Red Sox 2025 Season Review/Offseason Preview Thread

[moonslav59]

28 minutes ago, harmony said:

Fair enough, The Mariners underperformed in 2025.

Their pitching staff was projected to do much better than they did. In that sense, yes.

They had an easy schedule. They finished 5th in run differential and 3rd in winning %. That looks like, in terms of wins, they overperformed.

[mvp 78]

"Well, players should just want to play for the Sox by taking LESS money and not caring if they are traded a year or two into their contract. He clearly just didn't want to be here. It had nothing to do with us not wanting him or getting outbid!" 

[mvp 78]

“You can’t replace someone like Raffy,” Kennedy said.

Even if you believe this, why say it? This guy is so dumb. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

"Well, players should just want to play for the Sox by taking LESS money and not caring if they are traded a year or two into their contract. He clearly just didn't want to be here. It had nothing to do with us not wanting him or getting outbid!" 

"It should be a privilege every day to put on a Red Sox jersey which I have never worn in my life. This year's City Connect shirts are going to be see-through, to honor our transparent front office."

[mvp 78]

21 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

"It should be a privilege every day to put on a Red Sox jersey which I have never worn in my life. This year's City Connect shirts are going to be see-through, to honor our transparent front office."

"It's great to be working for FSG. I love my job. I have a nice salary, get lots of dividends and provide my great insight in many cool meetings. Why wouldn't everyone want to work here?!?" - SK

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

“You can’t replace someone like Raffy,” Kennedy said.

Even if you believe this, why say it? This guy is so dumb. 

Sam just has a way with words just like he did when he said Boston is the place where everyone wants to be before he hired Breslow #12. JH has his way with words,TW has a way with words, and Breslow has a way with words. Imagine when they are all in the same meeting.🤭

[mvp 78]

21 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Sam just has a way with words just like he did when he said Boston is the place where everyone wants to be before he hired Breslow #12. JH has his way with words,TW has a way with words, and Breslow has a way with words. Imagine when they are all in the same meeting.🤭

Gee, I wonder who it was that Dombrowski didn't get along with in this organization and was annoyed that would show up at whole bunch of meetings unannounced... 🤔

[moonslav59]

 Kennedy also essentially ducked the question of whether or not the Red Sox would’ve offered Bregman a no-trade clause if asked, saying “it’s theoretical.  It’s hard to know.”

It's easy to know the answer, if you don't offer it.

[moonslav59]

To me, one of the most telling comments came from Werner...

“It was a discouraging episode.  Just pick up a glove,” Werner said.

Later, he added...

“we actually have the powder to execute some more moves during the season.”

I wonder if the "powder" is talc-free.

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

 Kennedy also essentially ducked the question of whether or not the Red Sox would’ve offered Bregman a no-trade clause if asked, saying “it’s theoretical.  It’s hard to know.”

It's easy to know the answer, if you don't offer it.

There's the car salesman we all know. 

[mvp 78]

14 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

To me, one of the most telling comments came from Werner...

“It was a discouraging episode.  Just pick up a glove,” Werner said.

Later, he added...

“we actually have the powder to execute some more moves during the season.”

I wonder if the "powder" is talc-free.

Very few trades happen during the season it feels like. Unless they are planning on holding onto everyone until the deadline. 

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Very few trades happen during the season it feels like. Unless they are planning on holding onto everyone until the deadline. 

Exactly. This is hot air. Plus, deadline trades are usually bigger overpays, so why did we choose to wait? We still have the 4 OF'er many of us felt we should have traded one away, last winter. Now, it's 2 winters of intentionally leaving gaps in some areas while knowing we will be benching a good bat due to positional overlaps at OF/DH.

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

There's the car salesman we all know. 

Same ole-same ole.

[drewski6]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

"Well, players should just want to play for the Sox by taking LESS money and not caring if they are traded a year or two into their contract. He clearly just didn't want to be here. It had nothing to do with us not wanting him or getting outbid!" 

Absurd take, Sam.

