Red Sox 2025 Season Review/Offseason Preview Thread

[Duran Is The Man]

6 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Good post. Some fans worry about overpaying for upgrades at the trade deadline, afraid of mortgaging the future.

When is the future now? Alex Cora sure isn't shy every July to say the only future that matters is the coming October.

Some day they'll be a CBO who truly goes for it again in Boston like Dombrowski did every single summer he ran the Red Sox. He made his deadline moves from 2016-19, but just look at all the talent he traded away:

Aaron Wilkerson, Wendell Rijo, Jose Almonte, Luis Alejandro Basabe, Anderson Espinoza, Pat Light, Shaun Anderson, Gregory Santos, Gerson Bautista, Jamie Callahan, Stephen Nogosek, Rafael Rincones, Deven Marrero, Jalen Beeks, Ty Buttrey, Williams Jerez, Blake Swihart, Eli Prado, and Noelberth Romero.

i've heard DD "decimated the farm" so many times i wanna puke.

[drewski6]

4 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Good post. Some fans worry about overpaying for upgrades at the trade deadline, afraid of mortgaging the future.

When is the future now? Alex Cora sure isn't shy every July to say the only future that matters is the coming October.

Some day they'll be a CBO who truly goes for it again in Boston like Dombrowski did every single summer he ran the Red Sox. He made his deadline moves from 2016-19, but just look at all the talent he traded away:

Aaron Wilkerson, Wendell Rijo, Jose Almonte, Luis Alejandro Basabe, Anderson Espinoza, Pat Light, Shaun Anderson, Gregory Santos, Gerson Bautista, Jamie Callahan, Stephen Nogosek, Rafael Rincones, Deven Marrero, Jalen Beeks, Ty Buttrey, Williams Jerez, Blake Swihart, Eli Prado, and Noelberth Romero.

I honestly dont even need to go for it every summer.  But it feels like a kick the can down the road mentality.  And I get it, accountability is scary.  If 3 years from now is always the "prove it" year, then you never have to "prove it".  If "the future looks brighter than the present" than you never have to face disappointment of coming up short because "our window is just opening"

Mental gymnastics.

But some of us thought we were finally turning a corner, and now we're being told "OMG think about how good we'll look in 2030" and when 2030 comes it will be "OMG, I cant wait till 2033"

[drewski6]

31 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I would doubt that even with Cole coming back from IBP. Kutter hasn't pitched in a long time. The last time he did pitch, he led the universe in HR's given up. 

Yeah, but now he knows to ditch his cutter for his splitter.

[drewski6]

I obviously want to see Kutter pitch before I know or declare anything definitively.  But splitters have taken over the game.  And Kutter has one.  And when hes struggled, its been finding a good secondary pitch that he can mix in with his 4-seam.  This year, I think he finds that pitch and its his splitter.

In 2026, splitters and pull-hitters win championships.

[moonslav59]

34 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It may happen once in a while to give Abreu a breather, but not regularly. 

I mentioned that in another post, and we may decide to DH him 8-10 times rather than give him 4-6 off days, since we need hos power bat in as many games as possible.

(This assumes he hits lefties well enough, otherwise- just give him 4-6 days off against tough lefties and never DH him.)

[Old Red]

25 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Good post. Some fans worry about overpaying for upgrades at the trade deadline, afraid of mortgaging the future.

When is the future now? Alex Cora sure isn't shy every July to say the only future that matters is the coming October.

Some day they'll be a CBO who truly goes for it again in Boston like Dombrowski did every single summer he ran the Red Sox. He made his deadline moves from 2016-19, but just look at all the talent he traded away:

Aaron Wilkerson, Wendell Rijo, Jose Almonte, Luis Alejandro Basabe, Anderson Espinoza, Pat Light, Shaun Anderson, Gregory Santos, Gerson Bautista, Jamie Callahan, Stephen Nogosek, Rafael Rincones, Deven Marrero, Jalen Beeks, Ty Buttrey, Williams Jerez, Blake Swihart, Eli Prado, and Noelberth Romero.

Like I always said is that you don’t get a year back, and waiting for next year might not turn out as well as you hoped, and planned for, because there are no guarantees. Yes the so called overpay term gets used way to much IMO despite what BTV says.

[mvp 78]

40 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

i've heard DD "decimated the farm" so many times i wanna puke.

He traded a lot of prospects, but Ben Cherington did an awful job drafting. By the time DD showed up, there wasn't really a lot left to trade away. Plus, the IFA shenanigans hurt the farm for a few years. DD trading to win a WS + a waning farm system + IFA losses = easy talking point of DD decimated the farm.

