Alex Mayes

The Boston Red Sox have a lot of roster decisions to make now that the World Series has ended. All roster members who are on the 60-day injured list must be added to the 40-man roster for the postseason. As currently constructed, they will need to clear two additional roster spots to make room for the seven players they currently have on the 60-day IL. Within the first 12 hours of free agency opening, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Patrick Sandoval both became free agents, and the team traded utility outfielder Nate Eaton (to the Athletics) and fan favorite Tsung-Che Cheng (to the Tigers). While that helps unclog the roster a bit, there are still some decisions to be made. The Red Sox have a number of candidates they can designate for assignment before November 2. There are a handful of players that the team can DFA in short order without making waves. Left-hander Raymond Burgos is, in my estimation, the most likely option here. He was a late season call-up who stepped up when the team needed pitching depth, pitching both ends of a doubleheader and eating innings when the bullpen couldn’t afford to be burned. While pitching depth is something that every team needs, there are options beyond Burgos that make more sense in the long run for the organization. He technically has two minor-league options left, but he’s going to have to be DFA’d and then pass through waivers for the team to keep him in the system. His resilience will likely work in his favor as he looks to land a short-term deal somewhere else. He would be welcomed back to the organization on a minor-league deal, but don’t be surprised if he lands somewhere else for 2027. Outfielder Jahmai Jones was a midseason addition that proved to be a force against left-handed pitching. He platooned in left field with Jarren Duran for most of his tenure in Boston, but with Roman Anthony presumably healthy heading into 2027, Jones is going to be a piece that can be let go without dipping into very much depth. He would be a great piece to have off the bench, but when there are so many names that have to be added back to the 40-man roster that he might be a victim of some roster math. There's also names to consider like Kutter Crawford, who has missed almost two full seasons, or Zack Kelly, who seems like a prime change-of-scenery candidate after spending more time on the road traveling between Worcester and Boston than he has on the field. If not them, you're most likely going to see a few more trades to clear roster spots. There’s a handful of guys who don’t seem like they are long for the Red Sox. Depending on how you slice it, that list is headlined by either Masataka Yoshida, Jarren Duran, and even Trevor Story. There are reports that Duran and Yoshida are squarely in the mix to be moved this offseason given their respective contract statuses and past success. Neither player will command a huge return, but finding buyers for either could be easier this offseason since the free-agent market is the weakest it has been in years. What makes a Story trade far less likely is that he achieved 10-and-5 rights at the conclusion of the 2026 season, so he essentially holds a full no-trade clause. It’s possible he could be moved, but it would have to be a situation where he feels that he could thrive and those are likely to be few and far between at this point in his injury-plagued career. Should the Red Sox look to move Duran, Yoshida, or Story in a trad, then they’d need to put their foot on the gas to get something done. As they proved with their trades of Eaton and Cheng, it’s possible to make deals immediately after the conclusion of the season, but to move on from a major piece of the roster is a more involved process. It’s possible a deal could be made, but Craig Breslow isn’t known for being the quickest negotiator in the league. To be able to clear the final few 40-man roster spots, some tough decisions are going to have to be made over the next handful of days. Expect Breslow to explore every avenue available to him, but the roster crunch is only going to get worse when the team has to decide which prospects to protect and when they start signing big-league free agents. View full article

