2026 MLB post-Red Sox postseason thread

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, NHNative said:

Please translate.

 

The Brewers had the 2nd most runs scored this year with the 2nd least HR hit. 

[NHNative]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The Brewers had the 2nd most runs scored this year with the 2nd least HR hit. 

Ya--I wasn't sure if you meant Milwaukee.

What does that have to do with my point on Brez?

[mvp 78]

19 minutes ago, NHNative said:

Ya--I wasn't sure if you meant Milwaukee.

What does that have to do with my point on Brez?

He believes you can score runs without hitting HR. It's too expensive to add HR power. He'll try to find another way. 

[NHNative]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He believes you can score runs without hitting HR. It's too expensive to add HR power. He'll try to find another way. 

Well--maybe its just me, but that is a weak strategy.

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Say what you want about the remaining teams and their lack of longball power and cite regular season stats and rankings all day.

But the home runs they are hitting are huge reasons why they're winning. Ramirez in the ALDS, DeLauter and Bailey last night, and Wild Bill Contreras and Turang in the NLCS. The defending champs are down 0-2 and have zero HRs.

So, we need to add players who don't homer much but will in the playoffs?

Name names.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, NHNative said:

Well--maybe its just me, but that is a weak strategy.

There are many ways to win a ring.

A while  ago, the mantra was "No way we can ever win a ring with 2-3 black holes in the line-up and a weak rotation reliant on injured pitchers returning to glory." Well, now we have a balanced, though lacking starpower, line-up and a top 3-4 rotation. On top of that, we have a top 3-4 one-two pen combo in Chapman & Whitlock.

We should be able to win more than we have, but I do agree we need a big boost in power/SLG. I'm always for identifying our weakest area and focusing on upgrading that area, and not with slight upgrades at 4-5 slots, but major upgrades at 2-3 slots.

IMO, Brez did a fine job on major upgrades, least winter and this summer, but the Mead injury and unexplainable declines from way too many returning vets killed our playoff chances. Some may argue Gray, Suarez, Contreras, Mead, Rutschman, Bennett and Miller were not all "major" upgrades, but to me at least 3-4 were, and 7 significant upgrades in one year might be record-breaking for any Sox GM in history.

That being said, I think we are done "balancing" the line-up, rotation and pen. We have gotten to a place where no slot sucks or even looks below average. On paper, some pen pieces look shady, but for two years in a row, the pen has exceeded expectations and done better than fine. (The pen actually did better than the rotation in fWAR rankings.)

We have the "quantity" but not enough high quality. I think most of us agree on this. It would seem very difficult to slightly upgrade several positions and much easier to just make a huge jump up at one slot- maybe two significant jumps would do, too. That's just theory. Pulling it off is another thing, especially when we've lost many prospect trading chips, recently, and our 2027 budget looks tight.

It's easy to say, JH just needs to open his wallet and pay for Sato or Suzuki, but I'll believe it when I see it. I'm not going to plan on it. That's not saying I'm complicitly agreeing with this tight budget strategy, but I'm trying to be realistic. There are some encouraging signs since the Devers extension. The Suarez signing was one of the longest and largest FA deals in Sox history. The trades for Gray and Contreras cost a lot of budget space, too. The Crochet extension was one of the largest in Sox history, too. The $21M spent on Buehler, though a catastrophe, was over double what we spent on Kluber, Richards, Paxton and Sandoval (AAV.) Extending prospects early has been a hotspot of debate, but like it or not, it represented a major shift in Sox spending philosophy.

The Tax line budget has gone from $226M in 2023 (Bloom's last season) to $249 in '25 and $273 in 2026. Cots has us projected to be $254M in 2027, before any additions. Spotrac has $297, counting $30M for Gray, so $267M without. We got as low and $207M in 2021 and $184M in 2020- prorated. There has been a change.

[mvp 78]

24 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

So, we need to add players who don't homer much but will in the playoffs?

Name names.

This is how we got Pablo Sandoval'd. 

[moonslav59]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

This is how we got Pablo Sandoval'd. 

Good one, and he kind of drives home the point.

It's folly to try and add "clutch players."

We need to focus on adding healthy and younger players. I like the age set-up we have now, but the injury part has bit us in the ass.

Granted, the Gio signing turned sour with an injury, and trading injury-prone Sale was a kick in the you-know-what, but we've had some bad luck on injuries.

Suarez and Durbin were clean additions. Gray and Contreras stayed healthy enough. Crochet and Mead hurt, but Mead's injury was unexpected.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

The Tax line budget has gone from $226M in 2023 (Bloom's last season) to $249 in '25 and $273 in 2026. Cots has us projected to be $254M in 2027, before any additions. Spotrac has $297, counting $30M for Gray, so $267M without. We got as low and $207M in 2021 and $184M in 2020- prorated. There has been a change.

