A Realistic View of the 2025 Red Sox: Part II

[Larry Cook]

56 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Agree on young players, but this season the Sox have already played 4 rookies. You need some veterans too.  

Without going wild and giving up someone who should be kept, I would like the Sox to be buyers/traders come the 31st.   They need pitching.  The lineup looks fine to me.  

I like our lineup! 6 first and second year players mean we are going to have ups and downs!!! 
but if we can get the #2 spot in the rotation fixed soon, I think we can make the playoffs 

[Maxbialystock]

5 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

I like our lineup! 6 first and second year players mean we are going to have ups and downs!!! 
but if we can get the #2 spot in the rotation fixed soon, I think we can make the playoffs 

Agree.  When Bregman returns, which is soon, we will a good hitting and good fielding lineup overall.  

The rotation is looking almost decent with Crochet, Bello, and Giolito pitching well. Buehler is going tomorrow and you know he really wants to have a good game.  

The bullpen is the problem, but even they could bounce back as the hitting seems to have done.  

[Soxlover]

If we are going to be serious buyers, our top priorities should be:

#2 SPer

big bat- 2B or 1B

solid RP’er

[notin]

3 minutes ago, Soxlover said:

If we are going to be serious buyers, our top priorities should be:

#2 SPer

big bat- 2B or 1B

solid RP’er

If the Sox get a 1b and a RP, I will be satisfied.  SP is tough to acquire in July…

[Bellhorn04]

14 minutes ago, notin said:

If the Sox get a 1b and a RP, I will be satisfied.  SP is tough to acquire in July…

Plus they have Houck, Dobbins and maybe even Sandoval to come back.

RP is definitely a must.

[Maxbialystock]

12 minutes ago, notin said:

If the Sox get a 1b and a RP, I will be satisfied.  SP is tough to acquire in July…

Toro's OPS is .799 and Gonzalez's is .857.  I can't see spending money or prospects on a first baseman.  I have my doubts about Casas's durability, but he is the presumed 1b for next season.  

Absolutely on the RP or two.  Agree on difficulty of an SP.     

[Maxbialystock]

2 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Plus they have Houck, Dobbins and maybe even Sandoval to come back.

RP is definitely a must.

Houck is still struggling in AA.  

[Maxbialystock]

In today's game thread, I take a look at the Sox 2d half schedule.  It's brutal--so much so that I have doubts about making the postseason.  

[Hugh2]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

Houck is still struggling in AA.  

He hasn't given up an earned run his last two starts. 

[Larry Cook]

3 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Plus they have Houck, Dobbins and maybe even Sandoval to come back.

RP is definitely a must.

Last year, bres-slow got us some relief pitchers and they were less than ideal!! 

[Nick]

18 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

Agree.  When Bregman returns, which is soon, we will a good hitting and good fielding lineup overall.  

The rotation is looking almost decent with Crochet, Bello, and Giolito pitching well. Buehler is going tomorrow and you know he really wants to have a good game.  

The bullpen is the problem, but even they could bounce back as the hitting seems to have done.  

"The bullpen is the problem, but even they could bounce back as the hitting seems to have done."  

We've added 3 relievers recently and I think they will help. Murphy looked good in his 2 outings. Alcala and Hicks are others. Cora is angling for Hicks to be the 8th inning guy.

[Larry Cook]

1 minute ago, Nick said:

"The bullpen is the problem, but even they could bounce back as the hitting seems to have done."  

We've added 3 relievers recently and I think they will help. Murphy looked good in his 2 outings. Alcala and Hicks are others. Cora is angling for Hicks to be the 8th inning guy.

Hicks is a bit of a train wreck!! No movement on the fastball. So guys just try to time the slider 

[Nick]

14 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Hicks is a bit of a train wreck!! No movement on the fastball. So guys just try to time the slider 

I think we're paying him $12M next two years, so he has to pick us his game.

[Larry Cook]

2 hours ago, Nick said:

I think we're paying him $12M next two years, so he has to pick us his game.

Him and Harrison are going to be in the bullpen for a long time for us!!!!  

