Brock Beauchamp

Here are some helpful pieces from Brewer Fanatic on Durbin: https://brewerfanatic.com/news-rumors/milwaukee-brewers/how-can-caleb-durbin-improve-in-2026-r4127/ https://brewerfanatic.com/news-rumors/milwaukee-brewers/above-and-beyond-five-brewers-that-greatly-improved-in-2025-r3812/ https://brewerfanatic.com/news-rumors/milwaukee-brewers/caleb-durbin-is-an-enigma-r3615/

Welcome to Talk Sox! Sorry it took awhile to approve your post, I was travelling most of the day.

The 2026 MLB season is right around the corner, and we're looking to expand our video coverage. Have you ever considered being on-camera and talking about the Red Sox? If yes, we'd love to talk to you about it. Our videos are typically in a wide variety of styles: breaking news, analysis, and historical study. We're open to any and all ideas as long as they're centered around the Boston Red Sox. We're looking for serious baseball talk, so leave the hot takes at home. If you'd like to learn more about this cool little side gig, please email Brock Beauchamp at brock.beauchamp@talksox.com. Here is an example of a recent Red Sox video from us: View full rumor

Hi, I have deployed a more comprehensive code snippet for ad-free caretakers. This should work better and includes the ability to remove ads that display before videos. If there are any problems with your ad-free caretaker status, please reply here.

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This should be fixed now, please let me know if it isn't.

Welcome to Talk Sox! I don't think Bichette is getting $300m. He's young, which is great, but also *not* a shortstop. I think he's closer to Willy Adames than he is Cory Seager.

Exactly.

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Jeff Passan of ESPN just broke the news that the Red Sox are trading for veteran slugger and first baseman Willson Contreras. In return, a package led by prospect Hunter Dobbins is on its way to St Louis. Contreras was 33 years old in the 2025 season with the Cardinals. He joined St. Louis on a five-year, $87.5 million free-agent deal before the 2023 season, and the contract includes a 2028 club option. He is under contract through 2027, with the option to extend through 2028 if exercised. While he is no longer considered a catcher, Contreras has continued to provide above-average offense, making his transition to first base rather seamless. In 2024, he appeared in 84 games and logged 358 plate appearances, hitting 15 home runs with a .262/.380/.468 line, a .370 wOBA, and a 141 wRC+, along with a 12.6% BB% and 26.8% K% and a 2.7 FanGraphs WAR. In 2025, he played 135 games with 563 plate appearances, posting 20 home runs and a .257/.344/.447 line, a .344 wOBA, and a 124 wRC+, with a 7.8% BB% and 25.2% K%, finishing at 2.8 fWAR. According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive, St. Louis will send some money to Boston to cover some of the remaining $41.5 million on Contreras's contract. Jeff Passan has confirmed that the Cardinals will send $8 million to the Red Sox to offset Contreras's contract. The Red Sox are also sending RHP Yhoiker Fajardo and RHP Blake Aita to the Cardinals. Talk Sox had Fajardo ranked 17th on our latest top prospect rankings, and Aika did not crack our top 20, nor he did not break into MLB Pipeline's top 30. Right-handed Dobbins is 26 and debuted last April for Boston. In 2024, he threw 125 2/3 innings across Double-A and Triple-A with a 3.04 FIP. In 2025, he logged 61 MLB innings, 45 strikeouts, 17 walks. As 2025 was his rookie season, he is still two years from being arbitration-eligible. This alters the trajectory of the Red Sox offseason. They were once in deep on re-signing third baseman Alex Bregman, but now it's impossible to predict how much money they have remaining to spend in free agency, and what internal needs they are prioritizing. View full article

Oh hey, I only just noticed this thread. The can't post problem was escalating for about two days, and then the database server failed completely. Turns out, something was very wrong in the database server, and that was causing the issue.

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Jeff Passan has reported the Red Sox have swapped right-handed Luis Perales for the Nationals' left-handed pitching prospect Jake Bennett. Bennett, 25, was ranked No. 10 in Washington’s farm system by MLB.com. Drafted in the second round (45th overall) in 2022 out of Oklahoma, he missed the entire 2024 season because of Tommy John surgery. In 2025, he worked across Single-A Fredericksburg, High-A Wilmington, and Double-A Harrisburg, totaling 75 1/3 innings with 64 strikeouts and 19 walks. He posted a 2.27 ERA in 19 games, including 18 starts overall. He led the Arizona Fall League in strikeouts after the minor-league season was complete. Perales, 22, was ranked fifth by Talk Sox in Boston’s farm system. Signed out of Venezuela on July 2, 2019, he spent most of 2024 between High-A Greenville and Double-A Portland. In May 2024, he had 32 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings alone. Over 33 2/3 innings, he recorded 56 strikeouts and 12 walks. He reached Portland at age 21 and struck out 10 in 7 1/3 innings across two Double-A starts before being sidelined with an elbow injury. After missing most of 2025, he returned late in the season for three rehab outings, totaling 2 1/3 innings and four strikeouts. This is a very strange move, as you don't often see minor-league challenge trades. What do you think, Red Sox fans? View full article

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The MLB Winter Meetings have concluded, and the Red Sox appear serious about adding offense in 2026. According to Chris Cotillo of MassLive, the Cardinals' Willson Contreras has become their most recent trade target. Contreras turns 34 early in the 2026 season. He signed a five-year deal with St. Louis that runs through 2027, so he remains under contract for 2026 and 2027. At the plate in 2024, Contreras logged 663 plate appearances and hit .262/.380/.468 with a .365 wOBA and 141 wRC+. He walked in 12.6% of his plate appearances, struck out 26.8% of the time, and finished at 2.7 fWAR. In 2025, he had 622 plate appearances and hit .257/.344/.447 with a .358 wOBA and 124 wRC+. His BB% was 7.8% with a 25.2% K%, and he produced 2.8 fWAR. Defensively, he caught 431 2/3 innings in 2024. In 2025 at first base, he logged 1011 2/3 innings with -1 Defensive Runs Saved. While he could still technically catch, he's not a volume receiver at this point in his career, and it's possible the Red Sox will not consider him a catcher at all. View full rumor

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This is an excellent article on seam-shifted wake from Brewer Fanatic. Really detailed, fascinating stuff about pitching. https://brewerfanatic.com/news-rumors/milwaukee-brewers/the-most-impactful-pitching-advancement-of-this-decade-understanding-seam-shifted-wake-r3992/

I think there should be more coming from Milwaukee, to be sure. And Milwaukee didn't convert Ashby due to a return from shoulder issues, and lack of space in the rotation, not because Ashby shouldn't be a starter. I'm still moderately bullish on him being a starter given the stuff and the variety in stuff. But yeah, I don't care for this deal from the Sox perspective.

It really depends how Ashby is viewed. There's a real chance he should go back to starting, and his contract is stupid-cheap.