Boston Red Sox
The consensus is Boston got Bauers at a bargain, and the player fills major team needs.
Jake Bauers is congratulated by his Brewers teammates after hitting a two-run home run on September 11, 2026. John Fisher/Getty Images
In a turn of events compared to past winters, the Boston Red Sox were the first team to make a splash in MLB free agency.
The team reportedly inked first baseman Jake Bauers to a four-year, $58 million deal on Friday. With a Dec. 1 lockout looming over the league, teams have just two weeks remaining to sign free agents and make trades before they won’t be able to for the foreseeable future.
Bauers, 31, had a career year with the World Series champion Milwaukee Brewers this past season. He was named NLCS MVP for his efforts in the team’s sweep of the 2025 champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
The left-handed hitter primarily plays first base, and he even played in the outfield last season with a few appearances at designated hitter.
It’s well-known that the Red Sox need offensive help going into the 2027 season. Signing Bauers — who had MLB’s third-best on-base percentage — certainly aids their cause.
Here’s what experts are saying about Boston securing Bauers on a team-friendly deal.
The Athletic’s Keith Law praised the Red Sox for signing Bauers “at a pretty low price.”
“The deal is officially four years and $58 million, carrying an AAV of $14.5 million, which is absurdly low for a player who was worth 3+ wins in 2026 and seems very likely to hold most or all of that value for another year or two,” Law wrote.
Law noted that Bauers would be a “massive upgrade … right away” for the Red Sox if he were to split time at designated hitter.
The Athletic’s insider also mentioned how the Bauers signing “creates a bit of a roster crunch” as it concerns Masataka Yoshida, who was the team’s primary DH in 2026, and first baseman Triston Casas, who’s recovering from left wrist surgery.
“Casas deserves a chance to play somewhere and see if he can restart his career, as he was a top prospect for his bat before the injuries derailed him,” Law wrote. “That said, I don’t see how Boston can give him an opportunity, which makes him dead weight on their 40-man roster.”
David Schoenfield, ESPN
ESPN’s David Schoenfield graded the Bauers signing an “A” for the Red Sox.
“This signing is an early candidate for best move of the offseason,” he wrote.
Schoenfield brought up how 2026 marked a breakout year for Bauers. Bauers nearly retired from baseball in 2024 before signing a minor-league deal with the Brewers in 2025, mainly because his family needed health insurance.
Some organizations may be apprehensive about Bauers’s ability to repeat his 2026 campaign. The Red Sox don’t appear to be one of them.
“While there would generally be concern that his 2026 season was a fluke, all the advanced metrics suggest the opposite,” Schoenfield wrote. “His Statcast numbers: 93rd percentile bat speed, 94th percentile hard-hit rate, 93rd percentile chase rate, 98th percentile walk rate.
“Those are real skills that aren’t going to diminish overnight and should allow him to remain a productive hitter (he even hit left-handers well, so should project as a full-time player).”
Schoenfield, however, noted Bauers’s left-handedness joining a perpetually right-handed-needy Boston club. He quieted those concerns with this stat.
“They actually had a slightly higher OPS against left-handers (.734 to .710). They just needed a good hitter, regardless of which side of the plate he stands on.”
MassLive’s Sean McAdam, a veteran Red Sox beat reporter, offered in-depth analysis of the Bauers deal.
McAdam wrote he expects Bauers to primarily play DH with Willson Contreras manning 1B. The insider explains, though, Bauers’s ability to play 1B can only benefit Contreras and his health across a 162-game regular season.
“Contreras will remain the primary first baseman, but Bauers gives the Sox an adequate back-up at the position, able to spell Contreras occasionally and allow him to stay healthy,” McAdam wrote. “Contreras dealt with some soft tissue injuries in the second half and the Sox want to avoid that becoming an issue again.”
McAdam, like Schoenfield, mentioned Bauers’s 2026 breakout and whether he can replicate a similar season in 2027. McAdam said Curtis Mead is in a comparable boat with Bauers, having caught lightning in a bottle for a few months with the Washington Nationals before being dealt to Boston.
