moonslav59

to me #2SP (more like a one than a three) and a big bopper are top priorities. a second big bat may be enough to put us over the top.

Fire BREZ!

To replace him will likely take a longer deal, and it won't be cheap, either. When you factor in already needing a big bat to replace Devers, I'm not sure JH will approve of two big deals. That's one reason I have suggested a trade for K Marte, but who knows if it's even possible or what they'd demand.

Usually, it's not a good thing not knowing who your last 3 SP'ers will be. Hopefully we add a Joe Ryan type and need just 2 slots filled. This situation is unique, IMO, because I trust we can find 2 more-than-capable SP'ers from our depth to fill the 4-5 slots. I would not be surprised, at all, if our 4-5-6 starters are among the top 5 in MLB, next year.

I'm not expecting Bregman to have even the same numbers at 2025. His prior 3-4 year trend means more to me, and it scares me. That was one reason I was fine with the short but high AAV deal given him, and was not upset when he opted out. I'd love to get Ryan and think he is likely to get better. I just raised the point about his end of season decline, because others seem to be worried about it. I'm a little concerned but want to get him. I was concerned about Crochet, too, but was 100% for getting him.

Yes. My guess is Fitts and Criswell begin in the pen. I also think we trade 1 SP'er- maybe 2 in the package(s) for a #2SP and or someone like K Marte. Duran & Crawford for K Marte? Campbell, Harrison & Sandlin for Ryan? 2 log jams cleared up.

Agreed. My mention of Kelly would be if we go mega on 2 big bats and JH insists on a short term contract. A trade for Ryan and a Kelly signing would be nice, but not if it prevents that second big bat we need.

Not to mention Bello's 2026 vs 2025. He was a clear second in SP'er IP (162) and had a 3.34 ERA. True, replacing Buehler should be easy (110 IP and 5.40 ERA) as well as Houck (8.04 in 44 IP.) Those two started 31 games. Replacing them with more from Early (2.33) Harrison (4.00) Dobbins (4.25) Crawford (n/a) and Sandoval (n/a) could be the boost we need, but we all know someone else will get hurt. We also lose some other spot starters like May (5.68) Newcomb (4.43) and maybe less from Fitts (4.83) as a SP'er, but every year I point out all the "additions by subtractions" it never works out that way. The only way I'm okay with adding just one SP'er is if it is a solid #1/2 type like Ryan, Lodolo or better, AND we add 2 big bats. (One bat can be a sideways move like keeping Bregman or signing Bichette instead.) I like out SP'er depth and am confident we can find 3 capable rotation guys for the 3-5 slots from: Sandoval, Crawford, Dobbins, Fitts & Harrison Early, Tolle & Perales Emergency depth: Criswell, Uberstine, Drohan or a jump from AA by Clarke, Holobetz, Rivera, Paez or Wehunt/Rogers.

True, and they both dropped off near the end. Do you think bringing Bregman back and replacing Gio with Ryan, with not other significant additions is enough to jump us up a level?

That's not insane money or years, but I'm kinda glad we are not signing another large injury risk SP'er. That being said, the one "durable" guy we signed, Gio, missed half of his 2 year deal.

The article I read seemed to think Kim is due for a significant uptick, but I'm not for another dice roll for 2B.

Mayer is better at 3B than Polanco, so why? I doubt this is a good idea, either: vs RHP 2B: Polanco/ 3B Mayer vs LHPs 2B: Romy/ 3B Polanco I'd rather not do this.

Ryan might be an improvement over the 2025 Gio, but not big enough to get us to top competitive status. Bregman may not improve on the 2025 Bregman, even if he stays healthy all year. I'd be happy with Ryan, and I'd much rather have Ryan for 2026 than re-signing Gio, but how much better can he be than 2025 Gio?

Kelly may be borderline #2.

Perhaps. He has paid $140M/6 and $110M/5, but we'll see if he tops that.

He's horrible, so is Casas. Worse than horrible is possible, but is it a big deal breaker?

Or Matz 1/5 I was thinking more in line of the first big FA to sign anywhere.

Maybe 2025 was a blip, but Abreu did make major strides in hitting lefties. His .676 OPS is pretty close to sustainable, especially if you see how Cora felt Duran's much lower OPS vs LHPs was sustainable. OPS vs LHPs Duran: .428 in 30 PAs '21, .509 in 27 PAs in '22, when he only started 8 gms v L and 50 v R- that was a platoon, folks! Then, Duran turned it around: .749 in 49 PAs in '23 but still 73 GS vs R and just 9 vs L, so this whole notion that Cora has not platooned Duran is a false narrative, unless you look at just 2024 and 2025. As soon as Duran went FT, his OPS vs L dropped and dropped again: .665 in '24 (230 PAs: 117 GS v R/43 GS v L- a strict FT player) .600 in '25 (209 PAs: 116 GS v R and 36 v L- still a FT player) _________________ Abreu has not been in MLB as long as Duran, and in a sense is 2 years behind him, and here are his splits vs LHPs (note the smaller sample sizes due to a near or full platoon) .400 in '23 (just 10 PAs: GS 18 v R and 1 v L) .532 in '24 (67 PAs, which is more PAs than Duran had in '21 and '22 combined!) 104 GS vs R and 6 v L (pretty much a strict platoon) .676 in '25 (68 PAs, which is more PAs than Duran had in '23, but a lower OPS) 89 GS v R/ 8 GS vs L (a slight move towards a near full platoon) Abreu's 2025 OPS is better than Duran's 2024 and 2025 OPS. This is not meant to say that Cora will platoon Duran and not the better defender Abreu, but just that maybe Abreu will not be strictly platooned in '26. IMO, Duran will not be here in '26, so there will not be an either or or both choice to be made.

