The 2026 Red Sox Foundation & One Possible Plan

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

4 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Arraez led the NL in hits in 2024 but his bWAR was only 1.0.  That's a strange profile.

Does Arraez have an injury history? If not, the Sox FO won't be interested.

[Duran Is The Man]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

So, bring Bregman and Chapman back.

Trade Duran, DHam and prospects for Ryan.

Sign Hoskins (RHB) and couple decent RP'ers and call it a winter?

1. L Anthony LF

2. R Bregman 3B

3. L Abreu/ R Garcia RF

4. R Hoskins 1B

5. L Casas/R Romy DH

6. R Story SS

7. L Mayer/R Romy 2B

8. R Narvaez C

9. R Rafaela CF

Rotation: Crochet, Ryan, Bello, Giolito, Sandoval/Dobbins/Crawford

Pen: Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock, ___, ___, Weissert, Bernardino, Dobbins/Crawford/Sandoval

 

close.....trade ARBEU, keep Duran and sign Alonso. Hoskins stinks.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

5 hours ago, notin said:

Sandoval might be the #2 starter if he’s healthy.  Don’t sell him short…

 

When discussing the Sox, most conversations will include the words "if he's healthy."

[moonslav59]

21 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

When discussing the Sox, most conversations will include the words "if he's healthy."

Shall we just use ISH as a code to save time?

If (he) Stays Healthy

[Jean-Sébastien Blouin]

Sorry, I'm from Quebec. I forgot. I read the forum with a translator, so I wrote my text in French

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Shall we just use ISH as a code to save time?

If (he) Stays Healthy

Stays healthy? You're rooting for the wrong team, Moon.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

6 minutes ago, Jean-Sébastien Blouin said:

Sorry, I'm from Quebec. I forgot. I read the forum with a translator, so I wrote my text in French

Aucun probleme.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, notin said:

How about “Abbot and Costello Meet The Guillotine” instead?

Missed that one.

[mvp 78]

25 minutes ago, Jean-Sébastien Blouin said:

Sorry, I'm from Quebec. I forgot. I read the forum with a translator, so I wrote my text in French

It is all good.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Missed that one.

Who's on first?

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

35 minutes ago, Jean-Sébastien Blouin said:

Sorry, I'm from Quebec. I forgot. I read the forum with a translator, so I wrote my text in French

Btw, my stereo speakers are from Toronto.

[notin]

40 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Missed that one.

It was their last movie.  Costello’s last line was “HEEEEEEY. ABB…!!!”  Thud…

[moonslav59]

When Quebecers uses to ask us Maniacs "How I get to Old Orchard Beach?", we would answer, "You can't get thay-ya from Hee-yah!"

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

1 hour ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Btw, my stereo speakers are from Toronto.

Because the speakers are from Toronto, the vocals are in English.

[notin]

18 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Because the speakers are from Toronto, the vocals are in English.

That’s why my LG speakers only play K-Pop!!

[notin]

On 8/21/2025 at 6:58 AM, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

The Red Sox need a consistent home run threat in the heart of the order. 

They average the AL's second-most runs per game -- but with double figures once a week, and 3 or less the rest of the games. And Boston is by far the majors' doubles champion... but how many times have we seen that guy stranded on 2nd or 3rd?

In this age of swing-and-miss, the Sox may not be that much worse at striking out than many other contenders. But the difference is most of those clubs have more game-changing HR hitters, guys who regularly blast 30, 40, even 50 taters per year.

Yes, there are plenty of examples of teams that win without the longball. But for an organization that prides itself on smarts, tailoring a line-up to fit Fenway Park for half its games should be a priority.

It's why I never wanted to trade Casas or Anthony or Garcia, because any prospect with above-average power potential should be coveted. 

Are the Yankees better than Boston without Judge? The M's without Raleigh? Look how the Astros have struggled to score without a healthy Yordann. Consider the Phils without Schwarber, LA without Ohtani, Mets without Soto and Alonso -- Alonso, soon looking for a new contract...

