A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Throw in the 9/1 K/W.  He's most a wildcard right now, but he looks a lot better than some of the other guys we re-cycle thru.

He's not a late inning arm, but bringing in a guy who throws GAS in the 5th/6th inning right after a starter has been taken out has a lot of value to me. I'd rather that than some of the low ceiling soft tossers they've had. 

[notin]

55 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Devers said that he didn't want to be thrown into the position right away and look stupid during the regular season. SF eased him into it. Now he's the fulltime 1b. 

When did Devers say that?  When first asked, he said he didn’t want to change positions, that it was Breslow’s job to go get a new 1b, and he didn’t want to - quoting his translator here- “play every position.”  
 

I suppose when cooler heads prevailed, he softened his message to look less like an *******.  But did Boston ever tell him they refused to ease him into the role?

 

From this outsider, it looked like he never wanted to give up 3b, and wasn’t going to do that for Boston.  That he cited his promise supports this.  But once he was on another team and accepted some reality, playing 1b became an option again.

Boston should have moved him years ago.  But I’m guessing they didn’t because he was always reluctant.  Which is supported by Cora’s refusal to address moving to 1b with him.  Heck it was difficult enough to get him to go to DH…

[JoeBrady]

19 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If Raffy tried to do that, the media would have ripped him. 

Why would the Boston press do such a thing?

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, notin said:

When did Devers say that?  When first asked, he said he didn’t want to change positions, that it was Breslow’s job to go get a new 1b, and he didn’t want to - quoting his translator here- “play every position.”  
 

I suppose when cooler heads prevailed, he softened his message to look less like an *******.  But did Boston ever tell him they refused to ease him into the role?

 

From this outsider, it looked like he never wanted to give up 3b, and wasn’t going to do that for Boston.  That he cited his promise supports this.  But once he was on another team and accepted some reality, playing 1b became an option again.

Boston should have moved him years ago.  But I’m guessing they didn’t because he was always reluctant.  Which is supported by Cora’s refusal to address moving to 1b with him.  Heck it was difficult enough to get him to go to DH…

The org never communicated well to him. If they truly wanted to move him off 3b permanently, they should have considered where he'd play in the future. If Cora said "throw away your glove, you're DH" it's pretty dumb. Why not have him be the 1B/DH and just have him play 1B like once a week just in case. That should have been the plan all along. It just was handled so poorly by Devers, Cora, Breslow... 

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Why would the Boston press do such a thing?

🤫

[JoeBrady]

14 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I'd rather that than some of the low ceiling soft tossers they've had. 

That is 100% what I had in mind.  Our 7-8-9 inning guys have done really well.  But some of the others just don't look like they are going to win games for us, though they might blow less games.

[mvp 78]

On 5/30/2026 at 5:39 PM, notin said:

Chase Meidroth - OPS+ of 90

Kristian Campbell - OPS+ of 89

Once again, the monster is always greener, I guess…

Meidroth is the 3rd best 2b in the AL per fWAR. He already has 5 HR this season. Only 4 Sox have 5 or more dingers and Contreras is the only IFer. 

[UtahSox]

47 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Why would the Boston press do such a thing?

Feels like the Red Sox ownership/ propaganda machine has turned on Breslow this weekend. A whole bunch of x comments on management style/ use of analytics/ communication ability. Me thinks I’ve seen this movie before. 

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Feels like the Red Sox ownership/ propaganda machine has turned on Breslow this weekend. A whole bunch of x comments on management style/ use of analytics/ communication ability. Me thinks I’ve seen this movie before. 

Comments from ownership or just people in general? 

[JoeBrady]

13 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Feels like the Red Sox ownership/ propaganda machine has turned on Breslow this weekend. A whole bunch of x comments on management style/ use of analytics/ communication ability. Me thinks I’ve seen this movie before. 

I saw the same comments in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Yup, ignoring the bullpen was a mistake! A few of us smarter posters were talking about it in the offseason. 🤓

Maybe the idea was to find pen arms from our bottomless SP'er depth... LOL!

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I saw the same comments in 2004, 2007, 2013 and 2018.

Indeed and more so in 2003, 2006, 2012 and 2017.

The worst in a long time was before 2021. Before and during 2025 was pretty bad, too.

