A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[moonslav59]

32 minutes ago, notin said:

And to play where? 
 

Once the Sox acquired Durbin, they had no place left for another batter to start.

Bregman is in the downside of his career.  Boston replaced his OPS+ of 130 with Contreras and his OPS+ of 124.  That’s not the dropoff that’s killing this team.  Especially since Bregman is struggling and Contreras isn’t…

Durbin or IKF  would be utility. I explained that. 

We could have added a SS.

We could have added a 2Bman (Mayer to 3B.)

We could have added a 3Bman.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

This may be blasphemy to all the front offices that swear by the batting philosophy espoused by Driveline to "pull the ball in the air" -- but how's that working out in the majors, Red Sox?

Crusty old fans like me grew up reading Ted Williams' bio and his hitting bible, "The Science of Hitting." We've known about the "slight uppercut swing" since we were kids -- but we were also taught by normal humans that the most consistent approach at the plate is to turn the top hand down on contact for line drives and to "hit the ball where it's pitched."

Pitchers aren't as stupid as Ted thought. If they know everybody's trying to pull, they'll constantly work off the outside corner for flailing chases or at least roll-over grounders. Look familiar, fans of futility?

Hall of Famers with god-given, elite hand-eye shouldn't be MLB batting coaches, because to them, it all came natural. Neither should guys who never made it be in charge of those who did. When Boston hires new batting coaches, bring in ex-big leaguers who maybe didn't have the gifts, but succeeded by learning to use the whole field.

[Old Red]

The way I look at it is the Red Sox are 5 GB. 5 GB just to get to 500, and if you can’t do that it doesn’t matter what all the other teams are doing, or looking at any wildcard dreams.

[Old Red]

38 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Durbin or IKF  would be utility. I explained that. 

We could have added a SS.

We could have added a 2Bman (Mayer to 3B.)

We could have added a 3Bman.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Sounds like lots of settling to me, which I said before the season even started.

[notin]

37 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Durbin or IKF  would be utility. I explained that. 

We could have added a SS.

We could have added a 2Bman (Mayer to 3B.)

We could have added a 3Bman.

IKF as a utility’s player makes sense.  But trading Harrison for a utility players sounds like a bad idea.  
 

I agree they should have gone for a better INF bat like Marte or Paredes or probably some other option.  And I thought Paredes especially made sense given that Houston needs and surpluses aligned perfectly, although I get why the Sox balked at 4 years of Duran for 2 years of Paredes…

 

[Duran Is The Man]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Maybe even a Sandoval or Kutter 60 day? I believe they've both been shut down. 

Watson DFA? 😇

Sandoval is going to milk it til his contract is up at the end of the year and then hope some other front office is as stupid as Boston's and gives him another contract to rehab.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

5 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

Sandoval is going to milk it til his contract is up at the end of the year and then hope some other front office is as stupid as Boston's and gives him another contract to rehab.

Hey -- when all Boston's execs are in their front office, they're the smartest guys in the room.

[Duran Is The Man]

8 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Hey -- when all Boston's execs are in their front office, they're the smartest guys in the room.

well yeah......until a first grader walks in.

[Hitch]

I continue to try and stay positive, and I don't believe we are as bad as we are making ourselves look, but man is it getting old feeling the game is over the moment the other team gets a 3-0 lead. 

[mvp 78]

3 hours ago, notin said:

IKF as a utility’s player makes sense.  But trading Harrison for a utility players sounds like a bad idea.  
 

I agree they should have gone for a better INF bat like Marte or Paredes or probably some other option.  And I thought Paredes especially made sense given that Houston needs and surpluses aligned perfectly, although I get why the Sox balked at 4 years of Duran for 2 years of Paredes…

 

3 years Duran

2 years Paredes

[mvp 78]

3 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

This may be blasphemy to all the front offices that swear by the batting philosophy espoused by Driveline to "pull the ball in the air" -- but how's that working out in the majors, Red Sox?

They don't have the hitters to do it. That's the problem. Most of their best hitters are LHB and they should be all fields at Fenway. 

[JoeBrady]

4 hours ago, notin said:

What the Fire Truck are you taking about?  He’s been playing MLB: The Show non-stop all season…

I defended his unusual outlook until that interview.  But that was so strange.

[JoeBrady]

5 hours ago, notin said:

That’s not the dropoff that’s killing this team.

I keep reiterating that point.  The problem is not our acquisitions.  The problem is:

• Narvaez .549
• Story   .531
• Duran  .490
• Anthony .686
• Crochet 7.88
• Bello  6.75

We'd need two more Babe Ruth's and another Pedro to make up for that loss of production.

[JoeBrady]

4 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Durbin or IKF  would be utility. I explained that. 

We could have added a SS.

We could have added a 2Bman (Mayer to 3B.)

We could have added a 3Bman.

Best 2B/SS available was Bichette (.536).

Best 3B available was Bregman (.668)

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Best 2B/SS available was Bichette (.536).

Best 3B available was Bregman (.668)

I'm boycotting until they sign Pete Alonso (668).

[moonslav59]

58 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

3 years Duran

2 years Paredes

Yes, and similar budget costs.