Power to the people, right on.

We have a legitimate home run threat.  His name rhymes with Towman Tanthony…

[Bellhorn04]

14 minutes ago, notin said:

We have a legitimate home run threat.  His name rhymes with Towman Tanthony…

Abreu also has some pop.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

16 minutes ago, notin said:

We have a legitimate home run threat.  His name rhymes with Towman Tanthony…

And everyone saw how much of an instant difference he made with his -- I'm not calling it a batflip, more like a mic drop.

Here's an email I got this AM from a Yankee fan: "I was looking forward to Chapman vs. Judge, Bellinger and Stanton in a one-run ninth, but Roman Anthony launched an absolute rocket over the short porch into the long porch."

[moonslav59]

Approx HRs per 650...

35 Abreu

30 Bregman

25 Story

24 Refsnyder

23 Rafaela

21 Romy

20 Mayer

18 Narvaez

14 Duran

13 Anthony

[notin]

37 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

And everyone saw how much of an instant difference he made with his -- I'm not calling it a batflip, more like a mic drop.

Here's an email I got this AM from a Yankee fan: "I was looking forward to Chapman vs. Judge, Bellinger and Stanton in a one-run ninth, but Roman Anthony launched an absolute rocket over the short porch into the long porch."

You accept email from Yankee fans!?! Let me guess - your friends and family plan also includes Darth Vader and Hannibal Lector…

[moonslav59]

That bat flip/Mic drop was a classic. This kid has it.

[moonslav59]

How much will JH allow Brez to spend, this winter?

We just dumped the Devers deal and are losing the $21M Buehler deal and maybe $18M for Giolito, Add $12M for Chapman and a few $million here and there, and one would think it should be "spending time." Extensions given to Crochet and some kids will kick in, and some arbs might add some cost, but what will it be, JH?

The Bregman decision is the key. What we do with Chapman & the closer role is right up there, too.

Here is a quick look at the 2026 Lux Tax Budget:

28.3 Crochet

23.3 Story

19.3 Giolito (140 IP trigger option)

18.0 Yoshida

16.3 Anthony

~11.0 N Lowe arb

10.3 Hicks

9.2 Bello

9.1 Sandoval

8,0 Duran (option)

7.5 Campbell

6.2 Rafaela

4.7 Whitlock

~4.0 Houck arb

~3.3 Crawford arb

~5.0 Wong+ Bernardino+ Casas + Romy arbs

$185M +$6M others and pree-arb pool= $191M

+$18M player benefits

$209M before any additions.

First Tax line is $244M.

That leaves $35M AAV for Bregman & Chapman, so it looks like we need to go up to the second line just to keep those two ($55M).

If we let Lowe walk, we'd have $45M to $65M to spend.

If we can somehow dump some of Yoshida or Hicks' money, maybe we can pull it off.

 

 

 

 

[moonslav59]

Sox players on the 60 Day IL and 2026:

Houck will miss all of 2026.

Sandoval, Crawford & Dobbins should be ready on or near opening day.

Guerrero should be ready. (Slaten should pitch this year.)

Casas should be ready.

Mayer is not on the 60, and he should be ready by opening day.

 

[Hitch]

I'd be tempted to offer him a 3 year deal, see if you can get him to sign for like 3 x 10/12. He's had a down season and may be open to it.

Then package Casas and Yoshi together and literally give them away, hopefully eating as little of Yoshi's money as possible (this won't be easy admittedly)

C Narvaez

1B Lowe

2B Mayer

SS Story

3B Bregman 

LF Anthony 

CF Rafaela 

RF Abreu 

DH Duran (rotating among the 4 out fielders)

Gonzalez, Password, Campbell and Wong as the bench pieces.

Buy in pitching.

Looks exciting to me. 

[notin]

7 minutes ago, Hitch said:

I'd be tempted to offer him a 3 year deal, see if you can get him to sign for like 3 x 10/12. He's had a down season and may be open to it.

