Predicting 2026 RS opening day lineup

[UtahSox]

Criticism is welcome, but you have to put your prediction in there along with it. 

i’ll start as of 12/15/25

1. R Anthony LF

2. T Story SS

3. G Suarez 3b

4. Abreu RF

5. R Hoskins 1b platoon w/ Casas once healthy

6. R Gonzalez 2b

7. M Mayer 3b

8. C Rafaela CF

9. C Narvaez C

 

1. Crochet

2. Ragans

3. Gray

4. Bello

5. Oviedo

6. Crawford/ Tolle/ Early/ Dobbins 

We will set the world record for strike outs w/ RISP, R Anthony will have an OBP% that rivals Bonds of late 90’s, as they will just walk him everytime.

 

[moonslav59]

1. L Anthony LF

2. S KMarte 2B (for Duran, Crawford & Mullins)

3. L Abreu RF

4. R Story SS

5. L Casas 1B

6. L Yoshida DH

7. R Narvaez C

8. L Mayer 3B/ R Romy 3B (might bat 6th or 7th)

9. R Rafaela CF

Bench: Wong, Romy, DHam, Eaton (Campbell?)

SP: Crochet, Gray, Bello, Sandoval, Oviedo

RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Harrison, Kelly, Watson, Dobbins

[UtahSox]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

1. L Anthony LF

2. S KMarte 2B (for Duran, Crawford & Mullins)

3. L Abreu RF

4. R Story SS

5. L Casas 1B

6. L Yoshida DH

7. R Narvaez C

8. L Mayer 3B/ R Romy 3B (might bat 6th or 7th)

9. R Rafaela CF

Bench: Wong, Romy, DHam, Eaton (Campbell?)

SP: Crochet, Gray, Bello, Sandoval, Oviedo

RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Harrison, Kelly, Watson, Dobbins

You think Casas is back to start year? You’re as big of a cynic as I am! Makes me laugh. 

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

You think Casas is back to start year? You’re as big of a cynic as I am! Makes me laugh. 

I think Brez & Co have faith in Casas/Romy/Campbell at 1B, yes.

Otherwise, Alonso would have been signed.

The line-up I listed was my prediction NOT my wish list.

[JoeBrady]

17 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

1. L Anthony LF

2. S KMarte 2B (for Duran, Crawford & Mullins)

3. L Abreu RF

4. R Story SS

5. L Casas 1B

6. L Yoshida DH

7. R Narvaez C

8. L Mayer 3B/ R Romy 3B (might bat 6th or 7th)

9. R Rafaela CF

Bench: Wong, Romy, DHam, Eaton (Campbell?)

SP: Crochet, Gray, Bello, Sandoval, Oviedo

RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Harrison, Kelly, Watson, Dobbins

I'd have to think about the BP, but I think you have this 100% correct.  I think Early and/or Tolle will earn a spot in the BP.  I'm also thinking that Samaniedo might make the BP out of ST.

[moonslav59]

Just now, JoeBrady said:

I'd have to think about the BP, but I think you have this 100% correct.  I think Early and/or Tolle will earn a spot in the BP.  I'm also thinking that Samaniedo might make the BP out of ST.

I wanted to write Tolle/Early, but I think we want them starting FT in AAA, so they can seamlessly move to the big club when needed. They may beat out Oviedo in ST'ing or maybe even Sandoval.

I purposely left Hicks off the BP list, but he might sneak on it over Dobbins.

[notin]

Anthony LF

Marte 2b

Abreu RF

E Suarez 1b

Yoshida/Romy DH

Story SS

Mayer 3b

Rafaela CF

Narvaez C

 

SP: Crochet, Gray, Sandoval, Crawford, Oviedo

RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Hicks, Kahnle, Harrison, Watson

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I think Brez & Co have faith in Casas/Romy/Campbell at 1B, yes.

Otherwise, Alonso would have been signed.

The line-up I listed was my prediction NOT my wish list.

While I agree with your lineup, health is not guaranteed.  If Casas is back by late-April, he should start.

[UtahSox]

53 minutes ago, notin said:

Anthony LF

Marte 2b

Abreu RF

E Suarez 1b

Yoshida/Romy DH

Story SS

Mayer 3b

Rafaela CF

Narvaez C

 

SP: Crochet, Gray, Sandoval, Crawford, Oviedo

Marte for Bello & Duran? Keeping both Tolle/Early in AAA? I like your optimism. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, UtahSox said:

Marte for Bello & Duran? Keeping both Tolle/Early in AAA? I like your optimism. 

So, Gray, Oviedo & Sameniego replace Gio, Bello, Buehler, Wilson and others.

Hmmmm....

Marte is a great add, but now we lose Duran with Berggie, Devers, Ref & Lowe.

