A Realistic Look at the 2026 Red Sox: Part I

[moonslav59]

BTV accepts this. Do you?

Harrison, Wong & DHam

for 

G Torres (1yr) Jake Rogers (1 yr catcher) and Comp BAL pick Rd B

[notin]

51 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

BTV accepts this. Do you?

Harrison, Wong & DHam

for 

G Torres (1yr) Jake Rogers (1 yr catcher) and Comp BAL pick Rd B

Of course.  Problem is, I can name one person who wouldn’t…

[Maxbialystock]

Probably not relevant here, but I'm probably the only one who does not see Bregman's new team and $175M contract as a disaster for the Sox.  

First, I thought Breslow made a reasonable offer.

Second, I'm also probably the only one here who does not believe Breslow was the windfall everyone claims he was last season.  Anthony and especially the pitching were the difference makers and had that great 10 game winning streak in July. basically without Bregman or Devers.  Once Anthony went on the IL on Sep 3, the Sox reverted back to a .500 team.  

Would I have preferred to keep Bregman?  Sure I would, but not at his price.  He's getting $35M/season through age 37, plus there is no guarantee there won't be future injuries.  The one he had this season was a repeat and he never really came back from it.

Do I wish Devers were back? Sure I do.  I also think Breslow was heavy handed.  However, the Sox were without Devers and with a subpar Bregman last season when they made a nice run--until Antony went on the IL.

Now Mayer gets a shot at being the full time thirdbaseman.  He has injury issues too, but healthy he could be pretty good.  His .674 OPS was better than Bregman's when he returned from the IL.  Plus Contreras and his .811 OPS will be nice at 1b.  

Oh, yeah.  I forgot Bregman's stellar leadership qualities.  They didn't help much in September after Anthony on the IL.  

 

 

[Old Red]

20 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Probably not relevant here, but I'm probably the only one who does not see Bregman's new team and $175M contract as a disaster for the Sox.  

First, I thought Breslow made a reasonable offer.

Second, I'm also probably the only one here who does not believe Breslow was the windfall everyone claims he was last season.  Anthony and especially the pitching were the difference makers and had that great 10 game winning streak in July. basically without Bregman or Devers.  Once Anthony went on the IL on Sep 3, the Sox reverted back to a .500 team.  

Would I have preferred to keep Bregman?  Sure I would, but not at his price.  He's getting $35M/season through age 37, plus there is no guarantee there won't be future injuries.  The one he had this season was a repeat and he never really came back from it.

Do I wish Devers were back? Sure I do.  I also think Breslow was heavy handed.  However, the Sox were without Devers and with a subpar Bregman last season when they made a nice run--until Antony went on the IL.

Now Mayer gets a shot at being the full time thirdbaseman.  He has injury issues too, but healthy he could be pretty good.  His .674 OPS was better than Bregman's when he returned from the IL.  Plus Contreras and his .811 OPS will be nice at 1b.  

Oh, yeah.  I forgot Bregman's stellar leadership qualities.  They didn't help much in September after Anthony on the IL.  

 

 

Good post Max.👍👍👍

[moonslav59]

Yep. Max is not alone.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Hard to dispute any of Max's points.

The big mistake won't be losing Bregman, but if Breslow feels he now has to fill the void by trading a top pitching prospect.

Boston is not paying Bichette, who isn't even a good fielder, or burning the farm on Marte.

The best available options are good second basemen like Donovan or Horner. But without a doubt, the Cards and Cubs will want MLB-ready pitching in return. 

No, thanks. Let's see what Early, Tolle and eventually Witherspoon can do. Live-and-let-die with Romy, Hammy and Sogard-Sogahd-Sogaahd.

[moonslav59]

I will say to Max: while saying the pitching was a big part of our nice season, who put the staff together, including the depth to handle Houck sucking plus about 5 SP'ers going on the IL for all or most of the season?

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Boston is not paying Bichette, who isn't even a good fielder, or burning the farm on Marte.

The best available options are good second basemen like Donovan or Horner. But without a doubt, the Cards and Cubs will want MLB-ready pitching in return. 

Bichette also does not give us the power we need, but he's close to Bregman in that area.

To me, the best option is a 3Bman, and Paredes jumps out as a player about to bust out while stuck on a team with 5 infielders and a guy they want to DH FT (Alvarez.)

