Red Sox Pre-Offseason Mega Thread

[mvp 78]

23 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

It ruins the flow of conversation when someone insists on using their own set of nicknames. 

🤔

[notin]

12 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I don't think that anyone disagrees that C-2B-SS-LF were our worst offensive positions last year.  I post on that fairly frequently.

And hopefully C and 2b have been addressed.  SS at least has a plan in place, which I am assuming is Story followed by Arias.  That’s a potential step in overall SS play up over Story followed by Monasterio.

In LF, Duran was the worst hitter in MLB with 600 PA, which was a surprising outcome for a player who lead the team in several offensive categories the year before.  But assuming Anthony replaces him, DH becomes the easiest place to add a bat…

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, notin said:

Agreed.

I think RBIs are weak for player evaluation.  But useful for MVP awards, ROY awards, and maybe even HOF candidacy.  They’re fine for looking at what a player did, but almost useless for determining what a player can/will do…

Yeah, we need to really start deferring to xRBI. 

[Old Red]

Hank Aaron has the most RBI of all time. How many care how many opportunities he had, what ballparks he played in, how many AB he had, or anything else you want to throw in there. Does it list any of those things, or just the amount of RBI he had?

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, notin said:

And hopefully C and 2b have been addressed.  SS at least has a plan in place, which I am assuming is Story followed by Arias.  That’s a potential step in overall SS play up over Story followed by Monasterio.

In LF, Duran was the worst hitter in MLB with 600 PA, which was a surprising outcome for a player who lead the team in several offensive categories the year before.  But assuming Anthony replaces him, DH becomes the easiest place to add a bat…

You could add almost anyone there. Even somebody with upside like a Jarren Duran! 

[mvp 78]

Just now, Old Red said:

Hank Aaron has the most RBI of all time. How many care how many opportunities he had, what ballparks he played in, how many AB he had, or anything else you want to throw in there. Does it list any of those things, or just the amount of RBI he had?

Hammerin' Hank was paddin' the stat sheet by havin' the third most plate appearances of all time. He only led the league 4 times in 23 years.

Cap Anson (real man) led the league 8 times!  

[Old Red]

8 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Nothing was going to save us.

Alonso 4.9 bWAR v Contreras 4.6

Bregman's 5.8 v Durbin's 4.4

Schwarber's 2.6 v the Yoshida+Gasper 1.9

Even if we ignored the money, that's an additional 2.4 more wins.  If you take the more logical approach, and assume that the extra cost of $70M+, would cost us the services of Gray + Suarez, then I think there is very little doubt that we'd be worse off.  Both now, and far worse off in 3-4-5 years from now.

Gray was already in the Books, so nothing lost there. Alonso could have been signed for the money slotted for Bregman, and still have gotten The Con Man. The only loss would have been Ranger. It’s not all that complicated.

[Old Red]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

Hammerin' Hank was paddin' the stat sheet by havin' the third most plate appearances of all time. He only led the league 4 times in 23 years.

Cap Anson (real man) led the league 8 times!  

I fully understand all that, and he had 3000 more AB when he broke the Babes HR record, but that still doesn’t change the numbers he put up. I’m not even arguing who’s better. Just whose numbers are better. If you want to get into all the reasons why then fine, but that still doesn’t change the numbers.

m

[JoeBrady]

On 10/28/2026 at 10:56 AM, UtahSox said:

And taking the bullet out of the proverbial gun, what has that gotten them?

Sure, but that's because the Phillies invested in pitching, just like we have.  They were 29th in road OPS last year.

[moonslav59]

42 minutes ago, notin said:

Ferraris are well documented meteor magnets…

He should have known they are meteor magnets, like Brez shoulda known Mead was a pitch magnet.

[moonslav59]

24 minutes ago, notin said:

And hopefully C and 2b have been addressed.  SS at least has a plan in place, which I am assuming is Story followed by Arias.  That’s a potential step in overall SS play up over Story followed by Monasterio.

In LF, Duran was the worst hitter in MLB with 600 PA, which was a surprising outcome for a player who lead the team in several offensive categories the year before.  But assuming Anthony replaces him, DH becomes the easiest place to add a bat…

On paper, assuming everything goes right, we look pretty well set, but no matter how good we might look on paper and with a bunch of what ifs, a team should always do something to try to improve. That goes for the 2027 Brewers, too.

To me, the easiest and most impactful ay to do this is to identify your weakest 2-3 important positional weaknesses and try to make a significant upgrade. It's easier than trying to slightly upgrade 5-6 slots or trying to slightly improve your 5 & 6 slot starting pitchers.

I fully realize Arias is a nationally ranked top 3-6 prospect, and normally, you plan on that guy getting a shot, while still having a solid back-up plan, in case he doesn't. Story is not bad, as a back-up plan, and if he does well, he can be moves to 2B, if Arias is flourishing, but IMO, the SS position is the weakest and or most suspect position on the 2027 roster.

DH might be second, but with so many moving parts (Anthony/Duran in LF and Mead/Story/Sogard/Romy at 2B) we should be okay there. If not, we can run with a platoon by mixing up Gasper, Romy, Jones, Mead/Anthony and others and could be fine.

