Welcome back to the 2025-26 edition to Crush or passwhere we examine potential free agent and trade targets to determine if the Red Sox should pursue them and what it would take to get there. Today we look at a Gold Glove player.
Who is he and where did he come from?
He’s Nico Hoerner and he’s currently a member of the Chicago Cubs, a team that, in the words of Dan Cicatore, has just been handed Bad contractIt is an idea I agree with, albeit with sadness at the loss of the club captain. The 2018 first-round draft pick (two picks ahead of Triston Casas) has been on a major league roster since 2019 (two years taller than Casas, which is no indictment of Triston as Horner is roughly three years older). He played primarily at second base, logging 500 games at that position, although he pitched briefly as well, playing 210 games at that position.
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Is it good?
If you regret leaving Bregman because of his defensive ability, you might like Nico Horner. In fact, he’s the defending Gold Glover in second place, having also won in 2023, and his 2025 above average (15) puts him in the top 98th percentile in the league. If you’re worried about Ceddanne “Nuff Cedd” Rafaela’s ability to cover second base despite being a world-class center fielder, acquiring Hoerner will make you breathe easy.
Plus, Horner, who turns 29 in May, isn’t too bad at play either. He lacks power, mashing only seven home runs. But I’m willing to forgive that considering he’s getting on base with a .345 OBP and barely breaking out, as his career-best strikeout percentage of 7.6% in 2025 also ranked in the top 98 percent. He stole twenty-nine bags, so he’s fast, too. So, yeah, Horner is really good. Which is exactly why he is the starting player on another team.
tldr; Just give me his stats for 2025.
.297/.345/.394, 7 HR, 61 RBI, 49 K, 39 BB, 29 SB, 4 FE in 156 games
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Why would he be a good fit for the 2025 Red Sox?
Need I mention again that in a team that has been in defensive disarray for the better part of a decade and that includes a stable player departing, Horner has zero Throwing errors and only four fielding errors. He also missed only six matches. This is some stability that the team has not seen on the field in some time. Hoerner’s fWAR last year was 4.8. I am in no way comparing Horner to Pedroia (unless you are?) but Pedroia’s average number of strikes per 162 games played in his career was 5.6. Being so close to the Hall of Fame numbers is a pretty good thing. At his worst, Hoerner in 2024 is still hitting .273 while dealing with a hand injury
Why wouldn’t he be a good fit for the Red Sox?
There are several reasons, the first of which is the question of what the Cubs want from Hoerner. They’ll certainly try to land a high-end prospect like Tolle or Early, some other big names like Arias or Romero, and presumably one or two other lottery ticket prospects. Now, the Red Sox have enough depth to handle dealing these names to an All-Star title. But that might scare Craig Breslow a little.
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Furthermore, Horner will be a free agent next season. Bo Bichette’s 3-year, $126 million deal with the New York Mets raises the price for All-Star-caliber players. Hoerner avoided arbitration with Chicago in 2024 by signing a 3-year, $35 million deal, but that was a Gold Glove and five points off strikeout percentage before that. He’ll command a closer deal for Bichette next offseason (make me laugh without discussing the lockout, please).
Additionally, the Red Sox may simply want to see what they have in Marcelo Mayer at another position, and the outfield is already stacked enough that we might see Rafaela or even Christian Campbell (left field chatter aside) in the middle of the diamond at some point (or maybe both, heaven forbid, if the outfield has any health issues). If you’re looking for a specific reason why asset trading is difficult, it’s that Horner lacks power; The Savant has consistently placed it in the lowest decimal percentile in barrel ratio and hard-hit percentage. If you’re looking for more power after Bregman’s departure, you might not want to bring in a guy who only hit 36 points in a six (or 6,014) year career.
Show me the cool highlight.
Here he beats the White Sox two runs in about five seconds under the pitch’s flight rule to turn two by letting the baseball fall to the ground. There’s also the fact that he has extremely quick reflexes with that arm.
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Crush or pass?
I smashing, But I think he’ll start the season as a player in Chicago instead of being dealt to a team that is amassing assets to acquire him and is willing to extend Hoerner on short notice. The Cubs are in “win now” mode so they might see how the season goes with a stacked infield full of studs. This Red Sox season, with the signing of Ranger Suarez aside, saw a return to the “Kings of Interest” mode of operations, where the team was linked to a slew of high-profile names, only to see them sign someone else. But the 2026 second base position remains very much a question mark, as it would have been even with Alex Bregman back. For this reason, it would be appropriate for the Red Sox to throw a little caution to the wind and land an All-Star caliber player to join their ranks. Will they do that? Well, that’s a different story…no pun intended.