A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[notin]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

If the Sox really stink, does it matter that Mayer stinks at the plate? Or is this move to help Mayer get better? 

That’s exactly why I said “at this point just let him play SS every day” and compared his timeline to Rafaela’s.

I only said to demote him when asked “which of these three would you demote?”  Youre clinging to that part like your screen stopped displaying the second sentence of each post, which makes me wonder why I’m typing this sentence…

[illinoisredsox]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

If Gasper is catching, why wouldn't you try to steal every base? 

Of course you do that.  But with the jumps the Jays runners were getting on Bennett last night, prime Johnny Bench, Pudge Rodriguez or Yadier Molina wouldn’t have had a chance.  They were practically sliding in about the time Gasper was catching the pitch.

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, illinoisredsox said:

Of course you do that.  But with the jumps the Jays runners were getting on Bennett last night, prime Johnny Bench, Pudge Rodriguez or Yadier Molina wouldn’t have had a chance.  They were practically sliding in about the time Gasper was catching the pitch.

I guess Big Ben wasn’t taught the slide step, or holding runners on.🤔

[notin]

22 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Ah yes unreasonable fans. As I’ve said many times many fans only care about the here, and now, and the here, and now is the most current that counts. Some fans don’t care how few AB Mayer, or little Anthony may have in the majors, but only care about what’s actually counting now. Thus Roman Empire last year, and little Anthony this year. It’s really not that complicated.

… which is exactly why no one took your two game evaluation of Mayer seriously, presumably because we knew all it meant was he had 0 RBIs in two games…

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

That's projecting something for Adell that was only there for one season. He's been a huge disappointment in SoCal. 

There is some conjecture on my part, but I think the LAA handled Adell as badly as anyone I've ever seen.  They promoted him after an awful AAA season.  He had a 43/10 K/W with -0- HRs in 121 ABs.  It's almost impossible to be that bad in the PCL.  And it wasn't like he was aging out at age 20.  And then when he predictably struggled, they yanked him back and forth, never allowing him to develop.

That said, I see some development finally.  He now has an OPS+ of 101 over the past 4 years, and more importantly, about 33 HRs/600 ABs.  And he kills lefties with about a .900 over the past 3 seasons.  He hits well in Fenway (SSS).

Part of my approach here is that we need two bats.  I don't think we will get two expensive bats and don't like giving up a lot of minor league talent to get a really good bat.  If we get a cheaper bat like Adell, it'll allow us some flexibility to acquire a more expensive ($$$ or prospects) bat.

How many other targets are there out there?

[Bellhorn04]

12 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

There is some conjecture on my part, but I think the LAA handled Adell as badly as anyone I've ever seen.  They promoted him after an awful AAA season.  He had a 43/10 K/W with -0- HRs in 121 ABs.  It's almost impossible to be that bad in the PCL.  And it wasn't like he was aging out at age 20.  And then when he predictably struggled, they yanked him back and forth, never allowing him to develop.

That said, I see some development finally.  He now has an OPS+ of 101 over the past 4 years, and more importantly, about 33 HRs/600 ABs.  And he kills lefties with about a .900 over the past 3 seasons.  He hits well in Fenway (SSS).

Part of my approach here is that we need two bats.  I don't think we will get two expensive bats and don't like giving up a lot of minor league talent to get a really good bat.  If we get a cheaper bat like Adell, it'll allow us some flexibility to acquire a more expensive ($$$ or prospects) bat.

How many other targets are there out there?

The problem is I suspect they are pretty close to tossing the towel on 2026 and are looking at moving guys out rather than in.   

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

The thing that gets me is the RedSox don’t try anything different to manufacture runs. They don’t have enough evidence that station to station baseball isn’t working. Toronto was running wild stealing bases last night, and a few hit , and runs, or maybe a few suicide, or safety bunts may work better. It certainly can’t get much soy than what the Red Sox are doing with runners on base.

I am generally not a fan of a sacrifice bunt.  But the RS have had several opportunities to sacrifice guys with the bottom of the order.  It just like bad baseball to not do so with our bottom guys.

[Old Red]

21 minutes ago, notin said:

… which is exactly why no one took your two game evaluation of Mayer seriously, presumably because we knew all it meant was he had 0 RBIs in two games…

As you keep leaving out others come to the same conclusion who saw Mayer’s more than I did who I was responding too, and when you say no one you mean on here, which I won’t be to broken up over. Most fans evaluate players just by the eye test watching them on TV. Once again it’s not to complicated.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Some fans are unreasonable.  I remember talking to some guy who watched 20yo Xander Bogaerts go 0 for 4 and told me there was nothing to see here.  Apparently the expectation was Bogaerts should dominate every game like he was a division 1 college player playing Little League.

