A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[JoeBrady]

On 6/9/2026 at 11:18 AM, Old Red said:

We’ll stick with very LOW bar being set for DUBin then. Either way it’s 5-20 with 1 RBI.

2 HRs in 34 ABs.  Last I looked, y'all were criticizing Durbin for the lack of power.

[JoeBrady]

On 6/11/2026 at 9:38 AM, drewski6 said:

Wheres Moonslav been? Anybody hear from him? He on a cruise?

Teacher?  School year?  Driving back to Maine?

[Old Red]

6 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

2 HRs in 34 ABs.  Last I looked, y'all were criticizing Durbin for the la

Yes he’s been hitting the ball better in June, and had 2HR in one game. All good.👏

[Nick]

Got to say it.

How different this team would look with Crochet starting and Anthony not hurt.

I'm just getting very frustrated with the Anthony situation. Does he swing too hard beyond his physical limits? Is that why he gets hurt and will he be susceptible to that type of injury going forward? It can happen at anytime with just one swing? I'm tired of hearing about his potential. 

Can we just get some players that can stay in the game for entire season? I have no doubt we'd only be couple of game out of the wild card with the two in the lineup. 

[JoeBrady]

On 6/11/2026 at 10:37 AM, drewski6 said:

My point isnt that we should go get washed up guys with huge contracts. 

To me, that's a competitive advantage.  I know a lot of fans looked at Chapman and Adames, and saw overpaid players.  But they need to start looking at contracts that can be paid down to a reasonable level.  There are easily a dozen guys that are overpaid, but still real players.  That should be our focus.

[JoeBrady]

On 6/11/2026 at 10:38 AM, drewski6 said:

Max efficiency model has to go.  That doesnt mean max inefficiency or spend to spend.  It means every decision is cost/benefit where multiple things are considered alongside fit and WAR/$$

We paid real money for three players.  All three are doing very well.  We can't gnash out teeth because we didn't pay more money, for worser players.

[JoeBrady]

On 6/11/2026 at 11:55 AM, mvp 78 said:

I'd rather build towards another banner,

I just like the annual fight.  I've lived through much tougher periods than this.

[notin]

6 minutes ago, Nick said:

Got to say it.

How different this team would look with Crochet starting and Anthony not hurt.

I'm just getting very frustrated with the Anthony situation. Does he swing too hard beyond his physical limits? Is that why he gets hurt and will he be susceptible to that type of injury going forward? It can happen at anytime with just one swing? I'm tired of hearing about his potential. 

Can we just get some players that can stay in the game for entire season? I have no doubt we'd only be couple of game out of the wild card with the two in the lineup. 

Or is the Anthony situation being completely overblown?

His entire minor league career was brief, but also largely injury-free.  Doubtful he was much differ as a player as his MiLB career is so recent…

[JoeBrady]

On 6/11/2026 at 12:11 PM, Old Red said:

Agree that Mookie, Bogey, and Raffy should be in a Red Sox uniform.

That's almost unfathomable.  If we added Mookie, Bogey & Raffy (1.5 bWAR), instead of Contreras, Gray & Suarez (4.8), we'd be behind the Rockies.  Not to mention a future obligation of > $600K.

You're looking at currently, maybe the 3 worst contracts in baseball.

[JoeBrady]

On 6/12/2026 at 8:23 AM, mvp 78 said:

The Sox could have signed Murakami for cheap, but were too worried about everyone's k% because what the spreadsheet said.

EVERY TEAM in baseball was concerned about that.  The WS had the advantage of low expectations.

[notin]

20 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

To me, that's a competitive advantage.  I know a lot of fans looked at Chapman and Adames, and saw overpaid players.  But they need to start looking at contracts that can be paid down to a reasonable level.  There are easily a dozen guys that are overpaid, but still real players.  That should be our focus.

Sonny Gray fit that category last year…

[Old Red]

11 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

That's almost unfathomable.  If we added Mookie, Bogey & Raffy (1.5 bWAR), instead of Contreras, Gray & Suarez (4.8), we'd be behind the Rockies.  Not to mention a future obligation of > $600K.

You're looking at currently, maybe the 3 worst contracts in baseball.

NOBODY said anything about giving Bogey the contract that SD ended up giving him. I’ve said all along that DD should have given Bogey a better contract way back when, which would would have been 6 years without the opt outs, and that contract would have been up by now. The Red Sox were always a day late, and a dollar short all the way through with Mookie too, and if had acted sooner way back when it wouldn’t have been anywhere near the contract the Dodgers ended up giving him.

[notin]

11 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

That's almost unfathomable.  If we added Mookie, Bogey & Raffy (1.5 bWAR), instead of Contreras, Gray & Suarez (4.8), we'd be behind the Rockies.  Not to mention a future obligation of > $600K.

