Red Sox, outfielder Kevin Pillar reach contract agreement

Kevin-Pillar;-San-Francisco-Giants;-Toronto-Blue-Jays

San Francisco Giants outfielder Kevin Pillar. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty)

The Boston Red Sox have agreed on a one-year major-league deal with former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar, the team announced Friday.

MLB Network’s Jon Heyman reported that the deal is worth $4.25 million.

Pillar and the Red Sox had been reportedly in talks since earlier this week, after Boston agreed to send their MVP outfielder Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a trade.

The former Blue Jay was traded to the San Francisco Giants during the 2019 season, but wasn’t offered a new contract ahead of 2020, entering the free-agent market.

Pillar batted .264 for San Francisco with 21 homers and 87 RBIs since April 2. Those numbers fall short of filling the offensive numbers provided by Betts, but Pillar would be a welcome defensive addition.

The 31-year-old Los Angeles native made $5.8 million last year and could have earned a salary of around $10 million had the Giants offered a contract, which would have made him eligible for arbitration.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.