The Winter Meetings are in the books, and with several of the offseason’s big names off the market, the Red Sox must now look ahead as they look to complete their roster for 2026.

Who’s still out there and what will the Red Sox do next? We answer your questions in today’s Red Sox mailbag.

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Do you think the Sox should bid on Kazuma Okamoto? If so what might the bid and his contract look like? — Scott L.

For those who aren’t familiar, Okamoto is a 29-year-old, a six-time Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star and has hit 248 home runs in 11 professional seasons dating back to 2015. The corner infielder has tallied six consecutive seasons with 30 or more home runs between 2018-23, and this past year he batted .327 with 15 homers and a 1.014 OPS despite playing just 69 games due to an elbow injury.

Okamoto also bats right-handed, which would be a plus for the Red Sox, and his career strikeout rate (17.7%) and walk rate (10.7%) suggest he should be capable of making the transition to MLB without too much difficulty.

MLB Trade Rumors projects Okamoto will land a four-year, $64 million deal.

Should the Red Sox try to sign him? I think that will depend heavily on whether or not Alex Bregman returns.

With Bregman on board Okamoto would serve as Boston’s primary first baseman until Triston Casas is ready to return. Once that happens Okamoto and Casas would either platoon at first or Casas would shift to full-time designated hitter duty. That would also necessitate some kind of move with Masataka Yoshida, but we’ll leave that to the side for now.

In that case my instinct would be no. I’m not sure Okamoto’s ceiling is high enough to justify the investment, and his presence might make the roster even more unwieldy than it already is. If Bregman returns my preference would be a trade for Ketel Marte or someone else who could play second base.

If Bregman signs elsewhere, however, it’s a completely different story.

Without the three-time All-Star, the Red Sox would be perilously thin at the corner infield spots, seeing as they’d likely be counting on Casas and Marcelo Mayer as the starters. Promising as both of them are, Casas and Mayer have extremely checkered injury track records, so relying on them to stay healthy without a rock solid Plan B would be reckless.

Okamoto at the very least projects as a solid starting caliber MLB infielder with enough pop to help offset some of what the club would lose from Bregman. I’d much rather have him than Eugenio Suarez, who hits bombs but contributes little else, and I’d certainly prefer Okamoto to his countryman, Munetaka Murakami, whose profile is almost a carbon copy of Casas’ and whose sky-high strikeout rate is a major red flag.

Should they consider a six-man rotation? — Nico

You could make a case for it, but I doubt that’s going to happen.

Last year there was so much talk about using a six-man rotation heading into the season, but by the time spring began injuries began piling up and the Red Sox never actually had a full six-man group healthy at the same time. This year the club arguably has close to a dozen candidates for the rotation, but even with the increased depth there are several reasons why a six-man rotation doesn’t make sense for this team.

For one, big league starters are creatures of habit, and most prefer to stick with a traditional five-day schedule. Going to a six-man rotation would give everyone more rest, yes, but it would also mean fewer starts by your best starters over the course of the season, which is another drawback.

The Red Sox are also going to want to keep as many of their starters stretched out as possible, so whoever isn’t moved to the bullpen will likely be kept on a normal schedule pitching out of the WooSox rotation.

So while I wouldn’t rule it out completely, I’d be surprised if the Red Sox ultimately opt to go that route.

Triston Casas’ status for spring training is still up in the air more than six months after he suffered his devastating season-ending knee injury. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)

Are the Sox expecting Triston Casas will be full go when spring training opens? — @ABQPatriotsFan on Bluesky

It’s still not clear what we should expect out of Casas. Since last season ended Red Sox officials have said they believe Casas could be ready for spring training, but Craig Breslow notably didn’t commit to him as the club’s first baseman and earlier this week Alex Cora didn’t give a timetable when asked about him in an MLB Network interview.

In that same interview Cora said Casas has been in Fort Myers all offseason and also that they’ve “got to get him healthy,” which obviously implies he’s not back to full strength just yet.

Given the seriousness of his injury and his health track record in general dating back to his minor league days, the Red Sox are going to take things very carefully with Casas. My guess is when camp begins Casas will ramp up slowly and I’d be shocked if he appears in any games until at least midway through the Grapefruit League schedule.

In the meantime, we will likely get another update next month when the team is back together in Boston for Fenway Fest. By that point hopefully the team will have some clarity on what it can expect out of the young slugger.

Former Red Sox second baseman Vaughn Grissom was recently traded after two disappointing seasons with the organization. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

I know Vaughn Grissom got hurt and didn’t perform well in his brief trial, but why did the Red Sox give up on him so completely and quickly? — @Idaho-Guy on Bluesky

Two things happened with Grissom that led to his downfall. One, while he was dealing with all of his maladies in 2024, Kristian Campbell burst onto the scene and supplanted him in the club’s long-term plans. Then, when Campbell was going through his own struggles, Grissom was unable to assert his case.

It’s easy to forget that at this time last year Campbell was coming off one of the greatest offensive seasons by a minor leaguer in recent history. He wasn’t just good, he was historically dominant. So when the Red Sox signed Campbell to his eight-year extension, the writing was on the wall for Grissom. He was brought in to be the club’s second baseman of the future, and now the Red Sox were going all-in on someone else.

The thing that separated Campbell from Grissom was how hard he’s capable of hitting the ball. When he’s at his best Campbell possesses elite bat speed which allows him to generate some incredible exit velocities. Grissom, meanwhile, has never hit the ball particularly hard and even after two years in the organization he was unable to fully realize the gains the Red Sox hoped to see.

It’s telling that by the end of last season, when the Red Sox roster was decimated by injury, Grissom never earned a call-up. Now he’ll get a change of scenery in Los Angeles, where he should get another chance to prove himself at the big league level.

New Red Sox reliever Ryan Watson could be a sneaky impactful addition to the bullpen next season. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Will any of the Rule 5 guys make a mark with the club? — SF Native on Bluesky

Ryan Watson will absolutely have a chance to play a major role in this year’s bullpen.

Even though he was technically acquired in a trade, Watson is still a Rule 5 pick who must remain on the Red Sox’s big league roster all of next season. Breslow spoke glowingly about him following his acquisition and acknowledged they’d been trying to trade for him since the summer, so the club clearly believes he can give the bullpen a boost.

If he turns out anything like Garrett Whitlock and Justin Slaten, both former Rule 5 picks themselves, Watson may turn out to be one of the most impactful additions of the offseason.

As for the minor league Rule 5 additions — Caden Vire, Matthew Lloyd and Raudelis Martinez — I wouldn’t count on any of them contributing at the big league level anytime soon. Minor league Rule 5 picks usually provide organizational depth and help fill gaps, but it isn’t unheard of for guys to exceed expectations and earn a call-up.

Mickey Gasper is a perfect recent example, and the Red Sox were able to capitalize on his ascendance by flipping him for left-hander Jovani Moran, who right now projects as one of the top lefty candidates to earn a spot in next year’s bullpen.