The 2025 postseason, post-Red Sox

[moonslav59]

Thanks GG.

We can't even just replace Bregman with Bregman and Gio with Gio.

We can't think running back he same team with hopes that Anthony and Mayer stay healthy and improve will be enough.

We can't pin our hopes on IL-returning pitchers like Crawford, Dobbins and Sandoval.

We need 3 major additions. Maybe we can get by with two mega ones and a decent fill-in.

 

[Duran Is The Man]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I was gonna ask where the $100M number came from.

It's pretty amazing they have 5 players make $23M or more in 2026 (4 over $25M.) Yamo starts making $30M in '27. They have 6 other players making $12-17M.

The Mets have 4 players making $20M+ but 8 making $11-19M.

should have said "about" $100M.

no doubt the bottom three are high on Breslow's radar.

[drewski6]

38 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

This is the post I was waiting for -- and trying futilely to articulate in my own.

Note to notin: I did cite career negative dWARs of both Hoskins and Bell to show how craptacular they'd improve our D (but only because I can't seem to find all the other metrics at MVP's fingertips)... bottom line -- what's the point of adding anyone if they're not going to be legitimate UPGRADES?

And nothing against moonslav, whose lists we always appreciate all offseason, but the 2026 Red Sox need to add more than decent players -- especially if we lose Bregman, OUR LONE ALL-STAR REGULAR. When I say decent, that includes a power hitter who may sock 40 homers but strikeout 200 times -- we need less Ks more than we need more HRs... change. the. culture.

Seattle just lost the pennant partially because in the 2nd inning of a tie game with two on and no outs, they sac bunted, so their #8 batter, Leo Rivas, could whiff and strand both. Rivas was 1-for-14 with 7 Ks in the ALCS -- if you're going to bunt them over for him, make him bunt, too -- at least then he might put the ball in play!!!   

Why talk about the M's? Because their production and flaws are similar to ours (except they're loaded with longball guys, while we lead the world in doubles). 

I assure you, the roster that is current. If next year began like this, we would NOT lead anything in doubles.

[Kimmi]

6 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

IF the Dodgers win it this year it'll be back to backs and 3 titles in 6 years.  When you have 4 ace level pitchers in Ohtani, Yamamoto, Snell and Glasnow and they're all healthy, it might negate the crapshoot factor to some extent.

All that said, I totally respect your philosophy about spending and the fact that you never waver from it.

Higher payroll correlates to more wins in the regular season.  Thus more teams with higher payrolls make the postseason than teams with lower payrolls.  Thus, more teams with higher payrolls win the WS than teams with lower payrolls.  Beyond that, the playoffs are still largely a crapshoot.

At any rate, I'm not looking for the Red Sox to have a payroll in the bottom 50% of teams.  I really think they need to reinvest most, if not all, of the money saved from Devers' contract.  Just don't sign a superstar to an insane contract.

I am a strong believer that you start with a strong farm and a solid, home-grown core, then fill in the gaps through trades or free agency.  Not the other way around.

[Kimmi]

4 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I'm actually relieved that they handed out all those extensions.  That was a good sign that there's long term commitment to success. 

 

That's the ticket right there.

[moonslav59]

We could extend every promising prospect and young MLB player, but we aren't getting over the hump with what we have. Plus, we have to replace Bregman, Gio, Wilson & Refsnyder.

Just replacing these 4 in kind may take a deals longer than 3 years.

Then, asking to significantly improve with no long deals is like asking for Bloom to find ges in the ruff x 5. How did that work out?

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

should have said "about" $100M.

no doubt the bottom three are high on Breslow's radar.

You did say "coming off the books, this winter," but I don't really want to nit-pick.

I will say, if you are counting the possible $2M cut in pay to Muncy as part of the $96M, then why not count:

Plus 5M Scott, 4M Treinen, 2M Yamo, 1M Snell

[Duran Is The Man]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

You did say "coming off the books, this winter," but I don't really want to nit-pick.

I will say, if you are counting the possible $2M cut in pay to Muncy as part of the $96M, then why not count:

Plus 5M Scott, 4M Treinen, 2M Yamo, 1M Snell

nit pick all you want. i just saw it somewhere and was shocked they had anywhere near that much coming off their books. they must have their payroll extended out for the next 50 years.

[moonslav59]

16 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

nit pick all you want. i just saw it somewhere and was shocked they had anywhere near that much coming off their books. they must have their payroll extended out for the next 50 years.

The O's are still paying Chris Davis something like $9M a year.

[drewski6]

15 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

The O's are still paying Chris Davis something like $9M a year.

We paid manny 2m this year and will next year too.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, drewski6 said:

We paid manny 2m this year and will next year too.

At least he earned his.

[Bellhorn04]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

At least he earned his.

That he did.  I find it a little surprising that Manny accepted so much deferred money.

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

That he did.  I find it a little surprising that Manny accepted so much deferred money.

He did end up getting very upset when they would not commit to the option years that led to the trade, and maybe he felt like his "good will" on taking deferments should have been demoted.

The whole ending to  his Sox time was a big bummer, and there were more to come after him. (There were plenty from before, too.)

[Kimmi]

It's been too long without a baseball game.  Bring on the World Series.  At least there's a team I can root for this year, unlike last year's WS which was a nightmare scenario for me.

[drewski6]

15 hours ago, Kimmi said:

It's been too long without a baseball game.  Bring on the World Series.  At least there's a team I can root for this year, unlike last year's WS which was a nightmare scenario for me.

Bruins and celtics are not particularly watchable at the moment, either

[drewski6]

16 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

That he did.  I find it a little surprising that Manny accepted so much deferred money.

yeah, didnt he like miss an important game because he was busy trying to flip an antique car or something. Dude loves money. Surprised hes not caught up in a gambling ring.  Knocks on wood becuse I love manny.

