Third Baseman Ketel Marte Is On the Boston Red Sox's Radar

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I can't fault the Sox for trying him as a SP'er. Those who blame the injury on being a SP'er are speculating.

In 2022, GW started 9 games in a row with a 4.15 ERA and 1.26 WHIP (.723 OPS Against.) He was not really that good, and his last game before going on the IL hurt his number (4 ER in 4 IP.) His first 8 starts: 

3.60 ERA/ 3.57 FIP

33K and 9 BB in 35 IP

In 2023, he struggled in both roles.

5.23 as SP (.841 OPSA)

4.95 as RP (.784)

And after all that he’s where I said he should be after 2021 in the backend of the BP, and those not blaming his injuries on being a SP are speculating. All I know the only years he’s stayed healthy is when he just stayed in the BP, and that’s not speculating.

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, Old Red said:

It may be early for you, but not for me, because as I’ve said before pretty much no one is untouchable to me, and that’s not the same.

I've agreed nobody is untouchable, but that's no worse than just blindly saying trade them! And of course, you won't ever give specifics, so you can always go back and make it look like you were right no matter what happens.

Who do you tarde Tolle and or Early for? Ryan? Lodolo? Gore? Alcantara? Lopez?

I'm expecting cricketts.

 

[Old Red]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I've agreed nobody is untouchable, but that's no worse than just blindly saying trade them! And of course, you won't ever give specifics, so you can always go back and make it look like you were right no matter what happens.

Who do you tarde Tolle and or Early for? Ryan? Lodolo? Gore? Alcantara? Lopez?

I'm expecting cricketts.

 

I would TARDE for them all. 

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I would TARDE for them all. 

Both Tolle and early for any of the ones I listed?

Thanks for responding.

[FredLynn]

8 hours ago, notin said:

What about it?

Think he’ll spend much of it to improve the team? I’m sure his family has trouble enough just putting food on the table, right?

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

15 hours ago, Old Red said:

I would TARDE for them all. 

If it's Early, he won't be tarde.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

If it's Early, he won't be tarde.

To TARDE, or not TARDE that is the question.🤔

[mvp 78]

Buenas tardes, amigos! 

[moonslav59]

"Tarde" is not PC.

[Behindenemylines]

On 12/2/2025 at 4:34 PM, JoeBrady said:

Third Baseman Ketel Marte

It distresses me when writers make an error on the first word they write.

Yes, had played most of his career at second. Didn't he have some issue last season that made waves in the Arizona clubhouse? Sox don't need to bring in veterans that could be problem. They just dumped such a player last season. That's what makes Bregman so valuable. He is a great teammate, and the type of veteran you want around all of the kids.

[moonslav59]

10 minutes ago, Behindenemylines said:

Yes, had played most of his career at second. Didn't he have some issue last season that made waves in the Arizona clubhouse? Sox don't need to bring in veterans that could be problem. They just dumped such a player last season. That's what makes Bregman so valuable. He is a great teammate, and the type of veteran you want around all of the kids.

5770 innings at 2B

11 innings at 3B

Hell, he's played more at SS (2280) and CF (1290) than 3B.

He has gotten criticism for requested days off and staying in the DR longer than hoped for after his home was burglarized. KMarte and his agent deny the talk of him asking for days off.

 

[mvp 78]

13 minutes ago, Behindenemylines said:

Yes, had played most of his career at second. Didn't he have some issue last season that made waves in the Arizona clubhouse? Sox don't need to bring in veterans that could be problem. They just dumped such a player last season. That's what makes Bregman so valuable. He is a great teammate, and the type of veteran you want around all of the kids.

He took some time off because he had the heckling incident about his mom and had his house robbed. I don't believe there was anything going on internally aside from that. 

[moonslav59]

23 hours ago, Old Red said:

And after all that he’s where I said he should be after 2021 in the backend of the BP, and those not blaming his injuries on being a SP are speculating. All I know the only years he’s stayed healthy is when he just stayed in the BP, and that’s not speculating.

The season with the most IP was 2022: 9 GS and 22 RP games. No speculation there, either.

It is speculating to say or imply the injuries were related to starting. They may have been, but nobody knows.

