Are Boston Red Sox more willing to give up draft pick to sign free agent because they have 4 selections before third round in 2022?

Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom walks on the field before a game against the Yankees, Friday, June 25. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
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The Boston Red Sox own four picks before the third round in the 2022 MLB Draft.

They will draft 24th overall in the first round. They have two second round draft picks, including the 41st overall selection as compensation for not signing 2021 second-round pick Jud Fabian.

Boston also received a compensation pick between the second and third rounds when Eduardo Rodriguez left in free agency to sign with the Detroit Tigers.

As MassLive.com noted last week, the abundance of draft picks puts the Red Sox in a good position to give up a draft pick to sign a high-profile free agent attached to a qualifying offer. The 41st overall pick is protected so Boston would give up its lower pick in the second round.

Does having four picks before the third round make the Red Sox more willing to sign a qualified free agent?

“I don’t think it changes it too much,” chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said Monday. “But certainly we haven’t been opposed to it. It’s really just a matter of factoring it in in terms of the cost and whether it makes sense for the organization. I certainly think all those picks are valuable. And we can make the most of them. I suppose on the margins, it might move the needle a little bit more towards being able to pass up a pick to go sign a player. But in general, I think it’s just something where we have to continue to factor in all the considerations with adding a player from the outside and proceed accordingly.”

Qualified free agents still available are Michael Conforto, Carlos Correa, Nick Castellanos, Freddie Freeman, Raisel Iglesias, Robbie Ray, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story and Chris Taylor.

Boston is among the clubs with interest in Taylor, according to MLB.com’s Juan Toribio.

In September, The Athletic’s Peter Gammons wrote, Semien “is seemingly the one mega signee that they’d consider, especially as they have weathered the COVID economy well enough to have done very well maintaining and building corporate sponsorships.”

The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier wrote Saturday that the Red Sox have been in contact with Ray.

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