[moonslav59]

48 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

yeah, didnt he like miss an important game because he was busy trying to flip an antique car or something. Dude loves money. Surprised hes not caught up in a gambling ring.  Knocks on wood becuse I love manny.

How about the fact that Manny missed ST'ing time due to 7 grandmothers dying.

[mvp 78]

19 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

How about the fact that Manny missed ST'ing time due to 7 grandmothers dying.

With how he hit for the Sox, he didn't need to show up on time. 

[moonslav59]

50 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

With how he hit for the Sox, he didn't need to show up on time. 

Yup. Nobody seemed to care.

[moonslav59]

Go JAYS!

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

6 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Go JAYS!

Good to see Bichette preparing to be a Red Sox next year: played solid at second base, shot a base hit to right on his first swing in a month.

[notin]

On 10/22/2025 at 1:40 PM, moonslav59 said:

Thanks GG.

We can't even just replace Bregman with Bregman and Gio with Gio.

We can't think running back he same team with hopes that Anthony and Mayer stay healthy and improve will be enough.

We can't pin our hopes on IL-returning pitchers like Crawford, Dobbins and Sandoval.

We need 3 major additions. Maybe we can get by with two mega ones and a decent fill-in.

 

Why not?

A full season of Bregman, Gio, Anthony and Mayer, likely or not, would definitely be an upgrade over the partial seasons each one gave to a team that still managed to win 89 games.

Just because it didn’t get a title in 2025 doesn’t  mean it’s a lock to fail in 2026.  The 2024 Blue Jays were far from successful, and no one on the planet considers their biggest offseason move - a trade for Andres Gimenez - to be this Earth-shattering move that put them over the top.  No one looked at that 2025 last place team and thought “what they need is a good defensive but light-hitting infielder to fill that void in the ninth spot of the batting order.  And by ‘light hitting’, I mean he hits as of his bat was made of a beam of light.”

The Sox need 4 and possibly 5 players.  But if Bregman and Gio return, it doesn’t necessarily kill anything.  Even Nate Lowe could have a positive impact. H(He did win a Silver Slugger at 1b…

[Bellhorn04]

Man, the Jays bats have lit up some good pitchers this postseason.  

They didn't light up Snell, but they got on base, made him throw a lot of pitches and expend a lot of effort.

 

 

[Bellhorn04]

6 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Good to see Bichette preparing to be a Red Sox next year: played solid at second base, shot a base hit to right on his first swing in a month.

Think there's a chance?  Hopefully his dad enjoyed his 137 games with the Sox. 😊

[notin]

17 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Man, the Jays bats have lit up some good pitchers this postseason.  

They didn't light up Snell, but they got on base, made him throw a lot of pitches and expend a lot of effort.

 

 

Especially since they got shut down completely by the worst one they faced - Bryce Miller On the Road…

[notin]

8 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Think there's a chance?  Hopefully his dad enjoyed his 137 games with the Sox. 😊

Bichette at 2b makes the most sense for Boston of any non-pitcher free agent.  Hopefully he doesn’t mind the move.

[dgalehouse]

If the Dodgers have an Achilles heel, it surely is their bullpen. They have spent plenty on it, but it has not worked out as they had hoped it would. Could it be their downfall ? 

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Bichette at 2b makes the most sense for Boston of any non-pitcher free agent.  Hopefully he doesn’t mind the move.

The Big question for the Red Sox is if Bichette would be to expensive for their taste.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, notin said:

Why not?

A full season of Bregman, Gio, Anthony and Mayer, likely or not, would definitely be an upgrade over the partial seasons each one gave to a team that still managed to win 89 games.

Just because it didn’t get a title in 2025 doesn’t  mean it’s a lock to fail in 2026.  The 2024 Blue Jays were far from successful, and no one on the planet considers their biggest offseason move - a trade for Andres Gimenez - to be this Earth-shattering move that put them over the top.  No one looked at that 2025 last place team and thought “what they need is a good defensive but light-hitting infielder to fill that void in the ninth spot of the batting order.  And by ‘light hitting’, I mean he hits as of his bat was made of a beam of light.”

The Sox need 4 and possibly 5 players.  But if Bregman and Gio return, it doesn’t necessarily kill anything.  Even Nate Lowe could have a positive impact. H(He did win a Silver Slugger at 1b…

You ask why not, then say we need 4-5 players, so you admit we can't just bring back Breg and Gio- we need more.

Yes, we can once again hope and pray for better health and upswings from our mostly pre-prime team, but we have a window open wide, and I'd like to see a plan based on more than hopes and prayers.

We need to improve on paper. Bringing Bregman & Gio back is fine. At best, we can hope they don't decline, and we'd still be even. Okay, we lost Anthony for over a month, but we lost had Devers for two months and won't next season. Can we expect Chapman, Whitlock and the pen to be as good? One could expect Bello to not be as good, as well as Romy, Story and some others, too.

I happen to think out returning players will be better, overall. I'm not pessimistic about 2026, but we need some serious upgrades along with possible (but not likely) stay-evens by returning Bregman & Giolito. Alosno, Breggie & Gio would be okay. Add a solid pitcher in a trade, and I'd be happy bringing B & G back.

I am far from being down about our future, but most teams who win, improve on paper during the previous season or two. Our plan needs to be to add a bigger power bat than Bregman. We need to replace Buehler with a solid pitcher. Then, we need to break even on Bregman and Gio, either with them of replacements in kind.

Even doing this, we will need a few hopes and prayers, but you can only have so many of those to realistically expect a strong change at a ring.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Bichette at 2b makes the most sense for Boston of any non-pitcher free agent.  Hopefully he doesn’t mind the move.

Don't expect Cora to ask him to move.