The Red Sox have done a few extensions in recent years but it doesn’t seem like there’s anything imminent with infielder Marcelo Mayer. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that the club has not approached Mayer to discuss a long-term deal to this point in time.
It may seem obvious to some that the Sox haven’t looked to lock up Mayer. He is still only 23 years old and hasn’t found major league success just yet. He got into 44 big league games last year but hit just .228/.272/.402.
But teams have been aggressive in signing players to early-career extensions lately. The Sox have also shown a penchant for signing players to extensions generally, regardless of experience, so it’s noteworthy that there’s no progress here.
According to MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, extensions for players with less than a year of service time have become more common. (Link showing guys with no service time; link showing some service time but less than a year.) From 2006 to 2016, there were five. From 2017 to the present, there have been 21, with 11 since July of 2022.
The Red Sox have been involved there. Roman Anthony, Kristian Campbell and Ceddanne Rafaela make up three of the data points in that set of 11. Those represent three of the six total extensions Craig Breslow has signed since taking over as chief baseball officer. He also extended Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello and Aroldis Chapman in deals of varying sizes.
Taking all that into account, extension talks are plausible but it seems the Sox are happy to wait a bit longer in this case. It could be health related, as Mayer has had some trouble staying on the field. He has five professional seasons under his belt but hasn’t topped 91 games played in any of them due to various ailments. Last year, his big league debut was interrupted by a right wrist issue that ultimately required surgery.
“[Getting stronger] will just help him manage the workload of a full season and just be able to withstand the demands of a full season, which is, frankly, something that he hasn’t been able to do,” Breslow said of Mayer in November. “And some of those have been just kind of these freak injuries, but others seem to maybe just be the accumulation of workload.”
Despite the the lack of contract talks, the Sox are showing some faith in Mayer, as they seem to be planning on him being the everyday second baseman this year. It had been reported that they preferred him at third but then they acquired Caleb Durbin from the Brewers. Durbin and Mayer have both been playing second and third this spring but Durbin spent most of his time at third base last year.
“Caleb, he’s playing third base today, again,” manager Álex Cora said this week, per Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. “We’ll probably decide that next week, but I feel very comfortable with him at third base.” Cora stopped short of making any firm declarations but it seems Mayer will end up at the keystone.
If Mayer is able to stay healthy and have a breakout season in 2026, perhaps the Red Sox would be more willing to start extension talks. He has 128 days of service time right now and would be at 1.128 if he earns a full service year in 2026. Players generally get more earning power as they accrue service time and move closer to free agency, but even in that scenario, Mayer would still be five years from the open market and at least one year from arbitration.
Photo courtesy of Jonathan Dyer, Imagn Images
