A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[notin]

24 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Is "interesting" a euphemism for "ridiculous"?  And he was actually ranked #1.  Pitt passed on him to save money for later signings.  Detroit passed because they wanted to build an uber-rotation.  I forget the other guy.

I always wondered if the chatter of ABS influenced Pitt.  Davis reportedly had weak framing skills as his biggest (only?) flaw, but the ABS system would have negated that…

[notin]

3 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

This is a great point, and honestly if Pipeline is saying Mayer was the #1 prospect in the draft and Al Leiter is the #2 prospect in the draft.....who's to say Texas didn't legit see Leiter as the #1 or #2 player in the draft and that's why they took him #2?

Jack Leiter.  Al is his dad…

[Hugh2]

Just now, notin said:

Jack Leiter.  Al is his dad…

Really? what are you going to tell me next? that Dante Bichette is actually Bo????

[notin]

13 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Why? So when he and Anthony are primed, we pass on getting help, again?

Or because the Sox need two infielders and trading Mayer for Marte still leaves the Sox needing two infielders…

[FredLynn]

1 hour ago, notin said:

We hear this every off-season once transactions close on December 11th…

Henry the Cheapskate is certainly off to a great start, as usual, isn't he?

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Two big bats? If they bring back Bregman, it's the same roster. 

He means at the beginning of last year

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Or because the Sox need two infielders and trading Mayer for Marte still leaves the Sox needing two infielders…

Right , but more importantly we need 2 very good hitters and Mayer is a huge question mark with the bat (and durability), in fact hes been getting called out for not hitting the gym

Building a baseball team isnt a position by position checklist.

[drewski6]

16 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Last winter got me wondering if we were cycling back towards spending more.

The Devers dump put that idea on hold.

Now, we see a $21M/1 deal for Gray replace the $21M/1 deal for Buehler.

We see Oviedo replace the $38M/2 Gio.

We see a rookie replacing Bregman.

We hear talk or a Casas resurrection and 300 more PAs from Anthony as our rallying center points. It is a joke- I agree.

Of course there is still time to make some significant adds, but why should we expect it?

I'm not sure why we should even hope for it, despite within about a year watching JH sign Devers to the largest and longest deal in team history by about 25-30% and Bregman to the larges AAV deal by about 30% over the Devers deal. Both are gone- POOF!

 

Casas isnt going to be ready did you hear coras recent comments "hope he can contribute next year" ... "we have to get him healthy"

All signs point to hes not going to be much of a factor next year.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

He means at the beginning of last year

At the beginning they didn't have Roman in the lineup. 

[mvp 78]

Just now, drewski6 said:

Casas isnt going to be ready did you hear coras recent comments "hope he can contribute next year" ... "we have to get him healthy"

All signs point to hes not going to be much of a factor next year.

That's what I've been saying for quite some time. 

[drewski6]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

That's what I've been saying for quite some time. 

I always kind of knew no news is bad news, because when theres good news they share it. And I have seen you lean this way for quite some time, ur gut was on point.

[drewski6]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

At the beginning they didn't have Roman in the lineup. 

22 year old leadoff hitter, too much to ask of him to carry a lineup.  Hell be very good even next year, but hes still too young to be the primary driver of the offense and hes a leadoff hitter.

If Roman is the offense, we really are punting the next couple of years, or at least half assing it, so why the heck the 1 yr deals :/

This team is absolutely terrible at picking a lane.   The buy and sell goes right up my butt.  I say plan for the current OR the future and if you are trying to plan for both, you are planning for neither

I use to have a boss and I would ask her, what should i prioritize. And she would say everything. I would say "so, nothing, then"

[drewski6]

We had ourselves set up to compete, and we just arent serious enough.

At least thats how it appears.  After a nights sleep, im thinking its salvageable thru Geno.

[drewski6]

Mr 35 years old.

[Old Red]

3 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I always kind of knew no news is bad news, because when theres good news they share it. And I have seen you lean this way for quite some time, ur gut was on point.

He’ll be ready. His imaginary swings are way ahead of schedule.🤫

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

12 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

At the beginning they didn't have Roman in the lineup. 

They had him, just didn't want to use him in the lineup too early lest he win Rookie of the Year and they'd lose one more year of control.

So they ended up 5 wins short of top seed and instead had to play all their playoff games in the South Bronx.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

13 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I use to have a boss and I would ask her, what should i prioritize. And she would say everything. I would say "so, nothing, then"

prioritize... such a contradictory word; the base means before.

