A Realistic View of the 2025 Red Sox: Part II

[cp176]

As long as Story is on the roster and as long as Cora is the team’s manager, I’m betting (99%) that Story stays at short.  Mayer will go to second and unless Campbell works out hard at first base, there will no place for him to be an everyday player.  

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, cp176 said:

As long as Story is on the roster and as long as Cora is the team’s manager, I’m betting (99%) that Story stays at short.  Mayer will go to second and unless Campbell works out hard at first base, there will no place for him to be an everyday player.  

I think so, too, but I do think Story may be more willing to move off SS than an unknown ex Sox player not to be mentioned.

I'm not sure Mayer will be bother about playing 2B for a couple seasons.

Story is playing very nice defense, now, so there is no hurry, anyway.

[cp176]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I think so, too, but I do think Story may be more willing to move off SS than an unknown ex Sox player not to be mentioned.

I'm not sure Mayer will be bother about playing 2B for a couple seasons.

Story is playing very nice defense, now, so there is no hurry, anyway.

I do think that  Story probably would do what the team asked him to do.  I think that Cora would be unwilling to ask him.  I think that that is ridiculous of course but I don’t think that he would risk potentially go down that ugly road again.

[Maxbialystock]

19 minutes ago, cp176 said:

I do think that  Story probably would do what the team asked him to do.  I think that Cora would be unwilling to ask him.  I think that that is ridiculous of course but I don’t think that he would risk potentially go down that ugly road again.

Story was great at 2b when Bogey was here.  But I'm fine with him at SS and Mayer at 2b.  

[moonslav59]

23 minutes ago, cp176 said:

I do think that  Story probably would do what the team asked him to do.  I think that Cora would be unwilling to ask him.  I think that that is ridiculous of course but I don’t think that he would risk potentially go down that ugly road again.

I do think Story would accept a move, but I also seriously doubt Cora would ever ask him.

I'm fine with Mayer at 2B and Story at SS, until Story's last day with the Sox, so I'm not worrying about this. With Devers at 3B, the issue was way different, to me. (Yes, it bothered me that Cora apparently never even asked, let alone told, Devers to play 1B,)

I hope Bregman returns in 2016. Unlike some fans, I really like our 2026 outlook, in terms of everyday players:

C: Narvaez (Wong is not great as depth, but we could do worse- maybe.)

1B: Casas/Campbell and Toro/Romy

2B: Mayer/Campbell and DHam/Romy

SS: Story/Mayer and Romy

3B: Bregman and Toro/Romy

LF: Duran/Anthony/Refsnyder and Jh Garcia

CF: Rafaela/Duran and Jh Garcia

RF: Abreu/Refsnyder/Anthony and Jh Garcia

DH: Duran/Refsnyder/Yoshida/Romy

[Maxbialystock]

4 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I think so, too, but I do think Story may be more willing to move off SS than an unknown ex Sox player not to be mentioned.

I'm not sure Mayer will be bother about playing 2B for a couple seasons.

Story is playing very nice defense, now, so there is no hurry, anyway.

Mayer at 2b tonight so Eaton's righty bat can get into the lineup.  

[moonslav59]

I'm hoping another righty bat keeps it going...

Trevor Story is at .905 since June 7th. 62 PAs

.317  4  13 in his last 15 games.

Last 4 weeks:

.956 Rafaela

.929 Romy

.848 Refsnyder

.795 Toro

.767 Story

Who da thunk?

Mayer, Campbell, Anthony, Duran & Abreu: all under .660.

[cp176]

It just continues to look like an accident to me when Story makes contact.  I don’t care about his home runs,  I just want to see him and others make contact and put the ball in play.  When and why did baseball seem to move away from this novel concept? Just hit it!  Put the ball in play.

[Bellhorn04]

47 minutes ago, cp176 said:

It just continues to look like an accident to me when Story makes contact.  I don’t care about his home runs,  I just want to see him and others make contact and put the ball in play.  When and why did baseball seem to move away from this novel concept? Just hit it!  Put the ball in play.

The main reason there are fewer balls in play now is that pitches are being thrown harder and with more spin and are simply harder to hit.  And the response of hitters in general has been to swing hard in case you hit it.  It can be pretty ugly to watch, that's for sure.

