A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[drewski6]

41 minutes ago, notin said:

Because even his nickname is a hand me down from his brother…

he was the first and oldest and was the shiny toy until his awful injury , but if he gets back to where he was , he can climb some charts.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, cp176 said:

I would not trade Wong..  He is a perfect backup catcher for a team with a real starting catcher which we do not currently have.  

I'd be fine keeping him over Gasper or Narvaez as next year's back-up, but those others have more control and maybe higher upside on offense.

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'd be fine keeping him over Gasper or Narvaez as next year's back-up, but those others have more control and maybe higher upside on offense.

Mickey Gasper is a AAAA player. He has no business on an Opening Day roster. 

[notin]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

Mickey Gasper is a AAAA player. He has no business on an Opening Day roster. 

Not even in Miami?

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

Not even in Miami?

Especially in Miami.

MIA is 5th in C fWAR.

[moonslav59]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Mickey Gasper is a AAAA player. He has no business on an Opening Day roster. 

I heard people call Wong that, last year, when he was batting .475 OPS.

Both should be 3rd Catcher options IMO, but the way Narvaez looks on offense, we might want to keep both and think about demoting Narvaez.

I have starting Catcher as a major need, next year, so to me, this about who is the #2 and #3.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I heard people call Wong that, last year, when he was batting .475 OPS.

Both should be 3rd Catcher options IMO, but the way Narvaez looks on offense, we might want to keep both and think about demoting Narvaez.

I have starting Catcher as a major need, next year, so to me, this about who is the #2 and #3.

Narvaez can at least field the position. I'd take a good defense but no bat catcher over Wong and Gasper. 

[notin]

29 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Especially in Miami.

MIA is 5th in C fWAR.

Thats just because they have 3 catchers and like the “bat first” guys.  Gasper would fit right in…

[drewski6]

33 minutes ago, notin said:

Thats just because they have 3 catchers and like the “bat first” guys.  Gasper would fit right in…

I dont think thats how fwar works.  I dont think contreras is contributing to our fwar from the c position, for example.  I think its the guys actually playing and how theyve done when theyve caught.  And Fwar doesnt reward bat-first enough.  Although maybe at C since the baseline is so low that if you hit decently thats a ton of bonus pts vs baseline.  But we are better at fwar than our record would indicate and its not bad luck like you want ot believe.  Its cuz a team that cant hit is a team that cant win, but may still have defense and pitching to put up a respectable fwar.

[moonslav59]

22 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I dont think thats how fwar works.  I dont think contreras is contributing to our fwar from the c position, for example.  I think its the guys actually playing and how theyve done when theyve caught.  And Fwar doesnt reward bat-first enough.  Although maybe at C since the baseline is so low that if you hit decently thats a ton of bonus pts vs baseline.  But we are better at fwar than our record would indicate and its not bad luck like you want ot believe.  Its cuz a team that cant hit is a team that cant win, but may still have defense and pitching to put up a respectable fwar.

We are 11th in the AL in team fWAR by everyday players. This includes defense, and fangraphs has us 15th in the OFF component of team fWAR. Your point has evidence to support it.

We aren't even close to being ranked 13th.

-33.0 BOS

-27.0 CLE

-11.9 TOR

-10.9 KCR

-10.3 LAA

WE are as bad as the 3-4-5 teams combined (-31.1)

We are second in Baserunning.

1st in Defense

4th in Pitching

[JoeBrady]

On 6/23/2026 at 8:43 AM, mvp 78 said:

Unable to trade Duran because he's still valuing Duran based on two years ago rather than at his present value. 🤓

Didn't Duran play last year?  Couldn't that have been everyone's baseline?  He was still a 4.9 bWAR player.

[JoeBrady]

On 6/23/2026 at 12:24 PM, Bellhorn04 said:

And Yoshida does not get enough credit for how much he sucks.