Those stuck in the past are doomed to get passed by the Rays and the O's.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

22 year old leadoff hitter, too much to ask of him to carry a lineup.  Hell be very good even next year, but hes still too young to be the primary driver of the offense and hes a leadoff hitter.

If Roman is the offense, we really are punting the next couple of years, or at least half assing it, so why the heck the 1 yr deals :/

This team is absolutely terrible at picking a lane.   The buy and sell goes right up my butt.  I say plan for the current OR the future and if you are trying to plan for both, you are planning for neither

I use to have a boss and I would ask her, what should i prioritize. And she would say everything. I would say "so, nothing, then"

I'm just saying that if they bring back Breggie, it's the same team. They need to bring back Breggie (or equivalent) plus add something else if they want to be better.

[Larry Cook]

The writers that put stuff out for clicks are talking about something brewing with the Red Sox. The writers that only put stuff out when they know something are quiet!!!  
 

 

[mvp 78]

25 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

The writers that put stuff out for clicks are talking about something brewing with the Red Sox. The writers that only put stuff out when they know something are quiet!!!  
 

 

After Winter Meetings thru New Years is the Cold Stove Season

[notin]

5 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

Really? what are you going to tell me next? that Dante Bichette is actually Bo????

Nitpicky stuff, but you were the one talking about the 2021 draft and mentioned Al Leiter…

[notin]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

I'm just saying that if they bring back Breggie, it's the same team. They need to bring back Breggie (or equivalent) plus add something else if they want to be better.

Well, whoever replaces Toro/Lowe at 1b could be an improvement…

[Larry Cook]

32 minutes ago, notin said:

Well, whoever replaces Toro/Lowe at 1b could be an improvement…

Casas did not look better than toro/lowe last year. 

[moonslav59]

6 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Two big bats? If they bring back Bregman, it's the same roster. 

Same or better.

whar about Devers+Ref+ Lowe? That’s 650 PAs there of .825+ hitting.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I'm just saying that if they bring back Breggie, it's the same team. They need to bring back Breggie (or equivalent) plus add something else if they want to be better.

You assume Anthony replaces Devers, Ref and Lowe?

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I'm just saying that if they bring back Breggie, it's the same team. They need to bring back Breggie (or equivalent) plus add something else if they want to be better.

For sure.  

[Larry Cook]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I'm just saying that if they bring back Breggie, it's the same team. They need to bring back Breggie (or equivalent) plus add something else if they want to be better.

I think Bregman is dancing with the cubs 

[UtahSox]

21 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

He's going to spend between the 1st and 2nd tax levels.  You may or may not like the players that Breslow signs, but the spending levels are pretty likely.  I'd make a serious wager we go over the first level.

Yeah that’s enough for 8-10th in MLB……… That’s level of budget we are working with, fun fact we’ve never won WS with a payroll below 4th. Fact hardly ever anyone does. Even when the Rangers won they juiced the payroll. So when the Red Sox flip flop with Cubs for 3rd or 4th in payroll every year, yet gets out spent by teams with 100M+ less in revenue. What are we doing?

I guess I’m sad because I’d convinced myself that when the time was right. “We are the Boston Red Sox, we don’t have resource issues” would kick in. This offseason is proof JH has moved on from winning World Series.

[Duran Is The Man]

3 hours ago, UtahSox said:

Yeah that’s enough for 8-10th in MLB……… That’s level of budget we are working with, fun fact we’ve never won WS with a payroll below 4th. Fact hardly ever anyone does. Even when the Rangers won they juiced the payroll. So when the Red Sox flip flop with Cubs for 3rd or 4th in payroll every year, yet gets out spent by teams with 100M+ less in revenue. What are we doing?

I guess I’m sad because I’d convinced myself that when the time was right. “We are the Boston Red Sox, we don’t have resource issues” would kick in. This offseason is proof JH has moved on from winning World Series.

it's truly ridiculous the way the team is now being run. i wouldn't bitch nearly as much if they didn't have the resources to be competitive, but it is inexcusable for this organization, with the resources at their disposal, to not do more to try and win. 

[UtahSox]

1 minute ago, Duran Is The Man said:

it's truly ridiculous the way the team is now being run. i wouldn't bitch nearly as much if they didn't have the resources to be competitive, but it is inexcusable for this organization with the resources at their disposal to not do more to try and win. 

Against the sage advice of about 90% of you, the optimist in me came back, I don’t know why or how, I just thought when everything lined up JH would spend and go all in on winning another World Series. when I found out about us missing Alonso and the way we did. I just absolutely snapped, Yesterday was a rough day……. I’m sorry if my swear words offended anybody. 

Breslow and JH are who we thought they were….