Red Sox Pre-Offseason Mega Thread

[JoeBrady]

9 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Joe Brady, Kimmi.....

Again, show me where I said I wanted Casas as our starting 1B.

[JoeBrady]

9 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Joe Brady put out his lineup recently and it had Abreu hitting third.

For 2027?  I haven't put together my 2027 lineup, so I'd be interested in finding out what it will be.  No sense in me doing my own work twice.  Or even once, since I apparently already did it.

[JoeBrady]

8 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Before this year , Joe Brady and Kimmi both said they would rather go with Casas and KC then sign an expensive free agent.  That happened.

No, it did not.  And you are not even remotely close.

1-I didn't expect Casas back at the start of the season

2-I didn't expect KC back at any point in the season.  I said that if KC could play himself into any MLB role at all, by the end of August, I'd be very happy.

3-I penciled in Mayer as our OD 2B.

[JoeBrady]

42 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm more upset about 12 2Bmen with 100+ innings since Brez took over. (18 with 1+)

(It wasnt any better under Bloom. 12 and 25.)

Every team has at least one position where they go thru a lot of players.  It's impossible for any system to produce prospects at every position.

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Maybe.  LAs can be raised.  Paredes has increased his four years n a row.  Tatis has decreased 4 years in a row.  Soto has increased his by a lot.  When you can hit a ball as hard as Anthony does, you have to get the ball in the air more often.

Of course it can be raise: I'm just not for trying to change his approach or try any major tweaks. Give him advice and let him work it out without messing anything up.

I'm not against players getting hard hit singles and doubles their whole careers, either. Low launch angles are not a terrible thing by themselves. I get the high K rate along with it is concerning, but he's hit .803 in his very first 545 PAs in MLB, and is still very young.

He should be fine and will earn his contract.

 

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Again, show me where I said I wanted Casas as our starting 1B.

Everybody knew he was hurt and questionable.

Maybe Kimmi suggested giving KC another shot, but I don't remember it being at 3B over signing a FA. Maybe Mayer at 3B and KC at 2B, but we already knew KC had been moved to the OF.

[Old Red]

12 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Of course it can be raise: I'm just not for trying to change his approach or try any major tweaks. Give him advice and let him work it out without messing anything up.

I'm not against players getting hard hit singles and doubles their whole careers, either. Low launch angles are not a terrible thing by themselves. I get the high K rate along with it is concerning, but he's hit .803 in his very first 545 PAs in MLB, and is still very young.

He should be fine and will earn his contract.

 

Last year the only thing little A earned was a two month vacation in Florida.

[drewski6]

9 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

I'll bite.  Show me the quote where I said that about Casas.  I said I expected us to sign Alonso, and that I was happy with Contreras.  I mean, you do know that Casas missed the entire season, right?

In the previous season, I was fine playing KC at 2nd because, you know, we had no 2B.  That stuff (having someone play 2nd) is important.  And if I was keen on KC, how could I possible also want Mayer to start?  KC, Story, and Devers.  Where was Mayer going to play?

Going into last year , you said something like that it was a fantastic off-season but if we signed Okamoto, it would be the best offseason of all time.  Then you said the genius thing about Okamoto is that he can slide to 3b to make room for Casas.  Showing that you thought keeping a spot for Casas was a key ingredient to one of the best offseasons of all time.

Then we noodlebatted out of the playoffs 2 yrs in a row and Casas never returned.

[drewski6]

16 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I've never denied they botched the Breggie signing. He was clearly their #1 plan.

My point is I'm glad they did. I didn't want him signed at even the contract they offered. Bregman will not be an elite hitter going forward, IMO. I'm surprised he had a season that good in 2026.

That's not a ringing endorsement of Brez for both botching a negotiation and choosing the wrong top priority. It's also not saying Bregiie would not have helped us bigly in 2027.

I'd rather we have Suzuki than Bregman. I'm glad we have Suarez. I'd rather have Suarez and Suzuki (and Durbin) than Bregman, Harrison, Drohan and now have to sign a pitcher at less money than Suarez cost us.

 

I agree Bregman being as good as he was last year was a bit of a surprise.

[drewski6]

16 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

You know I thought about removing him, but I was hoping to get to this exact point.  He put up a .510 OPS at the mlb level his first 3 seasons in the show (split time).  He looked bad and didn't break out until his age 27 season. Roman Anthony is 22, Kristian Campbell is 24, and Marcelo Mayer is 23.

But he probably doesn't belong on that last......so I'll take the penalty. 

My uncle in SF named his cat Freddy Sanchez.

[drewski6]

11 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

He's a better bat than Bregman, but that's not saying much.

Suzuki and Gray/NMartinez/Morejon or Suzuki & Sato, yes.

It is saying much!  Hes better than Bregman cuz hes like a 130 OPS+ to Bregmans 115.  Thats saying much!