[drewski6]

Anthony DH/LF/CF/RF
Duran DH/LF/CF/RF
Hernandez (Teoscar) DH/LF/CF/RF
Eugenio Suarez 3b/1b
Abreu RF
Story SS/2b/3b
Contreras 1b/C
Nav C
Cedanne 2b/CF

Crochet/Tolle/Gray/Early/Oviedo

Bello/Harrison are traded.  Casas and Sandoval try to work their way back but cant.  The positions are fluid, guys play different positions every night.  But they go after Teoscar becaus the Dodgers eat a lot of money and he has a fenway bat and has wanted to play here for a while. He ends up costing near $0 and becomes the mvp of the team. The other targets are made because they can play multiple positions, and its musical chairs.  Yoshida not depicted above but gets a good amount of playing time as the trend of resting guys/injuries/changing up your lineup depending on pitching continue (and accelerate). Its going to feel like we dont have a set lineup or defensive alignment.  Its gonna be a deck shuffle every night

Nav ends up sophmore slumping, moving Contreras to full time C, and Yoshida to full time 1b for playoffs.

Cutter Crawford has a good year out of the pen.

We beat the dodgers in the world series, with of course, teoscar hernandez as ws mvp. He flips off the dodger fans as they boo him.

Teoscar wins reg season, playoffs, and WS MVP. Fight me.

[moonslav59]

25 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Anthony DH/LF/CF/RF
Duran DH/LF/CF/RF
Hernandez (Teoscar) DH/LF/CF/RF
Eugenio Suarez 3b/1b
Abreu RF
Story SS/2b/3b
Contreras 1b/C
Nav C
Cedanne 2b/CF

Crochet/Tolle/Gray/Early/Oviedo

Bello/Harrison are traded.  Casas and Sandoval try to work their way back but cant.  The positions are fluid, guys play different positions every night.  But they go after Teoscar becaus the Dodgers eat a lot of money and he has a fenway bat and has wanted to play here for a while. He ends up costing near $0 and becomes the mvp of the team. The other targets are made because they can play multiple positions, and its musical chairs.  Yoshida not depicted above but gets a good amount of playing time as the trend of resting guys/injuries/changing up your lineup depending on pitching continue (and accelerate). Its going to feel like we dont have a set lineup or defensive alignment.  Its gonna be a deck shuffle every night

Nav ends up sophmore slumping, moving Contreras to full time C, and Yoshida to full time 1b for playoffs.

Cutter Crawford has a good year out of the pen.

We beat the dodgers in the world series, with of course, teoscar hernandez as ws mvp. He flips off the dodger fans as they boo him.

Teoscar wins reg season, playoffs, and WS MVP. Fight me.

This is your wish list not your projection, right?

[mvp 78]

C Narv/Wong

1B Romy

2B Bichette

SS Story

3B Mayer

OF Duran/Abreu/Rafaela/Anthony/Eaton

DH Masa/Ozuna

SP Crochet/Gray/Bello/Oviedo/Early

RP Chapman/Whitlock/Slaten/Watson/Weissert/Hicks/Wilson/Crawford

Moves made: 

1. Breggie signs elsewhere causing Sox to scramble and hastily sign Bo.

2. Re-sign fan fave Justin Wilson.

3. Sign Ozuna for one year deal.

4. Trade Kyle Harrison for prospects. 

5. No market for Sox OFers develops and Sox go into '25 with same group, but don't re-sign Refsnyder.

6. Sox wait on Casas to get healthy and option him to AAA. 

[moonslav59]

If we trade Duran, I think Ref returns for one more season.

I think we sign Okamoto or Suarez.

We might trade for KMarte, and if we don't get Okamoto or Suarez, maybe we get Y Diaz or Contreras via trade or sign Hoskins. I could also see us trade for B Lowe & Y Diaz or Vientos or Contreras.

Here is a rough shot at assigning probabilities:

25% Suarez or Okamoto

25% KMarte via trade (5% if we sign Bregman- 0% if it's Bichette)

20% Bregman or Bichette (5% if we sign Okamoto or Suarez) or 15% Murakami (0% if we sign any of these 4, first.)

20% BLowe or Donavan/ Vientos, Y Diaz, Contreras via trade (lessens if position filled from above)

15% Imai, Ra Suarez or Bassitt signing or someone else

15% Ryan, Lodolo, Gore, M Keller trade (0% if we sign one of the pitchers listed above) or someone else

Together, this totals 140%, so that shows the odds are against adding two players from above.

 

 

[Hugh2]

C. Narvaez

1B. Okamoto

2B. Mayer

SS. Story

3B Bregman

LF Anthony

CF Rafaela

RF Abreu

DH Duran/Yoshida

Rotation: 

Crochet/Gray/Bello/Oviedo/Crawford

[drewski6]

17 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

This is your wish list not your projection, right?

No, Teoscar Hernandez does not top my wish list lol.  But I do think LAD could maybe eat a lot of his salary and ship him out, and I can see him resurging here.

[drewski6]

17 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

This is your wish list not your projection, right?

