oldtimer

It was interesting to see two low budget teams reach the world series this year. Both had excellent pitching. In addition they featured strong defennse, speed and hitters that put the ball in play. Neither were major homerun threats, but they put offensive pressure on with base stealing and could win without pounding out a large RBI total. It would be interesting to see what the Red Sox will do. Has management decided what identity the team will try to forge going forward? Clearly every team needs excellent pitching and the Sox are in decent shape; So what are we striving for in the field? Our defense is good in the outfield. Anthony is our weakest link there and is still satisfactory. In the infield Durbin plays excellent defense at 3rd, Story not so good at SS but Arias could be an improvement. Mead may just be average at 2nd and Contreras average defensively at 1st. Rauschman is a good defensive catcher. We need to retain an acceptable utility crew since we seem to suffer a lot of in season injuries. So what is our offensive identity and what should it be? Would we be satisfied with a focus on players who look to put the ball in play and achieve high OBP's or should we look for a star who can give us 40 HR's? Maybe there are acquisitions who can do both but at what cost? My view of our current players offense: Anthony - unproven and regressed last season but still has major upward potential Rafaela - still swings at too many bad pitches Abreu - concentrates on HR swing, doesn't shorten up when in pitchers count Durbin - at times looked like a decent contact hitter Story - Declining and inconsistent hitter with some power Arias - Looks to have high potential but unproven Mead - One good year but unproven with Sox Contreras - our best hitter and has decent power Rauschman - He showed me consistent contact Be nice to have a have a DH that could help us without the need to be a defensive whiz. One other point is a manager that goes all out to close the winnable games. The Brewers manager seemed to follow that philosopy, where at times Red Sox managers would rest players with our best pitchers up and by doing so contribute to losing winnable games.

Arias wsould likely give us a boost in defense at SS, something both WS teams feature. Don't overlook the holistic benefit of a player at that position. Story is aging and is no longer a top defender. Giving up Arias to get a big bat would be an approach I would not favor.

We are watching lower budget teams winning pennants. The Rays, Cleveland and the Brewers all are outperforming the big budget guys. Good pitching, good defense, aggressive offense. Loaded teams with huge budgets getting swept. Let management make the hard decisions, We are not that far from being competitive. Arias is our top prospect, bring him in now. Play Mead. Trade away veterans who have proven they can't get it done. Got to ask if our interim, now longer term manager has what it takes to move the team forward.

I thought Anthony, Rafaela and Abreu all demonstrated weaknesses at the plate, especially in September and against playoff level pitching. Anthony took pitches on the plate and got deep in the count, then offering at balls off the plate, Rafaela was back to his old habits of chasing while Abreu seems to live and die with a massive swing.. That said, the outfield is pretty well set, particularly if we part with Duran, who will be overpriced. I see our infield as Durbin, Arais, Mead and Contreras. I would cut ties with a Story if he is tradable. Yes, there are risks with that approach. Arais is unproven at the ML level but is a superior defensive player to Story, Mead will probably give us a solid bat with power and again it is a hope that Contreras has some life left at his age. Rutschman is our best bet at catcher and I thought he was giving us solid at bats at the end of season. Yoshida is probably remaining with us and he is a pesky hitter but has little power. Chasing any of these players off in order to retain a proven but expensive big bat is not necessarily an improvement. Who would be replaced? Yoshida. I definitely wouldn't trade Arais and Mead may well partially fulfill our need for power. Who else? An outfielder? I can see Brez struggling with some decisions going forward.

My concern is that many of the players we relied on for offense regressed later in the season and I wondered why. Abreu for instance seemed to overswing and seldom make solid contacr. Rafaela remained aggressive but was back to swinging at balls well off the plate. Anthony was taking pitches over the plate at going to full counts before swinging at balls off the plate. Duran was just not seeing the ball and piling up strikeouts. We will rely on at least some of these guys in 2027, assuming there is a season, and I wonder what our hitting coaches are doing to Help these and other players get out of their bad habits.

Only 7 batters in ML baseball had a BA or 300 or above in 2026, with the top one at 316. Baseball is becoming more pitching dominant with starters seldom going 3 times through the batting order, velocity up and hitters concentrating on HRs. In addition, It seems to me that hitters are swamped with data and put on a tether by their coaches. Watching the Red Sox hitters at bats during the wild card series was painful with only Contreras, Rutschman and Sogard having good at bats. Other regressed. Saying that, I basically agree with Moon's 2027 starters with Arias in for Story and Sogard, Gonzales and Campbell for utility the 26 man roster. It will be a miracle if Chapman can give us another great year; fingers crossed on that. What I haven't seen addressed is the coaching area. Our pitching was good, our defense was good, and would improve with Arias, but our offense was not. Cutting ties with Duran and a Story (in decline) would help but we have to be better at coaching.

Congratulations to the Sox for making the wild card and giving the fans some hope. Our pitching was generally quite good but our offense was not competitive toward the close of the season. Pitching has become dominant these days as starters go shorter intervals and a hitter faces more pitchers per game. Still, I agree that the talent has been watered down. Maybe we can take a step next season. That's the old refrain I know but hope spring eternal.

Duran is no longer a valuable piece to the Sox or probably anyone else at this point. He should be replaced and I am sorry to see his underperformance but it's time to admit he no longer can help us. With Arais due to make the team at the start of 2027, Story is extra baggage unless kept for DH and utility. An infield of Durbin, Arais, Mead and Contreras makes sense. Sogard is a very good utility piece. Yoshida would be hard to move but at least makes enough contact to part time at DH. Our hitting fundamentals are poor and we lack power bats. We could add a big bat, but where would he play. Should we reconfigure the outfield? Hard to move on from the 3 we currently have. I've got to believe we are lacking in the coacching of our hitters. I expected more from our outfield, but them seem to have regressed.

He seemed to regress at the plate, taking pitches over the plate and then to swing at pitches off the plate. He's done for this year but wonder if he would do better if encouraged to swing more aggressively next season. Perhaps he should have surgery to clear up the physical problem.

Good for you. I'm closing in on my 86th year and doubt if I'm the oldest fan on Talk Sox.

Rodney Dangerfield joke

In watching Sox hitters, I see a lot of ABs where our guys will take strike two down the middle and swing at strike three several inches off the plate. They are looking at their coach to see signs and perhaps approval of what to do on the next pitch. I'm old school, perhaps because I've been around a long time. Free the batter up if the pitch is on the plate swing. Be aggressive. Our offense is pathetic now and needs enthusiasm. True, the Sox continue to have a lot of injuries and that contributes to the malaise, but our pitchiing is sound and the defense has been pretty good. We have not faced AS pitching every night yet still we look helpless. Two hits in a game. C'mon guys.

With all the injuries, is this still the team that compiled 83 wins? Sox management is hoping to enter the playoffs with the return of some of the key players by being careful now. Makes sense, but ehy still need to lockup their wild card slot.

Red Sox offense. The side goes down on strikes. What is going on?

Anthony continues to struggle.