A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[mvp 78]

Just now, drewski6 said:

We dont deserve the variteks :(

🫠

[mvp 78]

Sox have scored 2.1 runs per game over the past 10 games. 

They have lost 8 games when allowing 3 or less runs. They had only lost 3 games when allowing 3 or less runs at this point in the season last year. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

19 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

At least Tolle and Early are ready. Arias? Who knows? 

Does the front office? How much does fandom trust them to know? 

Tolle and Early are evidence that Brelsow and Bailey's Flying Circus knows pitching.

But consider the injury-prone or injury-affected performances of the position player prospects touted to be the core of the next great Red Sox team. These strapping young studs should be regulars on the field, not the IL.

At least Rafaela seems durable enough; maybe because he's wiry and not muscle-bound?

Good pitchers always have a disdain for batters; it's part of what makes them effective... does this make ex-pitchers in charge less effective to evaluate position players? I don't know, but I do know that The Password led the entire Red Sox system in home runs combined the past two years on a club desperate for power even last season... and Brez traded him for more pitchers.

 

 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Sox have scored 2.1 runs per game over the past 10 games. 

They have lost 8 games when allowing 3 or less runs. They had only lost 3 games when allowing 3 or less runs at this point in the season last year. 

The O is getting worse- not better!

[moonslav59]

Didn't some posters think we rushed Tolle and Early, last year?

[mvp 78]

32 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Didn't some posters think we rushed Tolle and Early, last year?

I don't remember this. I'm sure somebody called them a suspect or something. 

[Yaz Fan Since 67]

What is killing this team is the lack of production from so many of their top prospects.   We all know that prospects miss at the major league level.  But I don't think this organization expected to get nothing out of Campbell, Mayer and Anthony to date as recently as a year ago.  Hell I'll even throw in Casas as it wasn't that long ago that they saw him as a  potential key contributor.  I think player development is still a major issue with this team.  

[Larry Cook]

On 5/11/2026 at 3:34 PM, Old Red said:

Agree on Mayer. Let’s take the training wheels off, and yes little Anthony has been most disappointing.

Is it possible Anthony got hurt (wrist) at the wbc and just trying to tough it out until things with the wrist went from bad to worse. 
 

I say that because he looked good early in spring training and then he was putrid toward the end of spring training.

i never heard Cora or Tracy say anything about Anthony dealing with a wrist injury, so maybe Anthony was experiencing discomfort and thought he could play through it, but the problem got worse instead of better!!  He did not look right at all after he got back from the wbc. 

 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

What is killing this team is the lack of production from so many of their top prospects.   We all know that prospects miss at the major league level.  But I don't think this organization expected to get nothing out of Campbell, Mayer and Anthony to date as recently as a year ago.  Hell I'll even throw in Casas as it wasn't that long ago that they saw him as a  potential key contributor.  I think player development is still a major issue with this team.  

Before 2025 started, many felt KC was not ready to the opening day call-up, Anthony was considered a mid 2025 to early 2026 ETA and Mayer's injury history had him a one big question mark on his ETA and projected impact year. All three came up on the early side of the ETAs. 

Did you expect greatness right out of the gate?

Saying "nothing" from Anthony after an .804 OPS in his first 433 MLB PAs is not being fair.

True, you were talking about killing us this year, so yes, all have given us nothing or close to it. I think the team and fans expected 1-2 of them to be helping more than this. (Add Narvaez to the list- Durbin, too, if you wish.)

Going into the year with 5 guys in their 2nd year and all but KC viewed as a FT'er or close to one was very speculative, for sure.

[Duran Is The Man]

7 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

The O is getting worse- not better!

fire the manager and the hitting coaches!

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

fire the manager and the hitting coaches!

Again and again?

[Duran Is The Man]

46 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Again and again?

guess i shoulda typed it in green.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Duran Is The Man said:

guess i shoulda typed it in green.

There is no green.

[moonslav59]

The Rays are 20-4, recently.

I can't see them keeping this up much longer.

[moonslav59]

Games started by the 3rd place Boston Red Sox in 2026:

0 Houck

0 Crawford

0 Sandoval

0 Oviedo

0 Uberstine & E Rivera and many prospects

2 Moran (1 IP opener)

2 Bennett

5 Tolle

6 Crochet

7 Bello

8 Gray

9 Early

9 Suarez

[mvp 78]

14 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Games started by the 3rd place Boston Red Sox in 2026:

Red Sox may be back to last place before the top of the hour if the O's hold onto their lead. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Red Sox may be back to last place before the top of the hour if the O's hold onto their lead. 

We had our moment!

LOL

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Red Sox may be back to last place before the top of the hour if the O's hold onto their lead. 

Nope.

The Rays scored 4 in the 8th.

