and experiences might just be what we’ve been looking for.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Boston Red Sox.

When the Red Sox traded for Sonny Gray, they knew they were getting an old-school starter with seven pitches. He’s got a sinker and a four-seamer. He’s got a cutter, a traditional slider, and a sweeper. He’s got a curveball and a changeup. The traditional slider is the only one of the seven that Gray doesn’t throw regularly; the others all saw at least 15% usage against righties or lefties in 2025. Gray is 36 years old. He’s a three-time All-Star with 330 starts and 125 wins under his belt, and a career ERA of 3.58. At this point, you might assume that he’s about as finished a product as you could find, but you’d be wrong, and that seems to be part of the reason he’ll be pitching in Boston next year.

In 2024, the Red Sox made waves for throwing fastballs just 36.6% of the time, the lowest mark ever recorded and almost certainly the lowest mark of all time. That number went up in 2025, in large part because they added Garrett Crochet, who owned a brand-new sinker to go with a four-seamer that was one of the very best pitches in baseball 2024. But it wasn’t just Crochet. Brayan Bello brought back the four-seamer he’d ditched in 2024. A finally-healthy Lucas Giolito threw four-seamers at his highest rate since 2020. With Aroldis Chapman replacing Kenley Jansen, the closer role saw fastballs replace cutters. In all, the Red Sox finished the season with a fastball rate of 48.3%, the 11th-highest in the league. That’s quite a bounce-back. The Red Sox were very explicitly trying to get away from fastballs, but as the 2025 season showed us, the broader goal was to have their pitchers throw their best pitches more often.

That brings us to Gray, who throws the kitchen sink but still throws fastballs 40% of the time. In 2025, he led with his four-seamer against lefties and his sinker against righties, throwing both pitches 29% of the time in those situations. Shortly after the trade went through, Boston’s chief baseball officer Craig Breslow discussed it with reporters. MLB.com’s Ian Brown published a quote: “It will be a great match for Bails [pitching coach Andrew Bailey] and the rest of the pitching group and the philosophies they have in terms of leaning into strength and potentially away from slug and pitching away from fastballs when you have secondaries as your best pitch.” Read the rest of this entry »

This past Sunday’s Notes column led with a look at Sonny Gray, so my joining in on his introductory Zoom session with the Boston media on Tuesday was mostly a matter of practicality. There are always things to learn — typically pieces of information that are useful down the road — when a trade acquisition takes questions from reporters. I wasn’t expecting to feature the veteran right-hander any time soon.

But then I asked Gray a question, and not only did he answer it thoughtfully, his response was meaty. The newest member of the Red Sox starting rotation spoke, uninterrupted, for a full five minutes. What he said is well worth sharing.

Here is what I asked, and — lightly edited for clarity — Gray’s expansive reply.

In April 2023, we talked about how you’ve evolved as a pitcher. Do you think you’ve settled in to who you’ll be going forward, or do you foresee any changes with your repertoire or usage?

Gray: “I hope there are changes, to be honest with you. If you’re not constantly changing, and you’re not consciously adapting, then I think that you’re going to be stagnant. Right? 2023 was a good jump for me. I added a few things. I changed a few things. But I kept the core of me together. I kept who I am.

“I spin the ball. I spin the ball better than anyone in baseball. That’s a fact. I still have enough velo to allow that to play. That’s a fact. I can take my fastball and go both ways with it, just as good as anyone. I still get my strikeouts. Read the rest of this entry »

The Boston Red Sox made a pre-Thanksgiving trade on Tuesday, acquiring Sonny Gray from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for 25-year-old right-hander Richard Fitts and hard-throwing prospect Brandon Clarke. How well the deal works out for Craig Breslow’s club is anyone’s guess — my colleague Michael Baumann wrote that he couldn’t “declare this trade to be a robbery in either direction” — but the 36-year-old righty does have a track record of reliability. Gray has graced a big-league mound 92 times over the past three seasons, gobbling up 531 innings and posting a 3.63 ERA as well as a 3.11 FIP. If he can continue to fend off Father Time a while longer, the erstwhile Vanderbilt Commodore will add value to the Red Sox starting rotation.

A Vandy product Boston brought on board as a free agent last winter came to mind when the trade was announced. That would be Walker Buehler, who despite high hopes ultimately proved to be a bust. Unable to return to old form, the veteran righty struggled to a 5.45 ERA over 112-and-a-third innings and was cut loose by the Red Sox in late August.

There are clear differences between the two pitchers — their respective health histories particularly stand out — but they nonetheless have things in common. One is a diverse repertoire. Another is a lack of high-octane heaters.

Buehler was in the 43rd percentile for fastball velocity in 2025, while Gray was in just the 16th percentile. As Baumann pointed out, the latter “has started leaking fastball velocity… [but has] compensated by leaning into a cutter and changeup, making him a legit six-pitch pitcher since 2023.” Meanwhile, the 31-year-old Buehler leaned heavily on a six-pitch mix while compensating for the velocity he lost following Tommy John surgery in 2022. Read the rest of this entry »

Connelly Early emerged as one of the top pitching prospects in the Boston Red Sox organization this season. The 23-year-old left-hander logged a 2.60 ERA and a 2.74 FIP over 101 1/3 minor league innings, then allowed just five runs over 19 1/3 innings following a September call-up. His first two major league outings — he made four regular season starts in all — were especially impressive. Facing the Athletics on each occasion, Early worked a combined 10 1/3 frames, surrendering a lone run, issuing one free pass and fanning 18 batters.