He's a problem, but my point was really evaluating what has led to such a miserable 2026.  Since Yoshi wasn't a big part of 2025, he doesn't get the same level of blame as some others.  I probably should've included Duran, but some of his decline could be BABIP-related, and I am not sure the FO has handled him properly.

[JoeBrady]

20 hours ago, drewski6 said:

team seems to be less than the sum of its parts.

We're not even close to the sum of our parts.  We just don't win winnable games.

[JoeBrady]

18 hours ago, vegasbob said:

He needed it a month-to 6 weeks ago but no one had the guts to make that call.

You could be correct, but I'd bet serious money you are only guessing.

[moonslav59]

Just now, JoeBrady said:

He's a problem, but my point was really evaluating what has led to such a miserable 2026.  Since Yoshi wasn't a big part of 2025, he doesn't get the same level of blame as some others.  I probably should've included Duran, but some of his decline could be BABIP-related, and I am not sure the FO has handled him properly.

Many of us felt we came up short on offense, this past winter, but nobody expected the sharp declines by so many returning vets, some of whom are in their prime years or approaching them. Duran, Narvaez & Yoshida come to mind, and while Story is slightly past prime, his decline was very steep on O and D.

Abreu has done okay, but he probably should be improving at his age. Only Rafaela, Contreras and Wong have hit better than expected.

[notin]

40 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I dont think thats how fwar works.  I dont think contreras is contributing to our fwar from the c position, for example.  I think its the guys actually playing and how theyve done when theyve caught.  And Fwar doesnt reward bat-first enough.  Although maybe at C since the baseline is so low that if you hit decently thats a ton of bonus pts vs baseline.  But we are better at fwar than our record would indicate and its not bad luck like you want ot believe.  Its cuz a team that cant hit is a team that cant win, but may still have defense and pitching to put up a respectable fwar.

It’s not.  FWAR for catcher doesn’t consider the DH at bats they give to Hicks and Ramirez. 
 

Miami’s interest in Gasper, who really isn’t a catcher anyway, would probably be related to the fact that he can somewhat hit and does so for very little money.

Would they trade for him? Probably not.  At least not for anything anyone cares to get back.  But would they put him on an opening day roster?  They’ve done worse…

[moonslav59]

Just now, JoeBrady said:

We're not even close to the sum of our parts.  We just don't win winnable games.

On paper, we have near the best 5 SP'ers and 1-2 RP'ers in MLB. Our defense is #1. Our baserunning ranks very highly.

We have 3 positions in the top 3 in fWAR (1B, RF and CF)

The problem is we are barely near average at 3 others and suck at the last 3.

[drewski6]

48 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

We are 11th in the AL in team fWAR by everyday players. This includes defense, and fangraphs has us 15th in the OFF component of team fWAR. Your point has evidence to support it.

We aren't even close to being ranked 13th.

-33.0 BOS

-27.0 CLE

-11.9 TOR

-10.9 KCR

-10.3 LAA

WE are as bad as the 3-4-5 teams combined (-31.1)

We are second in Baserunning.

1st in Defense

4th in Pitching

The single easiest way to ruin your baseball team is to over emphasize pitching and defense.  

[drewski6]

39 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

We're not even close to the sum of our parts.  We just don't win winnable games.

You are misunderstanding.  Its not an aw-shucks , thems the breaks or a coaching or bad luck or finding a way to lose.
 

We're exactly where we should be.  A team that is 4th in pitching, second in defense and 15th in hitting is a 13th (out of 15) team.  Hitting > everything.

[drewski6]

40 minutes ago, notin said:

It’s not.  FWAR for catcher doesn’t consider the DH at bats they give to Hicks and Ramirez. 
 

Miami’s interest in Gasper, who really isn’t a catcher anyway, would probably be related to the fact that he can somewhat hit and does so for very little money.

Would they trade for him? Probably not.  At least not for anything anyone cares to get back.  But would they put him on an opening day roster?  They’ve done worse…

Um, he might be on our 2027 opening day roster.

[drewski6]

39 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

On paper, we have near the best 5 SP'ers and 1-2 RP'ers in MLB. Our defense is #1. Our baserunning ranks very highly.