3/4. BOS & TOR 21-27 

5. BAL  21-29

[moonslav59]

A quick glance at the teams ahead of the 22-27 Red Sox:

23-27 MIN-

11 batters over 110 PA: 3 in .500s, 3 in .600s, 3 in 700's (2 over .900)

103 ERA+ with 4 of top 5 SP under 3.63 ERA

_______________________

24-27 SEA-

10 batters over 100 PAs: 1 in 400's, 1 in 500s, 2 in 600s, 3 in 700s, 3 in 800s

108 ERA+ with 4 SP'ers under 4.45

_______________________

24-25 TEX (WC slot)

9 batters over 100 PAs: 2 in 500s, 2 in 600s, 3 in 700s, 2 in 800s

105 ERA+ w 4 SP'ers under 4.35

________________________

24-24 Athletics

10 batters over 100: 1 in 500s, 2 in 600s, 3 in 700s, 1 in 800s and 3 in 900s!

105 ERA+ with 4 SP'ers under 4.45

_______________________

25-24 CWS

9 players over 96 PAs: 2 in 400s, 1 in 600s, 3 in 700s, 2 in 800s, 1 in 900s

101 ERA+ (worst of this group) Only 1 SP'er below 4.10, but 4 below 4.30

_________________________

Red Sox:

10 batters over 100 PAs: 1 in 400s, 2 in 500's, 3 in 600s, 2 in 700s, 2 in 800s

110 ERA+ (Best of this group) w 4 SP'ers under 3.21 and 3 under 2.93

 

[Old Red]

22-27 5 games under 500, which is still bad, but going with a very low bar this is the closest the Red Sox have been for awhile. It helped just sweeping a team as bad as they are, and losers of 9 of their last 10. Still 29th in HR, and RBI, and 28th in total bases per game. Those two run homers have won them the recent games though. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

14 minutes ago, Old Red said:

22-27 5 games under 500, which is still bad, but going with a very low bar this is the closest the Red Sox have been for awhile. It helped just sweeping a team as bad as they are, and losers of 9 of their last 10. Still 29th in HR, and RBI, and 28th in total bases per game. Those two run homers have won them the recent games though. 

Hey, teams can win without home runs (they just don't wear red socks).

In the two games in KC won on HRs by Contreras and Duran, Boston was 1-for-5 and 2-for-11 with RISP.

They don't just need one more bat, they need about five more corked ones.

[Hugh2]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

22-27 5 games under 500, which is still bad, but going with a very low bar this is the closest the Red Sox have been for awhile. It helped just sweeping a team as bad as they are, and losers of 9 of their last 10. Still 29th in HR, and RBI, and 28th in total bases per game. Those two run homers have won them the recent games though. 

When the Sox hit HR's they win.  coincidence? 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

When the Sox hit HR's they win.  coincidence? 

It helps having good pitching.

Earned Runs Allowed in last 23 games: 60 (2.63 ERA)

Zero ERs 3 times

1 ER 4 times (7 out of 23 was 0-1 ER!)

2 ERs 7 times (14/23 was 0-2 ERs!)

3 ERs 4 times (18 out of 23 games saw 0-3 ERs allowed)

We are 13-5 in those games.

[notin]

On 5/19/2026 at 4:17 PM, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

What is killing this team is the lack of production from so many of their top prospects.   We all know that prospects miss at the major league level.  But I don't think this organization expected to get nothing out of Campbell, Mayer and Anthony to date as recently as a year ago.  Hell I'll even throw in Casas as it wasn't that long ago that they saw him as a  potential key contributor.  I think player development is still a major issue with this team.  

Don’t forget about production from the veterans.  
 

Duran did homer last night but his overall season has been atrocious.  Story played injured and was even worse.  Even Abreu lately has lost his thump, with a .716 OPS (and only 3 XBH) since April 24.

With the prospects, sometimes it just takes time.  Jordan Walker has taken a few seasons, but is off to a great start this season.   I think in time, Anthony, Mayer and even Campbell will find their ways.  Especially Anthony…

[moonslav59]

We made it (barely at T#9 & 10) to the middle tier in the AL, but the AL is so weak, it's nothing to brag about.

The Sox are ...

0.5 from #8 MIN

1.0 from #7 SEA

2.0 from #6 TEX (currently the last WC team)

3.0 from #4/5 Athletics (Leader of the west/2nd WC team)

3.0 from #4/5 CWS (1/2 WC team)

 

[drewski6]

On 5/19/2026 at 11:57 PM, moonslav59 said:

There is no green.

cuz you smoked it all.

[moonslav59]

54 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

cuz you smoked it all.

True dat!

[Duran Is The Man]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

True dat!

pothead.

[Larry Cook]

On 5/20/2026 at 1:56 PM, moonslav59 said:

Games started by the 3rd place Boston Red Sox in 2026:

0 Houck

0 Crawford

0 Sandoval

0 Oviedo

0 Uberstine & E Rivera and many prospects

2 Moran (1 IP opener)

2 Bennett

5 Tolle

6 Crochet

7 Bello

8 Gray

9 Early

9 Suarez

Simply incredible that we are in 3rd place given the adversity in 2026 thus far. 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

pothead.

From 1977 to about 2004, I smoked more than this whole site combined.

The last 20 years- hardly any.