A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[cp176]

I doubt that he is going to be traded but based on that very small sample size which people like to talk about I haven’t seen much to make me think that he is going to be a major upgrade in the power department and his fielding is suspect.  If it came down to trading him or one of our young starting pitchers, he would be gone yesterday. 

[Randy Red Sox]

On 7/9/2026 at 4:01 AM, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

If nothing else we now have a pitching staff to get excited about.  Tolle, Early and now Bennett have all pitched very well.  Put them with Suarez, Crochet and Gray and this should have been an amazing starting staff. 

Not sure of the health of Crochet but we could be potentially looking at starting 5 excellend LHP as a starting staff next season, not sure that's ever been done before.   

i think I'd be offering Gray a 2 yr extension at this point.  He has been amazing. I have been saying for YEARS that the Sox need to acquire YOUNG TOP COST CONTROLLED SP and now they finally have it both on the current roster as well as 3 of our 5 top prospects are all promising hard throwing SP. Life is good. Say what you want about Breslow but he has done an amazing job in this area.  This team is fun to watch again.

[Randy Red Sox]

4 hours ago, cp176 said:

I doubt that he is going to be traded but based on that very small sample size which people like to talk about I haven’t seen much to make me think that he is going to be a major upgrade in the power department and his fielding is suspect.  If it came down to trading him or one of our young starting pitchers, he would be gone yesterday. 

I wouldn't be trading anyone right now and that includes Yoshida who actually has been quite good for us.

[moonslav59]

I go back to the summer we traded away M Lugo, Paulino, Coffey and a bunch of other prospects ranked 10-35 for some players that seemed like they'd be helpful but not major upgrades, and think this what we will do again.

With Gray becoming a FA, and the health status of Crochet and others in serious doubt, next year and beyond, I think we'll keep Eyanson, Tolle & Early. With our middle infield needs, I think we'll keep Arias and probably Mayer, too.

I know some will not like this, but planning for the future is how we've gotten to this point from where we were a few years back.

Teams will want Holobetz, Phillips and some other Matt Lugo types. They won't give us the world for them, but we can get better, and still keep the future in mind and in our plans.

[Randy Red Sox]

21 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

This stretch is pretty amazing.

Last year we went 8-1 and 10-2 in one stretch and another stretch of 10 in a row with 12 of 13. They also went 9-1 in another stretch and 7-1 in another.

Moon i don't know how they are doing it with the injuries and line up we run out there everyday.  No Anthony, Mayer, or Story.  Of course our P has been amazing. When is the last time a Red Sox team could say that"  Right now Bennet looks the trade steal off the last 10 years.

[JoeBrady]

27 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Teams will want Holobetz, Phillips and some other Matt Lugo types.

We also didn't get much.  We were overall in 6th place.  We gave up some Rule 5 guys, but didn't improve.  We need to reach deeper into out pockets this time.

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, JoeBrady said:

We also didn't get much.  We were overall in 6th place.  We gave up some Rule 5 guys, but didn't improve.  We need to reach deeper into out pockets this time.

Yes, and I'm willing to trade #3 Witherspoon, #5 Gonzales, #8 Godbout and #12 Phillips.

Lugo was #13

Paulino was #15

Portes was #29

Coffey, Zeferjahn, Kavadas and others were below 30, when traded.

I'm not for trading Arias and seeing Story at SS, next year.

I'm not for trading Eyanson and needing starts from Holobetz, next year. Same with Early.

I'd part with one of these guys to get a 2.5 years controlled player like Langeliers, but not 2 of them. I'll add more lower prospects, but that is usually what gets deals like this done.

[Randy Red Sox]

13 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yes, and I'm willing to trade #3 Witherspoon, #5 Gonzales, #8 Godbout and #12 Phillips.

Lugo was #13

Paulino was #15

Portes was #29

Coffey, Zeferjahn, Kavadas and others were below 30, when traded.

I'm not for trading Arias and seeing Story at SS, next year.

I'm not for trading Eyanson and needing starts from Holobetz, next year. Same with Early.