Most Boston Red Sox fans agreed that 2026 was the year that Wilyer Abreu needed to take the next step in his offensive game to prove that he should be considered a piece to build around. We already know just how outstanding of a defender he is in right field—he’s won back-to-back Gold Gloves and is nominated for a third—but offensively, Abreu had a complicated track record. While I'd stop short of saying that he completely broke out this year, as he suffered from cold streaks that broke up scorching hot runs throughout the season, Abreu did take an impressive step against left-handed pitching that has to be celebrated. Let’s dive into the numbers. On the season, Abreu slashed .248/.327/.446 with 24 home runs, 76 RBIs, a .335 wOBA, 20.7 K%, 10.4 BB%, 112 wRC+, and 3.3 fWAR. He set career highs in both home runs and RBIs and that should give the Red Sox’s front office confidence that he’s going to continue to improve as he goes through his arbitration years. Until this season, he operated in a platoon role in right field. He only really started against right-handed pitchers while he was on the bench as a late-game substitute whenever a southpaw was on the mound. Alex Cora, and later Chad Tracy, charged Abreu with taking a step forward against lefties this season as he was handed the keys to the full-time starting role in right field. He more than rewarded their confidence in him; against lefties, Abreu slashed .295/.375/.479 with six home runs, 27 RBI, a .373 wOBA, 16.6 K%, 10.6 BB%, and a 138 wRC+. While he didn’t hit a ton of homers, he was putting the ball in play frequently and getting on base at an impressive clip. His success against lefties got to the point that when opposing managers would make a move to the bullpen to bring in their trusted left-handed to face Abreu, both Lou Merloni and Dave O’Brien would start to chuckle because they knew Abreu’s splits weren’t what most people would assume this season. The flip side though, is that Abreu took a big step back against right-handed pitchers. His slash line looks decidedly worse for this split: .226/.305/.430 with 18 home runs, 49 RBI, a .317 wOBA, 22.6 K%, 10.3 BB%, and a 99 wRC+. That being said, Abreu found his power stroke against righties and that should continue to carry into 2027 and beyond. It’s plausible to suggest he spent the bulk of last offseason focusing on becoming a better hitter against left-handed pitching and that left him unprepared for righties. He'll have to discover that balance to really emerge as an offensive star, but he now has verifiable proof that he can mash against all pitchers, regardless of which side they throw from. At the end of the day, Abreu continues to dominate right field for the Red Sox. As long as he’s healthy, he’s going to be patrolling around the biggest home right field in baseball while adding Gold Gloves to his growing collection. If he can just marry his evolution against lefties with a resurgence against righties, Abreu could be in All-Star conversations as quickly as next season. Should that come to fruition, the Red Sox would be smart to lock him up with a contract extension sooner rather than later. View full article

While the Boston Red Sox were thoroughly boat raced in the Wild Card Round by the New York Yankees for a second season in a row, it further highlighted a roster construction issue that has been plaguing the team since 2021: The Sox lack a legitimate power threat in the lineup. Sure, Willson Contreras had a career season while Wilyer Abreu took a step forward to set career highs in both home runs and RBIs, but the team was wanting for a power bat when the schedule mattered the most and they had nowhere to turn. Remember, the organization has built World-Series-winning teams around massive offensive firepower for the entirety of their championship runs. In 2004 and 2007, the team had David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez; Papi then led the charge in 2013, JD Martinez was the primary slugger in 2018, and in 2021 the team traded for Kyle Schwarber at the deadline to give their offense a boost. Now, though? There’s a missing piece in the middle of the lineup that keeps opposing pitchers honest. Since Craig Breslow became the President of Baseball Operations in Boston, the designated hitter position has been treated as a way to cycle a number of outfielders through the spot to keep them all in the lineup, as well as giving guys a rest day without putting them totally on the bench. Since Breslow took over as POBO in October of 2023, the Red Sox have featured 33 players at designated hitter. Let that sink in for a second—the team that relied on one hitter in the middle of their lineup for 14 seasons has had 33 different players cycle through the spot in three years. I won’t list them all here, but there are some wholly uninspiring names on this list. Obviously, Masataka Yoshida leads all hitters in appearances, followed by Rafael Devers second and Roman Anthony third in terms of pitches seen. Fourth on that list? Rob Refsnyder. Fifth? Mickey Gasper. Other names from that list who make you go ‘hmm’ would be Garrett Cooper, Enmanuel Valdez, Danny Jansen, Bobby Dalbec, and Tyler Heineman. Talk about