[mvp 78]

41 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Yeah, but now he knows to ditch his cutter for his splitter.

His cutter has always had a better run value than his splitter. It'd be silly to dump it just because other pitchers have transitioned to splitters. 

[mvp 78]

It's more likely he dumps his 4 seamer for the splitter and keeps the cutter. 

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It's more likely he dumps his 4 seamer for the splitter and keeps the cutter. 

Im okay with this.  I just cant ignore the success that Yamamoto, Skenes, Gausman, and Ohtani are having with the splitter.

[mvp 78]

43 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I obviously want to see Kutter pitch before I know or declare anything definitively.  But splitters have taken over the game.  And Kutter has one.  And when hes struggled, its been finding a good secondary pitch that he can mix in with his 4-seam.  This year, I think he finds that pitch and its his splitter.

In 2026, splitters and pull-hitters win championships.

The pitches that got hit around last time for Kutter were the 4 seamer and the sweeper. 

The movement he gets on his splitter is pretty mediocre to bad. There is no vertical drop to it. Lots of work to be done if he's going to rely on it more.

[moonslav59]

31 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Like I always said is that you don’t get a year back, and waiting for next year might not turn out as well as you hoped, and planned for, because there are no guarantees. Yes the so called overpay term gets used way to much IMO despite what BTV says.

So, that's a yes? You'd make that deal?

(You may turn out right. I'm just trying to get an actual stated specific opinion from you.)

[Old Red]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

So, that's a yes? You'd make that deal?

(You may turn out right. I'm just trying to get an actual stated specific opinion from you.)

I already showed you an accepted deal for Neto.

[moonslav59]

I thought the changeover from post 2023 to the start of 2025 was stunning, but Brez even outdid himself, this winter.

Many moves were minor or essential to clear 40 man slots for incoming similarly rated players/prospects- like Perales for Bennett, but still the make-over has been nothing short of astonishing.

We can argue not enough of the incoming players were high or high enough quality, bu there is no debate on the amount of moves being high. He brought a lot of this upon himself with all the one-and-done signings over his first 2 winters, as well as trades for one and dones, like O'Neill, but here is a rundown of the moves made this winter:

Signings: Suarez &  Kiner-Falefa

Trades:

Gray for Fitts & Clarke

Contreras for Dobbins, Fajardo & Aita

Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler (+ Comp Pick) for Harrison, DHam & Drohan

Oviedo, Guzman & Samaniego for Jh Garcia & Travieso

Gage Ziehl for Hicks and Sandlin

T Gray, B Ward, L Heyman & Ro. Hernandez for Bernardino, Guerrero, Murphy & Hoppe 

Ryan Watson for J Riemer

Jake Bennett for Perales/ I Jackson for Grissom/ Nate Baez for T Gray 

I count 17 players added by trade plus a comp pick and 20 players dealt away- mostly pitchers.

Add the two free agents and it's about 20 for 20.

[moonslav59]

14 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I already showed you an accepted deal for Neto.

Okay, I must have missed it.

Neto looks like the real deal, and I'm not so dead set on high K batters like many are. I really like Early & Tolle. I would not give both.

I might have said yes, if we subbed Witherspoon for Early or Tolle.

I'd have given Arias, Witherspoon, Valera and Soto. or similar

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

When is the future now? Alex Cora sure isn't shy every July to say the only future that matters is the coming October.

IMO, the future is now.  And maybe it was in 2025.  But it wasn't in 2022, 2023, and 2024.  We should've been selling more than buying.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

IMO, the future is now.  And maybe it was in 2025.  But it wasn't in 2022, 2023, and 2024.  We should've been selling more than buying.

What's left to sell? After Gray is gone this offseason, Tolle/Early take that rotation spot. If you trade the other one, the rotation is paper thin. 

[jad]

37 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I thought the changeover from post 2023 to the start of 2025 was stunning, but Brez even outdid himself, this winter.

Many moves were minor or essential to clear 40 man slots for incoming similarly rated players/prospects- like Perales for Bennett, but still the make-over has been nothing short of astonishing.

We can argue not enough of the incoming players were high or high enough quality, bu there is no debate on the amount of moves being high. He brought a lot of this upon himself with all the one-and-done signings over his first 2 winters, as well as trades for one and dones, like O'Neill, but here is a rundown of the moves made this winter:

Signings: Suarez &  Kiner-Falefa

Trades:

Gray for Fitts & Clarke

Contreras for Dobbins, Fajardo & Aita

Durbin, Monasterio & Seigler (+ Comp Pick) for Harrison, DHam & Drohan

Oviedo, Guzman & Samaniego for Jh Garcia & Travieso

Gage Ziehl for Hicks and Sandlin

T Gray, B Ward, L Heyman & Ro. Hernandez for Bernardino, Guerrero, Murphy & Hoppe 

Ryan Watson for J Riemer

Jake Bennett for Perales/ I Jackson for Grissom/ Nate Baez for T Gray 

I count 17 players added by trade plus a comp pick and 20 players dealt away- mostly pitchers.