I'd part with one of these guys to get a 2.5 years controlled player like Langeliers, but not 2 of them. I'll add more lower prospects, but that is usually what gets deals like this done.

i am not trading any of our top RH pitching prospects except maybe Gonzales in the right deal. A 5 man all LH rotation is not ideal IMO no matter how good they might be.

[Randy Red Sox]

15 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yes, and I'm willing to trade #3 Witherspoon, #5 Gonzales, #8 Godbout and #12 Phillips.

Lugo was #13

Paulino was #15

Portes was #29

Coffey, Zeferjahn, Kavadas and others were below 30, when traded.

I'm not for trading Arias and seeing Story at SS, next year.

I'm not for trading Eyanson and needing starts from Holobetz, next year. Same with Early.

I'd part with one of these guys to get a 2.5 years controlled player like Langeliers, but not 2 of them. I'll add more lower prospects, but that is usually what gets deals like this done.

i'd rather see Mayer as the everyday SS next year.

[moonslav59]

33 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

i'd rather see Mayer as the everyday SS next year.

 

33 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

i'd rather see Mayer as the everyday SS next year.

I'm not ready to say Arias should be the 2027 SS or even 2Bman, and as of now, I do have Mayer over Arias on the SS depth chart. We should really keep both, but I see Arias as having more upside, so if we had to trade one, it would be Mayer.

[moonslav59]

This is not a strength area of the team:

Story, Mayer, Siegler, Monasterio, Cheng & Arias

(IKF is a FA after 2026.)

[Hugh2]

Give. How are infield is a combination of aging and/or injury prone, it makes very little sense to trade our #1 prospect who is a SS

[vegasbob]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

This is not a strength area of the team:

Story, Mayer, Siegler, Monasterio, Cheng & Arias

(IKF is a FA after 2026.)

SS or 2B, you could list the same crew .

Durbin may well have locked down 3B, and Willson has 1B. Casas is no factor

 

[moonslav59]

32 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

SS or 2B, you could list the same crew .

Durbin may well have locked down 3B, and Willson has 1B. Casas is no factor

 

With the right 3B addition, moving Durbin to 2B would be fine but adding a middle infield in not as complex.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

i am not trading any of our top RH pitching prospects except maybe Gonzales in the right deal. A 5 man all LH rotation is not ideal IMO no matter how good they might be.

Gonzales is not a RH pitcher.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

 

I'm not ready to say Arias should be the 2027 SS or even 2Bman, and as of now, I do have Mayer over Arias on the SS depth chart. We should really keep both, but I see Arias as having more upside, so if we had to trade one, it would be Mayer.

Unless he bombs in ST, Story would be my OD SS next year.  IMHO, he has the highest 2027 ceiling.  But I'd tell him he has a short leash, and let it be known in the SS room that ABs can and will be earned.  I wouldn't be shy about starting Seigler, Monasterio or Mayer if they're playing well.

[cp176]

5 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I go back to the summer we traded away M Lugo, Paulino, Coffey and a bunch of other prospects ranked 10-35 for some players that seemed like they'd be helpful but not major upgrades, and think this what we will do again.

With Gray becoming a FA, and the health status of Crochet and others in serious doubt, next year and beyond, I think we'll keep Eyanson, Tolle & Early. With our middle infield needs, I think we'll keep Arias and probably Mayer, too.

I know some will not like this, but planning for the future is how we've gotten to this point from where we were a few years back.

Teams will want Holobetz, Phillips and some other Matt Lugo types. They won't give us the world for them, but we can get better, and still keep the future in mind and in our plans.

I think that I would add Bennett to the no can trade list.  Another quality young arm.

[moonslav59]

36 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Unless he bombs in ST, Story would be my OD SS next year.  IMHO, he has the highest 2027 ceiling.  But I'd tell him he has a short leash, and let it be known in the SS room that ABs can and will be earned.  I wouldn't be shy about starting Seigler, Monasterio or Mayer if they're playing well.

What Story does to end 2026 might be a major factor in that choice.

