Red Sox 2025 Season Review/Offseason Preview Thread

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

I am thinking we make 3 moves: 

1.) we sign Alonso and Casas starts the year in Worcester. 
2.) Duran for brohm and painter. 
3.) resign Justin Wilson or sign another lefty reliever: 

 

Bohm is a 10-15 HR guys who has never hit over .780.

Painter is no sure bet. If we could flip him for Ryan, I'd do this trade.

I'd sign Matz over Wilson.

I'd give Casas the chance to beat Masa for the DH job. (BTW, Masa has options, too.)

[Larry Cook]

12 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Bohm is a 10-15 HR guys who has never hit over .780.

Painter is no sure bet. If we could flip him for Ryan, I'd do this trade.

I'd sign Matz over Wilson.

I'd give Casas the chance to beat Masa for the DH job. (BTW, Masa has options, too.)

1.) bohm allows Mayer to slide to second base and bohm plays decent defense. 
2.) painter has amazing stuff. Just needs to tighten up the secondaries after UCL surgery, 

3.) matz does not have the strike out profile that bres-slow salivates over!  Wilson did before he ran out of gas in August 

4.) do we really want Casas spending time in Boston rebuilding his timing?? He looked awful last April and his timing is shot!!  

[moonslav59]

19 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

1.) bohm allows Mayer to slide to second base and bohm plays decent defense. 
2.) painter has amazing stuff. Just needs to tighten up the secondaries after UCL surgery, 

3.) matz does not have the strike out profile that bres-slow salivates over!  Wilson did before he ran out of gas in August 

4.) do we really want Casas spending time in Boston rebuilding his timing?? He looked awful last April and his timing is shot!!  

1. We need offense and Bohm is not that.

2. Painter and hundred of other prospects, including in the Sox system have "amazing stuff."

3. Matz has other skills.  Brez liked him for some reason.

4. No. I want Alonso not Casas. I'm not big fan of Masa, and feel he has to prove he gets the FT job at DH. I see Casas the same way.

 

[Randy Red Sox]

22 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

One would have to be Early or Tolle for sure- maybe Bello, but losing Bello just opens another big hole.

Do we offer Tolle or Early plus one from Crawford, Harrison or Dobbins?

I doubt they'd agree to three from Crawford, Harrison, Dobbins, Witherspoon and Perales plus Arias or Gonzales.

Does AZ want Duran or K Campbell? Does MIL (Peralta +), CIN (Lodolo) or MIN (Ryan)?

 

just keep BOTH Tolle and Early. Mayer can handle 2B or Story could slide to 2B and Mayer at short. We FINALLY have some quality young SP depth in the system -let's not give it away for a 32 yr old 2B.

[JoeBrady]

13 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Bohm is a 10-15 HR guys who has never hit over .780.

Painter is no sure bet.

If Painter was a sure bet, he'd be untouchable.  The objective is always, always to see how much of a gamble a prospect is worth.

[Randy Red Sox]

13 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I could see him trading prospects for a one year window, maybe 2 years.

Getting Duran might make it 3 years, if he keeps Schwarber in Philly.

I'm not sure he gives up Painter, but we might flip him for Ryan.

Twins have stated they are not trading Ryan

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, Randy Red Sox said:

just keep BOTH Tolle and Early. Mayer can handle 2B or Story could slide to 2B and Mayer at short. We FINALLY have some quality young SP depth in the system -let's not give it away for a 32 yr old 2B.

It's impossible for a team to start a season with 15 SP'ers on the 40. Sure, some can move to the pen, even if temporarily, but one or two will surely be traded. I'm sure Brez will attempt to move the ones he has the least faith in, but those are likely the ones other GMs like the least and offer the least to get.

I love pitching depth. I felt we had a lot, last year and ended up trading for May and Matz and adding 2 rookies to the 40, late in the year to start key games.

Crochet, Gray, Bello, Sandoval, Oviedo

Crawford, Harrison, Dobbins, Tolle, Early (These are ML starters likely on our AAA roster.)

Perales, Sandlin, Uberstine, Drohan plus Houck, who will go on the 60 IL once the season begins.

