A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[mvp 78]

9 hours ago, notin said:

Demote Mayer if anyone.

Was he ever really ready?  If Bregman never got hurt, we wouldn’t have even seen him last year….

The argument is "he won't be able to learn how to hit MLB offspeed stuff in AAA." 

He never learned to hit AAA offspeed stuff either. Tough to say definitively what to do there. 

[Old Red]

The founder of Driveline has left the Red Sox. I guess he didn’t want to go down with a sinking ship.🤔

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

The argument is "he won't be able to learn how to hit MLB offspeed stuff in AAA." 

He never learned to hit AAA offspeed stuff either. Tough to say definitively what to do there. 

Listening to a fan this morning who saw Mayer’s many times while he was in Portland, and wondered what the fuss was about, and wasn’t very impressed.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

6 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Realistically, there's no hope for this team to turn it around. 

Three of the four established big leaguers in the starting line-up are already having at least decent seasons: Contreras, Rafaela, Abreu.

So any fan or front office analyst not in denial basically has to bank their entire hopes on whether Jarren Duran can turn back into a 9 WAR player. That's unrealistic.

The only certainties -- this summer -- are that neither Anthony nor Casas are returning from bat-swinging injuries to swing their bats with any authority, and Story isn't bouncing back from a hernia operation in his mid-30s to party like it's 2025. 

And not even a combination of Theo Epstein, Dave Dombrowski and Branch Rickey could trade the bullpen for good replacements in the batting order, along with the next Bregman-Devers All-Star hitter.

[Old Red]

30 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Realistically, there's no hope for this team to turn it around. 

The thing that gets me is the RedSox don’t try anything different to manufacture runs. They don’t have enough evidence that station to station baseball isn’t working. Toronto was running wild stealing bases last night, and a few hit , and runs, or maybe a few suicide, or safety bunts may work better. It certainly can’t get much soy than what the Red Sox are doing with runners on base.

[Bellhorn04]

11 minutes ago, Old Red said:

The thing that gets me is the RedSox don’t try anything different to manufacture runs. They don’t have enough evidence that station to station baseball isn’t working. Toronto was running wild stealing bases last night, and a few hit , and runs, or maybe a few suicide, or safety bunts may work better. It certainly can’t get much soy than what the Red Sox are doing with runners on base.

It's all on Breslow now.  He canned Cora and the hitting coaches and as you noted, Kyle Boddy is now gone too.  Breslow seems to be a walking disaster in the offense department.  He will likely be gone soon too.  But I don't think Henry and Kennedy have any clue where to turn next.  Just a sad state of affairs.  I feel bad for the paying fans.

[Old Red]

4 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

It's all on Breslow now.  He canned Cora and the hitting coaches and as you noted, Kyle Boddy is now gone too.  Breslow seems to be a walking disaster in the offense department.  He will likely be gone soon too.  But I don't think Henry and Kennedy have any clue where to turn next.  Just a sad state of affairs.  I feel bad for the paying fans.

Agree 100%. Fans are paying TOP dollar to watch a boring team go 12-24 at Fenway.

[mvp 78]

44 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Listening to a fan this morning who saw Mayer’s many times while he was in Portland, and wondered the the bogus was about, and wasn’t very impressed.

Fan scouts don't do much for me TBH. Marcelo Mayer is a talented player. He just wasn't fully cooked before he was brought up. He had about the same OPS as Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony in POR in '24. People still really like those players and Marcelo was stuck playing in POR during cold April (when many other players in POR massively struggle) while the other two were still in A ball. 

[mvp 78]

31 minutes ago, Old Red said:

The thing that gets me is the RedSox don’t try anything different to manufacture runs. They don’t have enough evidence that station to station baseball isn’t working. Toronto was running wild stealing bases last night, and a few hit , and runs, or maybe a few suicide, or safety bunts may work better. It certainly can’t get much soy than what the Red Sox are doing with runners on base.

If Gasper is catching, why wouldn't you try to steal every base? 

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

Fan scouts don't do much for me TBH. Marcelo Mayer is a talented player. He just wasn't fully cooked before he was brought up. He had about the same OPS as Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony in POR in '24. People still really like those players and Marcelo was stuck playing in POR during cold April (when many other players in POR massively struggle) while the other two were still in A ball. 

I’ve said many times that Mayer lost a lot of developmental time in the minors due to injury, but that only goes so far.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

If Gasper is catching, why wouldn't you try to steal every base? 

That was more on the pitcher last night than Gasper, but it’s not like Gasper is that good anyway.

[notin]

57 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The argument is "he won't be able to learn how to hit MLB offspeed stuff in AAA." 

He never learned to hit AAA offspeed stuff either. Tough to say definitively what to do there. 

That is a valid argument.  But I had to make a choice among the three, and of those three I demote Mayer.

At this point, I prefer Mayer just play SS and learn to hit in time.  Rafaela is in his third full season and he’s just learning now.  Mayer might take a similar timeframe…

[Hugh2]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Realistically, there's no hope for this team to turn it around. 

Agreed.  So practically, we are just waiting for more buyers to step into the fold to start selling. 

