A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

There is also the unpopular solution of returning Rafaela to the INF, where he is much less of a contributor.  But he might be the best internal option for 2b, not counting their other starting infielders…

🫳🍅   

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

I'm all in on Bichette and Yandy. Or Bregman and Marte. 

Either combo would do wonders for the Sultans of Swing and Miss in 2026.

Probably only one of each duo would still be a viable force when the core of sustained World Series Championship Contenders actually matures...

And '04 didn't sacrifice D for O, the Sox' owners actually allowed the front office to obtain Pokey Reese, Doug Man K Vitch and best of all, Orlando Cabrera -- nails with glove in the clutch that entire postseason.

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I'm all in on Bichette and Yandy. Or Bregman and Marte. 

Either combo would do wonders for the Sultans of Swing and Miss in 2026.

Probably only one of each duo would still be a viable force when the core of sustained World Series Championship Contenders actually matures...

And '04 didn't sacrifice D for O, the Sox' owners actually allowed the front office to obtain Pokey Reese, Doug Man K Vitch and best of all, Orlando Cabrera -- nails with glove in the clutch that entire postseason.

'04 were 24th in DRS, 29th in defensive value per FanGraphs, 25th in errors, 26th in Double Plays, 23rd in FLDG%.

[Larry Cook]

21 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

 

L Weaver, Fairbanks & S Dominguez ($20M/2)

 

 

 

Why wouldn’t we sign one of these 3 guys?  

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Why wouldn’t we sign one of these 3 guys?  

Do they need more relievers at that price?

[Larry Cook]

46 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Do they need more relievers at that price?

I believe a super bullpen will win us more games after the starter exits than running weissert out there until his arm falls off again 

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, notin said:

And that becomes possible if they can move Yoshida.  Of course any trade of Yoshida will yield nothing in the way of an enthusiastic return.

There is also the unpopular solution of returning Rafaela to the INF, where he is much less of a contributor.  But he might be the best internal option for 2b, not counting their other starting infielders…

I just dont understand why not ss (if 2b)

[drewski6]

I think it would take 14 mins of practice for Cedanne to go from 0 to the best shortstop of the decade. And I may be overshooting it.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Do you really think he meant that results dont matter when he said hes not interested in researching projections? Or are you taking a comment and making it what you want to be in order to score a point? Do you think you are fooling literally anyone?

Just imho, everything in life is a projection.  The line I addressed was "Do the projections earn them anything going into the season?"  Maybe I just don't understand his intent, but every team in the world goes into the season with projections.  Just because they won't be 100% accurate is kind of meaningless.

Honestly, are reading something into that line that I'm not seeing?

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, notin said:

Except you will play 2b…

Disclosure-I'm worst at 2nd, if only because I will miss slamdunk plays.  At least at SS, you can say 'well, that was a tough play'.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

If they didn't have Masa, I'd just rotate Anthony/Abreu/Duran through DH. 

IMO, it would still be a waste.  Duran had a .774 last year.  You can always find a .774 player to DH, and flip Duran for pitching help (or 2B, etc.).

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, notin said:

But he might be the best internal option for 2b

If it got to that, Ceddanne would be much more valuable as a trade chip.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

And '04 didn't sacrifice D for O

They did going into the season, which is why they traded for Minky & OCab.

[UtahSox]

39 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

IMO, it would still be a waste.  Duran had a .774 last year.  You can always find a .774 player to DH, and flip Duran for pitching help (or 2B, etc.).

I freaking love Duran…… but you’re right DH has to produce. Although if it’s not Duran, it’s currently Yoshida/Romy. Which is not great Bob. 

Along those same lines, after the all star break we got .500 OPS production out of CF that’s a position that must be 700+ regardless of how good they are defensively. 
 

is there any chance Duran can play 2b?

 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

They did going into the season, which is why they traded for Minky & OCab.

Exactly, but Epstein pivoted because he readily admitted by June the Sox couldn't win the World Series with Nomar at shortstop. And then he did a course correction at the trade deadline (how refreshing back when someone in charge admitted a mistake and then did something about it).

Ultimately, none of the regular season defensive metrics and rankings meant jack in '04. The only stat that meant anything is Boston's record in the last eight games of the postseason: 8-0.

[Duran Is The Man]

4 hours ago, drewski6 said:

she wasnt gross, the situation was gross.

was she hawt?

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Rotation was a strength of the team last year, youve added 3 pitchers already.  We're flipping our best trade chip (an offensive player) for a .....fourth pitching acquisition?

What happened to two big bats? What happened to one?

But Okajoko has 0 major league at-bats. Who hits second, third, fourth?  ANd if its a wildcard (okie), abreu, and story guess what? Rotation is NOT going to matter. Cuz your fourth place.  Five aces and your fourth place.  

