A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[UtahSox]

3 things can be independently true…

1- Cora has some blame in all of this, his inability/ lack of willingness to even speak with Devers is an indictment on his lack of managerial control. Because it’s pretty obvious Bregman is a better 3b than Devers. 
 

2- Devers is a very entitled person, whether these rumors are true or not about promises from Bloom. Devers bag was secure, and he could clearly look at data, and realize him allowing them to bring in AB2 made the Red Sox better. He didn’t care. Lack of willingness to help the team for his own perceived benefit is a pattern we’ve seen even in SF. The dude can rake though, and I imagine after as he wears a 1b glove in SF, feels that wind at his back holding balls in the ballpark he wishes he would’ve handled things slightly different. Devers deserves blame for his selfishness. 
 

3- Breslow job is to get the best possible team he can. This rare instance he performed in signing a FA bat. The communication should have been there with Devers. That being said, I sat next to a member of the front office last year at a game, who told me Devers promised a few things when signing his massive contract. About learning language, coming into spring training in better shape and that he goes down to DR during winter and just disappears….., Maybe someone tried to communicate with him and he was busy dodging them in DR, afraid they were going to make him work out? Breslin deserves some blame for making the move knowing how RD11 would react. 

 

Reality: Devers at DH is exactly what this freaking team needs. 15-18 HR’s to go along with WC40 18 HR’swould be exactly what this team needs. 

[notin]

2 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

The Sox also signed Carl Crawford to that big contract.  Doesn't change the fact they were thrilled to unload it.

Wanting to unload a contract is one thing.  Orchestrating a plan to anger a player to then justify trading him is another.  Crawford spent his time in Boston screaming, complain it and not producing.  Devers at least quietly produced for the overwhelming majority.  Crawford supplied his own reason.  The charge here is Devers was tricked into supplying one…

 

[moonslav59]

15 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Yes, they gave up on keeping Betts in the off-season between 2018 and 2019 after making their final offer to him.  They then signed the extensions with Sale and Bogaerts.  So when they looked to be out of it in 2019 it made sense to entertain trade offers.  But they went on a little hot streak and decided against it.

Yup. It was a done deal way before the actual deal.

Bloom got way too much blame, but such is the life of a GM.

[notin]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

HUH? YOU have to be kidding. Carl Crawford, Panda, and even Masa was buyers remorse. I said when they signed Raffy it was because he was the LAST man standing out of Mookie , and Bogey. Proof? Proof? Proof? Your proof doesn’t past the smell test, and another N for you. This was a doozy. WOW!🤭🙈

Buyers remorse is one thing.

The charge was the Sox orchestrated the entire plan as a giant conspiracy to trade Devers’ contract, and that the Sox still haven’t supplied any proof to the contrary.

Learn to f***ing read.

[Old Red]

10 minutes ago, notin said:

Buyers remorse is one thing.

The charge was the Sox orchestrated the entire plan as a giant conspiracy to trade Devers’ contract, and that the Sox still haven’t supplied any proof to the contrary.

Learn to f***ing read.

NNN. You crack me up. I read the charge, but that didn’t matter to me, so I didn’t even respond, but what caught my eye was your proof, or in this case NO proof. Just, because they resigned Raffy isn’t proof of anything except it may have sounded like a good idea at the moment. Like I said your so called proof doesn’t pass the smell test. Keep racking up those N’S.🙈

[moonslav59]

34 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

3 things can be independently true…

1- Cora has some blame in all of this, his inability/ lack of willingness to even speak with Devers is an indictment on his lack of managerial control. Because it’s pretty obvious Bregman is a better 3b than Devers. 
 

2- Devers is a very entitled person, whether these rumors are true or not about promises from Bloom. Devers bag was secure, and he could clearly look at data, and realize him allowing them to bring in AB2 made the Red Sox better. He didn’t care. Lack of willingness to help the team for his own perceived benefit is a pattern we’ve seen even in SF. The dude can rake though, and I imagine after as he wears a 1b glove in SF, feels that wind at his back holding balls in the ballpark he wishes he would’ve handled things slightly different. Devers deserves blame for his selfishness. 
 

