2026 Boston Red Sox Opening Day Roster Projection

[Alex Mayes]

Spring training is still a ways off — just about seven short weeks away — but we thought it was time we take a stab at a roster prediction here at Talk Sox. Boston Red Sox fans are the type of fan that likes to play the ‘what-if’ game and start building next season’s roster as soon as possible. Right now, there are still holes to be filled and a lot of rumors swirling around potential free-agent additions or trade candidates. While there's not telling what will happen in those pursuits, we wanted to take some time and think about what the roster on Opening Day could look like once the offseason dust settles.

Starting Rotation (5)

• Garrett Crochet
• Sonny Gray
• Brayan Bello
• Johan Oviedo
• Connelly Early

The ultimate goal for any franchise is that all of their starting rotation will make 30 starts and be lights out from top to bottom. Realistically, that won’t come to pass for any club. The good news, though, is that the Red Sox have quite a bit of starting depth stashed away at the upper levels of the minor leagues that will allow these five to get extra days off and, in the worst-case scenarios, be replaced due to injury.

Obviously, Crochet isn’t going anywhere, and Gray can likely join him on that list unless the team has just completely fallen apart by the trade deadline. Bello took positive steps forward in 2025, but as I wrote previously, he’s the most under-the-radar trade chip the team possess right now, so he could potentially be calling a different city home in the near future. Oviedo comes with a ton of upside, but just as much injury risk. I gave Early the nod over fellow rookie Payton Tolle solely because Early has the secondary stuff that you can trust more earlier in the season, and I think the organization showed more trust in him during the postseason by letting him start game three of the Wild Card round while moving Tolle to the bullpen.

Should any of these five come out of the gate slowly, you can expect Tolle to be the next man up along with Kutter Crawford, Kyle Harrison, and Patrick Sandoval. Behind them, there’s still a ton of depth floating around in Worcester, so there’s not a lot of concern about the arms they’ve traded away to bolster the major-league roster.

Bullpen (8)

• Aroldis Chapman
• Garrett Whitlock
• Justin Slaten
• Ryan Watson
• Greg Weissert
• Jovani Moran
• Zack Kelly
• Jordan Hicks

A lot has been made about the team’s need to acquire another starter and there’s a ton of validity to that, but the bullpen clearly needs some help still. Obviously, Chapman is going to close games out after his dominant 2025 and subsequent extension he signed at the end of the season. Whitlock proved just how dangerous he was out of the bullpen again last season. Slaten had his ups and downs, and injuries, but he proved to be a steady arm more often than not. Watson is a big question mark at the moment and has to stick on the 40-man roster or be returned to the A’s, but the Sox have proven with both Whitlock and Slaten that they have an eye for identifying talent who can contribute in big ways through the Rule 5 draft.

After that group, though, there are question marks all over the place. Weissert pitched fine in 2025 but ran out of gas by the All-Star break. Kelly showed flashes of potential but hasn’t proven that he can be fully trusted yet. Moran is the only other lefty in the pen besides Chapman at the moment and doesn’t bring the strongest track record with him, Hicks is well… Hicks. Sure, he can hit triple digits, but your guess is as good as his as to where it’s going to actually go once it leaves his hand. There’s still work to be done in the bullpen, and guys like Crawford and Sandoval above could be utilized here if need be.

Catchers (2)

• Carlos Narvaez
• Connor Wong

As currently constructed, the Red Sox should return both catchers from last year. Narvaez has a firm grip on the starting job and likely won’t let it go unless something catastrophic happens. He’s young, talented, and exactly what the team needs behind the dish on a near-daily basis. Wong, on the other hand, has a ton to prove as a backup in 2026. His 2025 season was abysmal and he offered very little of value either behind the dish or with a bat in his hands. The team could stand to upgrade at backup catcher, but Wong’s value is the lowest it can be and there’s not much out there that would prove to be much better in a backup role. The team could shock everyone and bring in someone like JT Realmuto, but that’s likely not going to happen.

