Report: Red Sox Meet With Agents For First Baseman Logan Morrison
BOSTON (CBS) -- It appears that the Red Sox are turning to free agency to find their next first baseman. After reports surfaced that they would be meeting with the agents for Carlos Santana, it's now known that they are showing interest in Logan Morrison.
The team reportedly met with reps for the former Rays first baseman on Monday at the annual GM Meetings in Orlando, according to NBC Sports Boston's Evan Drellich. Morrison, 30, is coming off a career-best season, hitting 38 home runs with 85 RBIs and an .868 OPS for the Rays.
If the Red Sox were to add Morrison, he would most likely be their replacement for the departing Mitch Moreland. If he can hit home runs at the same pace as 2017 - and stay healthy - he would provide a left-handed power boost to a Red Sox team that hit the fewest homers in the American League (168) in 2017.
The first baseman has also built a reputation as a good teammate and assertive clubhouse presence. His history indicates that he could hold the Red Sox' younger players accountable; he famously called out Hanley Ramirez back in 2011 as a member of the Marlins, when Morrison was just 22 years old and Ramirez was 27. Reports suggested that Morrison ripped Ramirez in front of their teammates for regularly being late to team workouts.
Morrison is on CBS Boston's short list of relatively affordable free-agent options for the Red Sox in the offseason. Though he may have a higher free-agent price tag than expected after hitting the eighth-most home runs in the major leagues, he would certainly be a less expensive addition than free agents like Eric Hosmer or J.D. Martinez. Offensively, he would ideally be a supplemental addition and not the Red Sox' big solution to their power woes.
