David Ortiz has left a big hole in the Boston Red Sox lineup but the team is looking to find a good replacement this offseason. According to the latest rumors, one of the possible replacements for "Big Papi" is Carlos Beltran, who spent the past season with the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers.
Ortiz officially retired when the Red Sox were eliminated by the Cleveland Indians in the 2016 American League Division Series. He had a great final season wherein he hit an impressive .315 with a career-high 48 doubles, 38 home runs and 127 RBIs.
The Red Sox has to replace that kind of production and they will likely scour the free agent market to find it. One of those players could be Beltran, who had a great season for a 39-year-old player while splitting his time with the Yankees and Rangers.
Beltran batted .295 with 29 home runs and 93 RBIs in 151 total games played this season. He is officially a free agent this offseason with several teams still interested in signing him. One of those teams could be the Red Sox as team president Dave Dombrowski tried to acquire him before the non-waiver trade deadline, per Christopher Smith of Mass Live.
However, now that Beltran is a free agent and it would only take money to bring him to Boston, Dombrowski is rumored to be open to signing him. According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the Red Sox want a switch-hitter while also pointing out that signing Beltran is risky.
"Dombrowski could take a chance on Carlos Beltran, a switch-hitting power bat though he is going on 40 years old. Dombrowski tried to deal for him at the trade deadline this past season. Beltran would not require draft-pick compensation since he was acquired by the Rangers from the Yankees during the season. He would also not require a long commitment, two years tops," Cafardo reported.
Besides Beltran, the Red Sox have several power-hitting options in the free agent market like Mike Napoli, Edwin Encarnacion, and Jose Bautista. The Red Sox are also capable of acquiring a superstar like Miguel Cabrera via trade this offseason.
Nonetheless, these are just purely speculative at the moment and nothing has been confirmed. Check out the video below to see some of Beltran's career highlights.