whatever the opposite of a Murderer's Row is. I understand Breslow’s thinking, to a point. When you have an outfield mix of guys like Anthony, Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran, and Masataka Yoshida, then you need to get creative to be able to get most of their bats in the lineup on a nightly basis. What that does, though, is hamstring the depth chart at a position that helped propel them to such a long run of success. By shucking the DH position and using it as a revolving door for outfielders who are struggling at the plate for an entire season, Breslow is effectively saying that the DH position isn’t that important in his organization. What’s still going on in the playoffs proves him wrong. In both League Championship Series this year, each team has a legitimate power threat in at least two spots in the lineup. The Brewers have the hybrid 1B/DH the Red Sox ideally want in Jake Bauers with Jackson Chourio leading off. The Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani (who was obviously playing through an injury), plus Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, and Kyle Tucker who are all threats to go deep. The Rays have Yandy Diaz and Junior Caminero. The Guardians have Jose Ramirez as their main threat, but Jo Adell and Chase DeLauter both have pop off the bat. Realistically, who do the Red Sox have that could provide that kind of spark in the postseason? Contreras and Abreu? Anthony? Curtis Mead? Adley Rutschman? Even Triston Casas? If we’re counting on back-to-back career years from Contreras, we’re already in a situation no one is going to be happy with. Abreu took a positive step forward against left-handed pitchers while taking a step back against right-handed ones. Anthony has yet to put together a healthy season in professional baseball. Mead has had one at-bat with the Red Sox. Rutschman has big seasons from his past, but there are concerns about his conditioning and he has a lengthy injury history. Casas has been an offensive powerhouse when healthy, but he’s had back-to-back debilitating injuries that have kept him off the field for over two years. While Justin Gonzalez looks incredibly promising in Portland, he’s still only a teenager and is at least a year off from being big league ready. Franklin Arias isn’t that type of player, either; he’s toolsy, but he’s not a middle-of-the-order threat. What the Red Sox need to do to fix the power issue at designated hitter is to go big-game hunting this offseason. There are clear pitfalls with that plan, though. First, this free agent class is incredibly weak. While both Randy Arozarena and Seiya Suzuki make sense for the Red Sox for different reasons, both players will be entering their age-32 seasons in 2027. After that, there’s a pretty significant decline in the quality of bats on the open market. The team could turn to the trade market, but after the Rutschman, Mead, and Erik Miller deals at the deadline, most experts rank the Red Sox’s farm system in the lower third of the league. They’d have to deal from the major-league roster and that just opens a new hole while trying to patch this one. The Red Sox are on the cusp of being a legitimate threat to the AL East thanks to their pitching and defense, but their lack of offensive firepower will continue to hold them back until they add a legitimate power threat to the lineup. There are paths in the offseason that will allow Craig Breslow to do just that, but he’s going to have to get incredibly creative to pull it off without hurting the future of the franchise at the same time. View full article

From an offensive standpoint, the 2026 season can be described as one of impressive highs and incredible lows. Through the first two-and-a-half months of the season, the Boston Red Sox looked completely lost at the plate and struggled to score in big scenarios. Then, the end of June came and sent us through an incredible summer of winning baseball that was often accompanied by big swings and even bigger walk-off victories. Sadly, the season ended with a whimper as the Sox bats went cold in the month of September and they never earned a chance to play baseball in the month of October. That being said, there were more than a handful of players who either took massive steps forward at the plate or added a jolt of offensive firepower to the team after they were traded to Boston. While we’re still mourning the end of the season, it's worth celebrating the players who did everything they could to turn this team around. Talk Sox's Best Red Sox Hitters of the Season (2026) #4: Caleb Durbin Season Stats: .248/.332/.378, 13 HR, 64 RBI, 20 SB, 8.7 BB%, 13.5 K%, 100 wRC+, 3.1 fWAR Durbin didn’t have the start or end to the