Red Sox 2025 Season Review/Offseason Preview Thread

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

He deserves it, but not by the established arb model.

Vlad Jr has the highest win at $19.9M.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Vlad Jr has the highest win at $19.9M.

A fine example on why he won't get $32M.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

A fine example on why he won't get $32M.

It doesn’t hurt to try. Maybe they come together in the middle somewhere around $25M.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

A fine example on why he won't get $32M.

Why?

Juan Soto, $31M (2024)
Shohei Ohtani, $30M (2023)
Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. $28.5M (2025)
Mookie Betts, $27M (2020)
Nolan Arenado, $26M (2019)
Josh Donaldson, $23M (2018)
Juan Soto, $23M (2023)
Bryce Harper, $21.625M (2018)
Francisco Lindor, $21.3 (2021)
Pete Alonso, $20.5M (2024)

[Old Red]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Why?

Juan Soto, $31M (2024)
Shohei Ohtani, $30M (2023)
Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. $28.5M (2025)
Mookie Betts, $27M (2020)
Nolan Arenado, $26M (2019)
Josh Donaldson, $23M (2018)
Juan Soto, $23M (2023)
Bryce Harper, $21.625M (2018)
Francisco Lindor, $21.3 (2021)
Pete Alonso, $20.5M (2024)

These were all agreed upon, and not rewarded though.

[moonslav59]

30 minutes ago, Old Red said:

It doesn’t hurt to try. Maybe they come together in the middle somewhere around $25M.

It does hurt to try, because the arb guy can't pick $25M. He has to pick one or the other.

Had he asked for $25M or better yet $22M, he might have won.

[moonslav59]

23 minutes ago, Old Red said:

These were all agreed upon, and not rewarded though.

Exactly. DET knows the arb guy won't give Skubal the win, so there is no pressure to find a common ground any higher than they are prepared to give him. They don't have to budge an inch, because they have a 99% chance at winning, IMO.

Had Skubal submitted $25M, maybe DET finds common ground more easily.

He'd be easier to trade at $19M than $22 or $25M.

He might be easier to extend once traded, at $19M, too.

[Randy Red Sox]

10 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Of course. It's all about the return package, and AZ is not looking for prospects.

Maybe a third team could get involved, as we give AZ one of our 4 OF'ers and some prospects to the 3rd team, as they give a second key MLB piece to AZ.

If AZ valued Campbell highly, maybe they'd take Duran & Campbell plus Crawford & Valera, but I think Witherspoon would have to go- not Crawford.

Witherspoon is another that needs to stay.  Crawford, Sandavol, or the guy we got from Pittsburgh could be candidates to trade along with on OF and KC.

[Randy Red Sox]

17 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Its out of the red sox hands, right?  Because theres an offer in hand. So its bregmans call. I think that offer is around 30m/yr. Bring us up to about 275ish mil, thats about where i think our payroll will be.

Now if bregman says no, and signs with toronto/arizona/cubs (anyone), and the red sox turn around and trade early,duran,philips for Marte, and you come on here saying, I think this is what i would have preferred and i therefore think its a blessing in disguise that bregman said no.....I would prob like the post. 

But right now, the red sox payroll stands at 245m, and they have an "aggressive" offer to Bregman. I assure you "aggressive" is more than 25m/yr, so...

IMO it makes very little sense to trade the assets that would be needed for Marte rather than just sign Bichette or Bregman. If they do trade for Marte it will be all about the $$$

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

Witherspoon is another that needs to stay.  Crawford, Sandavol, or the guy we got from Pittsburgh could be candidates to trade along with on OF and KC.

I'd rather trade Witherspoon than Tolle or Early, and if the team demands him over Crawford, Harrison, Oviedo or Sandoval, I'd strongly consider adding him. Since we haven't even seen him pitch professional ball, I'm not sure we know all that much.

[Randy Red Sox]

34 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'd rather trade Witherspoon than Tolle or Early, and if the team demands him over Crawford, Harrison, Oviedo or Sandoval, I'd strongly consider adding him. Since we haven't even seen him pitch professional ball, I'm not sure we know all that much.

not me.  i could care less if we get Marte or not.  For years we/I have wanted top young SP prospects and now that we have them I'm not dealing them. I see Early and hopefully Witherspoon in our rotation and Tolle as our closer.  Also I really don't want to trade Abreu or Duran either.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

It does hurt to try, because the arb guy can't pick $25M. He has to pick one or the other.