We will balance the roster with a SP'er trade or two. My guess is Crawford goes. The second guy is harder to project, but I think we'll need to be down to 12 SP'ers on the 40 by opening day, not counting Houck who will move to the 60.

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

Twins have stated they are not trading Ryan

I saw that. That proves he'll be traded, soon. LOL!

[moonslav59]

18 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

just keep BOTH Tolle and Early. Mayer can handle 2B or Story could slide to 2B and Mayer at short. We FINALLY have some quality young SP depth in the system -let's not give it away for a 32 yr old 2B.

I'd be fine with no Marte and adding the 31 year old (today) Alonso.

FYI: Bregman will be 32, soon. Schwarber will be 33 and Suarez 34. Bichette is the young one (will be 28,) but he has very little power and questionable defense. I would not choose Bichette to break the mold on large and long contracts. He's a decent 122-128 OPS+ guy, but a .470 SLG is not what we need. His .337 OBP is not high enough to make up for the lack of power. He did hit 29 HRs way back in '21, and many players add power as the reach their 30's but he's been going down in HRs: 29>24>20>4 (1/2 season)>18.

We need a big boost in the infield, and we are not adding power in the OF or at catcher/DH.

Who do you suggest we get?

Alonso is 1 year younger than KMarte and sucks on D at 1B. Marte fills the big need at 2B.

I do like Mayer and Anthony, and we should expect some gains from other pre-prime players like Abreu, Rafaela, Narvaez and prime guys like Duran, but the chances are, some will not. I'd like to  count on Anthony & Mayer as putting us over the top, but we need to first replace almost 2 FT'er PAs from Devers, Bregman, Refsnyder & Lowe, first.

[Randy Red Sox]

27 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It's impossible for a team to start a season with 15 SP'ers on the 40. Sure, some can move to the pen, even if temporarily, but one or two will surely be traded. I'm sure Brez will attempt to move the ones he has the least faith in, but those are likely the ones other GMs like the least and offer the least to get.

I love pitching depth. I felt we had a lot, last year and ended up trading for May and Matz and adding 2 rookies to the 40, late in the year to start key games.

Crochet, Gray, Bello, Sandoval, Oviedo

Crawford, Harrison, Dobbins, Tolle, Early (These are ML starters likely on our AAA roster.)

Perales, Sandlin, Uberstine, Drohan plus Houck, who will go on the 60 IL once the season begins.

We will balance the roster with a SP'er trade or two. My guess is Crawford goes. The second guy is harder to project, but I think we'll need to be down to 12 SP'ers on the 40 by opening day, not counting Houck who will move to the 60.

i am fine with trading Crawford, Dobbins, and Harrison but I dont think they bring back that much unless we add Duran or Abreu. I would keep Duran out of those 2 mainly for the speed.

[moonslav59]

33 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

i am fine with trading Crawford, Dobbins, and Harrison but I dont think they bring back that much unless we add Duran or Abreu. I would keep Duran out of those 2 mainly for the speed.

I'd like to keep Duran, too. I'm not sure how well his speed "ages," and for some reason he seemed to reduce his SB attempts, this year. I've been open to trading Rafaela or Abreu, instead, and I'm okay with Anthony in RF or Duran/Anthony in CF. Having Campbell and Masa as LF options is enough depth to give me comfort. I'd be fine bringing Ref back for one more year, if we trade an OF'er.

I do think two from Crawford, Harrison, Perales & Dobbins added to 1 OF'er is a big enough package to bring back a key piece at SP2, 3B or 2B. If we can fill one other slot w a FA, I'm fine with Mayer/Romy/Casas filling one infield slot to start the year. To get someone much better, we'll have to add Early or Tolle, but even then, it would mean keeping one more from the 4 listed above, so we should still be okay with SP'er depth and future outlook.

[Larry Cook]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

If Painter was a sure bet, he'd be untouchable.  The objective is always, always to see how much of a gamble a prospect is worth.

With anybody other than desperate Dave, he would be untouchable 

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

With anybody other than desperate Dave, he would be untouchable 

He is a top 10 or 20 prospect in almost every ranking, but he far from a sure bet TOTR starter, and even if he is, it might take 2-3 years to get there.