season that he, or the team, anticipated him having when he was acquired from the Brewers. He was the face of the streak over the summer, though, and that showed us just how impactful he can be when his bat is hot. He battled through multiple injuries to his pinky, didn’t blink when fans booed him early in the season, and then proved to be one of the better clutch hitters on the team until he ran out of gas. Once he adjusted his offensive approach—instead of selling out for pull-side power, he went back to hitting to all fields—we saw Durbin become someone that pitchers had to circle on the lineup card because he was going to find a way to get on base. He wasn’t afraid to take a hit by a pitch and he would take his walks when he could. His strikeout percentage was first among qualified hitters on the team and second to only Masataka Yoshida if we include non-qualified hitters. With a full offseason to work with the organization, expect Durbin to become a mainstay in the lineup as he continues to play Gold-Glove-caliber defense at the hot corner. #3: Wilyer Abreu Season Stats: .248/.327/.446, 24 HR, 76 RBI, 8 SB, 10.4 BB%, 20.7 K%, 112 wRC+, 3.3 fWAR It felt like 2026 was the make-or-break season for Abreu. He finally was taken out of a platoon in right field and was left to face left-handed pitching on a nightly basis. He responded to the challenge in a way that no one likely anticipated. Abreu became a terror against southpaws to the point that Lou Merloni and Dave O’Brien would loudly question why opposing managers would consistently go to a lefty reliever late in games against Abreu. More often than not, the slugging outfielder came through in those situations and reached base. He was a crucial part of the summer winning streak as well. The knock against Abreu throughout his career is that he’s a hitter who goes through extended slumps that are rough to watch, and we saw that this season. When he’s hot, he’s one of the best hitters in the game, but when he’s cold he presses far too often and ends up striking out or hitting rollovers to second. Those cold streaks likely can take the blame for his 20.7% strikeout rate, and for him to take the next step in his career, that number is going to have to continue to come down. He did seem far more selective at the plate, though, and his 10.4% walk rate proves he is still making forward strides. #2: Ceddanne Rafaela Season Stats: .283/.319/.442, 16 HR, 70 RBI, 17 SB, 3.8 BB%, 20.3 K%, 110 wRC+, 4.1 fWAR The ending to Rafaela’s season likely has left an awful taste in his mouth, but it can’t be argued that he was one of the most consistent hitters in the lineup day in and day out this season. He’s always had a problem with striking out and not walking and that continued this season, but his strikeout percentage came down from 2025 and that’s a huge takeaway from his offensive approach. He seemed to be far more comfortable at the plate and, in turn, was more selective in his approach so he was able to put the ball in play more often than in previous years. He had a knack for huge, clutch hits in 2025 that seemed to escape him this season, but he still was one of the driving forces of the offense no matter where he was hitting in the lineup. Going into 2027, Rafaela has likely earned the trust of Chad Tracy to be moved to the two-hole on a permanent basis, allowing him to be a featured hitter of the team for the remainder of his contract. Oh, and he's still one of the best defenders in baseball regardless of position. #1: Willson Contreras Season Stats: .275/.386/.516, 27 HR, 81 RBI, 3 SB, 11 BB%, 25.2 K%, 151 wRC+, 4.0 fWAR It shouldn’t be surprising to see Contreras at the number one spot here, even if he faded a little down the stretch. He was the offensive lifeblood of the team throughout the entire season, even when he was injured or suspended. We talked at length on the Talk Sox Podcast early in the season about how his amazing offensive production was being wasted on a team that was quickly going nowhere. Thankfully for all of us, the team got hot around him and Contreras was able to set career highs in both home runs and runs batted in in his first season in Boston. He’s polarizing to some of the fanbase because he’s not afraid to speak his mind about any topic he gets asked about in postgame pressers, but he’s a leader in the clubhouse and is in line to be a major contributor in 2027 as well. If Contreras continues to hit this well—and with his PullAir% going up in his first season playing in Fenway, all signs point to him feasting for a while—he’s going to be an important veteran on the team as they push get past their Wild Card demons next season. View full article

Liberty Biberty vs Limu Emu, who wins?