Its neither, its an outside the box curveball, against the grain, very unlikely but something i can justify.

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

C Narv/Wong

1B Romy

2B Bichette

SS Story

3B Mayer

OF Duran/Abreu/Rafaela/Anthony/Eaton

DH Masa/Ozuna

SP Crochet/Gray/Bello/Oviedo/Early

RP Chapman/Whitlock/Slaten/Watson/Weissert/Hicks/Wilson/Crawford

Moves made: 

1. Breggie signs elsewhere causing Sox to scramble and hastily sign Bo.

2. Re-sign fan fave Justin Wilson.

3. Sign Ozuna for one year deal.

4. Trade Kyle Harrison for prospects. 

5. No market for Sox OFers develops and Sox go into '25 with same group, but don't re-sign Refsnyder.

6. Sox wait on Casas to get healthy and option him to AAA. 

I wish Ozuna wasnt a sh*t head, otherwise I could completely get behind this.

I do think when playoffs roll around, they'll want the 4 OF'ers in and I can see some scrambling arouond with positions to make that happen.  Likely, not everyone will be healthy , so it will prob be easier to figure it out then than it is now

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

No, Teoscar Hernandez does not top my wish list lol.  But I do think LAD could maybe eat a lot of his salary and ship him out, and I can see him resurging here.

He's not a Pull AIR guy. Don't think he'd go crazy here. According to Statcast, Fenway would be the third worst ballpark for his swing.

[mvp 78]

Just now, drewski6 said:

I wish Ozuna wasnt a sh*t head, otherwise I could completely get behind this.

It's how we felt about Chapman. Teammates really like Ozuna. 

[drewski6]

29 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

C. Narvaez

1B. Okamoto

2B. Mayer

SS. Story

3B Bregman

LF Anthony

CF Rafaela

RF Abreu

DH Duran/Yoshida

Rotation: 

Crochet/Gray/Bello/Oviedo/Crawford

keep it simple, keep it believable, feels like a good chance to be the team

[drewski6]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

It's how we felt about Chapman. Teammates really like Ozuna. 

Perfect comparison, and yes, being liked be teammates is important and makes it more likley that past issues wont lead to clubhouse.  But speaking for myself (your comparison still very valid):

I begrudgingly root for Chapman, I would love him if it wasnt for the domestic violence
I would begrudgingly root for Ozuna, I would love him if it wasnt for the domestic violence

The only difference (for me) is that Ive liked Ozuna for a while an wanted the sox to sign him 3-4 years ago and I didnt like Chapman (or root for him) until he came here.

But now that chapman is here, yeah kind of same boat.  Hold my nose and root for them on the field.  Or at least their laundry.

[drewski6]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He's not a Pull AIR guy. Don't think he'd go crazy here. According to Statcast, Fenway would be the third worst ballpark for his swing.

He was when he was younger, and I think LAD would eat a lot of contract, and hes a cheap way to add 30 ding-dongs and theres been mutual interest in the past.

I dont particularly think we'll get him, I dont particularly want him (but think I would like the move more than most here who would be like "an outfielder?")

I was half serious.  The most serious part about my lineups is I honestly do believe that we'll continue to embrace positional versatility and theyll sign guys in that mold (and I know Teoscar isnt one of them) but I do think youll see a lot of moving goes around teh diamond defensively as guys get banged up, hot/cold, righty vs lefty opposing starter.

I can see them getting Contereas, and I can see him catching more than might think, I think if we see Campbell he will NOT be exclusively an OF'er, I dont think Cedanne will be exclusively an OF'er. If we resign Bregman ,I can see him playing some 3rd, 2nd, 1st, and even some OF.

I think musical chairs is here to stay (league wide). Maybe not forever, but I dont think we are in teh ninth inning of the "musical chairs era"

[drewski6]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He's not a Pull AIR guy. Don't think he'd go crazy here. According to Statcast, Fenway would be the third worst ballpark for his swing.

What about Hicks for Teoscar Hernandez?  Thats one that could work for both sides.

[mvp 78]

23 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

What about Hicks for Teoscar Hernandez?  Thats one that could work for both sides.

If the Dodgers would do it, sure. 

[mvp 78]

26 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I think if we see Campbell he will NOT be exclusively an OF'er

Yeah, he'd DH too.

[drewski6]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Yeah, he'd DH too.

point

[drewski6]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If the Dodgers would do it, sure. 

I think they would because they are interested in bullpen help, and a Hicks resurgence could help them. Plus 104 mph will always have teams believing they can fix him.

[drewski6]

I think Dodgers view teoscar as "in the way" but would see Hicks as a gamble to potentially help their bp and i think theyre still looking to add there.

Of course, im not sure theyd do it.

[mvp 78]

7 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I think they would because they are interested in bullpen help, and a Hicks resurgence could help them. Plus 104 mph will always have teams believing they can fix him.

If the Dodgers can't fix him, nobody can.