We have 3 positions in the top 3 in fWAR (1B, RF and CF)

The problem is we are barely near average at 3 others and suck at the last 3.

Sounds about right. Pitching has been very good. Defense has been very good.  We have 6 AAA hitters.  And only Duran is the surprise.  You heard Breslow.  Pitching and defense is our team.  This is a lesson in the failure of building a pitching and defense first team.  

[mvp 78]

2 hours ago, notin said:

Thats just because they have 3 catchers and like the “bat first” guys.  Gasper would fit right in…

He'd fit right in as their 4th or 5th catcher, but would be clearly in AAA and not needed on the 40 man. 

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

You could be correct, but I'd bet serious money you are only guessing.

So they are intentionally not giving him the surgery then. For what reason? 

[drewski6]

32 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

So they are intentionally not giving him the surgery then. For what reason? 

pseudoscience?

[moonslav59]

56 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

The single easiest way to ruin your baseball team is to over emphasize pitching and defense.  

I think it was underemphasized for so long, especially at the farm level, that we swung the pendulum too far the other way to try and right a wrong.

I think changing the farm aspect was done well, and I'm not sure the plan was to trade for Gray and Oviedo plus sign Suarez, but the winter moves designed to add to the 26 man roster was lop-sided towards pitching. Durbin for Bregman was maybe sideways on defense improvement. Monasterio over DHam? Meh.

Contreras over Toro, Casas, Romy and then finally Nate Lowe was a significant upgrade for the O and D, but it did not make up for the loss of 829 PAs from Devers & Bregman- not to mention 328 from Refsnyder & N Lowe. The Anthony injury sucked, but we have not had more than our fair share of everyday player injuries, so that should not be a viable excuse.

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I think it was underemphasized for so long, especially at the farm level, that we swung the pendulum too far the other way to try and right a wrong.

I think changing the farm aspect was done well, and I'm not sure the plan was to trade for Gray and Oviedo plus sign Suarez, but the winter moves designed to add to the 26 man roster was lop-sided towards pitching. Durbin for Bregman was maybe sideways on defense improvement. Monasterio over DHam? Meh.

Contreras over Toro, Casas, Romy and then finally Nate Lowe was a significant upgrade for the O and D, but it did not make up for the loss of 829 PAs from Devers & Bregman- not to mention 328 from Refsnyder & N Lowe. The Anthony injury sucked, but we have not had more than our fair share of everyday player injuries, so that should not be a viable excuse.

yeah, im not saying 0 emphasis on pitching and defense....Im just saying that its not surprising to me that a team that is 15/15 in hitting, top 5 in pitching, top 5 in fielding....makes us a bad team.....

I dont disagree with the historical context of ignoring pitching too long under other regimes, but i dont think its a valid reason to spare breslow.  I think breslow should have been fired the day he asked ownership to fire cora...or the day he told whitlock that whitlock is not allowed to ask questions , he only has to pitch and keep his mouth shut....

[drewski6]

breslow is a clown, even theo knows it. Talking about getting him a translator? what even is that?

Last year I was like this dude cant talk to ppl....and you were like yeah, but record....and i was like sure, i guess. Ill concede.  Even if he rubs me the wrong way if his teams are winning i guess that cures all....but now that excuse is gone....and part of the reason we stink is becasue hes the relationship ruiner and apparent cant human well.....

and im just saying, can we be out of excuses and call him a failure.....im not worried who replaces him. get a basketball guy.  

[drewski6]

the best football players are failed basketball players.  the nhl just now discovered the triangle offense.  nba is just always one step in front.  Brad Stevens would clean up the sox in one offseason.  

[drewski6]

maybe not danny ainge tho

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

the best football players are failed basketball players.  the nhl just now discovered the triangle offense.  nba is just always one step in front.  Brad Stevens would clean up the sox in one offseason.  

WDYM, Lebron James is already part of ownership and the team STINKS.