They've spent poorly! While 100M+ went towards a rotation that pitched well...

90M+ went to Story, Masa, Roman, Sandoval, Campbell, Hicks, Houck, Crawford. A lot of money for not a lot of return in '26. You could add in Crochet's $$$ and say about $120M was flushed down the toilet this year. 

 

[notin]

On 10/12/2026 at 8:32 AM, drewski6 said:

they all laughed at christopher columbus when he said the world was round.

The spherical globe, while incomplete and probably very inaccurate, was first invented around 150 BC by Greek philosopher Crates of Mallus…

[moonslav59]

41 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They've spent poorly! While 100M+ went towards a rotation that pitched well...

90M+ went to Story, Masa, Roman, Sandoval, Campbell, Hicks, Houck, Crawford. A lot of money for not a lot of return in '26. You could add in Crochet's $$$ and say about $120M was flushed down the toilet this year. 

Indeed, but Story & Yoshida are on Bloom.

Those players on the 60 Day IL hurt us badly. Houck was known to be out. The others were not, including Oviedo & Mead, who you failed to include in  your totals.

It is "poorly" spent money in hindsight, but were many of us upset we extended Crochet? He's a big chunk of that "poorly spent" money. Ultimately, the bottom line is what production you get for the money, but Crochet has given us a 6.1 fWAR since 2025. Chapman 4.2, Suarez 3.8/1 yr, Gray 3.4/1 yr and Bennett 2.3/1 yr. I know you mentioned the spending on pitching has worked out, but including Crochet seems short-sighted. Yes, 2026 alone was bad, but I'm glad we kept Crochet, Houck, Oviedo & Crawford. I may be in the minority.

The "spending" on Contreras & Durbin worked well.

Last year, the spending on Bregman, Gio and Narvaez worked well. The spending on Sandoval and Buehler did not.

[notin]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

So, we need to add players who don't homer much but will in the playoffs?

Name names.

Miguel Rojas!

[Hitch]

The problem for me has never been that the Sox don't spend enough. They spend plenty. The problem is, they have not spent well for a long time. We are still feeling the affects of this. We're nearly out of the worst of it. but we still have time to spend poorly again. 

Adley feels like it could work out a bad extension, but after all we've given away we almost have to extend him.

[moonslav59]

23 minutes ago, notin said:

Miguel Rojas!

He's retiring.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Breslow is not going to splurge on home run hitters.

He said at the season-ending press conference that the Red Sox are going to train guys already on the team to hit more HRs.

Don't argue how that worked for Durbin when he first joined Boston. Brez already invested too much in Mead and Rutschman not to wait and see how the line-ups looks when they're 100% healthy.

He doesn't have top pitching prospects left to trade, and better not deal Justin Gonzales or any other position player that's a few years away from making an impact -- when he'll still be CBO.

Breslow now has his workforce in place, all the staff he chose to surround his roster that he built. Don't be shocked if he doesn't add anyone this offseason but Gray's replacement if necessary and a reliever. Pitching -- it's what he does best.

 

[moonslav59]

21 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Adley feels like it could work out a bad extension, but after all we've given away we almost have to extend him.

Yup- just like the Crochet trade and extension, that one poster is now saying is "poor spending."

[notin]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He's retiring.

Better act fast!

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

This is how we got Pablo Sandoval'd. 

Every March Madness somebody gets a little hot under the spotlight and despite being a ho-hum college player career to date, those 3 games, because in the tourney have a magnifier glass on them, and it elevates the prospect ......I call them tournament darlings, and drafting them is usually a mistake.

[drewski6]

46 minutes ago, notin said:

The spherical globe, while incomplete and probably very inaccurate, was first invented around 150 BC by Greek philosopher Crates of Mallus…

Take it up with Ella Fitzgerald

[moonslav59]

6 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Breslow is not going to splurge on home run hitters.

He said at the season-ending press conference that the Red Sox are going to train guys already on the team to hit more HRs.

Don't argue how that worked for Durbin when he first joined Boston. Brez already invested too much in Mead and Rutschman not to wait and see how the line-ups looks when they're 100% healthy.

He doesn't have top pitching prospects left to trade, and better not deal Justin Gonzales or any other position player that's a few years away from making an impact -- when he'll still be CBO.

Breslow now has his workforce in place, all the staff he chose to surround his roster that he built. Don't be shocked if he doesn't add anyone this offseason but Gray's replacement if necessary and a reliever. Pitching -- it's what he does best.

 

I agree that we can't trade Gonzales, despite the fact that he may not make the bigs until 2028 or even later.

I'm a big Arias fan and love SS defense, but I think he is the one guy we can trade to get what we need.