LF or 2B could be filled, if we slide Anthony or Mead to FT DH.

3B might be 4th or 5th on the list, based mainly of offensive concerns.

Another SPer and some pen help would be nice, but bats are needed.

[drewski6]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

100%.

I do not want to trade Story and see Monasterio play FT SS, if Arias struggles.

We have so many DH types and some decent platoon DH types, that trading Yoshida, who offer no defensive pluses or even below average. (Not that Romy, Gasper and some others offer better D.)

I'm not even sure Mead is bearable at 2B D. If he's not, we have zero need for Yoshida. Jones is no whiz on D.

Anthony at DH might help him stay healthier.

If we add Jo Garcia to the 40, he might serves as a DH/ 2-3 Catcher, who is also not known for D.

Its hard for me to accept that a team that was top 5 in defense and bottom 5 in offense has too many DHs

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

735 OPS, 301 OBP hitting 2nd. 

I'd rather someone else hit up there. 

If we keep him, Yoshida is the best fit for the #2.

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Its hard for me to accept that a team that was top 5 in defense and bottom 5 in offense has too many DHs

With Duran, Anthony is the DH.

Mead sucks on D, but he will likely not DH.

Yoshida

Gasper

Romy

Jones

Casas

AAA all on or might be on the 40: KC, Jo Garcia and/or Brannon

[drewski6]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

With Duran, Anthony is the DH.

Mead sucks on D, but he will likely not DH.

Yoshida

Gasper

Romy

Jones

Casas

AAA all on or might be on the 40: KC, Jo Garcia and/or Brannon

Somehow, we are very good in defense and very bad at offense.

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

If we keep him, Yoshida is the best fit for the #2.

I think the best spot for Roman would probably be 3rd, right in front of Willson. Not sure I'd go RLLR. Not sure Masa would be a great leadoff guy either. The top of the lineup needs a real adjustment for sure. 

With the current roster:

Sogard

Anthony

Mead

Contreras

Abreu

Adley

Masa

Story

Rafaela

 

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, notin said:

And hopefully C and 2b have been addressed.  SS at least has a plan in place, which I am assuming is Story followed by Arias.  That’s a potential step in overall SS play up over Story followed by Monasterio.

In LF, Duran was the worst hitter in MLB with 600 PA, which was a surprising outcome for a player who lead the team in several offensive categories the year before.  But assuming Anthony replaces him, DH becomes the easiest place to add a bat…

I've been saying that for a while.  Our three weakest bats have been replaced.  Our 4th, SS, should almost never be considered as the first place to look for as an upgrade.

After that, the next spot is DH.  Then you have to consider how much of an upgrade you ae making, at what cost, and where you will weaken yourself as a result of the added cost.  Before this year, Aroz 3 previous years yielded a 116 OPS+.  Yoshida had a 109 last year.

The numbers aren't the same, but it boils down to something like Gray + Yoshida or Bello + Aroz.

[JoeBrady]

6 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think the best spot for Roman would probably be 3rd, right in front of Willson.

Ideally, yes.  But with our roster, I think Roman has to bat 1st or 2nd.

[jdc69]

6 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I hope we add a player or two with a higher OBP, but until we do, we can't just move him down for a lesser OBP guy. Only Yoshida (.347) and Willson (.386) had higher OBPs. One was on the IL when Anthony was not, and the other was needed batting 3rd or 4th.

BTW, his career OBP is .371.

Trade for Otto Lopez and I'm on board.

Im not saying that. The conversation is about the Red Sox getting rid of veterans and asking Anthony to pick up the slack straight out of the minors. Thats dumb and risks ruining his confidence, especially in the grumpy atmosphere of Boston sports media. 

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, jdc69 said:

Im not saying that. The conversation is about the Red Sox getting rid of veterans and asking Anthony to pick up the slack straight out of the minors. Thats dumb and risks ruining his confidence, especially in the grumpy atmosphere of Boston sports media. 

I get your point, but we didn't trade Devers to elevate Roman. He needed to go.

Not replacing the 2/3 great season from Bregman was a mistake, and I do think they hoped/planned on Contreras, Anthony and others to take up the slack.

Maybe a healthy Roman would have done just that.

We should have planned on a downtick from Story and a continued one from Duran. Maybe hopes were too high on Narvaez, too.

The rest should have done the same or better and did not, except Rafaela.

They did a ton of moves last winter & summer but came up short on an elite bat. I'm 100% in agreement.

They did overextend on pitching but ended up with too many pen games and needing Paez and Sandoval to start games.

 

[jdc69]

1 hour ago, notin said:

What exactly is this based on?  What load did the team ask him to carry?

Breslow did refer to him as a cornerstone, but it’s not like he tied that to the production fans are associating with it.  Kennedy emphasized locking up homegrown talent, but more so because of players like Betts they were unable to lock up.  None of this hints at any “load” the team asked him to carry.

Now many media outlets have written their own stories about Anthony and expectations. But the Sox aren’t accountable for that stuff.