Our window started this year, and we blew one year already. Now, we have 2 years with Duran, Chapman, and Masa, 1 to 2 years with Gray and 1 year with Whitlock. We may be able to extend the window beyond 2 years, but our brightest years seem to look like 2026 and 2027, but only if we add players that will be bih helps NOW!

[Randy Red Sox]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He is a top 10 or 20 prospect in almost every ranking, but he far from a sure bet TOTR starter, and even if he is, it might take 2-3 years to get there.

Our window started this year, and we blew one year already. Now, we have 2 years with Duran, Chapman, and Masa, 1 to 2 years with Gray and 1 year with Whitlock. We may be able to extend the window beyond 2 years, but our brightest years seem to look like 2026 and 2027, but only if we add players that will be bih helps NOW!

something i have not see mentioned anywhere is how Bregman may/will hold up things for the Sox. We all know that Bora$$ likes to take his time making decisions. I think things will finally start to heat up in the coming weeks and if we wait on Bregman we could be left with a bag of coal come Christmas.

[moonslav59]

Just now, Randy Red Sox said:

something i have not see mentioned anywhere is how Bregman may/will hold up things for the Sox. We all know that Bora$$ likes to take his time making decisions. I think things will finally start to heat up in the coming weeks and if we wait on Bregman he could be left with a bag of coal come Christmas.

I don't think Bregman is Brez's top priority. He was happy to get him on a 1 year deal, but now I think he's looking at Alonso first. Maybe he lowers the AAV by offering one more year than anyone else, but that does seem counter to everything the Sox have stood for since the Sale & Nate signings. (Okay, we had Story replacing Bogey and Masas replacing JD, but that's it for 7 years!)

[Randy Red Sox]

3 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I don't think Bregman is Brez's top priority. He was happy to get him on a 1 year deal, but now I think he's looking at Alonso first. Maybe he lowers the AAV by offering one more year than anyone else, but that does seem counter to everything the Sox have stood for since the Sale & Nate signings. (Okay, we had Story replacing Bogey and Masas replacing JD, but that's it for 7 years!)

I don't see the Sox getting Alonso. I think they will simply hope for a Casas rebound and save the $$. They may circle back and sign Bregman late to placate RSN after missing out on the big fish. This has certainly been how they have operated these past several off-seasons.

[Duran Is The Man]

48 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I don't think Bregman is Brez's top priority. He was happy to get him on a 1 year deal, but now I think he's looking at Alonso first. Maybe he lowers the AAV by offering one more year than anyone else, but that does seem counter to everything the Sox have stood for since the Sale & Nate signings. (Okay, we had Story replacing Bogey and Masas replacing JD, but that's it for 7 years!)

i think Bregman is probably wanting too much moolah. for what he wants, you could probably get ALonso and Polanco.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

He is a top 10 or 20 prospect in almost every ranking, but he far from a sure bet TOTR starter, and even if he is, it might take 2-3 years to get there.

Our window started this year, and we blew one year already. Now, we have 2 years with Duran, Chapman, and Masa, 1 to 2 years with Gray and 1 year with Whitlock. We may be able to extend the window beyond 2 years, but our brightest years seem to look like 2026 and 2027, but only if we add players that will be bih helps NOW!

I don't see any end to our window.  In fact, I'm not sure the window has fully opened.  In 2030, we'll still have:

• Crochet
• Bello
• Anthony
• Campbell
• Rafaela
• Harrison
• Narvaez
• Mayer
• Early
• Tolle

Does anyone in baseball have a better 2030 team than us?

[Larry Cook]

2 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

I don't see any end to our window.  In fact, I'm not sure the window has fully opened.  In 2030, we'll still have:

• Crochet
• Bello
• Anthony
• Campbell
• Rafaela
• Harrison
• Narvaez
• Mayer
• Early
• Tolle

Does anyone in baseball have a better 2030 team than us?

And Witherspoon 

[JoeBrady]

6 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

It's impossible for a team to start a season with 15 SP'ers on the 40.

Think in terms of hitters and pitchers.  We have 23 out of the 40 are pitchers, which is par for the course.