Of course he does. There is no disagreement from me on that. I will say, it wasn't always like that. Like Abreu, Duran started out as a work in progress, was platooned and highly questionable as a FT'er going forward. I could see Cora looking at having Abreu play FT in 2026, and that would be made more likely, if we traded Duran or Rafaela and did not bring Ref back. (I do think we might bring ref back, if we trade an OF'er, because we do not want to stunt Garcia or Campbell's growth by making them short-side platoon players on the big club.) If Duran is on the 2026 Sox, Cora will NOT platoon him. If Abreu is on the 2026 Sox, he may again be platooned: he may not be, as well. If we keep all 4 OF'ers, Abreu will not start vs LHPs. My issue with keeping all 4 is who sits or DHs vs RHPs, and what a waste of value (tradeable value) that would be.

Never once have I even implied Polanco would play 3B. I'm with Drweski on getting bats first and worrying about a guys arm at 3B in 30% of games. Hell, trade Romy for a better defensive 3B to platoon with mayer, if we have to. Maybe Mayer turns into a FT player, in short order. I'd prefer KMarte or Polanco at 2B with Mayer-Romy at 3B, at a much lower cost, than Breggie at 3B and Mayer-Romy at 2B. That is a much better defensive infield but at a higher cost and much less power.

Agreed. It makes more sense to add a 3Bman than a 2Bman, so Mayer-Romy share 2B than 3B, but... Breggie is too expensive. Suarez is too old and not good at 3B D, Maybe someone is out there via trade, but it seems like 2B options, some with real power, are more plentiful... K Marte Bichette (not much power) Polanco I'd be willing to sacrifice some 3B arm strength in 30% of our games, if it meant having KMarte over Breggie or Suarez. I wouldn't mind KMarte at 2B and Suarez at 1B/back-up 3B. We could actually play Suarez at 3B vs LHPs and Mayer vs RHPs with Romy at 1B vs LHPs. KMarte at 2B.

Who are you talking about benching 70% of the games? Rafaela- the only RHB of the 4? Clearly, his value would be greater on another team playing 95% of the games than to us in 30% of the games and as a late inning defensive replacement. Sure, he'd be valuable as a depth piece, but I see it as a waste to keep him on the bench, when we could trade him for value we could use everyday at another position. No way I want to bench one of our LHB OF'ers vs RHPs, even on some sort of rotation. That would be a gross misuse of talent. One would have to DH, which is another form of wasted value, as they'd be worth more to another team as an OF'er than to us as a DH. This is all before we even think about Masa and even Campbell-Romy-Garcia as possible DHs. We have too many otehr needs to be able to afford the luxury of 4 FT OF'ers and Campbell, Garcia, Masa in reserve.

Not even fans value GG voting all that much. Abreu is a damn good defensive RF'er and with a park like Fenway, he has extra value to us. IMO, that gets me leaning towards him not being traded. His arm is good, too. This whole flg% argument is not even worth discussing. Sure, a few less errors by Abreu (and Rafaela) would be nice, but those two are among the top defensive OF'ers in MLB. I don't want to silence anyone's opinions, but this talk goes in one ear and out the other at the speed of light, to me. Duran is our worst defensive OF'er of the 4 (maybe 5, if you count Garcia.) That's even before counting arm strength, which is very important in Fenway's CF and RF. He's fine in LF, but it is beyond absurd to me, to think he should be in CF. I'm fine with Rafaela in RF, but not so Duran can play CF. I'd rather have Duran LF, Rafaela CF and Anthony RF, if Abreu gets traded, so to me the only way Duran might play CF is if we trade Abreu & Rafaela. (Masa/Garcia/Campbell in LF, Duran in CF and Anthony in RF.)

Yes. I get that. I'm pretty sure not a single poster listed him, and some of us made some pretty long lists of borderline and even unlikely Rule 5 guys. After the fact, it's easy to explain it away, but I still think he fits the "under the radar" label for the reasons I mentioned. True, we are talking about borderline 40 man roster players, so notin's point about how barely significant players can be "under the radar" is well-taken. That being said, we've seen an interesting Rule 5 trade in recent Sox history, with us on the receiving end: Slaten was traded for after being selected in the draft. That's a bit different from this situation.

As for Schwarber's high K rate, who cares when he is also top 7 in BB%. He's got pop (4th in ISO and SLG) and 7th in Walks. (3rd in BB% '24-'25.) We could certainly use his bat, but trading Masa is near impossible, and playing him in LF is scary as hell, and probably means trading 2 of our 4 OF'ers.