BOSTON -- The Red Sox are demonstrating more than passing interest in free agent Mike Napoli, hosting him this weekend for a visit to Boston, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. Neither the club nor Napoli's agent, Brian Grieper, had confirmed that visit as of Saturday evening.

Boston's pursuit of Napoli is hardly a surprise; he was identified early on as a logical target to fill the Sox's needs at first base and gives the club another option behind the plate, if general manager Ben Cherington elects to shop Jarrod Saltalamacchia at the winter meetings, which begin Dec. 3 in Nashville, Tenn.

Napoli has never played more than 70 games at first base, which he did in 2010, when the Angels' Kendrys Morales fractured his leg in a freak accident and Napoli was pressed into duty as a replacement. This past season, he caught 72 games for the Rangers, but the most he has caught in his career is 96 games (2009), and at age 31, he might be receptive to making a more permanent position switch to first base.