Had he asked for $25M or better yet $22M, he might have won.

I understand fully the arbitration guy can’t pick $25M, but that doesn’t mean the Tigers, and Skubal can’t get together before arbitration, and settle.🙈

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Exactly. DET knows the arb guy won't give Skubal the win, so there is no pressure to find a common ground any higher than they are prepared to give him. They don't have to budge an inch, because they have a 99% chance at winning, IMO.

Had Skubal submitted $25M, maybe DET finds common ground more easily.

He'd be easier to trade at $19M than $22 or $25M.

He might be easier to extend once traded, at $19M, too.

If teams want Skubal bad enough to trade for I don’t think it would matter at all if he’s making $19M, or $25M, and that will have NO BEARING on what Skubal will get in the future. What he gets in 2026 won’t matter when it comes to signing him long term after that IMO.

 

[Randy Red Sox]

28 minutes ago, Old Red said:

If teams want Skubal bad enough to trade for I don’t think it would matter at all if he’s making $19M, or $25M, and that will have NO BEARING on what Skubal will get in the future. What he gets in 2026 won’t matter when it comes to signing him long term after that IMO.

 

Sox fans need to stop dreaming about getting Skubal. No chance in he$$ JH will buck up the ## needed for him. and given how much and how long a deal it would take I can't really disagree with him on this one.

[Randy Red Sox]

MLBTR just posted that Marte WILL NOT be traded so there goes another Sox "target" off the board. Talk will now switch to Donovan lol. 

[mvp 78]

36 minutes ago, Old Red said:

If teams want Skubal bad enough to trade for I don’t think it would matter at all if he’s making $19M, or $25M, and that will have NO BEARING on what Skubal will get in the future. What he gets in 2026 won’t matter when it comes to signing him long term after that IMO.

 

He's signaling to the league that he's not staying with the Tigers and that he's going to want to get PAID. 10/375? 11/400? 

Sox will get aggressive and offer 8/300 and get outbid by 6 other teams.

[moonslav59]

54 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

not me.  i could care less if we get Marte or not.  For years we/I have wanted top young SP prospects and now that we have them I'm not dealing them. I see Early and hopefully Witherspoon in our rotation and Tolle as our closer.  Also I really don't want to trade Abreu or Duran either.

We have kept all of our top 5 prospects under Brez and Bloom, except:

#4 Teel & #5 Montgomery (with #8 Meredith) for Crochet. (I'm glad we did this one.)

#4 Perales for #6 prospect Bennett

(We also traded #6 Jh Garcia for Oviedo & a nice catching prospect and #8 Clarke with Fitts for Sonny Gray. I think Aldo Ramirez was #9, when we traded him for Schwarber) We've gone a long time hoarding prospects.

If we add #4 Witherspoon to the list to get a top 10-15 batter in MLB who finally fills our 10 year 2B need, I'd do it.

Our roster would still have recent grads Anthony, Narvaez, Rafaela, Abreu, Mayber, Campbell, Slaten and others and our top 10 prospects might be...

1. Tolle

2. Early

3. Arias

4. Valera

5. Bennett

6. Gonzales

7. Soto

8. Godbout

9. Phillips

10. Sandlin/Eyanson/Romero/Holobetz

That's a nice looking future we'd have kept around.

[mvp 78]

 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Randy Red Sox said:

IMO it makes very little sense to trade the assets that would be needed for Marte rather than just sign Bichette or Bregman. If they do trade for Marte it will be all about the $$$

KMarte is a much better hitter, but I agree, it makes more sense to just sign Bregman than to trade top assets for KMarte. I have issues with the concept of "making sense," since that involves thinking JH might or will spend large and long on a player that is not great.

I'm not even sure JH would okay $50M/2 or $70M/3 for E Suarez.

[UtahSox]

15 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

keep Early and Mayer. Marte doesn't fit the Sox window or budget

So Randy you don’t think we are in a championship window? I’ve been starting to feel that the Red Sox agree. Honestly would make more sense. With some of their moves since 4/1/2025- now. 

