Alex Cora. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Red Sox are champs, but now it's the offseason. Craig Kimbrel, Nathan Eovaldi, Joe Kelly, and World Series MVP Steve Pearce are free agents, so what's the plan?
"If you told me today we could bring the same club back together totally and fit into everything, we'd be thrilled with that. I don't think it's realistic because you see what free agents see and what that brings," Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. "I would think that we'll have a real core of our group of players together and we'll find out how many guys can actually stay."
If Kimbrel leaves, who's the closer?
"[Matt] Barnes and [Ryan] Brasier are the top candidates. They're not Craig Kimbrel at this point of their careers. But, I don't think we'd go into closer by committee approach. So if it wasn't Craig, it would be either them or we'd have to see what other alternatives existed outside the organization," Dombrowski said.
Boston's hopeful Dustin Pedroia will return soon after his knee limited him to just three games all year.
Manager Alex Cora would love to have him Opening Day.
"We'll see how it goes. I still expect him to contribute, like I told him. And you guys can go ahead and write it, if he's ready to go, than that's the only game he's going to lead off next year," Cora said.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) reports