[drewski6]

The Red Sox did everything they could to make it easy for Bregman to sign ...........with the cubs

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Exactly. This is hot air. Plus, deadline trades are usually bigger overpays, so why did we choose to wait? We still have the 4 OF'er many of us felt we should have traded one away, last winter. Now, it's 2 winters of intentionally leaving gaps in some areas while knowing we will be benching a good bat due to positional overlaps at OF/DH.

And after like 5 trades, there's a lot less "powder" than ownership thinks. 

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Absurd take, Sam.

"Always Blame the Players." 

[moonslav59]

52 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

And after like 5 trades, there's a lot less "powder" than ownership thinks. 

Except that we still have 4 OF'ers and 3 DHs.

To me, this was the biggest sin of this winter.

It would be fine, if we filled our three biggest needs and still had this, but we didn't.

Okay, Contreras and Durbin are okay, but neither filled the big middle order bat we needed. Contreras is okay, but he's not "that bat."

The problem with deadline trades is that trading Duran will be for prospects and not a piece we need. We'll need a third team to get what we need. That's not impossible, but it makes it more complex than it needed to be.

Why overpay at the deadline, when we had all winter to get this done?

[Kimmi]

On 2/12/2026 at 5:02 PM, drewski6 said:

I was trying to compare your optimistic leaning post to his pessimistic leaning post, and it didnt work and I apologize.

I agree, 4th place at best is nowhere near reasonable, and you were never unreasonable.

I think 4th is more realistic than I wish it was, but I think thats a function of the division's strength , and I think 3rd is still most likely. 2nd 3rd and 4th are all close to equal in likelihoods.

No worries.  My posts are almost always optimistic leaning.  It's hard work, but someone has to do it.  LOL

I think 2nd is more realistic than 4th, and I think that 2nd and 3rd are equally close in likelihood.  I won't go as far as saying that 1st is more likely than 4th, but I will say that 1st is more likely than last.

And I definitely have Red Sox October baseball penciled in on my calendar.

[mvp 78]

The last time the Sox tried to go with a run prevention team (2010) it failed because Papelbon had a career high 8 BS, Ellsbury missed the whole season due to injury and Pedroia missed half the season due to injury, The following season, Dustin and Jacoby combined for 16 bWAR and Papelbon was back to normal. 

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Except that we still have 4 OF'ers and 3 DHs.

To me, this was the biggest sin of this winter.

It would be fine, if we filled our three biggest needs and still had this, but we didn't.

Okay, Contreras and Durbin are okay, but neither filled the big middle order bat we needed. Contreras is okay, but he's not "that bat."

The problem with deadline trades is that trading Duran will be for prospects and not a piece we need. We'll need a third team to get what we need. That's not impossible, but it makes it more complex than it needed to be.

Why overpay at the deadline, when we had all winter to get this done?

Trade our best bat, again? For prospects?  Did you hear he laced a double off Crochet?

Duran is once again, our best acquisition.

[UtahSox]

5 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Gee, I wonder who it was that Dombrowski didn't get along with in this organization and was annoyed that would show up at whole bunch of meetings unannounced... 🤔

Speaking of Dombrowski………. Bryce Harper anyone?

let me preface this by saying I know Bryce has about 4 things going against him ever being a Red Sox.

1- He has a 6yr contract (NON starter for JH) even though his contract is not bad at all.

2- He plays a position, and is not currently a Bloom controlled player. (NON Starter for Beta Breslow)

3- He has a NTC in his deal (Non Starter for ???) no one will own up to that being an issue for Red Sox. But we know it is.

4- He is opinionated (NON starter for FSG) but damn he fits the city of Boston well. 

ideas:

trade-1 Harper for Crawford+ Contreras 

trade-2 Harper for Duran+ Matasaka+ Casas+ 5M cash

trade-3 Harper for Abreu + Matasaka+ Casas+ 5M cash

trade- 4 Harper+ 10m Cash for either Abreu or Duran + Casas 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

Trade our best bat, again? For prospects?  Did you hear he laced a double off Crochet?

Duran is once again, our best acquisition.

I'm not for trading Duran for prospects. I said if we are looking to trade an OF'er at the deadline (most likely Duran or Abreu) it would have to be for prospects, because contending teams will not give us what we need.