Add the two free agents and it's about 20 for 20.

The idea being if you sling enough onto the wall. some of it has gotta stick?   So when 1 of these works out, he will attribute it all to his Yale education?

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, Duran Is The Man said:

i've heard DD "decimated the farm" so many times i wanna puke.

Part of that defaulted in from our farm being ranked #30.  It wasn't all DD's fault, but from 2012-2021, we drafted Benni, Duran, and a total bWAR of 27.8 from everyone else.

[JoeBrady]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

What's left to sell? After Gray is gone this offseason, Tolle/Early take that rotation spot. If you trade the other one, the rotation is paper thin. 

There are always guys down the line to sell.  Our position squad has players locked in l/t (3+ years) at 7 spots, with Story and Contreras locked in for 2+ years.  Our rotation has 3 l/t contracts, plus Early, Tolle, maybe Witherspoon & Crawford.  We can't get reckless, but we shouldn't be in dire need of more prospects for a while.

[mvp 78]

46 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

There are always guys down the line to sell.  Our position squad has players locked in l/t (3+ years) at 7 spots, with Story and Contreras locked in for 2+ years.  Our rotation has 3 l/t contracts, plus Early, Tolle, maybe Witherspoon & Crawford.  We can't get reckless, but we shouldn't be in dire need of more prospects for a while.

There are "prospects" but like Breslow said they aren't guys that other organizations value highly. Who is left to trade?

Bleis? Cespedes? Nobody cares about those two. 

Arias? They'll need somebody to take over for Story in two years.

Gonzales hasn't made it out of A ball yet and doesn't have much value. 

The potpourri of pitchers? The already dealt half of them.

Mikey Romero? Anybody really want him?

Allan Castro? What value is there?

There just isn't a lot of prospect capital left to really go out and get a big return right now. You're not going to get a haul for dealing DSL/A ball guys. You just aren't. Teams want near MLB ready guys. The Sox don't have those. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

IMO, the future is now.  And maybe it was in 2025.  But it wasn't in 2022, 2023, and 2024.  We should've been selling more than buying.

I was for selling in 2 of those seasons and on the fence for the third.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, jad said:

The idea being if you sling enough onto the wall. some of it has gotta stick?   So when 1 of these works out, he will attribute it all to his Yale education?

I admit, most of the moves I listed look sideways and not big Wows, but the roster makeover has been absolutely stunning, even if you don't like many of the changes.

[Larry Cook]

Does anybody have an update on Romy blown shoulder??? 

[moonslav59]

21 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

There are "prospects" but like Breslow said they aren't guys that other organizations value highly. Who is left to trade?

An OF'er.

[Kimmi]

23 hours ago, FredLynn said:

We are a fourth place team at best. The other teams in the division improved more than we did. Henry lied to us again.

Stop.

If you had said 3rd place team at best, I might have been able to let that slide, but 4th place at best?  It's possible that we end up in 4th place, but it's also possible that we win the division.  Or at least finish in 2nd.  It will be a competitive division, for sure, but give the Red Sox a little more credit.

[mvp 78]

15 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I was for selling in 2 of those seasons and on the fence for the third.

'22 should have sold the entire house from day 1

'23 56-50 at the deadline (sell Turner/Duvall/Sale)

'24 57-51 at the deadline with a tough schedule coming up (sell Jansen and Martin)

[mvp 78]

15 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Does anybody have an update on Romy blown shoulder??? 

It just came out yesterday, so no. 

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

An OF'er.

As if. 

[Kimmi]

23 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Now that training camp has begun. I think bres-slow needs a huge round of applause!!

- he got us a quality number 2 starter! 
- he got us a quality number 3 starter! 
- he got us a number 5 starter. 
- he kept Tolle, early and Witherspoon. 
- he revamped the leakiest infield in the majors. 
 

I know people will complain about Bregman and the lack of power!! 
 

but outside of a lefty or two for the bullpen, I feel very confident in the outstanding offseason he had!!!

Amen, brother Larry, amen.  Breslow did a good job this offseason.

The supposed lack of homerun power doesn't concern me as much it concerns others.  There are other ways to score runs besides hitting homeruns.  Not all chicks did the long ball!