3- Breslow job is to get the best possible team he can. This rare instance he performed in signing a FA bat. The communication should have been there with Devers. That being said, I sat next to a member of the front office last year at a game, who told me Devers promised a few things when signing his massive contract. About learning language, coming into spring training in better shape and that he goes down to DR during winter and just disappears….., Maybe someone tried to communicate with him and he was busy dodging them in DR, afraid they were going to make him work out? Breslin deserves some blame for making the move knowing how RD11 would react. 

Not many poster put almost all the blame on one guy, and certainly what has happened after the trade has shifted some views on the percentages of blame each guy gets. I'm not sure any of the big 3 (Brez, Cora and Devers) should even get over 50%. They all messed up, and we lost a big bat as a result of it.

To me, a player needs to do what is asked of him to do, whether he agrees with it or not. Whether he thinks its best for the team or not. Whether other fans and baseball "experts" agree with him or not. He needs to do what management thinks is best for the team. This is coming from a union guy who hardly ever sides with management. Devers deserves 33%+ blame. I put it near 40%.

Although I blame Cora for not even talking to Devers about it, manager often disagree with the GM and play who they want and where they want him. Not supporting or doing what Brez wanted has a little more gray area, but he still wimped out and made the situation worse. (It might be one reason he is gone, too.) I would not put 33% of the blame on Cora. Maybe 20%.

Brez has some serious issues, and one is interpersonal relations and communication, in general. The minute they signed Bregman, he or Cora needed to talk to Devers about the plan. He should have foreseen the possible need at 1B and told DFevers to prepare to DH and be the back-up 1Bman. This is on Brez. If Cora disagreed with that plan or was too chicken to talk to Devers about it, then Brez needed to deal with that issue and or communicate with Devers himself. To me, that gives him 33%+ of the blame. I'd put him at 40%- same as Devers.

I happen to agree that the best plan was Bregman at 3B, but I also felt Devers would be better at 1B than Casas in the long run, so the idea of Devers at 1B was more appealing to me than several posters, here and more importantly more appealing that it was to Devers. Who knows: maybe if they told Devers he was going to be the first option at 1B and maybe DH some, from day one, he'd have been more accepting of the idea than the way it ended up going down.

Bloom should never have promised 3B to Devers, and Brez & Co should never have told him to put his glove away and be the FT DH. Casas has been hurt enough, and we've needed to add a 1Bman mid season for like 10 years in a row. Not seeing that was a major mistake by management, but injuries happen, and players are asked to move positions for the benefit of the team. It shouldn't matter if you agree that it was the best idea or not- a player is asked/told to play a position- he needs to do it.

[Old Red]

14 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yup. It was a done deal way before the actual deal.

Bloom got way too much blame, but such is the life of a GM.

Way too much blame. Not enough in my book. He didn’t get blamed for trading Mookie, but he did on the return. I know you think you’re the bashing, and blame police, but Come On Man.

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Not many poster put almost all the blame on one guy, and certainly what has happened after the trade has shifted some views on the percentages of blame each guy gets. I'm not sure any of the big 3 (Brez, Cora and Devers) should even get over 50%. They all messed up, and we lost a big bat as a result of it.

To me, a player needs to do what is asked of him to do, whether he agrees with it or not. Whether he thinks its best for the team or not. Whether other fans and baseball "experts" agree with him or not. He needs to do what management thinks is best for the team. This is coming from a union guy who hardly ever sides with management. Devers deserves 33%+ blame. I put it near 40%.

Although I blame Cora for not even talking to Devers about it, manager often disagree with the GM and play who they want and where they want him. Not supporting or doing what Brez wanted has a little more gray area, but he still wimped out and made the situation worse. (It might be one reason he is gone, too.) I would not put 33% of the blame on Cora. Maybe 20%.

Brez has some serious issues, and one is interpersonal relations and communication, in general. The minute they signed Bregman, he or Cora needed to talk to Devers about the plan. He should have foreseen the possible need at 1B and told DFevers to prepare to DH and be the back-up 1Bman. This is on Brez. If Cora disagreed with that plan or was too chicken to talk to Devers about it, then Brez needed to deal with that issue and or communicate with Devers himself. To me, that gives him 33%+ of the blame. I'd put him at 40%- same as Devers.

I happen to agree that the best plan was Bregman at 3B, but I also felt Devers would be better at 1B than Casas in the long run, so the idea of Devers at 1B was more appealing to me than several posters, here and more importantly more appealing that it was to Devers. Who knows: maybe if they told Devers he was going to be the first option at 1B and maybe DH some, from day one, he'd have been more accepting of the idea than the way it ended up going down.