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Maybe the idea was to find pen arms from our bottomless SP'er depth... LOL!

Tolle, maybe? I thought he'd end up there. Boy was I wrong! 

[dannycater]

Breslow surrounded himself with non-baseball advisors, non-MLB experienced people. He traded Kyle Harrison which proves he didn't do his "homework" as the Sox continue to get nothing out of the Betts or Devers trades. He fires his entire baseball coaching staff because clearly WS winning Cora (who led team to a WC spot a year earlier) and Tek don't know what they are doing. Now that Anthony and Crochet clearly were rushed back in rehab, maybe Breslow should now fire the entire medical staff, doctors, trainers, everyone. Breslow should have been fired yesterday. It's a mess. He interviews Schwarber on zoom and doesn't even offer the power hitter the Sox desperately needed. He undervalued Bregman...the guy needs to go.

[mvp 78]

12 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Indeed and more so in 2003, 2006, 2012 and 2017.

The worst in a long time was before 2021. Before and during 2025 was pretty bad, too.

The first time I read about statistics ruining baseball was an article in Sport Magazine back in the late 80's early 90's.  

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, dannycater said:

Breslow surrounded himself with non-baseball advisors, non-MLB experienced people. He traded Kyle Harrison which proves he didn't do his "homework" as the Sox continue to get nothing out of the Betts or Devers trades. He fires his entire baseball coaching staff because clearly WS winning Cora (who led team to a WC spot a year earlier) and Tek don't know what they are doing. Now that Anthony and Crochet clearly were rushed back in rehab, maybe Breslow should now fire the entire medical staff, doctors, trainers, everyone. Breslow should have been fired yesterday. It's a mess. He interviews Schwarber on zoom and doesn't even offer the power hitter the Sox desperately needed. He undervalued Bregman...the guy needs to go.

Alex 78-84 Cora certainly does know a lot about baseball. He also seemed to wear out his welcome here. I think switching managers shouldn't be a very big deal. They got rid of Terry Francona and won a few more WS somehow. 

[dannycater]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

Alex 78-84 Cora certainly does know a lot about baseball. He also seemed to wear out his welcome here. I think switching managers shouldn't be a very big deal. They got rid of Terry Francona and won a few more WS somehow. 

He was saddled with s*** for offense. Working with s***. How did we do on the Devers, Betts and Sale trades?...Breslow is pathetic...as far as changing managers, that's fine, agreed hired to be fired but make no mistake Cora pushed for Bregman and the Sox couldn't even re-up him. You can only do so much with s*** for offense.

[dannycater]

The Sox basically have become "unwatchable." Never thought it would be possible. They are not entertaining, fans are given the worst home team in baseball by far.

[moonslav59]

10 minutes ago, dannycater said:

He was saddled with s*** for offense. Working with s***. How did we do on the Devers, Betts and Sale trades?...Breslow is pathetic...as far as changing managers, that's fine, agreed hired to be fired but make no mistake Cora pushed for Bregman and the Sox couldn't even re-up him. You can only do so much with s*** for offense.

Brez did not trade Betts.

Bregman was and is not the big bat we need(ed.) Bregman IS S*** for offense. HELL, IKF has a higher OPS. Bregman is at ,705 in 2026 and .714 in his last 365 days. 

The Devers trade was a salary/cancer dump trade. Harrison was a good get: it's just too bad he traded him afterwards.

The Sale trade was an injury-prone player dump that back-fired spectacularly on at least 3 levels (Sale rebound, Grissom's cliff dive & the money we paid for Sale to play for ATL.)

Almost every GM has 2-3 bad or really bad moves. Brez also has more than 2-3 good moves:

Tolle

Crochet

O'Neill

Romy

Chapman

Gray

Contreras

Lesser pluses:

Signing Bregman

Nate Lowe

Criswell

IKF

TBD: Eyanson, Witherspoon, Godbout & others.

It's easy to remember just the bad.

Name the last time a Sox GM added more pluses in any winter than Contreras, Gray & Suarez (not even counting the Chapman and Crochet extensions that kicked in this year.)

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, dannycater said:

The Sox basically have become "unwatchable." Never thought it would be possible. They are not entertaining, fans are given the worst home team in baseball by far.