Then package Casas and Yoshi together and literally give them away, hopefully eating as little of Yoshi's money as possible (this won't be easy admittedly)

C Narvaez

1B Lowe

2B Mayer

SS Story

3B Bregman 

LF Anthony 

CF Rafaela 

RF Abreu 

DH Duran (rotating among the 4 out fielders)

Gonzalez, Password, Campbell and Wong as the bench pieces.

Buy in pitching.

Looks exciting to me. 

Let’s skip the posts wher I just say “No.” And you comment about conversation.  Here are some issues 

 

1. Campbell on the bench.  He wasn’t signed for 8 years to be a bench player.  

2. Why extend Lowe when he is controlled for another year? Washington didnt DFA him for being overly talented.  No need to rush here and give away other players to accommodate a player that just got released by a horrible team.

3. Trades are best used for acquiring, not unloading.  The premature contract for Lowe was likely to get him at a discounted price, a feat that is negated and then some by paying Yoshida to play elsewhere.  Not to mention giving away all your trade assets to then buy pitching.

4. Replacing Yoshida with an outfield rotation in itself is a bad idea, considering two of those outfielders cannot hit lefties.

It would be much easier to simply trade Duran and Casas for pitching…

[Hitch]

 

Quote

 

1 minute ago, notin said:

1. Campbell on the bench.  He wasn’t signed for 8 years to be a bench player.

2. Why extend Lowe when he is controlled for another year? Washington didnt DFA him for being overly talented.  No need to rush here and give away other players to accommodate a player that just got released by a horrible team.

3. Trades are best used for acquiring, not unloading.  The premature contract for Lowe was likely to get him at a discounted price, a feat that is negated and then some by paying Yoshida to play elsewhere.  Not to mention giving away all your trade assets to then buy pitching.

4. Replacing Yoshida with an outfield rotation in itself is a bad idea, considering two of those outfielders cannot hit lefties.

It would be much easier to simply trade Duran and Casas for pitching…

 

1) He has yet to prove he is worth anything more. 

2) Because I'd happily pay 10m for a player that he's been for the most of his career, for the next few years at 1B, rather than worry about this position and trying to shoehorn prospects into all the time, but I accept we can wait on this, though it might end up costing us more if we don't jump on this down year.

3) Trades can be used for anything including for unloading as we've seen to great effect at this organisation. Whether we can do what I've suggested is another thing - I said it would be difficult/unlikely. Yoshida is more or less useless to us. and along with Casas has little to no value, which is why if you're lucky enough to get a taker, you do it immediately. Literally immediately. 

4) We'll have to agree to disagree here. I'd be over the moon to have those 4 rotating, with Password as the RH back up, assuming he can hold his own. Several different skill sets, and 4 very good options, with one prospect.

For SP I'd like - Crotchet, Bello, bring back Gio, and see if Cease wants a year where he tries to rebuild his value, and then we have Crawford, Dobbins, Harrison, Tolle, Sandlin and Early waiting to take the 5th spot and give us depth. That would be just fine by me,

[Bellhorn04]

Lowe is off to a phenomenal start in a Red Sox uniform.  The only question is why he was so bad with the Nats.  Did the Sox hitting gurus see something that needed to be tweaked?

Needless to say if he keeps going good you'd be nutty not to want him as the 2026 1B.

I agree with notin that I would just be happy with having him for a year at the arb price for 2026.

[notin]

2 minutes ago, Hitch said:

 

1) He has yet to prove he is worth anything more. 

2) Because I'd happily pay 10m for a player that he's been for the most of his career for 3 years at 1B, rather than worry about this position and trying to shoehorn prospects into all the time, but I accept we can wait on this, though it might end up costing us more if we don't jump on this down year.

3) Trades can be used for anything including for unloading as we've seen to great effect at this organisation. Whether we can do what I've suggested is another thing - I said it would be difficult/unlikely. Yoshida is more or less useless to us. and along with Casas has little to no value, which is why if you're lucky enough to get a taker, you do it immediately. Literally immediately. 