Bloom should never have promised 3B to Devers, and Brez & Co should never have told him to put his glove away and be the FT DH. Casas has been hurt enough, and we've needed to add a 1Bman mid season for like 10 years in a row. Not seeing that was a major mistake by management, but injuries happen, and players are asked to move positions for the benefit of the team. It shouldn't matter if you agree that it was the best idea or not- a player is asked/told to play a position- he needs to do it.

One final time. Cora, and Raffy did was was BEST for the team IMO, and thought so doing it. 

[notin]

2 minutes ago, Old Red said:

NNN. You crack me up. I read the charge, but that didn’t matter to me, so I didn’t even respond, but what caught my eye was your proof, or in this case NO proof. Just, because they resigned Raffy isn’t proof of anything except it may have sounded like a good idea at the moment.

So you read a post that says the Sox still haven’t disproven the conspiracy theory that the entire scenario was merely an elaborate plot to trade Rafael Devers and his contract, which has been productive to date, and you thought “Meh.  Ok.” And moved on.

Then you read another post that said the Sox did sign this deal in the first place as their legally binding agreement , which they never had to do, and that should constitute proof of their interest, and your first thought was “Holy s***! Thats such a stupid way to look at it!!” And then for proof supplied unproductive contracts garnered through free agency that were therefore completely different on multiple fronts.

Yeah.  And then you call other folks stupid.  Oh the irony…

[notin]

10 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Way too much blame. Not enough in my book. He didn’t get blamed for trading Mookie, but he did on the return. I know you think you’re the bashing, and blame police, but Come On Man.

Unfortunately there were only two reported offers on the table for Mookie.  The Dodgers offering of Verdugo and Graterol (which I ripped Boom for rejecting but reality is he did work out a better deal) and the Padres offering some crappy package involving Wil Myers (the dealbreaker), and a choice of Joey Lucchesi or some other mediocre arm, and then a choice of one of their two remaining prospects, and Campusano was not on the table. 
 

The real blame goes to Henry for insisting Price had to be included, which completely hamstrung Bloom on getting any decent return at all…

[Old Red]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

Unfortunately there were only two reported offers on the table for Mookie.  The Dodgers offering of Verdugo and Graterol (which I ripped Boom for rejecting but reality is he did work out a better deal) and the Padres offering some crappy package involving Wil Myers (the dealbreaker), and a choice of Joey Lucchesi or some other mediocre arm, and then a choice of one of their two remaining prospects, and Campusano was not on the table. 
 

The real blame goes to Henry for insisting Price had to be included, which completely hamstrung Bloom on getting any decent return at all…

Not everything gets reported. Just like as far as I know neither DD, or Bloom were told they had to trade Mookie,

[moonslav59]

20 minutes ago, notin said:

So you read a post that says the Sox still haven’t disproven the conspiracy theory that the entire scenario was merely an elaborate plot to trade Rafael Devers and his contract, which has been productive to date, and you thought “Meh.  Ok.” And moved on.

Then you read another post that said the Sox did sign this deal in the first place as their legally binding agreement , which they never had to do, and that should constitute proof of their interest, and your first thought was “Holy s***! Thats such a stupid way to look at it!!” And then for proof supplied unproductive contracts garnered through free agency that were therefore completely different on multiple fronts.

Yeah.  And then you call other folks stupid.  Oh the irony…

Notin, in all seriousness, why bother with the resident clown, anymore?

He can't read.

He misrepresents others' positions.

He goes off on me for years for saying he "hates Bloom" because he never said he did, and now says I am a "Devers hater."

That's just the tip of the iceberg of clownishness at best and just plain malice or contempt, at its worst.

[Old Red]

17 minutes ago, notin said:

So you read a post that says the Sox still haven’t disproven the conspiracy theory that the entire scenario was merely an elaborate plot to trade Rafael Devers and his contract, which has been productive to date, and you thought “Meh.  Ok.” And moved on.

Then you read another post that said the Sox did sign this deal in the first place as their legally binding agreement , which they never had to do, and that should constitute proof of their interest, and your first thought was “Holy s***! Thats such a stupid way to look at it!!” And then for proof supplied unproductive contracts garnered through free agency that were therefore completely different on multiple fronts.