After watching Altuve in the OF, he is not being slotted there, this season. Paredes is worth more than the $12M BTV gives him, but he won't cost us a top 3 or 4 prospect. (No Tolle- No Early- probably no Weatherspoon.)

Get it done, Brez!

I won't be happy with Vientos, but he won't cost much in return and offers some hope at filling the power void. 2B is an option, too, but 3B works better, as Mayer and Romy can platoon 2B better than 3B.

[mvp 78]

12 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

BTV accepts this. Do you?

Harrison, Wong & DHam

for 

G Torres (1yr) Jake Rogers (1 yr catcher) and Comp BAL pick Rd B

They just signed Gleyber, why would they trade him? 

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They just signed Gleyber, why would they trade him? 

It was a QO, right?

Hey, the team was thinking of trading Skubal, so I doubt it's about keeping 1 year players.

[mvp 78]

10 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

Do I wish Devers were back? Sure I do.  I also think Breslow was heavy handed.  However, the Sox were without Devers and with a subpar Bregman last season when they made a nice run--until Antony went on the IL.

Post Devers - Pre Anthony Injury Red Sox:

Rotation was 3rd in ERA, 22nd in xERA, 2nd in LOB%

RP was 2nd in ERA, 22nd in k/9, 17th in bb/9,  3rd in BABIP, 4th in LOB%

107 wRC+ (same as it was with Devers when the team felt like a .500 team)

The run was entirely due to the pitching being on a hot streak and really didn't have much to do with the hitting. 

[Old Red]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

Post Devers - Pre Anthony Injury Red Sox:

Rotation was 3rd in ERA, 22nd in xERA, 2nd in LOB%

RP was 2nd in ERA, 22nd in k/9, 17th in bb/9,  3rd in BABIP, 4th in LOB%

107 wRC+ (same as it was with Devers when the team felt like a .500 team)

The run was entirely due to the pitching being on a hot streak and really didn't have much to do with the hitting. 

The run had to do with the good extended starting pitching especially from Cro Man, Gio, and Bello. Some on here like to think the run was because Raffy was traded.

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

The run had to do with the good extended starting pitching especially from Cro Man, Gio, and Bello. Some on here like to think the run was because Raffy was traded.

It was the power of friendship! 🌻👯‍♂️🧙‍♂️🧝‍♂️🏵️

[Old Red]

39 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I will say to Max: while saying the pitching was a big part of our nice season, who put the staff together, including the depth to handle Houck sucking plus about 5 SP'ers going on the IL for all or most of the season?

Max didn’t give Brez a big enough pat on the back for you? Nothing wrong with that at all. I think Max summed things up pretty well, which was better than you, or I did. 

[moonslav59]

46 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Max didn’t give Brez a big enough pat on the back for you? Nothing wrong with that at all. I think Max summed things up pretty well, which was better than you, or I did. 

I thought Max wrote an excellent post. I'm not asking anyone to give Brez a pat on the back. 

Max mentioned how the pitching carried us in many ways, and I fully agree. I felt it should be pointed out that Brez and maybe Bailey are one reason the staff did much better.

If there is one area Brez can be "patted on the back," I would say it would be how quickly and how well he has rebuild the pitching system from nearly top to bottom. He's only been here 2+ years.

He's made mistakes, for sure, with pitchers, including his two biggest moves: trading Sale and signing Buehler to the highest AAV for a SP'er since the Sale extension and the Price FA signing. The Priester deal looks bad in the short term, as well, but otherwise, we've seen some major gains on the staff as well is down on the farm.

The Crochet trade and extensions top all pitching moves made since maybe the Sale trade and Price signing. The Gio signing from 2024 ended up paying off to a significant extent in 2025. I felt we needed much more than Chapman and Wilson added to the pen, last winter, but Brez proved me and many others wrong on that front, too. The Chapman extension looks like a good idea, for now. Dugo for Fitts & Weissert looks like a steal. The Slaten trade, too. Smaller moves like Criswell, Matz & Booser maybe cancel out the DMays and I  Campbells.

On the farm, 8 of our top 11 prospects are pitchers, and in two short years, Brez is accountable for adding 6 of those 8! I know they are just "suspects" to you, but all great players were once prospects. Having more highly regarded pitching prospects is a good thing- not a bad thing.

