Red Sox 2025 Season Review/Offseason Preview Thread

[Hitch]

17 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

If the team is in the playoffs almost every season going forward, I'm not going to complain what the payroll is. I don't think they have to replace every player that walks out that door. Right now, the holes are 2b and 3b. One of those positions will be filled by Mayer. If the other is filled by Bregman, fine. If it's filled by Donovan, I'm not sure it's enough of a replacement over the short term TBH. 

I try not to be too hung up about it, but it's hard to say "look at the 4 championships" when they've clearly changed their spending habits since then (and have done lots of psychic damage to the fanbase by trading and letting go of franchise players). 

Blanket statements like your second paragraph tend ignore all and any context however, so there is that. But I do firmly agree with your point that they have done damage to the psyche of the fanbase with trading away players - though I contend Mookie was the one. I'd guess half the fan base is glad Devers is gone, especially in light of his behaviour But Lester and Bogey certainly hurt as well, especially in comparison to what the money was spent on instead (and then following pull back of spending).

In terms of your first paragraph, I am becoming increasingly concerned that Rafaela is on his way back to 2nd and Mayer takes 3rd. I don't hate it if they then go out and get a true pitching 1B.  But I don't see that happening either....

Time will tell I guess. 

[Randy Red Sox]

6 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

It's hard to know, but I doubt it's the 60 day IL.

There has been very little info on Crawford, Sandoval and Casas.

it has been too busy covering all the Red Sox FA signings. Oh wait.......

[Randy Red Sox]

20 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

I'm willing to bet that fans of 29 teams don't feel that their owners are spending enough,  And if the LAD somehow miss the playoffs, I'm willing to bet that some of their fans will accuse them of being cheap.

just a slight exaggeration

[Old Red]

30 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

just a slight exaggeration

You think?

[Old Red]

There is still about 3 months to go before the 2026 season starts, and if the roster looks the same then as it does now there would be reasons for complaining, and concerns. The biggest concern to me right now is how the Red SOX went about the pursuit of Alonso, whom supposedly the Red SOX were interested in. They had a zoom meeting with him, and then an in person interview, and then only offered a three year contract.That’s a bad sign to me. Has anyone thought that resigning Bregman to big bucks might be a step down from what he was last year when he got off to a hot start battling behind Raffy. What if he doesn’t get off to that hot start this year like he did in 2024, and then doesn’t recover that much. He’s not as good a hitter as he started out last year. Then you’ve also got him on the hook for another 4-5 years.As I said when the Red SOX signed him last year he’s not Mike Schmidt, and the three years was the right amount for the length of the contract.Spend money on FA, or trade off someone like Duran to get an IF that some don’t want to see Duran go. Either way Duran is not going to make, or break the 2026 Red SOX season here, or not IMO.

[JoeBrady]

8 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

There has been very little info on Crawford, Sandoval and Casas.

And rightfully so.  Any of those guys could be on the trade block.  In addition, giving out any negative information would lessen our leverage in trades.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, Hitch said:

But Lester and Bogey certainly hurt as well,

Lester's loss was pure idiocy.  But even when I wanted the RS to offer Bogaerts something just a little higher than Story, I always knew that could be problematic.  He's a likeable guy, so I'd have paid him, but we were only going to pay him or Devers to be our long-term 3B, and Devers was a lot younger.

Of course, when the Padres basically doubled what I thought was a generous offer, he was gone.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, Randy Red Sox said:

just a slight exaggeration

The Dodger part?  Maybe.  But I listen to FAN occasionally, and the Yankee and Met fans constantly complain about Steinbrenner and Cohen being cheap.

[Randy Red Sox]

9 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

The Dodger part?  Maybe.  But I listen to FAN occasionally, and the Yankee and Met fans constantly complain about Steinbrenner and Cohen being cheap.

the Dodgers are on a different level now than even the Yankees. Listen I know it is only Jan 1 and there is still lots of time before ST but if the Sox don't add anything more than a Donovan type I will be very vocal. The FA and offseason in MLB is a total joke and just goes on and and on probably in part because off guys like Scott Bora$$. I am on record that I am 100% AGAINST the Sox giving any more than 3 years to Bregman. I would far prefer 5-6 years for Bichette but in all honesty I expect neither.

What I do expect is either Bello or 1 of Tolle/Early dealt for a Donovan type.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Either way Duran is not going to make, or break the 2026 Red SOX season here, or not IMO.

I agree.  I'd prefer a legitimate #2 for at least two years, even if we have to sweeten to pot.  But if we are going to ride with our current rotation, then we should use Duran's value to enhance our offense.

And for the part that Red will hate, if we get no reasonable offers for a #2 or an infielder, then we should consider trading him for a future #2.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

13 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

I am on record that I am 100% AGAINST the Sox giving any more than 3 years to Bregman. I would far prefer 5-6 years for Bichette but in all honesty I expect neither.

What I do expect is either Bello or 1 of Tolle/Early dealt for a Donovan type.