Yeah.  And then you call other folks stupid.  Oh the irony…

Yes I read, and I moved on. I don’t have the need, or desire to respond to everyone’s post. Yes the Red Sox didn’t have to resign Raffy, but as I’ll repeat again, and have said since it happened that Raffy to me was resigned, because he was the last man standing of the big three, and it would have been another PR nightmare if they didn’t. After all your word salads your proof is no proof at all outside of they did resign Raffy. Here’s your sign NNN.🙃

[moonslav59]

14 minutes ago, notin said:

Unfortunately there were only two reported offers on the table for Mookie.  The Dodgers offering of Verdugo and Graterol (which I ripped Boom for rejecting but reality is he did work out a better deal) and the Padres offering some crappy package involving Wil Myers (the dealbreaker), and a choice of Joey Lucchesi or some other mediocre arm, and then a choice of one of their two remaining prospects, and Campusano was not on the table. 
 

The real blame goes to Henry for insisting Price had to be included, which completely hamstrung Bloom on getting any decent return at all…

I do think the Price inclusion often gets overlooked. One poster, I think it was 700, claimed Price was worth more to the Dodgers than the cost of his contract they paid (half-Price.)

The return was meager, despite the hopes Verdugo and Downs offered, but to me, it looked better than the Padres offer.

[Old Red]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

Notin, in all seriousness, why bother with the resident clown, anymore?

He can't read.

He misrepresents others' positions.

He goes off on me for years for saying he "hates Bloom" because he never said he did, and now says I am a "Devers hater."

That's just the tip of the iceberg of clownishness at best and just plain malice or contempt, at its worst.

Ah name calling. How appropriate for the man who hides behind the curtain. You don’t like being called a hater, but you were so quick to do it when I first come on here, because I said I wouldn’t have rehired Cora, because of y the cheating scandal. You’re so quick to throw stones, but don’t like getting them thrown back. Can’t read, clown, clownishness, and just plain malice, or contempt at it worst. Sounds like you looked in the mirror. Wash, rinse, and repeat.😂😭🤮👋

[moonslav59]

Gotta like how our starting 5 is looking, now. When you look to 2027 and figure Crochet replaces Gray, not needed to add a solid rotation piece makes focusing on hitting an easier task. That's not to say Brez will live up to the task, or that JH will allow him to spend enough to fix the major hole in the roster, but it is a good thing to have. (We also will need to build out the pen and as always keep adding SP'er depth pieces.)

Our current SP'er ERA- (FIP)

62 Gray (3.58)

67 Suarez (2.72)

71 Bennett (3.14)

78 Tolle (3.53)

79 Early (4.62)

5 starters per team= 150 (The IP has to be 40+ to get 150 SP'ers in the sample size.) Our 5 SP'ers rank in ERA-

15 Gray (above Yamamoto)

24 Suarez (just above Harrison)

29 Bennett (just barely over the 40IP cut off and above Skubal)

40 Tolle & 41 Early (Ranking them as solid #2's if you go by the 30 pitcher tiers.)

[moonslav59]

Our lack of big bats has been beaten to death by posters, and rightfully so. To get the sample size to 9 players per team, the PA cutoff is 160 PAs. Here is how our 8 batters rank in OPS:

11. Contreras (ahead of Judge, Harper and others)

104. Rafaela (whodathunk he'd be our #2 batter?)

109. Abreu (moving in the wrong direction)

181. Durbin (This is top of the 7th tier out of 9! Pretty sad for our 4th best bat!)

186. Yoshida (Maybe dumping him will not help.)

252. Duran (This is bottom 9th tier out of 9.)

255. Mayer (The second of 3 bottom tier bats on the team)

265. Story (Only 5 batters have more PAs and a worse OPS.)

It's not just about having just one batter in the top 100, but we have 3 in the bottom 9th tier.

We have two bats (Rafaela & Abreu) in the 4th of 9 tiers, but we have 5 batters in the bottom 7-8-9 tiers. Our 9th batter by PAs did not qualify, but it's Narvaez, who is just below Story in OPS! That essentially gives us 6 of our top 9 bats, by PAs ranked in the bottom 3rd tier.