1. Tolle (drafted 2nd rd.)

4. Witherspoon (drafted 1st rd.)

6. Bennett (traded for Perales)

9. Sandlin (traded for Schreiber)

10. Phillips (CB draft pick)

11. Eyanson (drafted 3rd rd.)

I'm also very high on #16 Holobetz (part of Priester trade)

Brandon Clarke was a Brez draftee and was a big piece in the Sonny Gray trade.

Fajardo was acquired in a trade for Booser and was needed in the trade for Contreras.

Travieso was a Brez INT'L signing and helped get us Oviedo.

None of those three are "suspects."

Brez might deserve some kicks in the butt, but he also deserves a few back pats from time-to-time, despite being our "12th pick" for GM.

😜

[JoeBrady]

11 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

but I'm probably the only one who does not see Bregman's new team and $175M contract as a disaster for the Sox.  

Would I have preferred to keep Bregman?  Sure I would, but not at his price. 

I think a lot of RS would agree with you.  The disaster wouldn't be not getting Bregman.  The disaster would be putting our money back in the piggy bank.  If we have $35M to spend, it'll make little difference where we spend it, so long as we spend it.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

They just signed Gleyber, why would they trade him? 

I'm not a fan of Gleyber, but the Tigers were probably indifferent to him at that price point.  They'd be happy with him staying for $20M, and they'd be happy with the draft picks.

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I think a lot of RS would agree with you.  The disaster wouldn't be not getting Bregman.  The disaster would be putting our money back in the piggy bank.  If we have $35M to spend, it'll make little difference where we spend it, so long as we spend it.

One added issue, now, is that precious little is left over on the market that fill the specific high needs we have. If we miss out on Suarez, I'm not sure signing 4 good RP'ers does the trick.

I doubt we sign a #2 SP (Ra Suarez or Framber are the only two that fit that bill, to me- not Gallen.)

Trades are possible, and we do have some logjams, but adding Bregman costs us no players or prospects lost.

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I'm not a fan of Gleyber, but the Tigers were probably indifferent to him at that price point.  They'd be happy with him staying for $20M, and they'd be happy with the draft picks.

That's how I see it. They may have been fine had he declined the QO. BTV has his value very close to his pay, and I agree on that.

I think DET might consider a trade for him- just maybe or likely not the one I suggested. While DHam and Wong are not close to being as good as Torres and their catcher, it was 3 years for 1 on each. Adding Harrison might be something DET really likes, but maybe not.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I won't be happy with Vientos, but he won't cost much in return and offers some hope at filling the power void.

You lived with Devers at 3B for a long time.  I think he can be a real good hitter, but I don't see a lot of glove in his future.  My animal spirit thinks this guy will be a lot of fun in the #5/6 slot, but my head keeps questioning where he will play until Yoshida is gone.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

You lived with Devers at 3B for a long time.  I think he can be a real good hitter, but I don't see a lot of glove in his future.  My animal spirit thinks this guy will be a lot of fun in the #5/6 slot, but my head keeps questioning where he will play until Yoshida is gone.

I was for moving Devers to 1B many years ago. I guess you can say I lived with it, but I'd have moved him day one (okay, after some practice), if I was the manager/GM.

Contreras will probably be in BOS for 3 years, since his 2028 option has a $5M buyout, so 1B look out for a Suarez move. I suppose Suarez can DH year 3, as Yoshida is out by then, but that's 2 years od bad and further declining D at 3B. It's not ideal, but we need the bat, and I think the left-side infield defense will be way better, so maybe we cancel out the bad 3B defense.

Paredes is my first choice.

[JoeBrady]

33 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

That's how I see it. They may have been fine had he declined the QO. BTV has his value very close to his pay, and I agree on that.

I think DET might consider a trade for him- just maybe or likely not the one I suggested. While DHam and Wong are not close to being as good as Torres and their catcher, it was 3 years for 1 on each. Adding Harrison might be something DET really likes, but maybe not.

I actually proposed a JBJ for Torres/Soler during the Cubs run in 2016.  So I always had an interest in him, until he got the Yankee stink on him.  But if the Cubs were willing (and I suspect eager) to get draft picks for him, I think they would take a non-premium prospect return for him.  They might already be thinking of McGonigle as being close to ready for the show.

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, JoeBrady said:

I actually proposed a JBJ for Torres/Soler during the Cubs run in 2016.  So I always had an interest him, until he got the Yankee stink on him.  But if the Cubs were willing (and I suspect eager) to get draft picks for him, I think they would take a non-premium prospect return for him.  They might already be thinking of McGonigle as being close to ready for the show.