It hasn't been too much fun, so far- I agree, but I'm having fun watching Tolle & Early, Gray & Suarez, Chapman & Rafaela, as well as Contreras & the recent Duran.

[JoeBrady]

33 minutes ago, dannycater said:

He traded Kyle Harrison which proves he didn't do his "homework" as the Sox continue to get nothing out of the Betts or Devers trades. 

See?  It still continues.  People thought I was making it up when I said fans will complain about getting nothing for Devers, and then complain about trading the future superstars we got for Devers.

But all that aside, even the worst Yankee trolls should know better than to blame Breslow for trading Betts.

[JoeBrady]

37 minutes ago, dannycater said:

He undervalued Bregman...the guy needs to go.

And I've heard Cubs fans complaining about the Cubs signing Bregman.  Funny stuff.

[dannycater]

22 hours ago, notin said:

Agreed.

Why is it every time something doesn’t show immediate results, the first thing multiple fans want to do is “tear it all down!! Trade everyone and start over!!”?  Do people think this brings immediate success?

Actual rebuilds take multiple (re: several) seasons and rarely work.  How on Earth did this become the panacea for a team with pretty identifiable and limited flaws?

If things still look this bleak in July, deal Chapman (Hes not likely to exercise his half of the mutual option).  The only other real candidates should be IKF, Coulombe and maybe Gray.

DIdn't Breslow tear it all down with the coaching staff?

[dannycater]

2 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

See?  It still continues.  People thought I was making it up when I said fans will complain about getting nothing for Devers, and then complain about trading the future superstars we got for Devers.

But all that aside, even the worst Yankee trolls should know better than to blame Breslow for trading Betts.

sorry Henry forced the Betts trade

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

See?  It still continues.  People thought I was making it up when I said fans will complain about getting nothing for Devers, and then complain about trading the future superstars we got for Devers.

But all that aside, even the worst Yankee trolls should know better than to blame Breslow for trading Betts.

Harrison was the main prospect coming out of the trade. It was Harrison and the unknown of Tibbs. The Sox needed to get more for the Raffy trade. They didn't get "nothing." They got "nothing" when they dealt Hamilton, Harrison and Drohan to the Brewers. 

Trading Tibbs a few weeks later for May was awful. I don't know why they pulled the plug on him so quick. 

The return on the Devers trade was a C- and as a Devers fan I wanted more. The return on the subsequent deals have been D-'s. 

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, dannycater said:

DIdn't Breslow tear it all down with the coaching staff?

No. 

[dannycater]

After the fact, it's easy to validate Devers, Bregman and others...but people don't take into account how some of the players thrived as hitters in Fenway, some great players over the years used Fenway to their advantage. Not saying Bregman, Devers (and others) were going to be on the downside, but it makes a difference where you hit half of a season.

[UtahSox]

20 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It hasn't been too much fun, so far- I agree, but I'm having fun watching Tolle & Early, Gray & Suarez, Chapman & Rafaela, as well as Contreras & the recent Duran.

The last 3 series on the road have been more entertaining offensively. I’ve had fun watching them. (Twins series I can’t remember being more disgusted w/ Red Sox in my life.)

 

Alas maybe Craig analytics mistake could be he needed to add splits for cold weather hitting. As the weather has warmed so have some bats? My concern is this: Contreras is pacing for a 6.1 WAR season, 4 aforementioned starting pitchers have played great and we are still 8 games under 500. can they keep it up? Will reinforcements be coming soon? 

[dannycater]

6 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

No. 

Referring to his comment that fans want to tear things down, so do GMs it seems in certain areas.

[UtahSox]

12 minutes ago, dannycater said:

After the fact, it's easy to validate Devers, Bregman and others...but people don't take into account how some of the players thrived as hitters in Fenway, some great players over the years used Fenway to their advantage. Not saying Bregman, Devers (and others) were going to be on the downside, but it makes a difference where you hit half of a season.

Agree but worth noting, per Baseball Trade Values Devers is NOW listed as the 2nd worst contract in MLB behind Manny Machado. Looks like a decent move. Bregman is pacing a 3+ WAR season in year 1 of a 5 yr 175m contract. Probably another savvy move.