A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[moonslav59]

39 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.

Welcome aboard.

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

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)

On Marte- He will make what? I thought it was around 15m AAV through 2030. Marte is an amazing hitter at a very reasonable rate. The ONLY reason he is even being mentioned for a trade is all those thorns on his sides…. He is DURABLE, when in lineup mashes……. I’d trade Mayer and either Tolle or Early + a young OF prospect for him. 

On B Lowe- He will be a free agent and with the scarcity of bats, I’ll bet you he gets 4-5 years 100-125m. Definitely won’t be cheaper than 14m AAV (Marte) IMO. Even if he costs RS 5yrs 125m I think he would still be my preferred option just because that way you could use the other assets for another Bat. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, UtahSox said:

On Marte- He will make what? I thought it was around 15m AAV through 2030. Marte is an amazing hitter at a very reasonable rate. The ONLY reason he is even being mentioned for a trade is all those thorns on his sides…. He is DURABLE, when in lineup mashes……. I’d trade Mayer and either Tolle or Early + a young OF prospect for him. 

On B Lowe- He will be a free agent and with the scarcity of bats, I’ll bet you he gets 4-5 years 100-125m. Definitely won’t be cheaper than 14m AAV (Marte) IMO. Even if he costs RS 5yrs 125m I think he would still be my preferred option just because that way you could use the other assets for another Bat. 

By cost, I meant $$$ and players/prospects in trade vs just $$$ for BLowe.

BTW, KMartes AAV gets adjusted when traded.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

10 hours 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.

For Devers the name on the back of his jersey was more important than the name on the front..

Good bye & Good riddance.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

For Devers the name on the back of his jersey was more important than the name on the front..

Good bye & Good riddance.

Becoming a .780 hitter makes it easier to swallow.

[moonslav59]

MIA is up 7-1 on ATH in the 9th. Assuming the A's lose...

___ TEX (Last WC)

-2.0 HOU

-2.5 MIN

-3.0 TOR

-3.5 BAL

-4.0 ATH

-5.0 BOS

-6.0 DET

The Sox are closing some gaps, but it's been a long time being a bottom 4 team in the worst league in recent history.