4) We'll have to agree to disagree here. I'd be over the moon to have those 4 rotating, with Password as the RH back up, assuming he can hold his own. Several different skill sets, and 4 very good options, with one prospect.

For SP I'd like - Crotchet, Bello, bring back Gio, and see if Cease wants a year where he tries to rebuild his value, and then we have Crawford, Dobbins, Harrison, Tolle, Sandlin and Early waiting to take the 5th spot and give us depth. That would be just fine by me,

1.  Prove himself over Mayer?  Not like hes being replaced by Jose Altuve.  Fairly certain Mayer has plenty to prove as well, like can he go 26 weeks without getting hurt.

2.  Honestly, I’d wait.  But we both know that unless Lowe wins WS MVP, he’s probably getting non-tendered because he will make some $10-12 mill more than Casas.  (Me? I trade or non-tender Casas.)

3. I said trades are BEST used for acquiring.  Frankly this is where you’re trying to shoehorn 5 players into 4 positions with little regard for defense.  I would think the best OF is Anthony (LF), Rafaela (CF) Abreu/Ghost in RF.  (I’m sticking with Ghost until it catches on.)   Yoshida/Romy at DH works, since DH is the one position where platoons make sense.  And after Sale and Story the ladt two years, simply giving up on the players struggling with injury in order to shoehorn players into the DH makes no sense to me.

As for pitching, bullpen is the big need.  I doubt Cease has struggled to the point of taking a pillow contract.  GMs have long memories, too.  I think Gio has some options and Sandoval is back next season.

Chapman? Re-sign or replace.  

[Bellhorn04]

Re-sign Chapman, sure.  What gets it done is the question.  1 year guaranteed at mucho dinero plus a vesting option for a second year?

  

[Hitch]

14 minutes ago, notin said:

1.  Prove himself over Mayer?  Not like hes being replaced by Jose Altuve.  Fairly certain Mayer has plenty to prove as well, like can he go 26 weeks without getting hurt.

2.  Honestly, I’d wait.  But we both know that unless Lowe wins WS MVP, he’s probably getting non-tendered because he will make some $10-12 mill more than Casas.  (Me? I trade or non-tender Casas.)

3. I said trades are BEST used for acquiring.  Frankly this is where you’re trying to shoehorn 5 players into 4 positions with little regard for defense.  I would think the best OF is Anthony (LF), Rafaela (CF) Abreu/Ghost in RF.  (I’m sticking with Ghost until it catches on.)   Yoshida/Romy at DH works, since DH is the one position where platoons make sense.  And after Sale and Story the ladt two years, simply giving up on the players struggling with injury in order to shoehorn players into the DH makes no sense to me.

As for pitching, bullpen is the big need.  I doubt Cease has struggled to the point of taking a pillow contract.  GMs have long memories, too.  I think Gio has some options and Sandoval is back next season.

Chapman? Re-sign or replace.  

1) Absolutely prove himself over Mayer for me. Campbell hasn't shown he can even play the position yet. In fact I'd argue that he's shown he can't really play the position and you'd use him there only in emergency.

2) I've been impressed with Lowe so far. I've always quite liked him from afar, so maybe I'm a little biased, but I'd be keeping him if he plays like I hope he does. I'm so fed up of the 1B hole. I'd platoon him with Campbell there, if Lowe continues to struggle with lefties.

3) Why does my plan have little regard for defence? I'm more than happy with Duran as a back up for Rafaela in CF when he needs some time off, and playing in left when Anthony does. Spotting Rafaela in right every now and then for Abreu works for me, too.

Bullpen goes without saying. Good shout on Sandoval, I forgot about him. Gio has said often he loves it here, so I think we can bring him back if the will is there.

I re-sign Chapman. I saw Moon suggest something like 1 for 12m with a 3m buyout/2 for 22m the other day. I'd be okay with something like that.