After being passed over in September, Bryce Brentz has "leg up'' on fourth OF spot

ORLANDO -- When rosters expanded in September, the Red Sox didn’t see fit to promote Bryce Brentz from Triple A because doing so would have meant adding him to their 40-man roster.

Now, just over two months later, Brentz is the leading candidate to become the team’s fourth outfielder next season, replacing departing free agent Chris Young.

How quickly things have changed.

“Right now, we’re looking at Bryce Brentz to do that job for us,’’ said Dave Dombrowski on the second full day of the GM Meetings.  “I think people are a little misled about what happened (in September). Bryce Brentz did very well for us. We liked him. It’s not like we didn’t like what he was doing for us. It was just a situation where we had a righthanded-hitting outfielder in Chris Young and we continued to play him at that particular time and then in September, we just didn’t have the at-bats to bring (Brentz) up because of how our roster was constructed.’’

For the season, Brentz compiled  a .271/.334/.529 line for Pawtucket with a career-best 31 homers.

“We really liked him and thought he did a good job for us,’’ continued Dombrowski. “ We always, in our own mind, felt that we’d get to a time at the end of the year where we would protect him (on the 40-man roster).  He has a leg up (on that fourth outfielder job); we’re not really looking to go sign somebody at this time.  Somebody later on, could we add someone for roster depth, would we be open to that? Sure.

“But right now, we like what we did. He’s having a real good winter ball season in Mexico. He shows you the determination to go play there, which is a credit to him. We thought he really made some strides last year, particularly when it comes to lefthanded pitching with the adjustments he made with his swing.’’

The Sox view him a mostly a corner outfielder, and more specifically, a left fielder.

“We’d have to discuss what we’d do from a versatility perspective,’’ said Dombrowski. “We haven’t gotten to that point yet. But he’s more of a left-field type-guy.’’

Another internal option for the spot could be Rusney Castillo, who has been exiled to Pawtucket and off the 40-man roster for the last two seasons, largely for financial reasons. Castillo’s salary of $10.5 million didn’t count against the major league payroll last year after he was outrighted off the 40-man roster.

But if he returns to the big leagues, the salary would again count toward the CBT (competitive balance tax). Castillo is scheduled to make $11 million in 2018 and again in 2019 before his salary jumps to $13.5 million in 2020, the final year of his deal.

The Sox have signaled a willingness to go over the $197 million threshold next season in their pursuit of a power bat. But once they go over $217 million, an additional tax would be assessed, along with ramifications for the draft and international bonus pool money.

“He’s a contender for a spot there,’’ said Dombrowski of Castillo. “I think in his situation, when you talk about that, there are still other (payroll) ramifications as years go on. So, we’re open-minded to that. In Rusney’s situation, I don’t know that it makes a great deal of difference, but his salary is not usually (what you would expect from) an extra outfielder.  We’d have to look at that one more thoroughly.’’