The MassLive insider said the Red Sox are giving those two players the benefit of the doubt and that their recent success is their identity, not their past struggles.
“Until last year, Bauers had never played more than 120 games or hit more than 12 homers in a single season,” McAdam said. “The Sox are betting that these breakout seasons aren’t merely a blip, but rather, a sign that a player has figured some things out.”
McAdam also appeared on MLB Network on Friday to discuss the Bauers deal. He noted Bauers’s ability to draw out at-bats, which is something Boston had problems with, especially in their short-lived Wild Card Series loss to the New York Yankees.
“I think it also lengthens the lineup. Now, you’ve got a guy who gets on base,” McAdam said. “(The Red Sox) had difficulty stretching out at-bats, seeing a lot of pitches. He changes that.”
David Ortiz
Red Sox legend David Ortiz, like the rest of the experts, is high on Bauers.
“I think it’s a great signing,” Ortiz told WBZ’s Dan Roche. “I mean, he can hit for power. He had a good season this past season. We need some offense. I think it’s a great acquisition.”
Ortiz also joined MassLive’s “Fenway Rundown” podcast and provided further analysis on what he thinks about Bauers, having covered him at length during the 2026 postseason for FOX Sports.
Ortiz, who played in MLB for 20 years, offered a unique perspective on the player, mentioning Bauers’s maturity as a 31-year-old being a positive factor for a young Boston club.
“I think they’re getting a solid hitter. He had a really good season last year. And he’s walking into an age where playing baseball, I mean, it made sense to me,” Ortiz said. “He’s walking into a part of his life where he’s more mature. He knows how to take care of his body. … The next 4-5 years of his career are gonna be very impressive because of his experience and things he’s paying attention to. I think it was a good move by the organization.”
Beyond Bauers as an individual, Ortiz praised Red Sox ownership, particularly John Henry, for getting out in front of the rest of the league and landing the player. He said it shows the organization knows it needs to improve and wants to make the fans excited for next season.
“Yeah, we want to get better,” Ortiz said when asked if he feels encouraged by what the move means for the bigger picture of the franchise. “We’re going to get more hitters, we want to get pitching. … This front office owners, they always want to improve. They always want to find a way to get what the fans are looking for. … That’s a good sign to show everyone that we are locked in on this year.”
Lou Merloni
Former Red Sox player and current NESN Red Sox color commentator Lou Merloni said he’s a fan of the Bauers add and the reported contract. Like others, he anticipates Bauers being Boston’s primary DH and serving as excellent insurance for Contreras.
“I think that’s the object here with Bauers, is to kind of keep Contreras playing every single day and remaining healthy,” Merloni said on NESN’s “Boston’s Entered the Chat.” “I was surprised the AAV was as low as it was. … Great year last year, great postseason. … I like it. I like adding the experience. I like adding the age and just going through Milwaukee’s system. I think he’s a really nice addition for them.”
Beyond Bauers’s stats and how he fits in alongside Contreras, Merloni dove into how the signing impacts the rest of the roster. Merloni said he thinks two players are on their way out with Bauers in the mix, and that the infield is essentially set in stone.
“Now that they’ve brought Bauers in, he’s your DH. … So, there’s no more talk of adding an outfielder and having Roman Anthony DH once in a while. It is set. Those two are playing every single day,” Merloni said. “There’s no more talk of getting an infielder pushing (Trevor) Story to second and having maybe Mead be the designated hitter. To me, it really closes the door on some options now. You’ve narrowed who you are and what you want to be.
“I think Mead is your second baseman. Masataka I think is going to be moved. I think (Jarren) Duran is going to be moved. … It starts narrowing it now and closes the door for DH spots. I think we’ve got a better idea of what it might look like now.”
Kaley Brown
Kaley Brown is a sports producer who covers breaking and trending news about the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox.
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