Yes. (Tigers not Cubs, but yes.)

I have not heard his name, but I think DET might listen on an offer for their one year 2Bman.

[notin]

12 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

Probably not relevant here, but I'm probably the only one who does not see Bregman's new team and $175M contract as a disaster for the Sox.  

First, I thought Breslow made a reasonable offer.

Second, I'm also probably the only one here who does not believe Breslow was the windfall everyone claims he was last season.  Anthony and especially the pitching were the difference makers and had that great 10 game winning streak in July. basically without Bregman or Devers.  Once Anthony went on the IL on Sep 3, the Sox reverted back to a .500 team.  

Would I have preferred to keep Bregman?  Sure I would, but not at his price.  He's getting $35M/season through age 37, plus there is no guarantee there won't be future injuries.  The one he had this season was a repeat and he never really came back from it.

Do I wish Devers were back? Sure I do.  I also think Breslow was heavy handed.  However, the Sox were without Devers and with a subpar Bregman last season when they made a nice run--until Antony went on the IL.

Now Mayer gets a shot at being the full time thirdbaseman.  He has injury issues too, but healthy he could be pretty good.  His .674 OPS was better than Bregman's when he returned from the IL.  Plus Contreras and his .811 OPS will be nice at 1b.  

Oh, yeah.  I forgot Bregman's stellar leadership qualities.  They didn't help much in September after Anthony on the IL.  

 

 

My silver lining is I can go back to hating Alex Bregman, although he actually did seem to be a pretty positive addition overall.  Still, it’s nice to have the option again.

But I’ll probably see him play in person at least half a dozen times this year…

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

My silver lining is I can go back to hating Alex Bregman, although he actually did seem to be a pretty positive addition overall.  Still, it’s nice to have the option again.

But I’ll probably see him play in person at least half a dozen times this year…

Will you boo him wildly- like a rabid fan?

[notin]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

Will you boo him wildly- like a rabid fan?

No.  I will just repeatedly needle my daughter for stopping her dislike of him for the exact reason I did…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, notin said:

My silver lining is I can go back to hating Alex Bregman,

Boston is already over him. Didn't see one Bregman shirt walking around Fenway Park last Saturday.

Anthony #19 was everywhere, and runner-up by far was #16.

Mayer changing his number this season should also help the Sox sell a lot of leftover #11 green shirts.

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I was for moving Devers to 1B many years ago. I guess you can say I lived with it, but I'd have moved him day one (okay, after some practice), if I was the manager/GM.

Contreras will probably be in BOS for 3 years, since his 2028 option has a $5M buyout, so 1B look out for a Suarez move. I suppose Suarez can DH year 3, as Yoshida is out by then, but that's 2 years od bad and further declining D at 3B. It's not ideal, but we need the bat, and I think the left-side infield defense will be way better, so maybe we cancel out the bad 3B defense.

Paredes is my first choice.

Bregman : 35m
Paredes:9m*
(if you flip Duran for him him, thats really only 1-2m)

You can easily get Geno and Paredes (even if you dont include Duran)

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Bregman : 35m
Paredes:9m*
(if you flip Duran for him him, thats really only 1-2m)

You can easily get Geno and Paredes (even if you dont include Duran)

We can but we want Mayer at 2B or 3B.

I'd be fine with Geno & Paredes and then trade Duran, Mayer, Casas and Witherspoon for Skenes.  LOL

[drewski6]

We didnt want to consider Yoshida's 18m sunk when we were trying to fit an Alonso, or a Bregman.

Now that is no longer an issue, its easier to justify Yoshida in a non everyday capacity.

Trade Harrison and Philips for Paredes; sign Suarez.

(The order of positions below matter, also, guys are listed based on number of games played, the spacing isnt intentional
 

Story SS/2b
Paredes 3B/2b/1B/DH
Eugenio Sanchez DH/3b/1b
Anthony LF/CF/DH

Duran CF/LF/DH

Abreu RF
Contreras: 1b/c/DH

Cedanne: CF/2b/ss
Nav: C
Mayer 2b/3b/ss

Romy 2b/3b/1b/DH
Yoshida: DH/LF/1b

Casas: 1b/DH
Wong: C
DHam: 2b/3b/ss

Mix and match.