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Our lack of big bats has been beaten to death by posters, and rightfully so. To get the sample size to 9 players per team, the PA cutoff is 160 PAs. Here is how our 8 batters rank in OPS:

11. Contreras (ahead of Judge, Harper and others)

104. Rafaela (whodathunk he'd be our #2 batter?)

109. Abreu (moving in the wrong direction)

181. Durbin (This is top of the 7th tier out of 9! Pretty sad for our 4th best bat!)

186. Yoshida (Maybe dumping him will not help.)

252. Duran (This is bottom 9th tier out of 9.)

255. Mayer (The second of 3 bottom tier bats on the team)

265. Story (Only 5 batters have more PAs and a worse OPS.)

It's not just about having just one batter in the top 100, but we have 3 in the bottom 9th tier.

We have two bats (Rafaela & Abreu) in the 4th of 9 tiers, but we have 5 batters in the bottom 7-8-9 tiers. Our 9th batter by PAs did not qualify, but it's Narvaez, who is just below Story in OPS! That essentially gives us 6 of our top 9 bats, by PAs ranked in the bottom 3rd tier.

This is a fantastic post, I like the way you articulated our strength and our weaknesses in terms of total hitters. It’s no wonder our record is what it is when you see where offensively we rank. 
 

My question is where is the ceiling of all of these guys? because I’m scared given our proclivity to not spend money in free agency, and avoid the long-term contracts how we are going to obtain more top 100 hitters. I had a second question I’d really like to see is where world championship rosters rank? Do they generally have two top 20 hitters? Do they usually have 3 to 4 in the top 100 how are those lineups usually built?

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

My question is where is the ceiling of all of these guys? because I’m scared given our proclivity to not spend money in free agency, and avoid the long-term contracts how we are going to obtain more top 100 hitters. I had a second question I’d really like to see is where world championship rosters rank? Do they generally have two top 20 hitters? Do they usually have 3 to 4 in the top 100 how are those lineups usually built?

Good questions. Going into this season, I knew we lacked a big bat, and I actually had hoped we'd have added two more, but I felt the upgrades to Gray and Suarez made the need for two bats less of an issue. I looked at our everyday players and was impressed by the fact that just about everyone was under team control to 2027 or beyond. Most were young (Anthony, Mayer & Rafaela) or younger players approaching prime (Durbin, Narvaez & Abreu) or at peak prime (Duran, Romy & Wong) while our older players (Story, Contreras, Yoshida and IKF) were not so far beyond prime that major decline should have been expected. In short, I expected an overall improvement over their 2025 numbers and not a net decline.

I wasn't the only one disappointed by my expectations not being met by our everyday players, and projecting forward has to take into account what we are seeing this season.

Not seeing Anthony play at all makes projecting him about the same as where I was in March, but with more worries about his health, and whether he needed, needs or should have had surgery. I see major upside to his outlook, but his value is mostly speculative.

Contreras will be older, so expecting the same from him (a career year) is wishful thinking. Story is toast, IMO. If he's our 2Bman in 2027, it might be okay, if we have some depth (Mayer) and have filled the big bat addition needs at other positions. (yes, that is in the plural form.)

Prime players, Duran, Romy and Wong, should be viewed as bench or platoon players for 2027, assuming they are back.

I used to think Abreu was poised for a career year at near .875 with 30 HRs. I don't anymore. Expecting .800 with 25 HRs might be pushing it. I like what I'm seeing from Durbin, but it's only been 3-4 weeks. His defense looks better than very good, but we need help on offense. Can he hit .750 plus? We likely need that. In March, I had high expectations for Narvaez- not anymore. He seems fine as a defensive #2 catcher, but Wong is okay as one, too, so maybe one is dealt or becomes AAA depth in '27.

The young guys, Anthony & Mayer have to make jumps in 2027, and Rafaela has to keep this up for us to have a legit chance. This assumes Brez will not add 2-3 major bats, this winter, and only adds 1 big bat or 2 pretty good ones. If he adds 3 good ones, the pressure on the 3 young players is minimized to some extent.

To me, adding a 2 big bats is the bare minimum we need. It makes sense to try and fit them to our needs at Catcher, Middle Infield or DH, but if Duran is traded, we can add just about anywhere except maybe 1B, assuming Contreras is not traded. The need for big bats supersedes the positional needs, but we do need a major middle infield add, so it might as well be a good bat or major upgrade on O over Story/Mayer/Moansterio/Seigler.

Maybe this for 2027?