Infielders (6)

• Willson Contreras (1B)
• Bo Bichette (2B)
• Marcelo Mayer (3B)
• Trevor Story (SS)
• Romy Gonzalez (INF)
• Nate Eaton (INF/OF)

I’ve been stumping for the team to sign Bichette for a while now, so on this projection, I’m pretending they did. I’m not going to predict his contract or anything like that, but bringing him on means the team has moved on from Alex Bregman and trusts Mayer to man the hot corner until he can take over at shortstop after Story leaves in free agency in a couple of years.

Contreras will see the lion’s share of time at first base to begin the season, but that conversation could get interesting if Triston Casas is tearing the cover off the ball with Worcester early on. Story remains the starting shortstop until his contract in Boston is over, or until he gets hurt again — whichever comes first. Obviously, super-infield utility man and lefty masher Gonzalez stays on the bench to get into games when his knack for getting on base is needed, or just to spell Contreras at first from time to time. I struggled with the last bench spot between Eaton and Nick Sogard but opted for Eaton since he plays more positions and likely will be the platoon partner for Wilyer Abreu in the outfield when necessary.

Outfielders (5)

• Roman Anthony (LF)
• Ceddanne Rafaela (CF)
• Wilyer Abreu (RF)
• Jarren Duran (DH/LF/CF)
• Masataka Yoshida (DH)

This was by far the hardest group to determine, solely because there’s still such a logjam in the outfield right now. As long as either Duran or Yoshida is on the roster, there’s no perfect answer for the outfield. Anthony is obviously going to be a day one starter with Rafaela, but then what does the team do with Duran?

Abreu is a two-time Gold Glove winner in right field while in a platoon role. Alex Cora and Craig Breslow have both given him a huge vote of confidence to play more against left-handed pitchers, so he’s also locked into his position. Rafaela is a Gold Glove center fielder who should never move off that spot until he’s ready to retire, and Anthony is a superstar in the making right now. Yoshida is a DH-only at his point, and he’s not great there either unless you want a slap-hitting DH. Duran isn’t good enough against left-handed pitchers to warrant being used as a DH on a regular basis.

There’s just such a logjam here that it’s hard to figure out exactly what the plan is. Ideally, someone will be moved in a trade for a number two starter, but that’s just a step too far for me to predict out right now. Is it the correct path forward? Probably, but I’m just not confident that’s going to happen right now.

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There’s still a ton of offseason left, and I fully expect the Red Sox to make at least one more major addition to the roster. How they navigate the bullpen additions and the outfield logjam is going to be something watch as we get closer to the start of spring training. Some national writers think the team has a big trade and a big free-agent signing left in them. If that’s true, this roster could look drastically different at any moment.

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[Malcolm White]

Bullpen's thin. If Kelly makes the team, it will still be thin.

Don't see the value of keeping Nate Eaton (careerr OPS .601) over Casas (career OPS .800), but so many have buried the latter it's like he doesn't exist anymore.

And if they're spending $30M/yr. on a player, I'd rather it be Bichette than Bregman. A six-year deal for Bo would conclude with him being a year older than Bregman is now.

[Alex Mayes]

20 minutes ago, Malcolm White said:

Bullpen's thin. If Kelly makes the team, it will still be thin.

Don't see the value of keeping Nate Eaton (careerr OPS .601) over Casas (career OPS .800), but so many have buried the latter it's like he doesn't exist anymore.

And if they're spending $30M/yr. on a player, I'd rather it be Bichette than Bregman. A six-year deal for Bo would conclude with him being a year older than Bregman is now.

100% agree about the bullpen. I have Casas starting in Worcester solely because we don't know if he'll even be ready by Opening Day. If he is, you can make the case for him to be on the roster but I think they'd opt for him to get regular playing time with the WooSox over platooning him at first. DHing him would make a lot of sense if Masa and Duran weren't in the picture.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

What a ridiculous take on the 2026 season.  The hatred from 2025 simply continues with this biased writer.  

