A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[drewski6]

you heard it from the horses mouth - theres no secret that we have built a team that is so heavily skewed towards pitching adn defense. yayyyyyyyy run prevention.

breslow is a clown.

[Old Red]

21 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They were already planning on benching somebody since they had Anthony/Masa/Duran for 2 spots. Adding Alonso would have forced the issue for a real move. 

I don’t know if Brez would have known how to make a real move. Having Duran DH, and rotate on the bench, and have Masa in, and out of the lineup I believe hurt both players, which also hurt the team. Of course little Anthony wasn’t much help either before he got hurt with the bat, or in the field.

[notin]

35 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

you heard it from the horses mouth - theres no secret that we have built a team that is so heavily skewed towards pitching adn defense. yayyyyyyyy run prevention.

breslow is a clown.

Probably more of a clown for putting together a very inexperienced team.  If we assume his 9 starters were: Narvaez, Contreras, Mayer, Story, Durbin, Anthony, Rafaela, Abreu and Duran - that means 4 starters in their second season.  None of Durbin, Anthony, nor Mayer began the year with a full MLB season, and Narvaez had just one.  That’s 44% of their lineup!  Add to that Story letting another injury render him ineffective and the worst start of Duran’s career for whatever reason, and that means 67% of their starting lineup was ineffective, inexperienced or both.

[drewski6]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

Probably more of a clown for putting together a very inexperienced team.  If we assume his 9 starters were: Narvaez, Contreras, Mayer, Story, Durbin, Anthony, Rafaela, Abreu and Duran - that means 4 starters in their second season.  None of Durbin, Anthony, nor Mayer began the year with a full MLB season, and Narvaez had just one.  That’s 44% of their lineup!  Add to that Story letting another injury render him ineffective and the worst start of Duran’s career for whatever reason, and that means 67% of their starting lineup was ineffective, inexperienced or both.

but the pitching adn defense has been good, no?

[drewski6]

not that i dont disagree.

[vegasbob]

1 hour ago, notin said:

The Sox did get Contreras instead of Alonso.  Getting both would have meant benching either Anthony or Duran…

Anthony took care of that hypothetical decision with an ill-timed check swing

Duran isctaking carevifvit with wildky inconsistent hitting

[drewski6]

we relied on too much form our sophmores, and we should have gotten more hitting around them, take the pressure off them and also if they soph slump - we would have still been able to tread water in a playoff spot.  Now its looking like a lost year, which is tragic because weve been building for 2026 since 2020.  

But I do agree you cant tear it all down and start over.  Gotta keep Roman and Mayer in roles and just try to build around them and abreu and hope contreras ages like ortiz.

[notin]

1 minute ago, drewski6 said:

but the pitching adn defense has been good, no?

GThe starting pitching has mostly been good and better than expected given Crochet’s absence.

The bullpen is a two man show so questionable that it has turned Tyron Guerrero into a high leverage arm…

[notin]

2 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Anthony took care of that hypothetical decision with an ill-timed check swing

Duran isctaking carevifvit with wildky inconsistent hitting

Was Breslow’s supposed to know about that stuff in February?  I’m all for depth but I’m fairly certain even without asking him Pete Alonso was expecting a full time starting gig…

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, notin said:

GThe starting pitching has mostly been good and better than expected given Crochet’s absence.

The bullpen is a two man show so questionable that it has turned Tyron Guerrero into a high leverage arm…

The Red sox are third in the entire mlb in pitcher WAR

[UtahSox]

36 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

brslow made one good addition last year (Contreras).  It was a D- offeseason.

Agree…. Contreras was good. Offsets the abysmal effort for Schwarber and Alonso. I still think Alonso would have raked in Fenway. And Contreras in record season will probably not match Alonso productivity offensively. That deal aside. 

1. missed on Marte. Early/ Mayer most likely would have got deal done. F

2. missed on Bregman would still have Harrison too. 

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, notin said:

The Sox did get Contreras instead of Alonso.  Getting both would have meant benching either Anthony or Duran…

Ok not sure I’m following. Red Sox have 34 year old Contreras having career year, and yet we are tied for dead last in home runs, 29th and RBIs 29th and runs scored. So WHO are the big bat dH’s we could get? 
 

Red Sox farm System is definitely not as highly rated as we all thought it was. The players we do have can’t hit so nobody wants them.
 

And there aren’t any free agent bats that fit this model. So I repeat WHO could Red Sox acquire that is a thumper? 
 

One of the worst things Breslow did was not understand the true value of this market last free agency. The reason all the bats got so much money is cause there was nothing coming in the pipeline 2027 free agents look awful. Red Sox fear of having a bad contract in 2032 sincerely, effed our lineup in 26-27. 
 

[drewski6]

1 minute ago, UtahSox said:

Ok not sure I’m following. Red Sox have 34 year old Contreras having career year, and yet we are tied for dead last in home runs, 29th and RBIs 29th and runs scored. So WHO are the big bat dH’s we could get? 
 

Red Sox farm System is definitely not as highly rated as we all thought it was. The players we do have can’t hit so nobody wants them.
 

And there aren’t any free agent bats that fit this model. So I repeat WHO could Red Sox acquire that is a thumper? 
 