C Jeffers (Narvaez/Wong)

1B Contreras (Romy)

2B BLowe/Torres/Chisholm (Romy)

3B Durbin (Mayer)

SS JP Crawford (Mayer)

LF Anthony/Duran (traded?) 

CF Rafaela

RF Abreu

DH Duran/Anthony/Romy & a RHB (Suzuki?)

Suzuki would make 4 additions, which WILL NOT happen, but maybe we add him and settle on Mayer at SS (not Crawford) or Mayer at 2B (not Lowe) or find a cheaper catcher than Jeffers.

[moonslav59]

Here is one way to compare 2025 to 2026 on offense:

2025>>>/<<< 2026

.905 Devers (334 PAs) >>> ___________

.790 NLowe (119) .659 Toro (284) .580 Casas (112) <<< .912 Contreras (347 PAs)

.825 Bregman (495) >>>.688 Durbin (282) .705 IKF (132)

.664 KC (263) & ,590 DHam (194) <<< .705 IKF (132) .888 Seigler (49) .627 Monasterio (145)

.859 Anthony (303) & .826 Romy >>> .675  Anthony (130) & .800 Romy (15) 

.681 Yoshida & .838 Ref (209) >>> .696 Yoshida (205) & .613 Gasper (119)

.786 Abreu  (417)>>> .763 Abreu (363)

.774 Duran (696) >>>.599 Duran (343)***

.741 Story (654)>>> .547 Story (176)***

.708 Rafaela (587) << .767 Rafaela (329)

.674 Mayer (136)>>> .594 Mayer (228)***

.500 Wong (188) <<<.777 Wong (114)

.731 Narvaez (446) >>>.540 Narvaez (162)***

.731 Eaton (90) .661 Sogard (104) = .616 Eaton (34) .721 Sogard (41)

Too many major swings and too many to the bad.

 

[moonslav59]

Congrats to Chapman for breaking the RP'er K record.

He's been struggling his last 6 games (5IP: 5 Ks, 3BB and a 9.00 ERA with 3 saves and 2 BS,) but he's still having a very nice season.

He had an 0.44 ERA in his first 21 games and 28 Ks in 20.2 IP (9BB and just 10 hits- zero HRs)

Overall: 25.2 IP 33Ks and 12 BBs w 21 hits and still no HRs allowed. 2.10 ERA and 2.06 FIP

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Good questions. Going into this season, I knew we lacked a big bat, and I actually had hoped we'd have added two more, but I felt the upgrades to Gray and Suarez made the need for two bats less of an issue. I looked at our everyday players and was impressed by the fact that just about everyone was under team control to 2027 or beyond. Most were young (Anthony, Mayer & Rafaela) or younger players approaching prime (Durbin, Narvaez & Abreu) or at peak prime (Duran, Romy & Wong) while our older players (Story, Contreras, Yoshida and IKF) were not so far beyond prime that major decline should have been expected. In short, I expected an overall improvement over their 2025 numbers and not a net decline.

I wasn't the only one disappointed by my expectations not being met by our everyday players, and projecting forward has to take into account what we are seeing this season.

Not seeing Anthony play at all makes projecting him about the same as where I was in March, but with more worries about his health, and whether he needed, needs or should have had surgery. I see major upside to his outlook, but his value is mostly speculative.

Contreras will be older, so expecting the same from him (a career year) is wishful thinking. Story is toast, IMO. If he's our 2Bman in 2027, it might be okay, if we have some depth (Mayer) and have filled the big bat addition needs at other positions. (yes, that is in the plural form.)

Prime players, Duran, Romy and Wong, should be viewed as bench or platoon players for 2027, assuming they are back.

I used to think Abreu was poised for a career year at near .875 with 30 HRs. I don't anymore. Expecting .800 with 25 HRs might be pushing it. I like what I'm seeing from Durbin, but it's only been 3-4 weeks. His defense looks better than very good, but we need help on offense. Can he hit .750 plus? We likely need that. In March, I had high expectations for Narvaez- not anymore. He seems fine as a defensive #2 catcher, but Wong is okay as one, too, so maybe one is dealt or becomes AAA depth in '27.

The young guys, Anthony & Mayer have to make jumps in 2027, and Rafaela has to keep this up for us to have a legit chance. This assumes Brez will not add 2-3 major bats, this winter, and only adds 1 big bat or 2 pretty good ones. If he adds 3 good ones, the pressure on the 3 young players is minimized to some extent.