Remember the kerfuffle when Pedroia started?

[JoeBrady]

15 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

The problem is I suspect they are pretty close to tossing the towel on 2026 and are looking at moving guys out rather than in.   

It could be, but Adell shouldn't be expensive and we'd have him for one more year.

[Bellhorn04]

4 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Remember the kerfuffle when Pedroia started?

A lot of sports fans are impatient idiots, always have been and always will be.  Just goes with the territory.  Let's face it, being a sports fan is not one of the most rational things we do with our lives. 🙂

[Bellhorn04]

1 minute ago, JoeBrady said:

It could be, but Adell shouldn't be expensive and we'd have him for one more year.

Unfortunately 2027 could be a non-season.  We are in crappy times.

[mvp 78]

Just now, Bellhorn04 said:

Unfortunately 2027 could be a non-season.  We are in crappy times.

Crappy times can be better than interesting times. 

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Remember the kerfuffle when Pedroia started?

That "kerfuffle" is the most overstated thing in Sox lore. 

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

A lot of sports fans are impatient idiots, always have been and always will be.  Just goes with the territory.  Let's face it, being a sports fan is not one of the most rational things we do with our lives. 🙂

Wow! Impatient idiots? As I’ve said many times I think most casual fans care about the here, and now, and the here, and now is not to pretty looking unless you like 12-24, and 29-42.

[drewski6]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Crappy times can be better than interesting times. 

If you are my late basset hound jorge, goose crap is interesting.

[drewski6]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

That "kerfuffle" is the most overstated thing in Sox lore. 

No kidding, its used as a platitude to never replace a struggling prospect

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Wow! Impatient idiots? As I’ve said many times I think most casual fans care about the here, and now, and the here, and now is not to pretty looking unless you like 12-24, and 29-42.

Just a tongue in cheek comment, Red, that's why I put the smiley face there.  I'm including myself as one of the idiots. 

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

No kidding, its used as a platitude to never replace a struggling prospect

If KC was on the Pedroia timeline, he'd be having an MVP season rather than in AAA. 

Mayer has 108 G of lackluster PA's. We are so far beyond the Pedroia comparisons that it's really meaningless. 

And he never got that much crap anyway! Imagine all the callers to WEEI in 2007 complaining about the FIRST PLACE Red Sox because their 2b is struggling at the end of April. Not reality!  

In March, Adam Vinatieri signed with the Colts and Willie McGinnist was released. Eric Mangini left for the Jets gig. There was much more Patriots talk on the radio at the time coming of internal changes and the loss to the Colts in the AFC Championship. 

[Old Red]

17 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Just a tongue in cheek comment, Red, that's why I put the smiley face there.  I'm including myself as one of the idiots. 

I got that, but if you didn’t have the idiots how much would you have?

[mvp 78]

[Old Red]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If KC was on the Pedroia timeline, he'd be having an MVP season rather than in AAA. 

Mayer has 108 G of lackluster PA's. We are so far beyond the Pedroia comparisons that it's really meaningless. 

And he never got that much crap anyway! Imagine all the callers to WEEI in 2007 complaining about the FIRST PLACE Red Sox because their 2b is struggling at the end of April. Not reality!  

In March, Adam Vinatieri signed with the Colts and Willie McGinnist was released. Eric Mangini left for the Jets gig. There was much more Patriots talk on the radio at the time coming of internal changes and the loss to the Colts in the AFC Championship. 

I don’t think Pedey got anywhere near the hype that the Big Three got especially when they all arrived in Woo. It was like the Beatles arriving in NY.  Also the Red SOX bringing up the rear of not only the Div, but the league itself makes the whole situation worse than if they were winning.

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I don’t think Pedey got anywhere near the hype that the Big Three got especially when they all arrived in Woo. It was like the Beatles arriving in NY.  Also the Red SOX bringing up the rear of not only the Div, but the league itself makes the whole situation worse than if they were winning.

No laser show this year confirmed. 

[Old Red]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

No laser show this year confirmed. 

2B hasn’t been the same since they retired the laser show.

[mvp 78]

31 minutes ago, Old Red said:

2B hasn’t been the same since they retired the laser show.

Since 2017, the leaders in fWAR at 2b (47 total players):

Story 2.5

Kiké 2.1

Brock 1.7

Arroyo 1.6

Pedroia 1.2

Romy 0.8

DHam 0.6

Iglesias 0.6

Chavis 0.5

🙅‍♂️