[Hitch]

19 hours ago, cp176 said:

As long as Story is on the roster and as long as Cora is the team’s manager, I’m betting (99%) that Story stays at short.  Mayer will go to second and unless Campbell works out hard at first base, there will no place for him to be an everyday player.  

This is how I see it, too. For this season at least. 

[mvp 78]

14 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I do think Story would accept a move, but I also seriously doubt Cora would ever ask him.

This is why the Sox won't get any better. The defer to mediocre veterans rather than giving run to younger guys that need reps at their long term positions. Cora is clearly a good manager for a ballclub that wants to win in the postseason, but not the right manager for a ballclub that is trying to rebuild. 

[mvp 78]

28 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

The main reason there are fewer balls in play now is that pitches are being thrown harder and with more spin and are simply harder to hit.  And the response of hitters in general has been to swing hard in case you hit it.  It can be pretty ugly to watch, that's for sure.

The main reason is that hitters are focused on launch angle and trying to hit every ball over the fence instead of just simply making contact. 

Arraez was hitting .381 on 8/1/23. He's not the greatest contact hitter of all time, he just has a throwback approach. Gwynn, Molitor, Ichiro and other great contact hitters would be just as good now as they were back then. Hell, they probably even have higher OBP's since pitchers throw so many BB's now. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

12 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm hoping another righty bat keeps it going...

Who da thunk?

Mayer, Campbell, Anthony, Duran & Abreu: all under .660.

I'm ready for The Password. Why not?

If you believe in the Big Three, remember Garcia led all Red Sox minor leaguers in home runs last year. And he's doing it again this season.

He's currently tied with Anthony, who hit 11 in 212 at bats for Worcester. Garcia has 8 so far in WOO, but in only 110 ABs. Roman had a .914 OPS in 2025 Triple A; Garcia has a .993 OPS so far.

The Password swings righty and is a good outfielder. Maybe he'll come up and catch MLB whiff disease, like a lot of new guys. As we've seen this year, not every rookie immediately catches fire. But as history shows, not all promoted prospects are all wet, either. 

This is the Year of the Red Sox Rookies. No reason to stop now. As soon as Breslow trades an outfielder -- which better happen in the next month -- let's see what Joe Stinson can do. Put it this way: on a team going nowhere, it's better than trading any promising young pitching for some old, half-washed power bat, just to get through another half season of mediocrity. 

[Hitch]

7 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I'm ready for The Password. Why not?

If you believe in the Big Three, remember Garcia led all Red Sox minor leaguers in home runs last year. And he's doing it again this season.

He's currently tied with Anthony, who hit 11 in 212 at bats for Worcester. Garcia has 8 so far in WOO, but in only 110 ABs. Roman had a .914 OPS in 2025 Triple A; Garcia has a .993 OPS so far.

The Password swings righty and is a good outfielder. Maybe he'll come up and catch MLB whiff disease, like a lot of new guys. As we've seen this year, not every rookie immediately catches fire. But as history shows, not all promoted prospects are all wet, either. 

This is the Year of the Red Sox Rookies. No reason to stop now. As soon as Breslow trades an outfielder -- which better happen in the next month -- let's see what Joe Stinson can do. Put it this way: on a team going nowhere, it's better than trading any promising young pitching for some old, half-washed power bat, just to get through another half season of mediocrity. 

He's still at outfield though ins't he? I don't think he's been getting reps at 1st yet (could be wrong). If not, get him over there. 

I heard an interesting take yesterday - players that zip through the minors like Campbell (and now The Password) don't stay at levels long enough for the leagues to adjust to them. So when they come to the MLB and that happens, it's something they've never experienced before and can knock them. 

[mvp 78]

10 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

The Password swings righty and is a good outfielder. Maybe he'll come up and catch MLB whiff disease,

Because the difference between AAA pitching and MLB pitching is HUGE! Just because a player is mashing at AAA doesn't mean he's going to be good at the MLB level. Scouting boxscores doesn't work. 

[mvp 78]

Robert Stock

3.32 ERA AAA

10.13 ERA MLB

[Bellhorn04]

26 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The main reason is that hitters are focused on launch angle and trying to hit every ball over the fence instead of just simply making contact. 

But why did they move to that focus?

And do you think the increases in velocity and spin have little to do with it?

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, Bellhorn04 said:

But why did they move to that focus?

And do you think the increases in velocity and spin have little to do with it?