To me, adding a 2 big bats is the bare minimum we need. It makes sense to try and fit them to our needs at Catcher, Middle Infield or DH, but if Duran is traded, we can add just about anywhere except maybe 1B, assuming Contreras is not traded. The need for big bats supersedes the positional needs, but we do need a major middle infield add, so it might as well be a good bat or major upgrade on O over Story/Mayer/Moansterio/Seigler.

Maybe this for 2027?

C Jeffers (Narvaez/Wong)

1B Contreras (Romy)

2B BLowe/Torres/Chisholm (Romy)

3B Durbin (Mayer)

SS JP Crawford (Mayer)

LF Anthony/Duran (traded?) 

CF Rafaela

RF Abreu

DH Duran/Anthony/Romy & a RHB (Suzuki?)

Suzuki would make 4 additions, which WILL NOT happen, but maybe we add him and settle on Mayer at SS (not Crawford) or Mayer at 2B (not Lowe) or find a cheaper catcher than Jeffers.

1- The only way I think you can ride with Mayer at shortstop is if you get a really big bat at second base like a Lowe or a jazz Chisholm. I’d still prefer we go get Marte here. DFA Story.  If the Red Sox roll out Mayer at shortstop and story at second base next year, that’ll be the worst hitting middle infield in Major league baseball again. There is zero chance we can go into 2027 with Mayer and story as our middle infield. Also I think you could get a 3rd baseman and move Durbin to 2nd which could work the same depending on the 3rd baseman.
3b Paredes or Markel Garcia SS Mayer 2b Durbin could work but only if a masher DH is added. 

2- I’ve been an obnoxious, Duran supporter, and I was wrong, he just doesn’t have that many good at bats…..  I’m done. I think it’s time to move on even if we don’t get a lot in return. I’d rather us play Massa every day. 
 

 

[notin]

31 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

1- The only way I think you can ride with Mayer at shortstop is if you get a really big bat at second base like a Lowe or a jazz Chisholm. I’d still prefer we go get Marte here. DFA Story.  If the Red Sox roll out Mayer at shortstop and story at second base next year, that’ll be the worst hitting middle infield in Major league baseball again. There is zero chance we can go into 2027 with Mayer and story as our middle infield. Also I think you could get a 3rd baseman and move Durbin to 2nd which could work the same depending on the 3rd baseman.
3b Paredes or Markel Garcia SS Mayer 2b Durbin could work but only if a masher DH is added. 

2- I’ve been an obnoxious, Duran supporter, and I was wrong, he just doesn’t have that many good at bats…..  I’m done. I think it’s time to move on even if we don’t get a lot in return. I’d rather us play Massa every day. 
 

 

Will the Sox tackle middle infield next offseason?  Even if they add no one at the trade deadline, Franklin Arias might be in the running for a 2b or SS role…

[UtahSox]

33 minutes ago, notin said:

Will the Sox tackle middle infield next offseason?  Even if they add no one at the trade deadline, Franklin Arias might be in the running for a 2b or SS role…

If Arias is that close we need to trade Mayer, to me Mayer and Story with the Arias pipe dream is a hard pass. Mayer and Arias middle infield is not going to work til 2028ish, For 2027 Arias/ Mayer has a lot higher ceiling, but a more probable scenario equally low basement to 2026…. The rest of the RS lineup cannot absorb the learning curve for 2 guys with 5’s or low 6’s in their OPS…. We need a proven infielder not named Trevor. 

I wonder with our SP’s 8 under contract next year, the 5 best SP’s are under contract through 2030. Just how many opportunities to break into rotation are Eyanson, Witherspoon, Valera, M Phillips going to get? 
crochet 5 yrs left…Suarez 4 yrs left..,, Tolle 5 yrs left…., Early 5 yrs left….. Bennett 6 yrs left…..Bello 3 yrs left..,,,Crawford 2yrs left…..Houck 1 yr left. 