Jacob Wilson had some noteworthy at-bats against the young southpaw. The A’s shortstop went 2-for-5 against him, singling twice (one of them an infield hit), and also striking out twice. The strikeouts stand out when you consider Wilson’s profile. The second-place finisher in this year’s American League Rookie of the Year race recorded a 7.5% strikeout rate, the lowest among qualified hitters not named Luis Arraez.

The number of pitches he saw from Early (28) and how they were sequenced is what prompted me to put together the article you are currently reading. Between the two games, Early threw Wilson seven curveballs, seven changeups, five sinkers, four sliders, and four four-seamers. And with the exception of back-to-back curveballs in their first matchup, Early didn’t double up on a pitch. That especially caught my eye the fourth time they faced each other when Wilson went down swinging to end a nine-pitch at-bat.

The day after the Early and Wilson battled for a second time, I approached both to ask what they’d seen from each other. As they wouldn’t be matching up again in 2025, asking them for their scouting reports on one another seemed fair game for discussion.

I began with the shortstop. Read the rest of this entry »

The Boston Red Sox have acquired veteran right-hander Sonny Gray and cash from the St. Louis Cardinals, in exchange for pitchers Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke, and either cash or a player to be named later. Seems straightforward enough.

After 13 seasons in the majors, you all know Gray by now: short guy out of Vanderbilt. Big, slow curveball, but not a ton of velo. Changes teams every two or three years. In those 13 seasons, Gray’s two best WAR seasons are 5.4 and 4.5, but he’s posted four additional seasons of between 3.5 and 3.9 WAR, and three others of between 2.4 and 2.7 WAR. This is the Toyota Sienna of pitchers: You don’t stay up nights dreaming about him, and he can be a little pricey, but he’ll get you and your family where they need to go with an absolute minimum of fuss.

The Red Sox made the playoffs in 2025. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb by assuming they’d like to make the playoffs again in 2026. If I were in the playoff-making business, I’d welcome the opportunity to add Sonny Gray to my team. Read the rest of this entry »

The following article is part of my ongoing look at the candidates on the 2026 Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, use the navigation tool above. An introduction to JAWS can be found here.

Like Barry Bonds with regards to position players, Roger Clemens has a reasonable claim as the greatest pitcher of all time. Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, and Grover Cleveland Alexander spent all or most of their careers in the Deadball Era, before the home run was a real threat, and pitched while the color line was still in effect, barring some of the game’s most talented players from participating. Sandy Koufax and Tom Seaver pitched when scoring levels were much lower and pitchers held a greater advantage. Koufax and 2015 inductees Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez didn’t sustain their greatness for nearly as long. Greg Maddux didn’t dominate hitters to nearly the same extent.

Clemens, meanwhile, spent 24 years in the majors and racked up a record seven Cy Young awards, not to mention an MVP award. He won 354 games, led his leagues in the Triple Crown categories (wins, strikeouts, and ERA) a total of 16 times, and helped his teams to six pennants and a pair of world championships.

Alas, whatever claim “The Rocket” may have on such an exalted title is clouded by suspicions that he used performance-enhancing drugs. When those suspicions came to light in the Mitchell Report in 2007, Clemens took the otherwise unprecedented step of challenging the findings during a Congressional hearing, but nearly painted himself into a legal corner; he was subject to a high-profile trial for six counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to Congress. After a mistrial in 2011, he was acquitted on all counts the following year, and in March 2015, he settled a defamation lawsuit filed by former personal trainer Brian McNamee for an unspecified amount. But despite those verdicts and resolutions, the specter of PEDs hasn’t left Clemens’ case. Read the rest of this entry »

The Arizona Diamondbacks might have the best middle-infield duo in MLB, which is something most people outside of their fanbase probably aren’t aware of. Mike Hazen didn’t disagree when I suggested as much to him in Las Vegas.

“We’ve always dealt with that,” the D-Backs general manager replied. “We play on the West Coast — we play late for the East Coast — and we’re not on national TV a lot, so it comes with the territory. But yeah, [Geraldo] Perdomo probably had a top-five season in all of baseball this year, and [Ketel] Marte does it every year. With those two guys, along with [Corbin] Carroll, I think we have three of the top 25-30 guys in all of baseball.”

That was certainly the case in 2025. Carroll, the club’s right-fielder, ranked seventh-best in MLB with 6.5 WAR, while the keystone combination came in at fifth-best (Perdomo at 7.1) and 24th-best (Marte at 4.6) respectively. Productive bats were a big reason for that. Carroll put up a 139 wRC+, Perdomo was a tick below at 138, and Marte was fourth-highest in the senior circuit at 145.

How long Arizona’s middle infield will remain intact is currently in question. Rumors that Marte — on tap to gain 10-5 rights in the coming season — could be traded have been circulating, and while Hazen has reportedly said that moving the 32-year-old second baseman is “mostly unlikely,” he has also acknowledged a need to listen to offers. Howe many of those he has received to this point is unknown, but given Marte’s résumé — the three-time All-Star has a 140 wRC+ and 15.3 WAR over the past three seasons — the return would be noteworthy. Read the rest of this entry »