End Of A Season: Yankees Send Red Sox Packing in Brutal Game 3 Showing

Last year Breslow had to do only a few things to significantly improve the Red Sox.  As I dig into my archive I see last year's list:

1 - Fire Cora (NOT DONE)

2 - Move Devers to DH or trade him (DONE)

3 - Add two quality SPs to the top of the rotation

     a - Crochet (DONE)

     b - Buehler (DONE but didn't work)

Was Breslow successful?  He missed on the first item on the list which ultimately hurt the team and probably cost them the Division Championship and the bye in the first round.  He made up for it to some degree by not just trading Devers but not incurring a pay down while dumping him.  Brilliant move!!

He hit a home run with Crochet and struck out on Buehler.  He picked up Lowe which was needed for a long time but came in time to help make the playoffs.  He's drafted very well but he gave away one of the most key prospects in Teel and kept the most over-rated prospect in the injury prone Mayer.  

I give Breslow a B+ which was a huge jump in success from Bloom's series of Fs.  He's no Dombrowski because he didn't return a Division Title or three in his first year and beyond while dealing with an inept manager that nearly cost him his final division win.  It speaks volumes to how incredible Dombrowski was to provide such a surplus of talent that even Cora could win a World Series.  That's such an amazing fact.  Dombrowski, on that one point alone, should have retired with the Red Sox!!

What does Breslow need to fix this off season?

1 - Fire Cora and bring in his own manager 

2 - Acquire a premiere top of the rotation SP to slot behind Crochet and in front of Tolle and Early.

3 - Reset the long-term positions in the outfield with Anthony in LF, Duran in CF and Rafaela in the most difficult field - RF.  Bregman at 3B, Story at SS, an OPEN (and FAIR!!) tryout for 2B among many eligible players including Campbell, Mayer, Grissom, Sogard, Gonzalez, Toro and Hamilton, an OPEN (and FAIR) tryout for 1B among Lowe, Casas and Campbell, a OPEN (and FAIR) tryout for Catcher with Narvaez, Wong and several more quality free agent catchers because Narvaez could pull a Wong and drop off dramatically after a career year.

4 - Define a strategy for DH.  Either trade Yoshida or let him do his job.  Cora has yet to treat him with the respect he built up in Japan.  Let him start the year as the clear-cut DH and see if he plays himself out of the position because we've all seen how much more clutch, he is than Abreu and how much better he hits lefties than Abreu. 

Abreu needs to beat out several AAA players for the 4th outfielder spot by learning how to hit lefties during the off seasons.  His .205 average over 3 seasons is unacceptable for starting because it forces the team to carry an extra player to start 40% of the games.  Like Devers, the team did fine without him.  He is completely expendable and his lack of baseball acumen and his yips in going back on fly balls increase his expendability.  We can't have him running into the CF when he thinks he gets to make the call on balls in the gap.  We need Rafaela to in RF to go back on balls hit to the wall without fear and making catches that have fallen these past three years when Abreu was in right.  Total team defense needs to be the focus of the front office and new manager.  It's the little things that will add up to winning a division.  Mookie and JBJ were the best two defenders and Mookie had the cannon arm; Rafaela and Duran are the best two defenders and Rafaela has the cannon arm so CF and RF should be a no brainer.

Thanks to the Red Sox players for a great 2025 season.  You finished 10 games higher than expected and provided some valuable glimpses into the future and for the first time since Dombrowski was fired the future looks very, very positive.  Breslow, thanks for that change in perspective.  It's much appreciated.

Great season, I don't think that as Red Sox fans as a whole we realize how good they have it, contending every year. There's a lot of upside towards next year. An offseason target could be a  Joe Ryan acquisition  if the Twins are willing to trade him, which considering their state, they probably will. They have plenty of arms in the rotation. With the right package put together, I think he could be acquirable, and very affordable to boost the 2026 rotation.

Yeah, too bad the RS didn't have, say, a left-handed power hitter w/ 115 RBIs and 35 HR and a proven track record against the Yankees.  I mean, where do you even find guys like that?

3 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Raffy played 163 games this year.  His teams were 77-86 in those games.  His final numbers look fine but something isn't right.

Agree totally.  But what likely wasnt right (remember his opening two dozen ABs?) was likely because the organization he came up with started jerking him around as early as spring training, then when  he was raking again, they got rid of him, bad-mouthing him the entire time and disseminating rumors (with no evidence) that he was a 'bad team-mate'.