A Realistic View at the 2027 Red Sox Part I

[Hugh2]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Yup, it's why he wasn't called up. The only way he was going to get called up is if Story couldn't get healthy in September. 

All true things. 

Random thought of the morning.  It would be the most Red Sox thing ever to dump Story for Arias and Story goes on to OPS .850 and bash 30 HR next year. 

But, if Arias WERE to start, I think Story stays. Maybe Yoshida is the odd man out?

[moonslav59]

23 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

I think you leave him off the 40 so he can play if theres a lock out. 

Agreed, but lock out or not, he will not be added to the 40, until at least ST'ing, when we put our first player on the 60 to open up a slot. We have too many players without options, so some will eventually be traded or DFA'd from the 40 since they will not be on the 26 day one.

Keeping Arias off the 40 until the moment we will put him on the 26 to play in the next week will be what happens.

[mvp 78]

48 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

All true things. 

Random thought of the morning.  It would be the most Red Sox thing ever to dump Story for Arias and Story goes on to OPS .850 and bash 30 HR next year. 

But, if Arias WERE to start, I think Story stays. Maybe Yoshida is the odd man out?

Let him go mash elsewhere. He's not part of the long term plan. That's what the Sox need to figure out right now. Get rid of the short term roadblocks. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Let him go mash elsewhere. He's not part of the long term plan. That's what the Sox need to figure out right now. Get rid of the short term roadblocks. 

Duran is the easiest starting place since he can simply be non tendered or signed and traded with a pre-agreed trade partner.

If Duran is gone, that locks Anthony into LF and allows Mead to DH. That would leave Story as competition for 2B, a second base platoon and as the primary back-up at SS. That might have more value than what we get in trade for him (along with a boatload of cash.)

I do see your point and don't disagree. We have too many players holding onto roster slots based on some hope, often faint, they can or will return so some portion of their past greatness or goodness. We do need to weed them out- maybe not all of them, but some.

Here I am saying this and advocating starting the season with Casas on the 40- assuming he has no new injuries or the current one looks like a career-ender. I'm also for keeping Romy, while several sites are saying he should be non-tendered. I'm also for adding Brannon and or Jo Garcia to the 40, along with Wehunt as R5 protectees. I did the math: there is room for all of this, as long as we shed Duran, 2 from Eaton, Jones & White (all out of options) and some scrub pitchers like Burgos, Olds and maybe a couple more. (Moran is out of options and may/should be traded.)

I'd be fine trading Duran, Story and Yoshida. I've wanted this for years. I'd do it to save the $11M for Duran and maybe another $9M from Story + Yoshida's cost paid by the receiving teams. That's $20M we can add to whatever the winter  budget is and maybe get Sato or Suzuki.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

then I laugh and walk away.

That's my view.  I think there are fans who you could nickel and dime forever.  If Abreu + Arias is enough, then throw in a 50 FV to seal the deal.  And if that package is okay, then why not throw in an other 45 FV to seal the deal.  Elly is a great talent, and seems to have a personality that would fit the team and Boston.  The fans probably won't boo him in his first season.

But he had a 5.6 bWAR v Abreu's 5.9 bWAR.  If we throw in Arias, I'd bet real money that Cincy ends up with substantially more WAR.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

All true things. 

Random thought of the morning.  It would be the most Red Sox thing ever to dump Story for Arias and Story goes on to OPS .850 and bash 30 HR next year. 

But, if Arias WERE to start, I think Story stays. Maybe Yoshida is the odd man out?

Unless Story recognizes pitches, it's difficult to see him hitting.  If I were the opposing manager, I'd tell my pitchers to not throw him a strike unless the count is 2-0 or 3-1.

Story v Yoshida, it has to be Yoshida.  He can still hit.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

Unless Story recognizes pitches, it's difficult to see him hitting.  If I were the opposing manager, I'd tell my pitchers to not throw him a strike unless the count is 2-0 or 3-1.

Story v Yoshida, it has to be Yoshida.  He can still hit.

The only thing I can find to cling to on Story is if he plays 2B and can somehow hit like 2025, especially his last 400 PAs of '25.

That wasn't that long ago, and 34 years old isn't always the end of good seasons.

That being said, I'd trade him for whatever we can get. Maybe some GM sees this as worth a shot, if he only has to pay $4-7M.

[Hugh2]

5 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Let him go mash elsewhere. He's not part of the long term plan. That's what the Sox need to figure out right now. Get rid of the short term roadblocks. 

I have a hard time believing they can or at least will dump both Story and Yoshida.  I'd be interested in seeing how he could do if he could just focus on hitting. 

[mvp 78]

8 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

I have a hard time believing they can or at least will dump both Story and Yoshida.  I'd be interested in seeing how he could do if he could just focus on hitting. 

What they will do vs what I want them to do don't always line up very well. 😮‍💨

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

I have a hard time believing they can or at least will dump both Story and Yoshida.  I'd be interested in seeing how he could do if he could just focus on hitting. 

The odds are close to 1% we shed both.

We'd have to pay $13-14M of the $18M owed to Yoshida.

We owe Story $30M counting the $5M buyout, so we'd have to pay $23-$25M of that to shed him for nothing more than a single A promise.

Trading both might net us $9-10M. Trading Duran could bring that up to $20M.

I don't see a 40 man roster crunch even keeping 2 of these guys, but shedding all 3 solves some 26 man roster squeezes and allows for us to add a couple big plusses and a couple guys we might have had to DFA or leave exposed to Rule 5. (Moran, White, Jones and eaton are out of options, and Wehunt, Brannon & Jo garcia are Rule 5's.)

[UtahSox]

On 10/14/2026 at 5:55 AM, notin said:

Would you trade Abreu, Arias and Bennett for De La Cruz?

I would and then sign 2 really good pitchers…. Free agent pitchers are out there, no generational bats

[UtahSox]

On 10/14/2026 at 9:35 AM, mvp 78 said:

Mead has really bad range and a really bad arm. He's not good at 3b at all. 

Agree I think you could hide him in LF in Boston for sure