"We'd a third team involved." Duran for Prospects, Prospects to another team and star infielder to us.

[notin]

46 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Speaking of Dombrowski………. Bryce Harper anyone?

let me preface this by saying I know Bryce has about 4 things going against him ever being a Red Sox.

1- He has a 6yr contract (NON starter for JH) even though his contract is not bad at all.

2- He plays a position, and is not currently a Bloom controlled player. (NON Starter for Beta Breslow)

3- He has a NTC in his deal (Non Starter for ???) no one will own up to that being an issue for Red Sox. But we know it is.

4- He is opinionated (NON starter for FSG) but damn he fits the city of Boston well. 

ideas:

trade-1 Harper for Crawford+ Contreras 

trade-2 Harper for Duran+ Matasaka+ Casas+ 5M cash

trade-3 Harper for Abreu + Matasaka+ Casas+ 5M cash

trade- 4 Harper+ 10m Cash for either Abreu or Duran + Casas 

The rift between Dombrowski and Harper is overblown.  Harper isnt going anywhere…

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

The rift between Dombrowski and Harper is overblown.  Harper isnt going anywhere…

No even for Masa?

OH MAN!!!

[moonslav59]

MLB.com projects the greatest team in MLB history- the 2026 NY Yankees- to have this rotation:

Fried, Schlitter, Warren, Weathers & Gil. (The say Rodon is due back in April/May and Cole in May/June.

 

[moonslav59]

MLB.com projects the defending MLB champions- the Jays- to have this rotation: Cease, Gausman, Yesavage, Ponce, Berrios (Bieber starts the season on the IL- big surprise.)

The "on the rise" Orioles are projected as such: Bradish, T Rogers, Baz, Bassitt & Eflin/Kremer

[moonslav59]

Winning a division and a ring goes far beyond your top 3 SP'ers and top 2 pen arms, but what MLB has the best 3 SP'ers and 2 pen arms?

Projected fWAR:

15.9 BOS - 5.8 Crochet, 3.7 Gray, 3.4 Suarez + 1.7 Chapman, 1.3 Whitlock

14.9 PHI- 4.8 Sanchez, 3.5 Luzardo, 3.3 Wheeler, 2.1 Duran, 1.2 Alvarado

14.1 DET -6.3 Skubal, 3.6 Valdez, 2.5 Flaherty + 1.2 Vest, 0.5 Melton

11.9 LAD -3.6 Yamamoto, 2.9 Snell, 2.6 Glasnow+ 1.7 Diaz, 1.1 Scott

Others....

10.7 TOR- 3.9 Cease, 3.0 Gausman, 2.1 Ponce+ 1.0 Hoffman, 0.7 Valand

9.4 NYY- 3.9 Fried, 2.3 Rodon, 2.0 Cole+ 1.3 Bednar, 0.9 Doval

 

[JoeBrady]

10 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

“You can’t replace someone like Raffy,” Kennedy said.

Even if you believe this, why say it? This guy is so dumb. 

I've been saying this for years.  Some people should never talk.  Ever.  He might not be dumb, but he feels compelled to answer questions that don't have pat answers, and he talks in sound bites.

The easy, non-PC answer is that everyone is replaceable.  A more PC answer is that they have Duran, Yoshida, and Casas to take his place.  Simply say what 90% of the fans already know.  Devers is an excellent hitter who is a DH.  We can start Duran in his place, be just as effective given Duran's speed, and spend the $32M elsewhere.

[JoeBrady]

8 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

 Kennedy also essentially ducked the question of whether or not the Red Sox would’ve offered Bregman a no-trade clause if asked, saying “it’s theoretical.  It’s hard to know.”

It's easy to know the answer, if you don't offer it.

This is like the 'full throttle' statement.  If I was part of the press corp, my first question would've been "what does that even mean?  What's the number?  I assume you have a budget, so what's the number?  Of if you don't have an exact number, what is the worst-case number?  What's the range?"  I'd have pounded him until he admitted that they had no spending plan, which they didn't.