The Red Sox have agreed to terms on a minor-league contract with free agent first baseman C.J. Cron, as was first reported by MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. The deal, which includes an invite to major-league spring training, would allow Cron to earn $2 million if he is added to Boston’s active roster and up to $500,000 in performance bonuses, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
Cron, 34, is a veteran of 10 big-league seasons who most recently split the 2023 campaign with the Rockies and Angels. Due to lingering back issues, the right-handed hitter was limited to just 71 games between the two clubs, batting .248/.295/.434 with 12 doubles, 12 home runs, 37 RBIs, 38 runs scored, 17 walks, and 65 strikeouts over 278 plate appearances.
Cron, 34, is a veteran of 10 big-league seasons who most recently split the 2023 campaign with the Rockies and Angels. Due to lingering back issues, the right-handed hitter was limited to just 71 games between the two clubs, batting .248/.295/.434 with 12 doubles, 12 home runs, 37 RBIs, 38 runs scored, 17 walks, and 65 strikeouts over 278 plate appearances. He got into just 10 games for the Halos after being traded from Colorado to Los Angeles in late July and ended the year on the injured list.
Despite those disappointing results, Cron is just two years removed from making the National League All-Star team after slashing .257/.315/.468 with 29 homers and a career-high 102 RBIs over 150 games (632 plate appearances) for the Rockies in 2022. That came after he clubbed 28 home runs and posted a career-best .905 OPS in his first season with Colorado in 2021.
For his major-league career, which began in 2014, Cron is a lifetime .260/.320/.471 hitter with 194 doubles, 10 triples, 187 home runs, 604 runs driven in, 470 runs scored, 10 stolen bases, 268 walks, and 928 strikeouts across 1,049 total games (4,043 plate appearances) with the Angels, Rays, Twins, Tigers, and Rockies. In that time frame, the former first-round draft selection out of Utah has forged a .78