[Nick]

7 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Him and Harrison are going to be in the bullpen for a long time for us!!!!  

They have Harrison starting in the minors.

[Larry Cook]

23 minutes ago, Nick said:

They have Harrison starting in the minors.

Hard to imagine him as a starter!!  I watched him pitch and it is scary 

[vegasbob]

With Bregman and Yoshida likely to go back on 26 by or just after the A-S break, who goes back to WooSox ?

Eaton is an easy choice , but who else ?   David Hamilton is a possibility .

[Larry Cook]

55 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

With Bregman and Yoshida likely to go back on 26 by or just after the A-S break, who goes back to WooSox ?

Eaton is an easy choice , but who else ?   David Hamilton is a possibility .

Maybe bres-slow works a trade??? A dependable reliever would help a lot as Bernardino and weissert’s arms are going to fall off soon 

[Maxbialystock]

8 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

He hasn't given up an earned run his last two starts. 

I didn't check closely enough.  That's good news.  

[Soxlover]

If Buehler can come around, everything changes, IMO.

[Larry Cook]

1 hour ago, Soxlover said:

If Buehler can come around, everything changes, IMO.

Everything for us changes at the trade deadline as beuhler would be movable 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick]

Give some credit to Breslow. 

His top 3 acquisitions all made the All-Star team. Every year we have a bad signing. This year it's Buehler. 

[Nick]

Runs	W	L	Net
0-1-2	5	24	(19)
3-4-5	17	16	1
6+	24	5	19
	46	45	1

Some may say we're the ultimate .500 team.

Score less than 3 runs, we lose, Score 6 or more runs we win. It's a coin flip scoring 3-4-5 runs. Unfortunately our record is better when we score 3 runs, 7-5, versus scoring 5 runs, 5-6. We're 5-5 scoring 4 runs. 

Another one of my meaningless stat. 

[dgalehouse]

Three Red Sox players were named to the A.L. All Star Team.  Bregman, Chapman and Crochet. All three were off season acquisitions by Breslow. 

[Larry Cook]

2 hours ago, dgalehouse said:

Three Red Sox players were named to the A.L. All Star Team.  Bregman, Chapman and Crochet. All three were off season acquisitions by Breslow. 

Congrats to those 3 players for an excellent job!!!

[Hitch]

9 hours ago, dgalehouse said:

Three Red Sox players were named to the A.L. All Star Team.  Bregman, Chapman and Crochet. All three were off season acquisitions by Breslow. 

He's got a lot of stuff right so far. 

[Hugh2]

In my opinion if the Sox want to make a run their priorities should be

1. A solid backup catcher

2. Relief pitching 8th inning guy

3. A #2 starter

You can totally change my mind on the order of priority. 

 

[Hugh2]

12 hours ago, dgalehouse said:

Three Red Sox players were named to the A.L. All Star Team.  Bregman, Chapman and Crochet. All three were off season acquisitions by Breslow. 

Breslow has made a couple of bad moves, but he's made more than enough good ones to make up for it. 

If you make a lot of moves you will have a few blunders, the right idea is to have the Cojones to make moves and live with the bad to get the good....which Breslow apparently has this ability 

[Hugh2]

On 7/5/2025 at 11:43 AM, Maxbialystock said:

Toro's OPS is .799 and Gonzalez's is .857.  I can't see spending money or prospects on a first baseman.  I have my doubts about Casas's durability, but he is the presumed 1b for next season.  

Absolutely on the RP or two.  Agree on difficulty of an SP.     

The Toro and Gonzalez platoon at 1B has been working out fine.  Feels like their combined efforts has actually given them more at that position than they've had in a while. 

I also think Gonzalez can have a future on this roster, seeing how Refsnyder is retiring.  I'd like to see him get some reps in LF and add that to his repertoire.  But that can wait until the offseason.  

[Hitch]

59 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

In my opinion if the Sox want to make a run their priorities should be

1. A solid backup catcher

2. Relief pitching 8th inning guy

3. A #2 starter

You can totally change my mind on the order of priority. 

 

If we're buyers, I think I'd reverse this in terms of order, while trying to add a power bat (unlikely).