Will Valuable Red Sox Role Player Return In 2026?
The Boston Red Sox have lots of big decisions to make this offseason, from how they want to improve their roster to whether they’re going to bring back Alex Bregman. One of those decisions involves key role player Rob Refsnyder, who’s also a free agent.
Refsnyder will be 35 next year, but he’s been a valuable contributor for the Red Sox over the last four seasons. He’s flourished in a part-time role as a platoon player, batting .276/.364/.440 (123 OPS+) with 27 homers, 119 RBI and 3.8 WAR in 309 games for Boston.
Now that his contract is up, will Refsnyder return to the Red Sox?
According to Alex Speier from The Boston Globe, the veteran outfielder plans to play next year and has had informal talks with Boston about coming back.
While the Red Sox already have a logjam of outfielders, most of them are left-handed batters, so Refsnyder has value as a right-handed bat who crushes lefty pitching. Refsnyder fills his role perfectly, especially for a hands-on manager like Alex Cora who likes to mix and match.
Refsnyder is also a good value at his price point. According to FanGraphs, he provided $18.8 million worth of WAR at the cost of just $3.95 million over the last two seasons combined.
Refsnyder has flourished in Boston and shown no signs of slowing down offensively, so it would be somewhat surprising if he doesn’t return. The Red Sox will ultimately have to determine if he’s still a good fit for their roster and makes sense for their plans going forward.