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Best 2B/SS available was Bichette (.536).

Best 3B available was Bregman (.668)

I was deadset against Bichette and did not want Bregman at even what we offered.

My FA choices mostly have sucked, so far, too, so I can't brag about that.

Trades were our best options.

Hindsight: B Lowe (Donovan just went on the IL.)

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Yes, and similar budget costs.

If posters keep saying that the Sox have Duran for 4 years, maybe there will be wish fulfillment eventually. 

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I was deadset against Bichette and did not want Bregman at even what we offered.

My FA choices mostly have sucked, so far, too, so I can't brag about that.

Trades were our best options.

Hindsight: B Lowe (Donovan just went on the IL.)

It wasn't a good FA class. 

I would have liked signing Schwarber back in '22 and then building DH around him from then on. Right now, the roster is a mess and there is an inability to deal with it so signing him didn't make sense. 

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

If posters keep saying that the Sox have Duran for 4 years, maybe there will be wish fulfillment eventually. 

It does seem that misinformation keeps getting repeated, despite corrections being given.

As bad as Duran has looked, I'd give 5 years for 2 of Paredes, right now.

[mvp 78]

The one FA I liked was Woodruff. He's been decent, but isn't generating any whiffs. Not sure if he really wanted to leave the Brew Crew either. 

Thought the Sox should have gone after Ozuna too as a cheap DH/platoon bat. 😶‍🌫️

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It does seem that misinformation keeps getting repeated, despite corrections being given.

As bad as Duran has looked, I'd give 5 years for 2 of Paredes, right now.

Trade surplus for a need. You don't have to win every trade. Just make your team better.

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

It wasn't a good FA class. 

I would have liked signing Schwarber back in '22 and then building DH around him from then on. Right now, the roster is a mess and there is an inability to deal with it so signing him didn't make sense. 

I'm fine with Suarez as the major FA signing. I agree, the FA class was kinda bare, at least for our high need areas.

We made a ton of trades. I think with the Suarez signing, maybe we could have not traded for Gray and or Oviedo, but look how we are already calling up Rivera from the bottom of the rotation depth chart, and it's just April.

I guess we had more major needs than I thought.

We can argue specifics all day, but in general, we should have concentrated our trade focus on bigger bats, and the infield was the only area to make infusions/replacements.

Paredes seems like the easiest guy to mention, but we could have overpaid for some others.

I'm not sure how realistic Neto or Marte were, but we saw what BLowe and Donovan went for.

Okamoto, U Suarez & Polanco all had big question marks as FA additions, but the IKF addition dis nothing for the offense, except make it worse.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Trade surplus for a need. You don't have to win every trade. Just make your team better.

Exactly, and that's why when posters say Neto was not realistic, I'm thinking we coulda and maybe shoulda overpaid for him. Same with KMarte or Hoerner.

Other suggested trade options don't look great, right now.

[mvp 78]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

Exactly, and that's why when posters say Neto was not realistic, I'm thinking we coulda and maybe shoulda overpaid for him. Same with KMarte or Hoerner.

Other suggested trade options don't look great, right now.

It's not realistic because BRESLOW wouldn't have given up the amount of assets required to do the deal. All of us on here can come up with a trade package, but it's most likely something that he's not comfortable with. 

Also, if they were going to trade for Neto, it should have been at the start of the offseason when the better assets were on hand. It makes that trade a lot easier to accomplish rather than after Contreras/Gray/Oviedo/etc.

[mvp 78]

I'd do a lopsided deal to get the BoSox a great player. I don't think Breslow would. 

[moonslav59]

13 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

It's not realistic because BRESLOW wouldn't have given up the amount of assets required to do the deal. 

In this context, I agree.

[moonslav59]

14 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Also, if they were going to trade for Neto, it should have been at the start of the offseason when the better assets were on hand. It makes that trade a lot easier to accomplish rather than after Contreras/Gray/Oviedo/etc.

Mayer + Tolle plus a player or two from the Oviedo or Gray trades would likely have been enough. Or, trade Duran for prospects and flip some or all in the deal.

Keep the Contreras trade & Suarez signing. Maybe even keep the Gray trade, but without Gray and IKF, maybe we sign Okamoto for 3B.

1B Contreras

2B Story

SS Neto

3B/DH Okamoto

UT/3B Durbin

[moonslav59]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I'd do a lopsided deal to get the BoSox a great player. I don't think Breslow would. 

My mindset going into this past winter was go top quality and not quantity. We had been doing quantity for long enough that I felt our 40 man was deep enough.

3 player (max 4.)

2B or 3B (Ideally SS with Story to 2B)

1B (Contreras was fine)

SP

Optional: another infielder or DH power bat or SP

We got:

1B Contreras

SP Suarez

GREAT! But then we went quantity again:

SP Gray

SP Oviedo

3B/2B Durbin

UT IKF & Monasterio

Combine these last 4-5 players into 1 or 2, and...

[mvp 78]

I think Contreras/Suarez/Gray were deals for high quality players. Oviedo was an upside play. Durbin was a musical chairs deal. Brewers were the last team available he could trade with.