If I had to predict the Sox management view...

SS: 1 Story, 2 Mayer, 3 Monasterio/Cheng platoon, 4. Arias

2B: 1. Mayer, 2 Siegler/Romy, 3 Story if not at SS

[moonslav59]

21 minutes ago, cp176 said:

I think that I would add Bennett to the no can trade list.  Another quality young arm.

Agreed. His nearing his IP limit might a reason we trade for a pitcher. 

(We might trade Early for a bat and find a scrub SP'er to eat innings.)

[Old Red]

Start spreading the news.

The Red Sox can’t lose.

who wants no part of it?

New York, New York.

[Hugh2]

5 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Start spreading the news.

The Red Sox can’t lose.

who wants no part of it?

New York, New York.

Buhm buhm da da da buhm buh da da da.

the thing I love the most about living in CT is now I can sing this to a bunch of Yankee fans tomorrow

[UtahSox]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

What Story does to end 2026 might be a major factor in that choice.

If I had to predict the Sox management view...

SS: 1 Story, 2 Mayer, 3 Monasterio/Cheng platoon, 4. Arias

2B: 1. Mayer, 2 Siegler/Romy, 3 Story if not at SS

I hate that middle infield so bad… I believe, regardless of trade deadline, we will DFA story at the end of this season. Siegler hasn’t done enough for me to check the box at 2nd base….. if we can get better at second base catcher leftfield, DH or short stop we need to do it.

[Old Red]

6 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

Buhm buhm da da da buhm buh da da da.

the thing I love the most about living in CT is now I can sing this to a bunch of Yankee fans tomorrow

Sounds like fun to me.👏

[Old Red]

2 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Unless he bombs in ST, Story would be my OD SS next year.  IMHO, he has the highest 2027 ceiling.  But I'd tell him he has a short leash, and let it be known in the SS room that ABs can and will be earned.  I wouldn't be shy about starting Seigler, Monasterio or Mayer if they're playing well.

That’s next year. I think it’s going to be interesting to see what happens when Story Land is ready to open back up this year.🤔

[Nick]

On 7/16/2026 at 12:05 PM, mvp 78 said:

A brief history of Realistic Look Threads.

2026: Part I 10/3/25

2025: Part I 9/20/24, Part II 3/23/25

2024: Part I 10/1/23, Part II 3/29/24, Part III 7/30/24

2023: Part I 7/22/22, Part II 2/10/23, Part III 8/26/23

2022: Part I 8/12/21, Part II ???, Part III 5/10/22 (posted by me)

2021: Part I 8/17/20, Part II 3/22/21, Part III 7/30/21

2020: Part I 8/23/19, Part II 2/19/20, Part III 8/17/20

2019: Part 1 10/28/19 (posted by notin), Part I 10/29/18, Part II 6/27/19

2018: Part I 10/9/17

2017: Part I 10/10/16, Part II 3/30/17, Part III 7/31/17

2016: No Part Listed 4/24/16

Seems like he could make one as we get closer to the trade deadline? I like the idea of a pre offseason, post offseason, post trade deadline segmentation. IDK. 

 

 

Looks like he's late!

 

[Nick]

I sure have forgotten about Story, Anthony and Mayer. Pitching really matters more. 

[Old Red]

17 minutes ago, Nick said:

I sure have forgotten about Story, Anthony and Mayer. Pitching really matters more. 

The pitching has been there pretty much all year despite the many injuries, but the biggest difference in the winning streak has been the uptick in homers.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Nick said:

Looks like he's late!

 

Part II will be after the trade deadline.

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

5 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

With the right 3B addition, moving Durbin to 2B would be fine but adding a middle infield in not as complex.

Why would you move maybe the 2nd best defensive 3rd baseman in MLB? That makes zero sense.

[JoeBrady]

22 minutes ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Why would you move maybe the 2nd best defensive 3rd baseman in MLB? That makes zero sense.

That's what I hated about the Gonzo trade.  We already had a real good 1B in Youkilis.  Don't fix what ain't broke.