• NYY 20
• TOR 21
• BAL 22
• TBR 22

The delineation between starter and relief is meaningless.  Very few minor league RPs will be on the 40.

[JoeBrady]

4 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

I don't think Bregman is Brez's top priority. He was happy to get him on a 1 year deal,

I agree 100%.  I always said the long-term plan was Arias at SS and Mayer at 3rd.  And Bregman was the bridge.  I'd be surprised if we signed Bregman.

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

I don't see the Sox getting Alonso. I think they will simply hope for a Casas rebound and save the $$. They may circle back and sign Bregman late to placate RSN after missing out on the big fish. This has certainly been how they have operated these past several off-seasons.

If we don't get Alonso, I think we go with Polanco (Mayer 3B/Casas 1B w Romy helping out.)

Maybe K Marte is just a dream.

[JoeBrady]

51 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

If we don't get Alonso, I think we go with Polanco (Mayer 3B/Casas 1B w Romy helping out.)

Maybe K Marte is just a dream.

Now I think you're being more realistic.  And I think your rationale is spot-on.  Assuming health, Casas/Mayer/Romy should be fine.  The only place where we don't have much ceiling is at 2nd.  Polanco could supply that, and at a reasonable price.

[Randy Red Sox]

57 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

If we don't get Alonso, I think we go with Polanco (Mayer 3B/Casas 1B w Romy helping out.)

Maybe K Marte is just a dream.

Polanco is likely the BEST we will get

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

Polanco is likely the BEST we will get

If our budget is $18-22M, yes. Maybe Suarez?

[Larry Cook]

Starting pitching depth chart, my best guess: 

1) Crochet 
2) Gray 
3) Bello
4) Crawford
5) Sandoval
6) Oviedo
7) Early
8) Tolle
9) Dobbins
10) Harrison
11) Uberstine
12) Drohan
13) Perales
14) Witherspoon
15) Phillips
16) Eyerson

the first 9 look pretty good. But the drop off from 1 to 2 is huge!!  
 

Arizona wants 2 pitchers for Marte.  Seems like bello and cutter (or Oviedo) could get that deal done !!!!  

[moonslav59]

22 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Arizona wants 2 pitchers for Marte.  Seems like bello and cutter (or Oviedo) could get that deal done !!!!  

I think they will want Tolle or Early and deserve one.

I'm not sure 3 from Bello, Crawford, Dobbins, Harrison, Oviedo, Perales get it done.

Maybe Campbell plus 2 from Crawford, Dobbins, Harrison, Oviedo, Perales?

Not sure they want Arias or anyone else, instead, but that could be an option.

[UtahSox]

10 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

just keep BOTH Tolle and Early. Mayer can handle 2B or Story could slide to 2B and Mayer at short. We FINALLY have some quality young SP depth in the system -let's not give it away for a 32 yr old 2B.

Aside from the positional alignment argument… (Too many starting pitchers)

I’m just not that confident in all the hype around our prospects. We’ve all seen this movie before — every year there’s a “next ________,” right up until they aren’t.
Yeah, we hit big on RA19….  But the verdict is still totally out on Mayer, K. Campbell (remember what we all thought of him on April 15?? compared to now?), Tolle, Early, Witherspoon, Perales, Sandlin… the list goes on. High level MLB talent?  absolutely — but none of it is guaranteed. And even if some of these guys do become real players, Ketel Marte gives you a massive, proven boost over the next 3 seasons. That’s the difference between potential down the road and actual production right now. If we’re serious about maximizing this current window, Marte moves the needle more than a handful of “maybes.”

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I think they will want Tolle or Early and deserve one.

I'm not sure 3 from Bello, Crawford, Dobbins, Harrison, Oviedo, Perales get it done.

Maybe Campbell plus 2 from Crawford, Dobbins, Harrison, Oviedo, Perales?

Not sure they want Arias or anyone else, instead, but that could be an option.

Put yourself in CB’s shoes AZ says “I want Bello, Early, and Campbell” would you pull the trigger? I’m trying to gauge how bad you want Marte cuz I think it’s gonna hurt like that. 

[Hitch]

I've been one of the posters advocating the most for trading KC - the kid has beefed up!