You're looking at currently, maybe the 3 worst contracts in baseball.

Myself and Kris Bryant disagree…

[JoeBrady]

5 hours ago, Old Red said:

NOBODY said anything about giving Bogey the contract that SD ended up giving him. I’ve said all along that DD should have given Bogey a better contract way back when, which would would have been 6 years without the opt outs, and that contract would have been up by now. The Red Sox were always a day late, and a dollar short all the way through with Mookie too, and if had acted sooner way back when it wouldn’t have been anywhere near the contract the Dodgers ended up giving him.

You can only work with the real numbers.  Every contract is 'okay' if we get to decide what the players will accept.  I can see this one sliding sideways like Devers offense.  If only Devers continued to play in Fenway, and if only we could've talked Bogarts and Devers into a contract half the size of what they actually received.

[JoeBrady]

5 hours ago, notin said:

Myself and Kris Bryant disagree…

But Bryant has a .888 OPS at Wrigley.  So if the Cubs re-acquired him, he'd be one of the best players in baseball.

[UtahSox]

6 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

That's almost unfathomable.  If we added Mookie, Bogey & Raffy (1.5 bWAR), instead of Contreras, Gray & Suarez (4.8), we'd be behind the Rockies.  Not to mention a future obligation of > $600K.

You're looking at currently, maybe the 3 worst contracts in baseball.

Have you seen Machado contract? Yikes

[JoeBrady]

16 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Have you seen Machado contract? Yikes

I have.  But I don't have anyone suggested that Manny should be with the RS.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Posting here, because there's no UNrealistic thread:

Duran laughs at anyone who says Clutch doesn't exist... because he knows it resides in the spechackular bod of Ceddanne Rafaela.

"In any situation where we need to come up clutch or something like that, he’s the guy. He’s got literally ice in his veins. He was born for those moments," said the professional major league baseball player.

Somehow in some qualitative reality, such words of praise for Rafaela have been repeatable for a quantifiable three years now.

 

[mvp 78]

53 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Posting here, because there's no UNrealistic thread:

Duran laughs at anyone who says Clutch doesn't exist... because he knows it resides in the spechackular bod of Ceddanne Rafaela.

"In any situation where we need to come up clutch or something like that, he’s the guy. He’s got literally ice in his veins. He was born for those moments," said the professional major league baseball player.

Somehow in some qualitative reality, such words of praise for Rafaela have been repeatable for a quantifiable three years now.

 

Well, according to FanGraphs: -0.50 Clutch for Rafaela. 😐

[mvp 78]

18 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Teacher?  School year?  Driving back to Maine?

Nope.

[mvp 78]

18 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

2 HRs in 34 ABs.  Last I looked, y'all were criticizing Durbin for the lack of power.

Wow. Players always look really good when they are on a hot stretch. Too bad for Durbin that his hot stretch still has him under 800 OPS since he traded hitting coaches. 

[mvp 78]

18 hours ago, notin said:

Or is the Anthony situation being completely overblown?

His entire minor league career was brief, but also largely injury-free.  Doubtful he was much differ as a player as his MiLB career is so recent…

Is it how the Sox are making him train that's getting him injured? 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

46 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Well, according to FanGraphs: -0.50 Clutch for Rafaela. 😐

Let me see if I can quantify that in terms of Clutch... Point Five means there are five letters in Clutc -- so, yup, he's almost Clutch. Most of the time.

[notin]

13 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

But Bryant has a .888 OPS at Wrigley.  So if the Cubs re-acquired him, he'd be one of the best players in baseball.

… once he can walk again…

[notin]

50 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Is it how the Sox are making him train that's getting him injured? 

Or is it that he just had two injuries over his career to date?  
 

Do they make players train differently in the minors?

[mvp 78]

24 minutes ago, notin said:

Do they make players train differently in the minors?

Don't know. Concerning that he hurt himself just swinging the bat. 

[mvp 78]

Contreras is now #2 in fWAR for 1b.

 

[Duran Is The Man]

26 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Contreras is now #2 in fWAR for 1b.

 

so, naturally, many want to trade him for suspects.

[Old Red]

18 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

so, naturally, many want to trade him for suspects.

Oh no! More suspects.🤭

[notin]

38 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

so, naturally, many want to trade him for suspects.

Or sell high on him?

We’re talking about a player with 2.7 fWAR on June 15th that has only once had more than 2.8 fWAR over a full season. A player that has 16 HRs on June 15th that hasn’t topped 22 HRs in a full season since 2019, and even then only had his career high of 24.  
 

If you think the Sox need to rebuild, can they do it by unloading all their struggling players like Narvaez, Durbin and Mayer?  And if so, does that mean Boston is giving up on them too quickly?