A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[notin]

7 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Why not?  They've won between 85 and 90 games each of the last 5 years.  That doesn't make them the '27 Yankees, but they've been one of the better teams for a while now.  Obviously their postseason success has been lacking.  

It doesn’t make them the ‘27 Yankees.  It makes them the Less Successful Milwaukee Brewers, who didnt make the list at all…

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Nick said:

Here's the ultimate question.

Historically, do the right handed hitters have a better split than the left handed hitters? So Yaz was .692 (?) vs left handed pitchers? So Cora would have platooned him?

One theory is that there are more RHPs and RHBs, so they are more accustomed to facing "the wrong handed" pitchers.

Most of the best RHBs have more even splits than the best LHBs, and I guess it's true overall, too.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

One theory is that there are more RHPs and RHBs, so they are more accustomed to facing "the wrong handed" pitchers.

Most of the best RHBs have more even splits than the best LHBs, and I guess it's true overall, too.

I herd the same thing.  Facing righties is the natural matchup for righties.  Not so for lefties.

[JoeBrady]

BTW, whoever thought of the count-down screen, it was pure genius.  Was that up there last year?

[moonslav59]

The season opens soon:

3/26: @ CIN

3/27: OFF

3/28: @ CIN

3/29: @ CIN

3/30: @ HOU

3/31: @ HOU

4/1: @ HOU

4/2: OFF

3 vs SDP at BOS
3 vs MIL at BOS

Day Off

 

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

The season opens soon:

First 12 games played against teams averaging .551 winning % last year.

[moonslav59]

54 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

First 12 games played against teams averaging .551 winning % last year.

Not an easy start, but not real bad, either.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Welp, I watched the futures game on TV and saw some Red Sox pitchers that have some. 

As for the position players, my first impression is to apologize to ZZ Top; none of them gotta wear shades.

[notin]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Welp, I watched the futures game on TV and saw some Red Sox pitchers that have some. 

As for the position players, my first impression is to apologize to ZZ Top; none of them gotta wear shades.

That was Timbuk Three…

[moonslav59]

Still no word on the Thaiss decision.

Mayer announced as starting 2Bman with platoon possibilities.

Campbell sent down.

[moonslav59]

MLB.com's injury report:

Sandoval: Mid April to early May (Left UCL repair)

Crawford: April to early May (Right wrist subsheath tear)

Casas: May, at the earliest (Ruptured left patellar tendon)

Romy: Will miss significant time at start of season. (Left shoulder)

Houck: Late '26 or early '27 (Torn ulnar collateral ligament in right elbow/ flexor pronator strain)

While these are impactful injuries, the Houck one was known and the others are not to major role players.

[JoeBrady]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

While these are impactful injuries, the Houck one was known and the others are not to major role players.

Sandoval was a little disappointing this far along in his recovery.  Romy maybe the most impactful, but with so few specifics.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

Sandoval was a little disappointing this far along in his recovery.  Romy maybe the most impactful, but with so few specifics.

It's a bummer that Sandoval & Crawford were supposed to be back by the end of last year, and now May might be the earliest return point.

With the loss of Refsnyder, not having Romy v LHPs hurts, but we did add some RHBs: Contreras, Durbin, Monasterio & IKF.

I think we look pretty good as the season is about to begin.

[moonslav59]

Is this the framework for the line-up?

1. L Anthony LF

2. R Story SS

3. L Duran DH

4. R Contreras 1B

5. L Abreu RF

6. R Durbin 3B

7. L Mayer 2B/ R Monasterio 2B

8. R Narvaez C

9. R Rafaela CF

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

5 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Is this the framework for the line-up?

1. L Anthony LF

2. R Story SS

3. L Duran DH

4. R Contreras 1B

5. L Abreu RF

6. R Durbin 3B

7. L Mayer 2B/ R Monasterio 2B

8. R Narvaez C

9. R Rafaela CF

Too much swing and miss at the top; it's inevitable that Durbin will work his way up to leadoff or second.

His contact skills and speed make him the ideal guy to bat right before Anthony, whose run-producing potential may be wasted in too many ABs with nobody on base in front of him.

This will be an offense that has to optimize any chances to score. 

Jarren-Caleb-Ramone-WiLLson-Wilyer-Trevor

Soundtrack:

Hungry Like A Wolf, Durbin Legend, Rock and Roll High School, We WILL Rock You, Every Pitcher Tells a Story

[JoeBrady]

8 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Is this the framework for the line-up?

I'd say that is it, and in the correct order as well.  That's a fine lineup, considering defense.

[notin]

3 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Too much swing and miss at the top; it's inevitable that Durbin will work his way up to leadoff or second.

His contact skills and speed make him the ideal guy to bat right before Anthony, whose run-producing potential may be wasted in too many ABs with nobody on base in front of him.

This will be an offense that has to optimize any chances to score. 

Jarren-Caleb-Ramone-WiLLson-Wilyer-Trevor

Soundtrack:

Hungry Like A Wolf, Durbin Legend, Rock and Roll High School, We WILL Rock You, Every Pitcher Tells a Story

I do like Durbin as a #2 hitter over Story.