IF RS are in fact waiting on Arias, are they now punting on this “window” we planned for 26-28 and if we are….. selling Whitlock/ Contreras/ Chapman all w/ 2027 options Then would it behoove us to see what we could get for Crochet, Suarez, and Abreu as well? 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, UtahSox said:

1- The only way I think you can ride with Mayer at shortstop is if you get a really big bat at second base like a Lowe or a jazz Chisholm. I’d still prefer we go get Marte here. DFA Story.  If the Red Sox roll out Mayer at shortstop and story at second base next year, that’ll be the worst hitting middle infield in Major league baseball again. There is zero chance we can go into 2027 with Mayer and story as our middle infield. Also I think you could get a 3rd baseman and move Durbin to 2nd which could work the same depending on the 3rd baseman.
3b Paredes or Markel Garcia SS Mayer 2b Durbin could work but only if a masher DH is added. 

2- I’ve been an obnoxious, Duran supporter, and I was wrong, he just doesn’t have that many good at bats…..  I’m done. I think it’s time to move on even if we don’t get a lot in return. I’d rather us play Massa every day. 

I'm not so convinced on KMarte, anymore.

Paredes kinda reminds me of Abreu- still waiting for that elusive career bust out season.

BLowe would be nice but he's not really a major big bat- just a major improvement.

Jeffers & BLowe would be nice improvements, but we'd still need a big bat (SS or DH?)

[notin]

48 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

If Arias is that close we need to trade Mayer, to me Mayer and Story with the Arias pipe dream is a hard pass. Mayer and Arias middle infield is not going to work til 2028ish, For 2027 Arias/ Mayer has a lot higher ceiling, but a more probable scenario equally low basement to 2026…. The rest of the RS lineup cannot absorb the learning curve for 2 guys with 5’s or low 6’s in their OPS…. We need a proven infielder not named Trevor. 

I wonder with our SP’s 8 under contract next year, the 5 best SP’s are under contract through 2030. Just how many opportunities to break into rotation are Eyanson, Witherspoon, Valera, M Phillips going to get? 
crochet 5 yrs left…Suarez 4 yrs left..,, Tolle 5 yrs left…., Early 5 yrs left….. Bennett 6 yrs left…..Bello 3 yrs left..,,,Crawford 2yrs left…..Houck 1 yr left. 

IF RS are in fact waiting on Arias, are they now punting on this “window” we planned for 26-28 and if we are….. selling Whitlock/ Contreras/ Chapman all w/ 2027 options Then would it behoove us to see what we could get for Crochet, Suarez, and Abreu as well? 

The thing about Marte is - Mike Hazen is clearly far more tolerant than Breslow.  Marte takes time off and once missed a week after a man heckled him about his deceased mother.  (This happened in 2025; Marte’s mother passed in 2017.)

Apparently teammates, management and fans question if Marte has his mind in the game; they question his commitment, etc.  

But with all that, Marte is reportedly not available.  
 

Breslow would have traded him away years ago, which is why I find myself questioning if Craig would ever trade FOR him…

[notin]

18 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not so convinced on KMarte, anymore.

Paredes kinda reminds me of Abreu- still waiting for that elusive career bust out season.

BLowe would be nice but he's not really a major big bat- just a major improvement.

Jeffers & BLowe would be nice improvements, but we'd still need a big bat (SS or DH?)

I assumed Paredes busted out years ago and he is what he is.  
 

Brandon Lowe is a StatCast darling with weaker overall numbers

[norbit]

I think people overall are too down on Mayer.  Less than 350 PA, has already improved his K% from 30% to 19% and well above average bat speed.  The body type appears to be able to add significant amount of strength.

[moonslav59]

59 minutes ago, notin said:

I assumed Paredes busted out years ago and he is what he is.  
Brandon Lowe is a StatCast darling with weaker overall numbers

BLowe is way cheaper than KMarte.

KMarte was better a few years back. He turns 33 this October. BLowe turns 32 in a couple days.

OPS/OPS+

2026: .818/121 BLowe (20 HRs)/ .811/120 KMarte (17 HRs)

2025-2026: .798/117 BLowe (51 HRs)/.860/136 KMarte (45 HRs)

2024-2026 .793/119 BLOwe (72 HRs)/.887/143 KMarte (81 HRs)

[moonslav59]

38 minutes ago, norbit said:

I think people overall are too down on Mayer.  Less than 350 PA, has already improved his K% from 30% to 19% and well above average bat speed.  The body type appears to be able to add significant amount of strength.

I'm far from giving up on him, but we need to add a serious middle infielder- more for Story than Mayer.