If you rank the skill of the current starting staff it is:

1. Crochet

2 Early

3 Gray

4 Suarez

5 TBD - Bello and about a half dozen other pitchers make for weak candidates for the SP5 spot.  I'll take Tolle even if he doesn't find a change-up before he gets called up.  The Red Sox MUST have great pitching to stay in the middle of the pack in the AL East.  Losing Bregman's offense and defense has crippled the offense.  Anthony is a fine prospect just like Campbell was a year ago, but slumps happen as we saw with Campbell last year.  Anthony may experience something similar and Mayer, the weakest hitter of the three, is likely to experience it too this year if he can stay healthy.  Contreras is NOT an upgrade from Casas; he's a fading veteran in his final seasons.  He's fiery if you want to be politically correct or he's a hot head if you simply want to be accurate.  He doesn't add chemistry like Bregman did.  Breslow needs to find a fifth starter who will keep the team in the game, a manager who will keep the team in the game by making smarter substitutions when the starter comes out and at least two bats to upgrade the catching spot and the 3rd base spot.  Campbell should be given a shot once he gets his hitting rhythm back, and Casas should go to 1B as soon as he's healthy so Contreras and Yoshida can handle the DH spot.  Abreu should be a pinch hitter once he cools off after April.  Actually, while Abreu is hot, TRADE HIM because his value is peaking but his skill at hitting remains the same (inconsistent and below average).  Trade Abreu for Teel and fix the long-term catching position.

This team has regressed without Bregman.  Gray and Suarez will help once they get going but the hitting was all smoke and mirrors last year.  Anthony like other recent star players has regressed.  Mayer has yet to establish and hitting skills at the MLB level other than mediocre ones like he did in the minors except for 2024.  He can't seem to prove 2024 was a real reflection of his skills at hitting.  The other 4 years remain the best documentation of his skills.

Breslow needs to shake the team out of it's funk by firing Cora and making an impactful trade that clears out Cora's favorites, so the clubhouse chemistry improves.  Trade Abreu, Mayer and Narvaez to the Chicago White Sox for Teel, Miguel Vargas and Hagen Smith.  That solves the 3B issue, the catching issue when Teel comes off the IL and adds a quality arm.  It also fixes the outfield to be Anthony, Duran and Rafaela, it allows the team to bring up the best AAA infielder to play 2B and if Cora is gone this team will jump in the standings and get back to where Red Sox fans expect them to be.