Incredibly valid, haha

I take it all back. Breslow is a broken down car with its doors rusted out on the side of a riverbank that no one should pay attention to anymore.

Despite the mini-mutiny we saw in the locker room at the end of Game 2, Chad Tracy is the correct choice to lead the Boston Red Sox for the foreseeable future. He was able to get the team to find their identity and rattle off a massive win streak from the end of June through the beginning of August that invigorated a fan base that had very little to look forward to through much of the first half of the season. He will be in the Manager of the Year conversation and luckily for him, those votes have already been cast. Thus, his shortcomings in the Wild Card Round won’t work against him amongst the voters. Before I dive too far into this, Chad Tracy is not on the hook for the offense’s poor performance in the series. Ultimately, the lineup’s inability to score runs was their downfall. Tracy can’t make the lineup hit, he’s not responsible for Roman Anthony’s incessant hand injury, or the small defensive lapses that allowed the Yankees to stay on base when innings should have been over. Where he shoulders the bulk of the blame though, is in his bullpen mismanagement for both games. He seemed to be managing scared. We can start with Payton Tolle’s start in Game 1. He wasn’t quite fooling the Yankees’ lineup, only notching four strikeouts in the 4.2 innings he was on the bump, but he was pitching well and his velocity hadn’t begun to drop in the fifth. Tolle only threw 83 pitches before Tracy made the slow trek to the mound, motioned for Erik Miller, and asked Tolle for the ball with Ben Rice due up. Rice hits fastballs really well and struggles with sinkers. Sinkers are Miller’s speciality, but Miller has been struggling mightily throughout the month of September. In his last seven appearances alone, he recorded an 8.53 ERA over 6.1 innings while allowing six hits, six earned runs, seven walks, and seven strikeouts. Due to injuries in the bullpen, he was unable to be moved from his high-leverage role, but it was clear he was struggling and shouldn’t be trusted against the big bats of the Yankees. Miller promptly left a sinker down the middle of the plate and Rice deposited it into the seats to fire up a restless crowd. Jake Bennett has pitched well against the Yankees this season and was just sitting in the bullpen, watching Miller deliver a meatball to Rice. Why not turn to the rookie if the decision was to follow up Tolle with another lefty? The move to go to Greg Weissert, Wyatt Olds, and Alec Gamboa can be mostly explained away. Even Tracy himself admitted that he stayed away from the back end of his bullpen, and a returning Garrett Crochet, because a loss is a loss in the postseason. It doesn’t matter if it’s by two or nine, it counts just the same. He’s right, but the issue comes with how quick of a hook he had for Tolle. The hulking southpaw has the best stuff on the pitching staff and instead of letting him go at least five full innings (he’s gone into at least the sixth inning in 14 of his 26 starts), Tracy waved the white flag at about the halfway point of the game. That’s fine for a series in the middle of June in Seattle. It’s unacceptable for game one of the Wild Card Series against your biggest rival. Arguably more egregious in that game, though, was the decision to bring Brayan Bello into a lose-lose situation in the eighth inning. He was brought in to try and induce an inning-ending double play and stop the bleeding for the Red Sox. Instead, he melted down and allowed a grand slam to Rice that put the game fully out of reach. Bello has struggled through parts of this season with his mental makeup and bringing him in in that situation, in the place he had the shortest leash of his career last year, only set him up for failure. Once again, where was Bennett? If a loss is a loss in the postseason, why not let Gamboa continue to wear it? Why risk Bello coming apart at the seams and setting him back after he worked so hard to reestablish himself as a reliever? Game 2 started off better, at least from a pitching management standpoint. Tracy seemed content in letting Sonny Gray be Sonny Gray. He gave up his signature solo home run, but was pitching well through his 4.2 innings, when Tracy once again stepped out of the dugout, motioned for Miller, and asked for the ball from Gray. We all already know that Miller