Is Kutter Crawford hitting third?

You all may think you want pitching and defense even if it comes with noodlebat city, but ive seen that movie before and you'll be turning off the game when its 2-0 in the second because we'l be averaging 1.8 runs / game.

Then 3 of your five aces will get hurt.  The BP will start blowing games and we'll be talking about 2028 in July while Pumpsie takes a victory lap.

Do you, though.
 

I'd prefer 2 big bats. That has been my fall & winter mantra.

My point was that if we added a solid #2, which we needed and did not get with Gray or Oviedo, I would n ot feel the same sense of urgency on 2 big bats. One might be enough.

No Crawford would not bat 3rd: probably Abreu or Story would.

There are more ways to win than just adding 2 mashers.

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Why wouldn’t we sign one of these 3 guys?  

Because I do not think we have enough cash to fill bigger needs, as it is.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

IMO, it would still be a waste.  Duran had a .774 last year.  You can always find a .774 player to DH, and flip Duran for pitching help (or 2B, etc.).

Masa or a Masa/Romy platoon can hit .774.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Sox couldn't win the World Series with Nomar at shortstop.

And Nomar had an .867 OPS at the time too.  Show you how much we valued the defensive upgrade.

[Larry Cook]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Because I do not think we have enough cash to fill bigger needs, as it is.

I do not think it is cash or lack thereof that is keeping us from filling bigger needs! I think it is organizational philosophy!!  
 

I think bres-slow is correct in how he is approaching the big bat situation. 
 

I think we have two holes to fill: 

1.) a number 2 for the rotation. 
2.) another late inning reliable reliever. 
 

I am good with everything else 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Larry Cook said:

I do not think it is cash or lack thereof that is keeping us from filling bigger needs! I think it is organizational philosophy!!  
 

I think bres-slow is correct in how he is approaching the big bat situation. 
 

I think we have two holes to fill: 

1.) a number 2 for the rotation. 
2.) another late inning reliable reliever. 
 

I am good with everything else 

I think Brez views Gray as the #2, but they told him not to say that.

We will use converted starters to fill the pen. No more significant pen additions.

We will add what they will call a big bat. We may not agree.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

And Nomar had an .867 OPS at the time too.  Show you how much we valued the defensive upgrade.

When I heard of that trade, I told my brothers-in-law, "We just made a trade that will win us a ring." When I told them we traded Nomar for Cabrera, they said, "Who is he?"

(That was one of the very few times I was right about how the Sox would end a season.)

[Hitch]

17 hours ago, notin said:

 

There is also the unpopular solution of returning Rafaela to the INF, where he is much less of a contributor.  But he might be the best internal option for 2b, not counting their other starting infielders…

Certainly a possibility. Improves infield defence, sorts out the outfield roster crunch, and then we only need one bog bat for 3rd/1st. 

I've been thinking more and more of it as a possibility. 

[mvp 78]

16 hours ago, drewski6 said:

I think it would take 14 mins of practice for Cedanne to go from 0 to the best shortstop of the decade. And I may be overshooting it.

He's a barely adequate 2b at the MLB level. He was an "average" ss in MiLB. Why would he all of a sudden be a better ss now? 

[mvp 78]

14 hours ago, UtahSox said:

is there any chance Duran can play 2b?

No.

[drewski6]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

He's a barely adequate 2b at the MLB level. He was an "average" ss in MiLB. Why would he all of a sudden be a better ss now? 

cuz he has "it"

[mvp 78]

Just now, drewski6 said:

cuz he has "it"

 Not in the IF he doesn't. 

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

 Not in the IF he doesn't. 

Ive seen some of the best boxers who have 0 ground game turn into elite grapplers. Ive seen elite grapplers with no boxing training turn into elite boxers.

Because whatever that fighter had that made him elite in one area is still there.  How did Cedanne become sooooo good in the outfield? Work ethic, natural baseball instinct, athleticism, good arm

I do see your stats in the other thread which show he was not the same player at SS or 2b (which is a recent sample, sure), and its valid but I still embrace positional versatility

[JoeBrady]

15 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

When I heard of that trade, I told my brothers-in-law, "We just made a trade that will win us a ring." When I told them we traded Nomar for Cabrera, they said, "Who is he?"

(That was one of the very few times I was right about how the Sox would end a season.)

I was stunned.  In what world do you trade a Nomar for a glove-first SS?  Nomar had worn my patience down to a nub, but for a brief period of time, he was better than Jeter and ARod.  But I never got past the game when Jeter dove into the stands and came with the ball and his bleeding, while the cameras were zooming in on Nomar with his nonchalant look in the dugout.