A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[Old Red]

30 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think Mayer’s defense looked better at 2b and 3b too. 

As I’ve mentioned before I heard an interview a while back with the Sea Dogs manager who’s now the Red Sox 3B coach, and he had said he thought Mayer would be a better 3B than SS.

[moonslav59]

39 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think Mayer’s defense looked better at 2b and 3b too. 

Best case scenario:

Durbin hits .750+ the rest of his time with BOS and plays near GG defense at 3B.

Arias is called up and hits the ground running with plus defense at SS and a plus bat from day 1.

That still leaves 2B wide open- something it's been since Pedey was healthy over a decade ago.

Romy can and maybe should DH more than play 2B/1B.

Mayer looks like the best odds on being the next best 2Bman, going forward. He's pretty good on D, which is better than we've seen over the last decade plus, but .650 ain't cutting it, and his leash is shortening. Injuries are another major concern for him.

IKF is on the IL and sees his control end after this season.

Monasterio, Seigler, Sogard & Cheng are not solutions- neither is Capra, Romero or other farm hopefuls. Winnay may surprise, but other than Arias, we don't have much hope in AA and AAA in non 1B infield promise.

Godbout has a "early 2028" ETA on soxprospects.com, so maybe he can help in a couple years, but we've put off fixing 2B for way too long. Waiting for Arias or Godbout seems like punting the problem, once again. Soto & Ramos are 3+ years away.

[mvp 78]

They are already platooning Mayer. Just put him with Romy at 2b then.

[Old Red]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They are already platooning Mayer. Just put him with Romy at 2b then.

Everyone is thinking that Romy will be the Romy of last year. He may be the Ref Man of this year.

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They are already platooning Mayer. Just put him with Romy at 2b then.

I might even try DH'ing Romy v RHPs and see how that works out. He did okay v righties, last year (.718)

Some 2025 splits to ponder about who should DH v R:

.681 Gasper

.663 Yoshida

.625 Duran

as a DH v L & R

.814 Monasterio (just 35 PAs)

.679 Duran (30)

.604 Yoshida (142)

.599 Roman (59)

.563 Gasper (54)

I doubt Romy would do great vs righties, but he MIGHT do "better."

The key word is "might." For all we know, the 2025 Romy was an outlier. He hasn't even hit the 600 PA mark with the Sox, but .786 after 557 PAs is pretty nice.

[JoeBrady]

8 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Everyone is thinking that Romy will be the Romy of last year. He may be the Ref Man of this year.

No guarantees, but Ref is 35 and Romy is 29.

[moonslav59]

13 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

No guarantees, but Ref is 35 and Romy is 29.

Romy had a decent 2024, too, especially vs LHPs.

I'm not sure who this "everyone" is. I've not seen a single poster say Romy will be as good as 2025, in fact he's hardly been talked about at all.

[Old Red]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Romy had a decent 2024, too, especially vs LHPs.

I'm not sure who this "everyone" is. I've not seen a single poster say Romy will be as good as 2025, in fact he's hardly been talked about at all.

You have mentioned Romy TMTC times.🤭

[notin]

36 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Everyone is thinking that Romy will be the Romy of last year. He may be the Ref Man of this year.

The Optimism Killer strikes again.

And once again with a painfully obvious observation that he is trying to pass off as a unique viewpoint…

[Old Red]

23 minutes ago, notin said:

The Optimism Killer strikes again.

And once again with a painfully obvious observation that he is trying to pass off as a unique viewpoint…

NNN. The illusion of contention, or the delusion of contention?🤔

[notin]

30 minutes ago, notin said:

The Optimism Killer strikes again.

And once again with a painfully obvious observation that he is trying to pass off as a unique viewpoint…

Hmm…

[notin]

6 minutes ago, Old Red said:

NNN. The illusion of contention, or the delusion of contention?🤔

Tell me who said anything about contending.

But then you’ve never been one to pass on the opportunity to intentionally misrepresent what others say….

[Old Red]

37 minutes ago, notin said:

The Optimism Killer strikes again.

And once again with a painfully obvious observation that he is trying to pass off as a unique viewpoint…

The Red Sox have had plenty of rally killers this year, and I’m the so called buzz killer. LMAO.😜

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, notin said:

Tell me who said anything about contending.

But then you’ve never been one to pass on the opportunity to intentionally misrepresent what others say….

Where did I say anyone did? I was just asking which one are you. 🤔👋

[moonslav59]

Some decent BTV values and some questionable BTV values...

80 Rafaela

62 Tolle

54 Arias

50 Suarez

38 Mayer (LOL)

37 Abreu

34 Early

24 Eyanson

20 Anthony (despite the extension)

20 Durbin (This will get some responses)

17 Soto (FCL)

16 Narvaez (Hmmm....)

15 Justin Gonzales & Enddy Azocar

14 Crochet

12 Witherspoon

11 Romy G

10 Valera

9 Godbout & Bennett

8 Duran & Phillips

6 Slaten, Holobetz & Rivas

5 Cespedes

4 Willson, Ramos & Bleis

3 Chapman, Delzine & Weissert

2.5 Comp Pick, Anderson, Samaniego, Romero & YRod 

2.0 Romero, Cason, Zanetello, Uberstine, Ro Hernandez, Wehunt, Da Reyes

1.5 Whitlock, Wong, Gasper, Sogard, Brannon, Ziehl, Ramos, Mullins, Neely Monegro, Musett, Hickey, Bastardo, GeRod, Taylor

1.0 Many players

-38 Story (owed $42M)

-26 Yoshida (owed $27M)

-24 Bello (owed $48M)

-7 KC (owed $56M)

-5 Sandoval (owed $6M)

-2 Houck

-1 Gray, Casas & Crawford

[mvp 78]

Trade Durbin for someone else’s Roman Anthony.

[moonslav59]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Trade Durbin for someone else’s Roman Anthony.

LOL.