[mvp 78]

15 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

 But I don't think Henry and Kennedy have any clue where to turn next. 

I think this is the real problem. Henry has turned the FO insanely toxic in an effort to squeeze more money out of the franchise. Dump DD. Hire Bloom. Trade Mookie. Lose Xander. Fire Bloom. Hire Breslow. Trade Sale. Trade Devers. Fire Cora. They are stripping what we know of the Sox for copper. It's just a husk now.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, notin said:

That is a valid argument.  But I had to make a choice among the three, and of those three I demote Mayer.

At this point, I prefer Mayer just play SS and learn to hit in time.  Rafaela is in his third full season and he’s just learning now.  Mayer might take a similar timeframe…

If the Sox really stink, does it matter that Mayer stinks at the plate? Or is this move to help Mayer get better? 

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think this is the real problem. Henry has turned the FO insanely toxic in an effort to squeeze more money out of the franchise. Dump DD. Hire Bloom. Trade Mookie. Lose Xander. Fire Bloom. Hire Breslow. Trade Sale. Trade Devers. Fire Cora. They are stripping what we know of the Sox for copper. It's just a husk now.

You don’t think Theo has had any input in all the thythat are going on. It seems like Brez garnered a lot of power somehow.

 

[Old Red]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If the Sox really stink, does it matter that Mayer stinks at the plate? Or is this move to help Mayer get better? 

It certainly hasn’t helped KC going down to WOO, and if anything he’s gotten worse.

[Behindenemylines]

18 hours ago, bkzwhitestrican said:

Just read a stat that the Sox are 0-30 when trailing by 3 runs or more at any point in a game. I knew you guys were sucking, but I didn't realize you guys were sucking THIS badly. 

A team that plays half their games at Fenway this can't be! Last night they had runners on base every inning and didn't score! At Fenway! Still lack right-handed power and they can't get a big hit when needed!

[Bellhorn04]

16 minutes ago, Old Red said:

It certainly hasn’t helped KC going down to WOO, and if anything he’s gotten worse.

And this is why I can't help wondering if the organizational approach is the real problem.

[Sthpaw777]

On 6/9/2026 at 9:32 AM, notin said:

The horror!! Fans stand by their team!!  How dare they be loyal!

 

Loyalty, or false hope?

[Sthpaw777]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

Listening to a fan this morning who saw Mayer’s many times while he was in Portland, and wondered what the fuss was about, and wasn’t very impressed.

I said the same thing. Live down the road from the stadium. When he was healthy there wasn’t anything special there. And he’s got zero personality 

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, Sthpaw777 said:

I said the same thing. Live down the road from the stadium. When he was healthy there wasn’t anything special there. And he’s got zero personality 

I only saw him twice in Portland, and he didn’t do much in those games, but for all the hype preceding him I agree. I think Cora even questioned his work ethic too.

[Old Red]

6 minutes ago, Sthpaw777 said:

Loyalty, or false hope?

The Illusion Of Contention.

[Old Red]

19 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

And this is why I can't help wondering if the organizational approach is the real problem.

Did it change from Bloom to Brez? Either way it didn’t seem to be in question as much before.

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I only saw him twice in Portland, and he didn’t do much in those games, but for all the hype preceding him I agree. I think Cora even questioned his work ethic too.

Oh, well if you saw him TWICE!

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

Oh, well if you saw him TWICE!

Which is more than you? Others saw him a lot more. Same conclusions. Point?

[notin]

56 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Fan scouts don't do much for me TBH. Marcelo Mayer is a talented player. He just wasn't fully cooked before he was brought up. He had about the same OPS as Kyle Teel and Roman Anthony in POR in '24. People still really like those players and Marcelo was stuck playing in POR during cold April (when many other players in POR massively struggle) while the other two were still in A ball. 

Some fans are unreasonable.  I remember talking to some guy who watched 20yo Xander Bogaerts go 0 for 4 and told me there was nothing to see here.  Apparently the expectation was Bogaerts should dominate every game like he was a division 1 college player playing Little League.

[notin]

Just now, Old Red said:

Which is more than you? Others saw him a lot more. Same conclusions. Point?

From a guy who refers to all prospects as suspects  until they sustain performance in MLB, I wouldn’t expect anything positive from you about any minor leaguer…

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, notin said:

From a guy who refers to all prospects as suspects  until they sustain performance in MLB, I wouldn’t expect anything positive from you about any minor leaguer…

But in this case it’s just not me. Even the present day Red Sox 3B coach who was the Sea Dog manager at the time said he saw Mayer more as a 3B, but didn’t know how much he would hit.

[Old Red]

14 minutes ago, notin said:

Some fans are unreasonable.  I remember talking to some guy who watched 20yo Xander Bogaerts go 0 for 4 and told me there was nothing to see here.  Apparently the expectation was Bogaerts should dominate every game like he was a division 1 college player playing Little League.

Ah yes unreasonable fans. As I’ve said many times many fans only care about the here, and now, and the here, and now is the most current that counts. Some fans don’t care how few AB Mayer, or little Anthony may have in the majors, but only care about what’s actually counting now. Thus Roman Empire last year, and little Anthony this year. It’s really not that complicated.