A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[Nick]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

A change of pace to give ‘em a lefty for once. 

Let's hope Crochet, Suarez, Tolley, Early and Bennett all throw from different slots. 

[notin]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

Ward hit his first tater of the year this afternoon.

If his OBP is still over .500, call him up now!

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Ward hit his first tater of the year this afternoon.

Bulking up from throwing Louisville javelins.

[notin]

Just now, Nick said:

Let's hopte Crochet, Suarez, Tolley, Early and Bennett all throw from different slots. 

Their arms are all different lengths, so it should be ok..

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

2 hours ago, notin said:

But even then, how many really pitched better after being traded?

Ok, you did a lot of work on this list, so your penance is up for saying anything posters complain about regarding this current front office is stupid. 

My sardonic Bailey post wasn't meant to be disparaging to him, of course, but to those who want to fire any coaches for something any player does later, when he no longer works with them. As if anyone can control anyone.

Hammy's a better bunter -- why, because he practiced and made himself one, or because his new coach suggested he hold the bat at a 45 degree ascending angle instead of that fireable Old School Boston guy who wanted it parallel to the ground -- like we were taught in the Sychodelic Sixties and Schlitzaholic Seventies.

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

The next CBO search is going to be brutal for the Sox. They couldn't get anyone in the door last time. Now they are seen league wide as a complete mess. f you like scouting, all those guys are gone. There's no year to year commitment to spending or competing. Your job will possibly not last the full contract you sign. You're surrounded by legions of EVP's that survive by winning favor with ownership. Who would take that job? I

Cora would have but thats dead now.

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

The pitching turnover has been astounding since Brez took over- from farm to MLB to a large uptick in focus on adding pitchers via the draft and other ways.

As you pointed out, only Priester and Sale stick out as pitchers that have done well, at times they were  healthy.

I'm glad we focused heavily on pitching- top to bottom.

Oh, and by the way, we not have Holobetz, Phillips and Ziehl via the Sale/Grissom>Ziehl and Priester deals.

The 2026 Red Sox really do make a good case for why its great to go pitching , pitching, pitching.

[JoeBrady]

8 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Of course one big bat wasn't going to make up 8 games, but it would look like we tried harder.

Again, none of the available bats would've done anything for us.  We could've signed Bichette, Alonso and Bregman, and traded for Paredes & Marte, and we'd still be 8 back.

The problem is Story, Anthony, Duran, Crochet and Bello.  They aren't the only problems, but there weren't enough FAs out there to make up for their poor play.

[drewski6]

5 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Again, none of the available bats would've done anything for us.  We could've signed Bichette, Alonso and Bregman, and traded for Paredes & Marte, and we'd still be 8 back.

The problem is Story, Anthony, Duran, Crochet and Bello.  They aren't the only problems, but there weren't enough FAs out there to make up for their poor play.

Bregman has played well this year and was willing to take a discount to play here. We just had to not insult him to his face and give him a NTC. D'oh!

[drewski6]

The mess that the Red Sox are in , is of their own making.  They traded Devers after things were smoothed over.  They revolved their offseason around Bregman than double dog dared him to take an offer that they thought didnt exist.  They chased efficiency and making use of the people here rather than accepting sunk costs and getting better players.  They intentionally de-prioritized offense and now our wRC+ is in the toilet.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, notin said:

Ok, but why does Bailey get to keep his job, when every pitcher they trade gets better elsewhere: Sale, Priester, Harrison, Pivetta, Elmer

Harrison pitched well for us.  He just didn't pitch a lot.

Priester pitched well for us.  He just didn't pitch a lot.

Elmer pitched well for us.  He just didn't actually pitch for us.

IIRC, Sale never pitched with Bailey on the team.

[drewski6]

Bailey has our pitchers throwing less fastballs, which is strange when teams are destroying us with fastballs.  But part of the reason we are getting destroyed by fastballs is because we arent swinging early in the count enough.

[notin]

39 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

The 2026 Red Sox really do make a good case for why its great to go pitching , pitching, pitching.

How is  “hitting, hitting, hitting” working out for the Mets?

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

Cora would have but thats dead now.

He would have just traded for his drinking buddies.

[drewski6]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He would have just traded for his drinking buddies.

Are you sure that would be worse than what we've got?

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

The 2026 Red Sox really do make a good case for why its great to go pitching , pitching, pitching.

YES! We need to get 5 MORE!

LOL.

[drewski6]

6 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

YES! We need to get 5 MORE!

LOL.

Pitching is more of a crapshoot, and good pitchers revert to crap or get hurt more often. Reason number 418 why its better to build around your bats.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, Nick said:

Jake Bennett, a 25 year old lefty appears to be the starter tomorrow. A 6-6. 235lb guy Bres loves as a starter, he has pitched 21 innings in AAA, 12 hits, 16 K's and only 3 BB with 0 HR and 2 earned runs given up.

I'm over Bello, but I am excited over Tolle (23), Early (23) and now Bennett (25). I have to look for a silver lining and this maybe it for the 2026 season.

Spot 0n, 100% correct.  As aggravating as this has been, it would be cool to wind up with 3 rookie SPs of varying quality.

[moonslav59]

These were the pitchers on the Sox to end the 2023 season, before Breslow was hired:

Sale, Houck, Pivetta, Crawford, Bello (Paxton IL)

Jansen, Martin (IL) Whitlock, Schreiber, Winckowski, Benardino, Murphy, Joely R (IL) N Robertson, Llovera

AAA: Drohan, Walter, Barraclough, Van Belle, Gambrell, Rio Gomez/ Ort, Mata, Booser,  Weiss, Jacques, Garza, Gillaspie, Politi, L Guerrero, R Fernandez, Hagenman, Mosqueda, German, Shugart, Santo (IL)

AA notables: Wikelman, Dobbins, Bastardo, Hoppe, Troye

A+: Penrod, Monegro, Perales, Rogers, Song, Sena

A-: ERod, Mullins, Early, Paez

Pitching Prospects Rankings:

7 Perales, 9 Wikelman, 15 Drohan, 20 Monegro, 23 Dobbins, 24 ERC, 25 Guerrero, 26 Bastardo, 27 Mata, 28 Hoppe

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Pitching is more of a crapshoot, and good pitchers revert to crap or get hurt more often. Reason number 418 why its better to build around your bats.

I don't disagree, but we went decades having great bats, but we won our first and following rings when...

we added Schilling to Pedro (Lowe/Wake/Arroyo/Foulke)

we added Beckett, DiceK & Papelbon to Schilling

we added Lackey, Dempster & Uehara to Lester

we added Sale, Price & Kimbrel (Nate mid season) to ERod & Porcello

[notin]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

Pitching is more of a crapshoot, and good pitchers revert to crap or get hurt more often. Reason number 418 why its better to build around your bats.

Lou?  Lou Gorman?  It’s been so long!

[Duran Is The Man]

6 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

The next CBO search is going to be brutal for the Sox. They couldn't get anyone in the door last time. Now they are seen league wide as a complete mess. f you like scouting, all those guys are gone. There's no year to year commitment to spending or competing. Your job will possibly not last the full contract you sign. You're surrounded by legions of EVP's that survive by winning favor with ownership. Who would take that job? I

i still wanna know WTF Theo is doing. maybe he's Henry's cabin boy. who knows.

[notin]

5 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Cora would have but thats dead now.

Well, he is available.  And maybe he wants the chance to show up Breslow…