If they were more focused on contact, I think it'd be easier to deal with the velo and spin TBH. In baseball, everything is just max effort all the time because that's what the spreadsheet demands. It hasn't made for a better game at all. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

13 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Because the difference between AAA pitching and MLB pitching is HUGE! Just because a player is mashing at AAA doesn't mean he's going to be good at the MLB level. Scouting boxscores doesn't work. 

But every MLB season, two guys get trophies for AL and NL Rookie of the Year. Two others get recognized by some publications as Rookie Pitchers of the Year. The Sporting News and Baseball Digest used to name entire nines in each league to their All Rookie Team of the Year... every year!

[Bellhorn04]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If they were more focused on contact, I think it'd be easier to deal with the velo and spin TBH. In baseball, everything is just max effort all the time because that's what the spreadsheet demands. It hasn't made for a better game at all. 

I agree wholeheartedly.  But it's a hard thing to fix.  Everyone seems to agree it's not possible to get pitchers to stop throwing so hard. 

It's hurting the game's watchability and it's hurting the health of the pitchers, but we're stuck with it. 

[cp176]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If they were more focused on contact, I think it'd be easier to deal with the velo and spin TBH. In baseball, everything is just max effort all the time because that's what the spreadsheet demands. It hasn't made for a better game at all. 

This is exactly how I see it.  It seems like a majority of ML hitters have adopted the Dave Kingman approach of it’s a clout or an out.  Every swing is a full out blast even if your body says you shouldn’t be doing it.  I also agree that certainly in my case it has made the game much less enjoyable.

[mvp 78]

10 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I agree wholeheartedly.  But it's a hard thing to fix.  Everyone seems to agree it's not possible to get pitchers to stop throwing so hard. 

It's hurting the game's watchability and it's hurting the health of the pitchers, but we're stuck with it. 

It's not something that's going to get fixed overnight. It's a problem that crept into the game and now they have to figure it out. I'm not paid to figure out how to fix it though. 

[Bellhorn04]

13 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It's not something that's going to get fixed overnight. It's a problem that crept into the game and now they have to figure it out. I'm not paid to figure out how to fix it though. 

The proposed fixes I've heard so far are pretty wild, trying to encourage teams to leave the starting pitcher in longer with a reward and penalty system.   

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Maybe the real reason clubs are preaching hit the ball in the air is that Manfred sent out secret memos to all teams telling them the balls are juiced again. 

Somehow, Boston also didn't its shipment of juiced bats, because Red Sox pop-ups are staying in the ballpark all year.

And shame on the coaching staff for not properly preparing the defense to catch pop-ups. How could Cora allow Duran to skip so many pop-up practices?

[mvp 78]

21 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

The proposed fixes I've heard so far are pretty wild, trying to encourage teams to leave the starting pitcher in longer with a reward and penalty system.   

More TJS? 

[mvp 78]

13 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Maybe the real reason clubs are preaching hit the ball in the air is that Manfred sent out secret memos to all teams telling them the balls are juiced again. 

Somehow, Boston also didn't its shipment of juiced bats, because Red Sox pop-ups are staying in the ballpark all year.

And shame on the coaching staff for not properly preparing the defense to catch pop-ups. How could Cora allow Duran to skip so many pop-up practices?

Sox can't pull the ball. If they could, they'd be hitting it out more. 

[moonslav59]

9 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

This is why the Sox won't get any better. The defer to mediocre veterans rather than giving run to younger guys that need reps at their long term positions. Cora is clearly a good manager for a ballclub that wants to win in the postseason, but not the right manager for a ballclub that is trying to rebuild. 

As of now, Story is the "right option" over Campbell. I'm fine with Story at 2B and Mayer at SS, but would not view a flip as keeping the team from winning or not.

I'm not for firing Cora, despite the issues we've identified, namely not even being able to politely ask Devers to play 1B, let alone demand he does.

I'm not for firing Brez, despite the Sale trade that backfired, the whole Devers fiasco and the Buehler signing. I feel I'd be a hypocrite, since I thought the Sale trade made sense and the Buehler signing was better than all of the Kluber, Richards and Paxton signings combined. (Oops, I forgot the Gio signing, but that one may be moving to the TBD column from the bust column, soon.)

Maybe my views change.

[moonslav59]

9 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I'm ready for The Password. Why not?