And pressure is so subjective.  How badly is Anthony really affected by it?  Some players are; some are not.  There is no sweeping generalization that it’s always negative…

 

 

The load of getting rid of established bats and asking him to pick up the slack.

Pressure may be subjective and good for those that know how to handle it but why punish a player if he feels it? Why punish a team and a city for it? Why not simply ease newer players into it and let the vets carry the majority of it? Also, what some people think is players handling pressure easily, is really a player that was allowed to fly under the radar until he found his groove. I think Tom Brady and Big Papi are examples of that.

[jdc69]

9 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I get your point, but we didn't trade Devers to elevate Roman. He needed to go.

Not replacing the 2/3 great season from Bregman was a mistake, and I do think they hoped/planned on Contreras, Anthony and others to take up the slack.

Maybe a healthy Roman would have done just that.

We should have planned on a downtick from Story and a continued one from Duran. Maybe hopes were too high on Narvaez, too.

The rest should have done the same or better and did not, except Rafaela.

They did a ton of moves last winter & summer but came up short on an elite bat. I'm 100% in agreement.

They did overextend on pitching but ended up with too many pen games and needing Paez and Sandoval to start games.

 

I have a hard time getting invested in the plotting and planning of this team the way the front office is, and I bring this up because you brought up Duran. Obviously Duran is a player that likes to run wild and free, and I think his numbers suffered because theyre asking him to be a home run or nothing kind of player. Last night, David Hamilton bunted with no one on base. It didnt work, but I thought, thats what Duran should be able to do, just causing havoc on the base paths. 

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, jdc69 said:

I have a hard time getting invested in the plotting and planning of this team the way the front office is, and I bring this up because you brought up Duran. Obviously Duran is a player that likes to run wild and free, and I think his numbers suffered because theyre asking him to be a home run or nothing kind of player. Last night, David Hamilton bunted with no one on base. It didnt work, but I thought, thats what Duran should be able to do, just causing havoc on the base paths. 

I don't think they are asking him to do that. You've seen his arms? He's doing that on his own. They'd love to have the old Jarren back who k'd less and hit more doubles while causing havoc on the basepaths. I think Jarren just believes there's a path to more $$$ in trying to hit 30 dingers. 

[moonslav59]

58 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Somehow, we are very good in defense and very bad at offense.

We should project to be better on offense before any moves, but I am firmly in the camp of adding a major bat (or two really good ones.)

+ Mead

+ a full season of AR over horrific catcher numbers on offense from Narvaez.

+ a full season of Anthony

Maybe upticks from Abreu, Durbin and Rafaela.

Maybe downticks from Contreras, Story and Duran.

Who knows what from Arias, Gasper/Casas, Romy/Sogard/Seigler/Monasterio, Yoshida/White/Jones 

All teams have injuries, and the Yanks beat us without Judge, so we need to improve and plan on some injuries in 2027, too.

[Old Red]

21 minutes ago, jdc69 said:

The load of getting rid of established bats and asking him to pick up the slack.

Pressure may be subjective and good for those that know how to handle it but why punish a player if he feels it? Why punish a team and a city for it? Why not simply ease newer players into it and let the vets carry the majority of it? Also, what some people think is players handling pressure easily, is really a player that was allowed to fly under the radar until he found his groove. I think Tom Brady and Big Papi are examples of that.

Good points on little A. Some on here like to blame all the hype, and expectations on the media, but fans, and the ball club were guilty as well. I saw the hype first hand while he was still in Portland, and the ball club played the hype to the hilt when the big 3 all assembled in WOO together. Hype, and expectations were to blame on the way around.

[moonslav59]

13 minutes ago, jdc69 said:

I have a hard time getting invested in the plotting and planning of this team the way the front office is, and I bring this up because you brought up Duran. Obviously Duran is a player that likes to run wild and free, and I think his numbers suffered because theyre asking him to be a home run or nothing kind of player. Last night, David Hamilton bunted with no one on base. It didnt work, but I thought, thats what Duran should be able to do, just causing havoc on the base paths. 

The FO has made mistakes and left some gaping holes while aptly filling many others.

I'm not sure I blame the team for Duran's constant tweaking of his approach and body type.

I wish we'd bunt more in those types of situations, but our lack of power seems more urgent.

I sucked at hitting. The only reason I played as long as I did was defense and reeking havoc on the basepaths. 

We have things we need to do better and players we need to upgrade.

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Good points on little A. Some on here like to blame all the hype, and expectations on the media, but fans, and the ball club were guilty as well. I saw the hype first hand while he was still in Portland, and the ball club played the hype to the hilt when the big 3 all assembled in WOO together. Hype, and expectations were to blame on the way around.

Minor league hype is often designed to build interest and expectations in order to fill the seats.

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Minor league hype is often designed to build interest and expectations in order to fill the seats.

Listen, Minor League teams aren't in the business of selling people on their product. They are constantly telling people that their players are no good, that people shouldn't come to the park at all! 

[mvp 78]

*Team overhypes the Big Three as the future of the franchise to the fans which gets the fans to buy in*

"The fans created the hype!"

[moonslav59]

Even crappy teams hype there best players as being better than they are..