One of the worst things Breslow did was not understand the true value of this market last free agency. The reason all the bats got so much money is cause there was nothing coming in the pipeline 2027 free agents look awful. Red Sox fear of having a bad contract in 2032 sincerely, effed our lineup in 26-27. 
 

as the gentleman from utah implies: scared money dont make money

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, notin said:

Proven value like Story?

Nothing is ever certain.

Story had concerns over injury and road splits, but he came up short on just about the lowest logical projection.

Of course most GM would spend better than Story & Yoshida's money, so that is no GM apology.

The lack of new spending beyond those two is no owner apology.

[moonslav59]

53 minutes ago, notin said:

Was Breslow’s supposed to know about that stuff in February?  I’m all for depth but I’m fairly certain even without asking him Pete Alonso was expecting a full time starting gig…

Almost anytime someone suggested trading Duran, a bunch of posters argued trading our best or one or our best offensive weapons was counterproductive.

Signing a 2Bman or 3B over Alonso could have prevented a Duran trade, but the best two- Bregman & Bichette have largely failed, so far.

Yoshida was untradeable, unless we paid or took back near equal value.

[moonslav59]

56 minutes ago, notin said:

The starting pitching has mostly been good and better than expected given Crochet’s absence.

The bullpen is a two man show so questionable that it has turned Tyron Guerrero into a high leverage arm…

Had Crochet stayed healthy, perhaps a SP (Bello/Early?) could have been converted to the pen, early on.

[moonslav59]

38 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

as the gentleman from utah implies: scared money dont make money

The Yoshida signing seemed carefree.

[notin]

37 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Ok not sure I’m following. Red Sox have 34 year old Contreras having career year, and yet we are tied for dead last in home runs, 29th and RBIs 29th and runs scored. So WHO are the big bat dH’s we could get? 
 

Red Sox farm System is definitely not as highly rated as we all thought it was. The players we do have can’t hit so nobody wants them.
 

And there aren’t any free agent bats that fit this model. So I repeat WHO could Red Sox acquire that is a thumper? 
 

One of the worst things Breslow did was not understand the true value of this market last free agency. The reason all the bats got so much money is cause there was nothing coming in the pipeline 2027 free agents look awful. Red Sox fear of having a bad contract in 2032 sincerely, effed our lineup in 26-27. 
 

Whats not to follow?

The Sox ended the preseason with Anthony, Duran, Rafaela and Abreu on their roster.  All looked like they deserved starting roles.  None got traded.  Three get to start in the OF and the fourth at DH.  Signing Alonso, Schwarber, whoever benches one of them.

They also desperately needed infielders.  While Rafaela is an option there, he is a game changer in CF.  Durbin always looked like a questionable choice to me, but he does look better lately.  But still, grabbing another sophomore on a team already starting 3 is already a questionable decision.  Heck just starting 3 is, especially for a CBO as impatient as Breslow…

[moonslav59]

40 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

And there aren’t any free agent bats that fit this model. So I repeat WHO could Red Sox acquire that is a thumper? 
 

Many mentioned Schwarber, who might have been very hard to pry away from Philly. In hindsight, he looks like the best.

Murakami was not talked up on this board. If anything, most talked him down or suggested others over him. Okamoto has been okay and seemed more wanted than Murakami on this site.

Alonso might have been the most hyped player on this board and is now over 800, but as notin pointed out, it may have caused a logjam at DH.

Bregman, Bichette and KMarte were probably the next highest hyped players. None are doing very well.

Paredes was talked up and is near .720, but he can play 3B.

Hindsight picks could have been BLowe or Donovan, but neither are "thumpers."

[notin]

3 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Almost anytime someone suggested trading Duran, a bunch of posters argued trading our best or one or our best offensive weapons was counterproductive.

Signing a 2Bman or 3B over Alonso could have prevented a Duran trade, but the best two- Bregman & Bichette have largely failed, so far.

Yoshida was untradeable, unless we paid or took back near equal value.

Yoshida was the 4th OF entering the season.  While not an ideal 4th OF, he wasn’t anyone this team appeared to count for anything beyond occasional production.  But his slump when pressed into duty has been another problem.

Baring going on some short of crazy tear, I think Yoshida might not be on this team in August…

[notin]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

The Red sox are third in the entire mlb in pitcher WAR

They most definitely are not, at least not for fWAR, where they are tied for 13th with 5.2 fWAR…

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, notin said:

Whats not to follow?

The Sox ended the preseason with Anthony, Duran, Rafaela and Abreu on their roster.  All looked like they deserved starting roles.  None got traded.  Three get to start in the OF and the fourth at DH.  Signing Alonso, Schwarber, whoever benches one of them.

They also desperately needed infielders.  While Rafaela is an option there, he is a game changer in CF.  Durbin always looked like a questionable choice to me, but he does look better lately.  But still, grabbing another sophomore on a team already starting 3 is already a questionable decision.  Heck just starting 3 is, especially for a CBO as impatient as Breslow…

I think they were so sure Bregman would be back. Personally, I'm glad he's not, and I doubt he'd have been the difference maker they and many here thought he would have been.

On paper, on opening day, the team would have looked good with Bregman at 3B, Contreras at 1B, Mayer-Durbin for 2B and Story-Mayer at SS. 4 OF'ers to fill 3 slots and the DH role looked good. Catcher was an issue.

Signing Bregman and not Suarez would be a zero net gain, assuming Bregman doesn't bat .775 to .800 for us.