[UtahSox]

57 minutes ago, Old Red said:

If teams want Skubal bad enough to trade for I don’t think it would matter at all if he’s making $19M, or $25M, and that will have NO BEARING on what Skubal will get in the future. What he gets in 2026 won’t matter when it comes to signing him long term after that IMO.

 

Agree with you but it’s 19m or 32m and 1% chance he is pitching in Detroit on 8/1. He will be on Dodgers or Yankees. 

[Randy Red Sox]

11 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

We have kept all of our top 5 prospects under Brez and Bloom, except:

#4 Teel & #5 Montgomery (with #8 Meredith) for Crochet. (I'm glad we did this one.)

#4 Perales for #6 prospect Bennett

(We also traded #6 Jh Garcia for Oviedo & a nice catching prospect and #8 Clarke with Fitts for Sonny Gray. I think Aldo Ramirez was #9, when we traded him for Schwarber) We've gone a long time hoarding prospects.

If we add #4 Witherspoon to the list to get a top 10-15 batter in MLB who finally fills our 10 year 2B need, I'd do it.

Our roster would still have recent grads Anthony, Narvaez, Rafaela, Abreu, Mayber, Campbell, Slaten and others and our top 10 prospects might be...

1. Tolle

2. Early

3. Arias

4. Valera

5. Bennett

6. Gonzales

7. Soto

8. Godbout

9. Phillips

10. Sandlin/Eyanson/Romero/Holobetz

That's a nice looking future we'd have kept around.

well Marte is off the market so do you still trade Witherspoon for say Donovan who its likely too be the next so called Sox target?

[Randy Red Sox]

6 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

So Randy you don’t think we are in a championship window? I’ve been starting to feel that the Red Sox agree. Honestly would make more sense. With some of their moves since 4/1/2025- now. 

they might try to tell they are but MOST of us on here know they are not., Now if they could get Skubal-lol

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, Randy Red Sox said:

IMO it makes very little sense to trade the assets that would be needed for Marte rather than just sign Bichette or Bregman. If they do trade for Marte it will be all about the $$$

IMO Marte only makes sense w/ Bregman. If they think they can win now. I think Marte has such a team, friendly contract, and is such a good baseball player. That if we thought we could win a WS, this move might make sense to give up one of the two left-handed pitchers + Mayer. But if the Red Sox end up giving up more prospects, to get Marte and back out of Bregman sweepstakes, this is not a good move. 

[Old Red]

8 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Agree with you but it’s 19m or 32m and 1% chance he is pitching in Detroit on 8/1. He will be on Dodgers or Yankees. 

Once again the two sides can still settle on a different figure before going to arbitration.

[UtahSox]

11 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

well Marte is off the market so do you still trade Witherspoon for say Donovan who its likely too be the next so called Sox target?

Sign me up. 
resign Bregman

trade Mayer+ Duran for Cole Ragans. 
 

As you can tell by now I’m not sold on Marcelo Mayer. (Hope this is a historically bad take, thatgets brought up daily for years to come, anytime I share my opinion)

[moonslav59]

9 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

well Marte is off the market so do you still trade Witherspoon for say Donovan who its likely too be the next so called Sox target?

I would not even trade Valera or maybe even Phillips for Donovan.

I'd give DHam, Sandlin & any or all of these 3: Castro, Bleis and Cespedes

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, UtahSox said:

Sign me up. 
resign Bregman

trade Mayer+ Duran for Cole Ragans. 
 

As you can tell by now I’m not sold on Marcelo Mayer. (Hope this is a historically bad take think gets brought up daily for years to come, anytime I share my opinion)

Another classic injury-plagued pitcher added. YIKES!

[Randy Red Sox]

16 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

KMarte is a much better hitter, but I agree, it makes more sense to just sign Bregman than to trade top assets for KMarte. I have issues with the concept of "making sense," since that involves thinking JH might or will spend large and long on a player that is not great.

I'm not even sure JH would okay $50M/2 or $70M/3 for E Suarez.

i think your latter statement is more likely but if he s still out there when ST hits I could certainly see the Sox signing him for 1 yr at a discounti

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Once again the two sides can still settle on a different figure before going to arbitration.

Yes, but if the team thinks there is a zero chance they lose the arb, and we are not sure they think this, why find any middle ground?