Also is Monasterio the better platoon option over IKF?

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

20 minutes ago, notin said:

I do like Durbin as a #2 hitter over Story.

Also is Monasterio the better platoon option over IKF?

I think we're going to see a lot of IKF... at least in the first few months. 

He's never been a 4 WAR player and never had a .700 OPS. But he's a big league infielder, with a Gold Glove from the pandemic summer.

And there are 6 million reasons why the Red Sox will play him regularly unless or until they prove they can't score enough runs to win.

[notin]

On 3/20/2026 at 7:37 PM, JoeBrady said:

I heard the same thing.  Facing righties is the natural matchup for righties.  Not so for lefties.

Over 90% of hitters are right-handed (Notice I said “hitters” and not “MLB hitters”.). Right-handed hitters that struggle against RHP (unless they really excel elsewhere) quite often don’t get within sniffing distance of MLB…

[notin]

2 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I think we're going to see a lot of IKF... at least in the first few months. 

He's never been a 4 WAR player and never had a .700 OPS. But he's a big league infielder, with a Gold Glove from the pandemic summer.

And there are 6 million reasons why the Red Sox will play him regularly unless or until they prove they can't score enough runs to win.

Well, not to mention it’s not like Andruw Monasterio is Andruw Jones with the bat…

[Bellhorn04]

On 3/20/2026 at 7:53 PM, notin said:

It doesn’t make them the ‘27 Yankees.  It makes them the Less Successful Milwaukee Brewers, who didnt make the list at all…

Very fair point on the Brew Crew.

[notin]

5 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Very fair point on the Brew Crew.

Not to mention, it’s really hard to argue against the Yankees as the best of the AL, despite their extremely inactive offseason…

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, notin said:

I do like Durbin as a #2 hitter over Story.

Also is Monasterio the better platoon option over IKF?

Vs LHPs:

.727 Monasterio (.837 in 2025)

.643 IKF (.536 in 2025)

[notin]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Vs LHPs:

.727 Monasterio (.837 in 2025)

.643 IKF (.536 in 2025)

Monasterio has 280 plate appearances vs LHP spread out over 3 years.  He has done some platooning, with the pitchers he has faced most frequently being Andrew Abbott, Justin Steele  Graham Ashcroft, Jesus Luzardo and Martin Perez, and 4 of those 5 are left-handed.  He might have even been acquired to face LHP, but as Eaton plays more positions, and has more uses and also bats right-handed, Monasterio isn’t a lock to make the opening day roster.  
 

IKF is, barring injury…

[vegasbob]

On 3/19/2026 at 5:23 AM, mvp 78 said:

 

One of the more enlightened commentaries to be found on TalkSox

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, notin said:

Monasterio has 280 plate appearances vs LHP spread out over 3 years.  He has done some platooning, with the pitchers he has faced most frequently being Andrew Abbott, Justin Steele  Graham Ashcroft, Jesus Luzardo and Martin Perez, and 4 of those 5 are left-handed.  He might have even been acquired to face LHP, but as Eaton plays more positions, and has more uses and also bats right-handed, Monasterio isn’t a lock to make the opening day roster.  

IKF is, barring injury…

No, Monasterio is not a lock. I stated "Monasterio or Eaton". I think it's a toss up and since Cora might have a big say, maybe he wants Eaton.

I like Monasterio as a Mayer platoon bat more, but not by much.

sp.com has this projected bench: Wong, Yoshida, IKF & Monasterio.

Eaton over Monasterio changes things very little.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

3 hours ago, notin said:

Not to mention, it’s really hard to argue against the Yankees as the best of the AL, despite their extremely inactive offseason…

MLB.com sirtainly agrees with you. In their assessment of the Top 10 offensive line-ups, they rank the Not-Tax Dodgers 1st and the Yankees --- I mean Aaron Judge --- 2nd.

Red Sox fans had nightmares all winter long about those fearsome Bronx bombers from last year's ALDS: Judge's clutch game-tying pop-up off Duran's glove, and Jazz'z walk-sprint for the winning run. 

I can't even remember how NY scored in the final game because Boston got shutout. Seem to recall Early got lit up with bloopers and tweeners...

ps. Sox didn't make the list but got honorable mention with a handful of other maybes

[moonslav59]

Kind of a strange contract extension given by DD to C Sanchez. He was only in  year two of a 5 year extension at a very team friendly rate ($47M/5.)

DD basically handed out $60M for his ages 34 and 35 season with a $44.5M option for age 36 season ($1M buyout.)

The Phillies already have Wheeler & Nola under control to their age 37 seasons and Luzardo to age 34.

[moonslav59]

Yanks to start season with 4 man rotation with Gil the odd man out.

They have 4 of their first 13 days off.

[notin]

20 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yanks to start season with 4 man rotation with Gil the odd man out.

They have 4 of their first 13 days off.

They start up on Wednesday, giving them a quicker day off than everyone else…