Many of us wanted him to stay in the pen. He sure looked great as a SP'er starting the 2024 season, then KA-BOOM!

[vjcsmoke]

On 12/3/2025 at 11:47 AM, FredLynn said:

I would be shocked if we got Marte OR Alonso OR Schwarber. I think the most likely scenario is that Bregman is resigned and they call it a day.

Bregman opted out for a reason. He wants a big contract.

The Red Sox might not be in a position to give it to him. He essentially turned down 40m per season. He's probably looking for a long term deal.

I don't feel like you should give long term deals to 32 year old players even if they are pretty darn good.

So right now chances of Bregman returning to Boston feel pretty low. If there's a bidding war on his services I don't see how we get involved and apparently the Tigers and the Cubs are keen for his signature.

[Larry Cook]

On 12/2/2025 at 11:33 AM, moonslav59 said:

Sing me up! I'd add another guy like Sandlin or Mullins... maybe more.

I believe Mullins and Mongro will be taken in the rule 5 draft!!!

[FredLynn]

21 minutes ago, vjcsmoke said:

Bregman opted out for a reason. He wants a big contract.

The Red Sox might not be in a position to give it to him. He essentially turned down 40m per season. He's probably looking for a long term deal.

I don't feel like you should give long term deals to 32 year old players even if they are pretty darn good.

So right now chances of Bregman returning to Boston feel pretty low. If there's a bidding war on his services I don't see how we get involved and apparently the Tigers and the Cubs are keen for his signature.

Bregman isn’t going to get what he wants. His slump at the end of last season screwed that possibility.

[Old Red]

35 minutes ago, FredLynn said:

Bregman isn’t going to get what he wants. His slump at the end of last season screwed that possibility.

Bregman isn’t a 300 hitter like he started out as last year. Some called it a slump at the end of the season, but to me it just evened out, and he just ended up somewhere where he should be.

[FredLynn]

11 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Bregman isn’t a 300 hitter like he started out as last year. Some called it a slump at the end of the season, but to me it just evened out, and he just ended up somewhere where he should be.

From Aug1 to the end of Sept he hit .239/.691 over 220 PAs. Thats not a small sample size. Add that to his injury history and his age and he’ll be very lucky to get 3-4@$25m or 30m a year. I suspect he’ll get even less.

[moonslav59]

Word is that the Sox have not been aggressive on KMarte talks, and they want young pitchers, which we have.

The whole world is checking in on KMarte. I've been high on him for a while, but the price will likely get too high for Brez to bite.

I'm not high on Bregman or Bichette.

To me, it has to be Alonso or K Marte.

The next best option, to me is not Bregette, but rather two from this group:

FA: Polonaco or Suarez

Trade: Lodolo

Instead, we'' probably sign Merrill Kelly and trade Duran & Harrison for Paredes. They'll be patting themselves and all 12 front office backs.

[Duran Is The Man]

27 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Word is that the Sox have not been aggressive on KMarte talks, and they want young pitchers, which we have.

The whole world is checking in on KMarte. I've been high on him for a while, but the price will likely get too high for Brez to bite.

I'm not high on Bregman or Bichette.

To me, it has to be Alonso or K Marte.

The next best option, to me is not Bregette, but rather two from this group:

FA: Polonaco or Suarez

Trade: Lodolo

Instead, we'' probably sign Merrill Kelly and trade Duran & Harrison for Paredes. They'll be patting themselves and all 12 front office backs.

kinda way i see it. they'll be "interested" in everybody,  sign nobody, make a minor trade and continue to act like a small-market team. their main strategy appears to be trade for or sign fringy (cheap) players and HOPE things work out. 

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

but to me it just evened out, and he just ended up somewhere where he should be.

There is certainly some logic to that.  But when I see older players ending the season poorly, some consideration has to be given to a final decline.

[Randy Red Sox]

2 hours ago, Duran Is The Man said:

kinda way i see it. they'll be "interested" in everybody,  sign nobody, make a minor trade and continue to act like a small-market team. their main strategy appears to be trade for or sign fringy (cheap) players and HOPE things work out. 

that has been their philosophy the past 3-4 yrs for sure

 

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

trade Duran & Harrison for Paredes.