[drewski6]

11 hours ago, notin said:

Suzuki really is a terrific player. In any other free agent market, he’d be a good underrated, undervalued target.  But as he has a bat and a pulse, he tends to shine this year…

Whats a realistic offer? YOu are in Chicago so I take your word for it.  Going to be 32. I say if nobody will give him a fourth year, we do it to get him.  Hope its not a fifth year, but Im not sure I say no to that either.  He seems like he will age well.  I base that on not very much.  Maybe because Asians look young until they are 70?

[drewski6]

9 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Maybe.  LAs can be raised.  Paredes has increased his four years n a row.  Tatis has decreased 4 years in a row.  Soto has increased his by a lot.  When you can hit a ball as hard as Anthony does, you have to get the ball in the air more often.

Do you know how you do that , Joe?  YOu do it by trusting your pitch recognition reads, swinging earlier and meeting the ball out in front.  By not worrying about staying back and waiting for the pitch to break , so you know for certain if its going to be a ball or strike. The latter will help you put it in play at the cost of launch angle.  IF you make contact at the front of the plate, you get natural loft.  If you stay back and try to spray it in front of an OF, you will strike out less, but you will live off singles and walks.  Occasional doubles down the line, and he does do that well.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Everybody knew he was hurt and questionable.

Maybe Kimmi suggested giving KC another shot, but I don't remember it being at 3B over signing a FA. Maybe Mayer at 3B and KC at 2B, but we already knew KC had been moved to the OF.

That's why I don't understand the wild accusations.  They were all completely wrong, but some of them completely denied logic.

[JoeBrady]

13 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Then you said the genius thing about Okamoto is that he can slide to 3b to make room for Casas.  Showing that you thought keeping a spot for Casas was a key ingredient to one of the best offseasons of all time.

Sure.  If we signed Okamoto to play 1st, and Casas returned to his former 30-HR potential, then having a position for Okamoto to move to is a positive.  That sounds logical to me.

And yes, adding Contreras, Gray, Durbin, Bennett, and Okamoto would be a fantastic off-season.  That is not even discussion-worthy.

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Sure.  If we signed Okamoto to play 1st, and Casas returned to his former 30-HR potential, then having a position for Okamoto to move to is a positive.  That sounds logical to me.

And yes, adding Contreras, Gray, Durbin, Bennett, and Okamoto would be a fantastic off-season.  That is not even discussion-worthy.

Hard to use words like fantastic for a team that cant finish above 3rd or win a playoff series in 5 years.  Its been a frustrating seven years.  And I dont think you can just point to unforeseen drop-offs, injuries, and bad luck.  I think most people expected our offense to struggle last year, and some are expecting it to struggle next year.

Eventually, you gotta start winning divisions and pennants or you fail.  Breslow is on year 5.

[drewski6]

12 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

That's why I don't understand the wild accusations.  They were all completely wrong, but some of them completely denied logic.

You literally just said that you wanted to sign a 1b who can play 3b over just signing the best bat you can to hold the door open for Casas.  This is the type of logic that doesnt hold up. This we must make sure we make efficient use of what we got.  We have to allow Masa and Casas an avenue.  That logic is why we keep falling on our faces.

You have to overlap. You have to be inefficient at times.  OR you will be stuck in 3rd-5th place going home early. The proof is in the pudding.

If we were consistently coming in first or second and making deep runs that just fell short, you would have my ears.  But the be super efficient model that arrived with DD's departure has not worked out well to date.  Our average finish in the division is fourth.

I want to be more aggressive when it comes to getting freak athletes, and big sluggers.

[drewski6]

Had we signed Okamoto, we would have been better, however, I will give you that.

[NHNative]

10 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Hard to use words like fantastic for a team that cant finish above 3rd or win a playoff series in 5 years.  Its been a frustrating seven years.  And I dont think you can just point to unforeseen drop-offs, injuries, and bad luck.  I think most people expected our offense to struggle last year, and some are expecting it to struggle next year.

Eventually, you gotta start winning divisions and pennants or you fail.  Breslow is on year 5.

Rational, I think. Let's win more games.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

Hard to use words like fantastic for a team that cant finish above 3rd or win a playoff series in 5 years.  Its been a frustrating seven years.  And I dont think you can just point to unforeseen drop-offs, injuries, and bad luck.  I think most people expected our offense to struggle last year, and some are expecting it to struggle next year.

Eventually, you gotta start winning divisions and pennants or you fail.  Breslow is on year 5.

Some fans have set the bar pretty low for the Sox these days, and are content just having a winning record, and making a cameo appearance in the postseason.

[mvp 78]

4 hours ago, Old Red said:

Last year the only thing little A earned was a two month vacation in Florida.

Famously, nobody wants to be here in August. It's one of the quieter months of the year. 

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

Hard to use words like fantastic for a team that cant finish above 3rd or win a playoff series in 5 years.

It seems like there is a failure to communicate.  I was talking about this past off-season, not five years ago.  I think that adding Contreras, Gray, Durbin, Bennett, and Okamoto would've been a fantastic off-season.  If you would like to discuss why any of those five weren't great adds, please do so.