I get the argument that we can just stand pat and hope for better health (Mead, Crochet, houck Crawford, Oviedo and a full season from Rutschman,) but I have always believed that no matter how good you think we are, you need to make improvements every year, unless you are rebuilding.

Counting on much better health does work sometimes, but we also need too many of our players to reverse their downturns from 2025. Asking for both is too much for me to hope for.

While Rafaela continued growing, his OPS only went up 56 Points. That's nice but it is greatly overshadowed by thes drops:

-189 Narvaez

-147 Duran

-124 Anthony

-120 Story

-80 Mayer

-13 Abreu

Many of these players were on the right side of prime and should not have declined, but if we don't see some reversals, we won't be going far in 2027.

(Yoshida and Wong both improved but were back-ups or hurt.)

[drewski6]

43 minutes ago, notin said:

Miguel Rojas!

Michael Redd?

[drewski6]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

They've spent poorly! While 100M+ went towards a rotation that pitched well...

90M+ went to Story, Masa, Roman, Sandoval, Campbell, Hicks, Houck, Crawford. A lot of money for not a lot of return in '26. You could add in Crochet's $$$ and say about $120M was flushed down the toilet this year. 

 

The pitching and d was really really good, but without bats, its like spending heavy on a fancy garage and not having a car to put it in it.

Read it again.

[drewski6]

45 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Indeed, but Story & Yoshida are on Bloom.

Those players on the 60 Day IL hurt us badly. Houck was known to be out. The others were not, including Oviedo & Mead, who you failed to include in  your totals.

It is "poorly" spent money in hindsight, but were many of us upset we extended Crochet? He's a big chunk of that "poorly spent" money. Ultimately, the bottom line is what production you get for the money, but Crochet has given us a 6.1 fWAR since 2025. Chapman 4.2, Suarez 3.8/1 yr, Gray 3.4/1 yr and Bennett 2.3/1 yr. I know you mentioned the spending on pitching has worked out, but including Crochet seems short-sighted. Yes, 2026 alone was bad, but I'm glad we kept Crochet, Houck, Oviedo & Crawford. I may be in the minority.

The "spending" on Contreras & Durbin worked well.

Last year, the spending on Bregman, Gio and Narvaez worked well. The spending on Sandoval and Buehler did not.

Every dollar spent on pitching and defense when you cant score more than 2 runs in a playoff series, do or die, is poorly spent money.

How many IP did Ranger Suarez throw??

[drewski6]

22 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Breslow is not going to splurge on home run hitters.

He said at the season-ending press conference that the Red Sox are going to train guys already on the team to hit more HRs.

Don't argue how that worked for Durbin when he first joined Boston. Brez already invested too much in Mead and Rutschman not to wait and see how the line-ups looks when they're 100% healthy.

He doesn't have top pitching prospects left to trade, and better not deal Justin Gonzales or any other position player that's a few years away from making an impact -- when he'll still be CBO.

Breslow now has his workforce in place, all the staff he chose to surround his roster that he built. Don't be shocked if he doesn't add anyone this offseason but Gray's replacement if necessary and a reliever. Pitching -- it's what he does best.

 

And when we noodlebat out of the playoffs for the third year in a row - dont worry, certain posters are already working on their excuses now.

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, drewski6 said:

Every dollar spent on pitching and defense when you cant score more than 2 runs in a playoff series, do or die, is poorly spent money.

How many IP did Ranger Suarez throw??

How many playoff hits did Alonso get?

[moonslav59]

Just now, drewski6 said:

And when we noodlebat out of the playoffs for the third year in a row - dont worry, certain posters are already working on their excuses now.

Who and what excuses?

[drewski6]

I would be fine rolling back the same offense, next year - just as long as you promised me that if we werent top 4 in runs scored, not OBpeeeelookatme, not adjusted OPS+ for injury, not whatever kind of fancy games you want to play with the numbers, well from June 2 through August 19th just those span if you normalize for the guys on the IL....

None of that, you wanna roll back the noodlebats, top 5 in runs scored or Breslow gets fired.  Or are we already working on our excuses to protect him because we have bow to hierarchy brains.

[drewski6]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

How many playoff hits did Alonso get?

Thats not apples to apples.  We would have had a better chance getting by the yankees if we had alonso and not ranger is the point.  You are introducing too many variables.

[drewski6]

Hit, get hitters, or fire the guys who wont

And theres a lot of noooo, how dare you. Accountability? Not for leadership, I give them my blind loyalty instead because one day they are going to see this post and pat me on the head like a good little sycophant.

Me? I bow to one man.  And its Paul Pierce, not Breslow.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Thats not apples to apples.  We would have had a better chance getting by the yankees if we had alonso and not ranger is the point.  You are introducing too many variables.

Agreed, but maybe we miss the playoffs like Alonso did

(BTW, I wanted Alonso or Schwarber- not Bregman or Suarez.)