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Red Sox have chance to fill roster holes at Winter Meetings

History suggests Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski will not wait long to make a move.ROSS D. FRANKLIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS/FILE 2016

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Red Sox have two clearly defined needs to make their roster a viable one for next season. They need a designated hitter and a reliever capable of pitching in the eighth inning.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said a few days after the season ended that those were his goals, and nothing has changed. What delayed the process was waiting for the owners and players to settle on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Like other high-revenue teams, the Sox wanted to see if the rules changed before making any significant deals.

The Winter Meetings start here on Monday and Dombrowski will get an opportunity to act after nearly eight weeks of waiting since the Sox were eliminated from the AL playoffs.

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“I’m sure that the CBA being settled will help with general player movement,” Dombrowski said.

History suggests Dombrowski will not wait long to take part. He traded for Craig Kimbrel and signed David Price and Chris Young in a span of 19 days last offseason. He also was aggressive during the season, making trades to acquire Aaron Hill, Drew Pomeranz, and Brad Ziegler two weeks before the non-waiver trade deadline.

Dombrowski said he wanted to get a better sense of how the new CBA would affect the trade market before speculating how the Sox would go about filling their holes. But it’s reasonable to suggest they will find a designated hitter via free agency given the many players available, even after Carlos Beltran agreed to a one-year, $16 million deal with the Astros on Saturday.

Edwin Encarnacion is the most attractive candidate because of his outstanding production for Toronto the last five years. But Encarnacion is positioned to get at least a four-year contract and the Red Sox are not seeking a long-term solution in deference to the other players on their roster.

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Jose Bautista, Matt Holliday, Mike Napoli, and Mark Trumbo are players who could be amenable to contracts of one or two years and add the ability to play another position. That would give manger John Farrell a more versatile roster.

With David Ortiz, the Sox had a marauding hitter they wanted to use as the DH in every game. He was in the lineup 139 times as the DH last season and once as a first baseman during interleague play.

The post-Ortiz Red Sox want a DH but hope to use first baseman Hanley Ramirez in that position more often. Dustin Pedroia would benefit from occasional days as the DH, too. Most AL teams try to spread around the DH duties.

“To me that would be the best thing,” Ramirez said.

Finding an eighth-inning reliever could be where the Sox get creative.

There are few attractive free agents outside of high-profile closers who won’t be looking to set up for Kimbrel. The Sox could trade for a reliever as a result.

Two prominent closers, David Robertson of the White Sox and Wade Davis of the Royals, could be moved. Pairing Kimbrel with another closer would give the Red Sox an edge in the AL East.

Another possibility would be to identity a starter they believe is better suited for a late-inning relief role and sign or trade for that player.

Joe Blanton, who coincidentally is a free agent, is an example of that strategy. At 34, he transitioned into the bullpen in 2015 and has since had a 2.65 ERA and struck out 9.2 batters per nine innings. Blanton appeared in 75 games for the Dodgers last season and was one of the better setup men in the game until getting hit hard by the Cubs in the National League Championship Series.

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The Winter Meetings also offer Dombrowski a chance to explore options beyond the obvious needs.

The Red Sox have the prospects to make any major trade they choose and could easily win a bid for White Sox ace Chris Sale. But since taking over baseball operations 15 months ago, Dombrowski has dealt a number of notable prospects, including Anderson Espinoza, Javier Guerra, and Manuel Margot. Further depleting that depth may not be part of his agenda.

The idea of improving the rotation will have plenty of appeal. Outside of Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello and Price, the Sox do not have an especially trustworthy group of starters.

Pomeranz, Clay Buchholz, and Steven Wright have been All-Stars but only Buchholz has been an established starter for more than one season. Eduardo Rodriguez, while talented, missed 13 starts last season because of injuries.

Dombrowski could wait and see how the rotation develops and make a trade in-season.


Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.