NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 21: Roman Anthony #19 of the Boston Red Sox hits a two-run home run in the ninth inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
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Do you know where you’ll be or what you’ll be doing in 2031? Each of us can answer that with varying degrees of certainty, but the Boston Red Sox have a good idea of what the core of their 2031 ballclub will look like.
Boston handed out four long-term extensions over the last two years. One of them went to established ace Garrett Crochet, but the other three recipients were pre-arbitration players—Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell, and Ceddanne Rafaela. A few months later, some of those extensions look better than others.
Garrett Crochet
Crochet somewhat infamously imposed his own innings limit during his last year with the Chicago White Sox unless he could get a market-value extension, which the club wouldn’t provide. That made an offseason trade almost a foregone conclusion.
The Red Sox acquired him from the White Sox for four top prospects in December. On March 31, the left-hander agreed to a six-year, $170 million deal to stay in Boston through his age-32 season.
With an extension in hand, the innings limit went away, and in fact, he leads the American League with 185 1/3 innings pitched. He also has a 2.57 ERA and an MLB-best 228 strikeouts. At 26 years old, he’s a contender to win the Cy Young Award this year.
Roman Anthony
Anthony was ranked either first or second overall on every major prospect list heading into the season—depending on whether each ranking site considered Roki Sasaki eligible. The 21-year-old outfielder didn’t disappoint in Triple-A, hitting .288/.423/.491 in 58 games to start the year.
Even though he was clearly ready for the big leagues, the Red Sox didn’t have room in their lineup until they traded Rafael Devers. He debuted on June 9, and quickly became an integral part of the lineup, settling in as the leadoff hitter by July. On August 7, he signed an eight-year, $130 million extension.
In 71 games in Boston, he’s hitting .292/.396/.463, but an oblique strain will keep him on the injured list for the rest of the regular season. The Red Sox hope he can return in the playoffs.
Kristian Campbell
If Anthony was Boston’s number-one prospect, than Campbell was 1A, as he was a consensus top-ten on all the prospect rankings prior to the season. He signed an eight-year, $60 million deal before his first MLB game, and was named their Opening Day second baseman.
The move looked brilliant for a little over a month. He was slashing .301/.407/.495 through the end of April, but his production quickly took a nosedive. From the beginning of May through June 18, he batted .159/.243/.222. He was sent back to the minors after that and hasn’t resurfaced, though he’s hitting a robust .274/.386/.425 in Worcester.
Ceddanne Rafaela
Rafaela was the first of this cohort of pre-arbitration prospects to sign an extension. He debuted in 2023, playing 28 games, then inked an eight-year, $50 million deal through 2031.
Rafaela hasn’t become a great hitter. He batted .246/.274/.390 in his first full season and has a .241/.287/.408 this year, though he has surpassed 15 home runs and 15 steals in both campaigns.
His batting lines don’t tell the story, though. He leads the American League in fielding run value, primarily as an elite center fielder, but he also excels at both middle infield positions. Thanks to his defense, he posted 2.8 WAR (Baseball-Reference version) in 2024 and has 4.0 so far in 2025.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danepstein/2025/09/14/checking-in-on-the-red-sox-long-term-extensions/
