A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

But when people talk about how bad all the other FA are doing that we didnt get, and jumping for joy...

To me, the only hitters that looked interesting were Bregman and Hoskins as a bench bat (due to his pull air tendencies and small contract). Brez was willing to use a lot of prospect capital to acquire Contreras (great!), Gray (ok!) and others (um). If they really weren't all in on bringing back Bregman, pull the deal to get Marte. He can play 2b for a few years and then transition to 1b when Contreras leaves. If you don't like the Marte deal, go get Paredes and push the deal over the finish line (DD was always able to). 

[notin]

50 minutes ago, Old Red said:

To me the point that the Red Sox won more games after Devers left, and that the offense didn’t drop off much of anything, but that the Red Sox would have won more games, and they would have scored more runs if Devers would have stayed IMO, and not to mention once again that he could have made the difference in the postseason against the YANKEES.

But the point is that largely the same post-Devers lineup that was producing 4.84 RPG last year Is now only producing 3.71 RPG (not counting their 5 runs off Weston Wilson).  And while they’re without Bregman, they do have Willson Contreras putting up Bregman numbers from last year…

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, notin said:

But the point is that largely the same post-Devers lineup that was producing 4.84 RPG last year Is now only producing 3.71 RPG (not counting their 5 runs off Weston Wilson).  And while they’re without Bregman, they do have Willson Contreras putting up Bregman numbers from last year…

If this year's Sox 3b can just replicate the 96 wRC+ last year's Sox 1b, everything will be just fine then. 

Durbin is basically hitting like '25 Wong instead. 

[notin]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If this year's Sox 3b can just replicate the 96 wRC+ last year's Sox 1b, everything will be just fine then. 

Durbin is basically hitting like '25 Wong instead. 

Well, let’s not forget about Story and, until 4 days ago, Duran.

As little faith as I have in Durbin, I do think he can reach Abraham Toro production…

[notin]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

Well, let’s not forget about Story and, until 4 days ago, Duran.

As little faith as I have in Durbin, I do think he can reach Abraham Toro production…

Or go with my other alignment with Yoshida at DH, Anthony (when back) in LF, Duran in CF, and Rafaela, Mayer and Story at 2b, 3b and SS in some arrangement that doesn’t have Story at SS.  
 

Durbin can sit out for a bit.

 

Or call up Braiden “the Unlikely Savior”Ward..

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

8 minutes ago, notin said:

But the point is that largely the same post-Devers lineup that was producing 4.84 RPG last year Is now only producing 3.71 RPG (not counting their 5 runs off Weston Wilson).  And while they’re without Bregman, they do have Willson Contreras putting up Bregman numbers from last year…

Let's face it, the real problem isn't that Durbin wasn't anything like the front office or media projected -- "he pulls in the air; he's gonna hit 20+ homers at Fenway!"

As you point out, Durbin has a fatal case of sophomoreyetis (what we blamed as the reason we couldn't get any good girls freshman year... though we couldn't wait until we were sophomores).

But it still could've worked out if Anthony didn't catch it, too. He didn't have to be a superstar, but just repeat his half of a rookie year over a full season.

If you believe hitting is contagious and there are valid reasons it's a saying, then maybe a couple of the guys who delivered last night will stay hot, and Roman can relax, see some crushable pitches and heat up himself.

If he can stay on the field like an indestructible 21-year old male...

 

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, notin said:

Well, let’s not forget about Story and, until 4 days ago, Duran.

As little faith as I have in Durbin, I do think he can reach Abraham Toro production…

Toro was really hot for a few weeks there...

[mvp 78]

14 minutes ago, notin said:

Or call up Braiden “the Unlikely Savior”Ward..

Can he play 2b? 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

If the return for Sale wasn't a dog turd, I think it'd be easier to understand that trade. Whatever internal scouting/metrics they had on Grissom was a big time failure. What's really cool is he's now OPS'ing over 800 for LAA. 🤪

Weird that they mentioned DHam doing better with MIL, and he is not, and should have mentioned Grissom, instead.

[mvp 78]

39 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Weird that they mentioned DHam doing better with MIL, and he is not, and should have mentioned Grissom, instead.

Hamilton had a 746 OPS at the time he was playing vs BOS. On that same date, Grissom hadn't had a MLB PA in '26 yet. 

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Hamilton had a 746 OPS at the time he was playing vs BOS. On that same date, Grissom hadn't had a MLB PA in '26 yet. 

Sounds like a valid reason.