Based on the last Bregman contract, the Red Sox agree with you. Why would anyone think they'd take the two additional years originally agreed on and tack on three more years for Bregman -- a year older and more brittle?

I'm not too broken up about Alonso. If the Sox aren't willing to pay an all-around good player like Bregman five years, why would they for a one-dimensional guy like Polar Bear? Did anyone really read or hear the words "perfect fit in Boston" from a front office or management voice -- or was that just media hype and poster blab?

Your trade expectation definitely belongs on a thread with the word "Realistic" in it -- and not "2025"... this is the big 2 6... no more review of '25 (here, I'll wrap it up: Eaton didn't score and Duran dropped Judge's fraud single).

And now for a '26 preview from the South Bronx (Yankee fan lament): "Nobody could throw Anthony's home run ball back onto the field because it rolled too far away down the street for any arm to even reach the back wall of the stadium."

[moonslav59]

So, your assumption is no news means bad news.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

Lester's loss was pure idiocy.  But even when I wanted the RS to offer Bogaerts something just a little higher than Story, I always knew that could be problematic.  He's a likeable guy, so I'd have paid him, but we were only going to pay him or Devers to be our long-term 3B, and Devers was a lot younger.

Of course, when the Padres basically doubled what I thought was a generous offer, he was gone.

Had we upped our Bogey offer to $220M/8 or $240M/9 and landed him, would be happy with the deal, right now?

How about $200M/7?

$180M/6?

$170M/5?

[moonslav59]

Astros get the Imai prize!

$18M x 3 years.

He's just 27 years old.

[JoeBrady]

32 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

but if the Sox don't add anything more than a Donovan type I will be very vocal.

I'm on board with saying that the R should spend up to the second cap, roughly $24M.  That said, I'll throw out a couple of alternatives:

• If all we add is Donovan, or say Paredes or Suarez, then not only do we have a good offense, we also have our starting lineup set.  There won't be any room for additions.
• The RS have a ton of payroll space next year.  Regardless if fans think it's impossible, if the RS wanted to duck under this year, and sign Skubal to $400M/8 next year, I'm good with it.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Had we upped our Bogey offer to $220M/8 or $240M/9 and landed him, would be happy with the deal, right now?

I wouldn't have been happy even back then.  Like I said, I'd have topped Story's deal slightly, but that was in the range of $156M/6, and even that would've been problematic.

[Larry Cook]

11 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

It's hard to know, but I doubt it's the 60 day IL.

There has been very little info on Crawford, Sandoval and Casas.

Don’t the guys doing good usually put out a short video showing themselves throwing???

[Randy Red Sox]

8 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I'm on board with saying that the R should spend up to the second cap, roughly $24M.  That said, I'll throw out a couple of alternatives:

• If all we add is Donovan, or say Paredes or Suarez, then not only do we have a good offense, we also have our starting lineup set.  There won't be any room for additions.
• The RS have a ton of payroll space next year.  Regardless if fans think it's impossible, if the RS wanted to duck under this year, and sign Skubal to $400M/8 next year, I'm good with it.

every year we hear the same crap.  "Sox are interested in this guy-Sox are interested in that guy" blah, blah, blah.  Fans like me need to come to the realization that JH is not going to sign any more mega-deal long term FA's and that includes Skubal.

[Randy Red Sox]

28 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Astros get the Imai prize!

$18M x 3 years.

He's just 27 years old.

Sox were never in on him 

[notin]

2 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

the Dodgers are on a different level now than even the Yankees. Listen I know it is only Jan 1 and there is still lots of time before ST but if the Sox don't add anything more than a Donovan type I will be very vocal. The FA and offseason in MLB is a total joke and just goes on and and on probably in part because off guys like Scott Bora$$. I am on record that I am 100% AGAINST the Sox giving any more than 3 years to Bregman. I would far prefer 5-6 years for Bichette but in all honesty I expect neither.

What I do expect is either Bello or 1 of Tolle/Early dealt for a Donovan type.

Bregman isnt signing for 3 years and Bichette isnt likely to sign for six…

[notin]

7 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Don’t the guys doing good usually put out a short video showing themselves throwing???

Casas might have to, just to prove he can throw a baseball without decapitating himself…

[Randy Red Sox]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

Bregman isnt signing for 3 years and Bichette isnt likely to sign for six…

even more likely--Sox aren't getting EITHER.  Watch for  Bello for Donovan deal instead.

[moonslav59]

29 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I'm on board with saying that the R should spend up to the second cap, roughly $24M.  That said, I'll throw out a couple of alternatives:

• If all we add is Donovan, or say Paredes or Suarez, then not only do we have a good offense, we also have our starting lineup set.  There won't be any room for additions.
• The RS have a ton of payroll space next year.  Regardless if fans think it's impossible, if the RS wanted to duck under this year, and sign Skubal to $400M/8 next year, I'm good with it.

