A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[UtahSox]

42 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'd keep Eyanson. We lose Gray and Crochet is a Q mark, We just started Rivera after having rotational depth 10-11 deep. (He was #12-13?) Eyanson might be ready mid '27 and into '28.

Mayer and Witherspoon (add Phillips not Valera, if we can help it) can get us something useful, but it cannot be a rental.

I agree 100% no rentals. Any move made I’d like to see a minimum of 2027 control. 

For pitching we have all seen injuries play a major part and projecting into 2027 in 2028 is really hard for a pitcher. Eyanson and Valera might be really good, but they also might have to get Tommy John surgery in April of next year??? Which would mean we wouldn’t see them until 2030. Obviously they are very highly valued, but we also know to get good players. You have to give up good players. Red Sox could absorb losing a couple highly touted arms for a big bat now. 

Next year as slated, we have Garrett crochet, Ranger Suarez, Peyton Tolle, Connolly early, Jake Bennett, Kutter Crawford, Johan Oviedo, and Tanner Houck plus if they can figure something out with Bryan Bello.

That’s a lot of starters. Now I realize I can’t speak out both sides of my mouth, and injuries do happen quite frequently, but it does seem like free agent pitchers that are high impact/rentals are much more easily obtained than hitters. Thats my argument don’t fire sale elite pitcher prospects……but if it gets you CJ Abrams, we probably need to make that move happen.

[moonslav59]

23 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

I agree 100% no rentals. Any move made I’d like to see a minimum of 2027 control. 

For pitching we have all seen injuries play a major part and projecting into 2027 in 2028 is really hard for a pitcher. Eyanson and Valera might be really good, but they also might have to get Tommy John surgery in April of next year??? Which would mean we wouldn’t see them until 2030. Obviously they are very highly valued, but we also know to get good players. You have to give up good players. Red Sox could absorb losing a couple highly touted arms for a big bat now. 

Next year as slated, we have Garrett crochet, Ranger Suarez, Peyton Tolle, Connolly early, Jake Bennett, Kutter Crawford, Johan Oviedo, and Tanner Houck plus if they can figure something out with Bryan Bello.

That’s a lot of starters. Now I realize I can’t speak out both sides of my mouth, and injuries do happen quite frequently, but it does seem like free agent pitchers that are high impact/rentals are much more easily obtained than hitters. Thats my argument don’t fire sale elite pitcher prospects……but if it gets you CJ Abrams, we probably need to make that move happen.

I'm okay with a rental, if all we give up is Cespedes & Castro types, but not prospects like Eyanson or Witherspoon.

IMO, these are the types of deals we will see, if we are buyers:

2023: Bradley Blalock for Luis Urias

2024: M Lugo, Kavadas, Zeferjahn & Vargas for Luis Garcia

2024: Paulino, C Coffey & Batista for Danny Jansen

2024: Ovis Portes for Lucas Sims

2025: Blaze Jordan for Steven Matz

2025: Tibbs & Ehrhard for D May

I'd love to see these type:

2024: Nick Yorke for Priester

2022: Vazquez for Abreu & EValdez & Diekman for McGuire

2021: Aldo Ramirez for Schwarber, Alex Scherff for Robles & Chavis for Austin Davis