If you believe in the Big Three, remember Garcia led all Red Sox minor leaguers in home runs last year. And he's doing it again this season.

He's currently tied with Anthony, who hit 11 in 212 at bats for Worcester. Garcia has 8 so far in WOO, but in only 110 ABs. Roman had a .914 OPS in 2025 Triple A; Garcia has a .993 OPS so far.

The Password swings righty and is a good outfielder. Maybe he'll come up and catch MLB whiff disease, like a lot of new guys. As we've seen this year, not every rookie immediately catches fire. But as history shows, not all promoted prospects are all wet, either. 

This is the Year of the Red Sox Rookies. No reason to stop now. As soon as Breslow trades an outfielder -- which better happen in the next month -- let's see what Joe Stinson can do. Put it this way: on a team going nowhere, it's better than trading any promising young pitching for some old, half-washed power bat, just to get through another half season of mediocrity. 

I've been a huge Jh Garcia fan since almost day one (and his brother, too.)

I'm not the only guy who thinks this kid is for real. He bats righty. He's a plus defender and can play CF or RF.

I could even see us, eventually, trading Duran and Abreu, leaving this:

LF Anthony (Yoshida)

CF Rafaela (Campbell & Garcia) Bleis down the road

RF Garcia (Refsnyder)

[moonslav59]

The fate of the Red Sox seasons seems to ebb and flow, but mostly we look like we'll end up near .500, again- missing the playoffs for the 4th straight season and 6th in the last 7 seasons.

I'm beginning to think being sellers looks like the best idea. Some of the players we trade may not bring back much, but something is better than nothing, and we'd free up some roster slots to allow some of our younger talent a chance to showcase what they have.

 Bregman: I'd try very hard to rework his contract to get him to stay, even if it's something minor just to get hi to commit to one more year, before the deadline. Otherwise, as much as I hate to say it, we should trade him.

Chapman: He should bring back a nice return.

Wilson: He might bring back more than we think. 

Buehler: it's hard to imagine anyone wanting him, but with his playoff successes, maybe somebody will.

Giolito: he has an option that kicks in, if he reaches 140 IP, which I'm sure we could make not happen, but he likely has trade value, now, due to his decent pitching, of late.

Hendriks: I doubt we could get rid of him, even if we paid his full contract remaining.

Refsnyder: I'd like to bring him back as Abreu's platoon partner for 2016, but we also have two RH'd OF bats looking for a slot on the 26 man roster: Campbell & Jh Garcia.

That's it for the one year players. Others may include:

Duran (option, then 2 arbs left) or Abreu (pre-arb in '26, then 3 arbs)

Salary Dumps: Story $25M x 2 plus $5M buyout for '28, Yoshida $18.6M x 2 remaining and Hicks $12M x 2 remaining. I guess we could trade Sandoval, who is owed $12.75 x 1 and eat the full $18.25M we paid.

Players like Wong, Sogard, Eaton, Grissom, DHam and others will not bring back much.

Assuming none of the FAs return, except Bregman, here is how the 40 man roster might start out looking (41 listed):

Crochet, Sandoval, Bello, Dobbins, Crawford, Fitts, Harrison, Perales, Rule 5: Sandlin

Slaten, Houck, Whitlock, Wink, Bernardino, Weissert, Murphy, Kelly, Hicks, Criswell, Guerrero, Burdi, Alcara

Narvaez, Wong

Casas, Toro, Romy, Rule 5 Jordan

Mayer, DHam

Story, Sogard

Bregman, Eaton

Duran, Anthony

Rafaela, Campbell

Abreu, Jh Garcia

Yoshida

To me, we'll need a solid #2 SP, a Closer, another solid pitcher and maybe a 1Bman, if they lost trust in Casas.

It's hard to imagine thinking we are just 3-4 solid additions away from being serious contenders, so maybe my homerism is clouding my vision, and we'll need a couple more upgrades via 2 or 3 for one trades, but maybe we trade a couple players, this deadline, like an OF'er, who is on the 2026 list.

[vjcsmoke]

Red Sox since trading away Devers, 3-6.

2 wins against the mariners, 1 win against the giants.

6 losses to mariners, giants, and angels combined including a sweep by Angels.

They are playing .333 baseball.

Great way for the front office to sabotage our season just as we were starting to play winning baseball.

I hate them so much. Will FSG ever sell the Red Sox to make way for serious owners?