Duran is worth way more than what Paredes is worth.  But I do like Paredes as a target.  See if the Astros are interested in one of our 2nd tier SPs.

[JoeBrady]

2 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

that has been their philosophy the past 3-4 yrs for sure

 

Mr. Crochet, Bregman and Chapman would like a word.

[moonslav59]

57 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

kinda way i see it. they'll be "interested" in everybody,  sign nobody, make a minor trade and continue to act like a small-market team. their main strategy appears to be trade for or sign fringy (cheap) players and HOPE things work out. 

This is not the time to try and be cute.

It's time to get bold and maybe brave.

We built up the farm and can afford to trade some without blowing up the future, so let's get on the phones.

[Hitch]

It's only December 12th. 

[Hugh2]

7 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

that has been their philosophy the past 3-4 yrs for sure

 

 

7 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Mr. Crochet, Bregman and Chapman would like a word.

It's as if people completely forgot about the offseason we had last year. 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

 

It's as if people completely forgot about the offseason we had last year. 

Last winter was a great sign that things were changing. The Devers trade and Breggie opt-out kinda threw us right back to square one. The loss of Gio mattering was a bit of a surprise, but it is what it is.

There is no reason to think we won't be movers and shakers this winter, but with these guys, there has to be doubts as well.

I keep coming back to this, and of course we lost some deadwood, some at a high cost, but we need to replace this in kind just to look the same as 2025 on paper. I don't think anyone can say we were top competitors in '25, so we should improve on what we are replacing.

495 PAs Bregman (.821) Plus defense and clubhouse guy.

334 PAs Devers (.905) 15 HRs was on pace for 30+

209 PAs Refsnyder (.838) Helped us greatly vs LHPs

119 PAs N Lowe (.790) Solidified the 1B position for over a month.

That's over 1100 PAs and 43 HRs (23% of HRs in 18.5% of team PAs)

Yes, we also lost Toto (.659 in 284 and will not see Campbell at .664 for 263 PAs, again, but these numbers of bad numbers "lost" are way less than the good ones lost.)

Yes, we lost Buehler, Newcomb, Houck, Murphy and others as well as Gio (145 IP) Bernardino (52) and Wilson (48). The latter 3 were top 10 in IP. (Buehler was 4th.)

For argument's sake, let's say Gray and Oviedo match what Gio & Co did, and our pen doesn't miss a beat, despite some significant losses, breaking even with winter moves on offense & defense is not a winning strategy. We need to put together an improved team on the field.

I'm fine with thinking more PAs from Anthony, Mayer, Casas and maybe Abreu, Romy, Masa and perhaps better seasons by others can help, but I strongly condemn this as a major portion of the plan to improve. It should only be the gravy added to the meat.

Bringing Bregman back or subbing Bichette for him is fine, but it's just a sideways move. We'd still need a significant plus somewhere. If we end up trading Duran, that's another 696 PAs at .774 to replace in kind or better. If the plan is to play Mayer full time or platoon with Romy and not add more than "Bregishette" then 1B or DH are the only slots left to make great improvements to.

Suarez or Polanco aren't improvements over Bregishette, but they look to be better than Mayer, so maybe that is a way to go: Bregman (3B) or Bichette (2B) plus Polanco (2B) or Suarez (3B/1B w Mayer at 3B) Or, we trade Mayer plus for a #2 SP. Of course, Alonso checks many boxes, and maybe we slide Casas to DH or trade him, once he shows higher value, but we need something big to happen. Probably 2-3 big things.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

That's over 1100 PAs and 43 HRs (23% of HRs in 18.5% of team PAs)

Instead of going by players, go by position.  I am comparing our 2025 stats and the 2026 FG projections on a couple of select positions:

• 1B .691 FG Casas .792
• 2B .670 FG ? but almost anything is an improvement
• 3B .777 FG Mayer .728
• DH .823 FG Anthony .802

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Instead of going by players, go by position.  I am comparing our 2025 stats and the 2026 FG projections on a couple of select positions:

• 1B .691 FG Casas .792
• 2B .670 FG ? but almost anything is an improvement
• 3B .777 FG Mayer .728
• DH .823 FG Anthony .802

Anthony would be a waste at DH. I'd have him in LF and DH Duran.