This touches on the point I made before winter moves began. Bloom & Brez did a pretty good job building up the foundation with depth from the DSL to the 40 and 26 man roster. The pattern had been and kinda had to be to spread the spending in a more thin way, to fill the many gaps we had. By this winter, we only had 2-3 major needs and 1-2 minor ones. 

We could and should focus our resources on just a few high quality moves rather than 4-6 near moderate to moderate ones.

2B or 3B (maybe both)

1B

#1 or solid 2 SP (maybe two solid 3's or low 2's)

Minor needs:

LH'd RP (but converted SP'ers could fill this need)

Back-up Catcher (minor league C depth)

________________________

Contreras filled the 1B need well enough, to me.

S Gray has been the focus of a lot of debate on him being a 2 or 3, but to me, he was about the minimum SP addition needed, and Oviedo made the total SP additions barely acceptable. (Losing Dobbins, Fitts and to a lesser extent Criswell & Perales took a chunk out of that gain.)

The losses of Wilson, Bernardino, Murphy, Matz and others has elevated the need for pen help, but again, maybe our SP depth can help out some. (Note: I said the same thing last winter, and we ended up not having enough SP'ers to make it through the season.)

That leaves 2B and or 3B and maybe a solid LH'd RP'er.

A solid #2 SP'er addition could take the slack off these other needs, but to me, we need one major addition (KMarte, Breggie, Bichette or maybe Suarez) or two semi-major additions (Suarez, Donovan or maybe a Vientos type PLUS a solid P like Mitch Kelly, Alanatara, Gore, Bubic, Singer or a really good RP'er.)

We aren't in a horrible situation if we just need 1-2 significant adds.

[moonslav59]

32 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

Sox were never in on him 

Probably not, but we may have offered something similar or maybe even slightly more.

[moonslav59]

32 minutes ago, notin said:

Bregman isnt signing for 3 years and Bichette isnt likely to sign for six…

That's what keeps me feeling pessimistic. Plus, I'm not big on Bichette for even 5 or 6 years.

More likely, if we go for a FA, it will be Suarez or Okamoto on a 2 or 3 year deal.

[moonslav59]

29 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

even more likely--Sox aren't getting EITHER.  Watch for  Bello for Donovan deal instead.

God, I hope not. We'd just be undoing a skeptical improvement to thh rotation, this winter. If we followed it up with Duran for Lodolo, maybe.

Crawford and DHam for Donovan?

[Randy Red Sox]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Probably not, but we may have offered something similar or maybe even slightly more.

more likely we would have offered a 1 yr deal

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

This touches on the point I made before winter moves began. Bloom & Brez did a pretty good job building up the foundation with depth from the DSL to the 40 and 26 man roster. The pattern had been and kinda had to be to spread the spending in a more thin way, to fill the many gaps we had. By this winter, we only had 2-3 major needs and 1-2 minor ones. 

We could and should focus our resources on just a few high quality moves rather than 4-6 near moderate to moderate ones.

2B or 3B (maybe both)

1B

#1 or solid 2 SP (maybe two solid 3's or low 2's)

Minor needs:

LH'd RP (but converted SP'ers could fill this need)

Back-up Catcher (minor league C depth)

________________________

Contreras filled the 1B need well enough, to me.

S Gray has been the focus of a lot of debate on him being a 2 or 3, but to me, he was about the minimum SP addition needed, and Oviedo made the total SP additions barely acceptable. (Losing Dobbins, Fitts and to a lesser extent Criswell & Perales took a chunk out of that gain.)

The losses of Wilson, Bernardino, Murphy, Matz and others has elevated the need for pen help, but again, maybe our SP depth can help out some. (Note: I said the same thing last winter, and we ended up not having enough SP'ers to make it through the season.)

That leaves 2B and or 3B and maybe a solid LH'd RP'er.

A solid #2 SP'er addition could take the slack off these other needs, but to me, we need one major addition (KMarte, Breggie, Bichette or maybe Suarez) or two semi-major additions (Suarez, Donovan or maybe a Vientos type PLUS a solid P like Mitch Kelly, Alanatara, Gore, Bubic, Singer or a really good RP'er.)

We aren't in a horrible situation if we just need 1-2 significant adds.

Con Man is a step down from Alonso IMO, but comes at a cheaper price for a shorter period of time. I’m sure some will compare their stats for the next couple of years. I have No focus on where Gray ranks in the rotation, but only as one of the starters. 1-2 significant adds. Where have I heard that before? As I said before regarding Breggie that he could be better this year, but he also could be worse, so even the status quo is nowhere near a certainty if he is resigning.

[Randy Red Sox]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

God, I hope not. We'd just be undoing a skeptical improvement to thh rotation, this winter. If we followed it up with Duran for Lodolo, maybe.

Crawford and DHam for Donovan?

maybe

[moonslav59]

47 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

maybe

I doubt STL takes Crawford and DHam for Donovan. I think Crawford is over-rated.

They might take Crawford, Sandlin & DHam, but that's three 40 man players for one. We'd likely have to give up a prospect instead of Sandlin (Mullins?) or DHam (Cespedes, Bleis or Castro?)