The starting staff based on talent is Crochet, Early, Gray, Tolle, Oviedo/Bello/Sandoval

The infield is in shambles because Story has had just 1 of 4 good seasons so he'll absolutely need to repeat or improve on last year, you have a vacancy at 3B and right now the only apparent choice is a mediocre SS that under performed in the minors after being picked 4th in the draft.  He has had just one good season in Boston since being drafted in the first round of 2021 and he's constantly hurt.  His injury isn't the type that will effectively heal without losing some capabilities from having a bad wrist.  Some players never come back to their original level after a wrist injury.  It is far more likely that it will happen again than not happen again in his future.  At 2B we have a great young player that most people on this site hate because he surpassed Mayer and won Minor League Player of the Year in 2024 but wasn't on the projected stars of the future list prior to 2024.  So when he struggled, he was dismissed prematurely which likely will lead to another bad trade like giving up Teel instead of Mayer.  Along with Campbell, there are lots of mediocre prospects at 2B for 2026.  At 1B we just dumped on the 1B of the future by picking up an aging former Catcher that now plays 1B and has consistently regressed for the last 3 seasons.  The fact that he moved off catcher to 1B and continued his regression is a sign that he's at the end of his career.  Miggy and Pujols, much better players than him, put up great numbers at 33 and never performed at a high level again.  Contreras will be 34 in 2026 and his WAR has dropped from 4.2 to 3.8 to 3.3 to 2.5 (as a 1B only).  Boston needs to keep Casas to step in for Contreras when he fails.  The catching situation is dismal because Narvaez had a career year and it was mediocre and is not likely to be repeated.  His history never showed a season like last year and that is exactly what happened the year before with Wong who then reverted back to his below average skills in 2025.  Narvaez has a huge regression waiting to happen in 2026.  Breslow should have gotten a real catcher like Realmuto, even if he's old.  It still would have been a huge upgrade.

Is Boston ready to compete in 2026?  Absolutely not because pitching can only take you so far.  NO 3B is huge.  A lack of willingness to use Campbell in the infield is ignorant.  Using Abreu who hit .216 after April 30th as anything other than a bat off the bench late in games is insane.  Not using Duran in his most effective position of CF is dumb.  Not moving Rafaela to RF where the distance from the Pesky Pole to Right Center Field is 78 feet as opposed to 60 in CF is just bad management.  Not firing Cora keeps the team from competing late in the season as Cora has shown since 2018, plus there is still the whole integrity issue with a convicted cheater.  Add to that his rise in pulling pitchers after 4.2 innings when the gambling world is being scrutinized for cheating and 4.2 innings assures no win for a starting pitcher and the decision maker is a convicted cheater doesn't boost the Red Sox public perception of integrity.  Do your own research on the number of 4.2 inning games by Cora and how a gambler can bet NO WIN and cash in when the Red Sox lead and the pitcher suddenly gets pulled for no apparent reason other than a base runner or two.  Where there is smoke, there is usually fire.  4.2 innings pitched is the single greatest anomaly in the 2025 stats.

The team is a hot mess with Cora as manager, with no 3B, no meritocracy when selecting the best player for a position (Abreu and Campbell just two examples) and weaknesses throughout the infield after losing Bregman and signing an aging 1B to replace the young 1B of the future.  Thank goodness the pitching staff rocks!!!  Don't be surprised if Early makes the all-star game along with Crochet.  Gray should have an excellent year and if Tolle gets his off-speed stuff improved from a control perspective, he's going to be excellent too.  We need the over-hyped Bello or the questionable add of Sandoval and Oviedo to come through to provide depth to the staff.  The bullpen could use a second closer but if not, Whitlock will need to take a big step forward this year to help Chapman.

I hope Breslow fixes some of these huge holes otherwise it should be more of the same disappointments since Dombrowski left.  Close but no cigar may become the Cora motto.  Thank God for the monster talent on the 2018 roster.  They really overcame so much to win the ring!!

Make us proud Mr. Breslow.  You have the skills to make it happen; you just need to execute effectively!!