allowed two hits and runs crossed the plate, again. Then, in a last-ditch effort to save the series, Tracy turned to Crochet, who was the victim of terrible decision-making by Adley Rutschman. The skipper relented and went to Garrett Whitlock, who looked like he was just going through the motions, Gamboa for the second night in a row, and Aroldis Chapman because why not at that point. Tracy’s poor management of his bullpen, and failure to trust his starters to go deep into games that they were well-equipped to go deep into, set the tone for this series. Throughout the season, Tracy was incredibly successful at pushing the right buttons with the bullpen. This time, it appears the moment got to him. I fully believe in Chad Tracy—he's the right guy for this job, despite what some folks in the locker room had to say. Still, he is going to be kicking himself for quite a while when he reflects on how this season ended. View full article

The Boston Red Sox made it official this week, naming rookie southpaw Payton Tolle the Game 1 starter for their Wild Card Round clash against the New York Yankees. While this is what I had been advocating for on recent episodes of the Talk Sox Podcast, there was a lot of debate amongst fans between which starter between Tolle or veteran Sonny Gray should get the nod to take the rubber in the opener. Manager Chad Tracy went with the rookie with the electric stuff and, judging by Tolle’s quotes from the first media availability on Monday afternoon, he’s up to the task. Since I’ve already profiled how the pitcher Tolle is squaring off against, Cam Schlittler, has fared against the Red Sox, I wanted to do the same for the hulking southpaw.. Starting with his overall season numbers, Tolle turned in 148.2 innings, a 28.4 K%, 6.6 BB%, 3.03 ERA, 3.04 FIP, and a 4.1 fWAR. He finished the season with 171 strikeouts to only 40 walks while only allowing 50 earned runs. His batting average allowed sits at an impressive .221 mark. If we shrink that down to just his starts on the road though, his numbers get even better. Road Tolle has been an absolute dog all season. He’s pitched 72 innings away from Fenway Park and has posted a 25.1 K%, 6.5 BB%, 2.50 ERA, and a 3.07 FIP. Plus, sis batting average allowed on the road shrunk down to an even more impressive .202. Tolle has been dominant all season, but he seems to shine even brighter when he’s challenging a hostile crowd. Luckily for him, the Wild Card Series takes place in the same location he first got a taste of the postseason last year. Before we dive into Tolle’s numbers against the Bronx Bombers, it needs to be said that he’s only made two starts against them this season, and both of those were at home. Still, the numbers at Fenway indicate that we’re in for an absolute gem of a start come Tuesday night. In Tolle’s first outing against the Yankees, he actually lined up against Schlittler and went almost pitch for pitch with him. Tolle tossed six innings of three-hit, one-run, 11-strikeout baseball. The lone sour mark on Tolle’ line came off a Pesky homer hit by Jazz Chisholm. Since this was the early season Red Sox, though, Tolle was handed a no-decision after the bullpen fell apart late in the game. The second time Tolle saw the Yankees, he was utterly dominant. He went seven shutout innings while walking two, striking out seven, and only allowing one hit. He was able to carry a perfect game into the sixth inning in this start, which came during the magical run of the summer. In these two starts against the Yankees, Tolle allowed a grand total of one run in 13 frames. He’s dominated Boston’s biggest rivals, and now it’s time for him to continue to do so under the bright lights of (almost) October. With those numbers in mind, it stands to reason that Payton Tolle is going to walk into Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night in primetime and be his usual dominant self. The Red Sox lost some firepower in the bullpen as the season was winding down, but Tolle has already provided quite a bit of length in his two starts against the Yankees; another deep outing could go a long way to giving Chad Tracy a full assortment of bullpen options in Games 2 and 3. It’s a lot of pressure to put on a rookie to walk into your rival’s stadium and out-duel the likely Cy Young winner, but Tolle only seems to get better when the challenge is greater. A win in this contest would set the Sox up perfectly to avenge their loss from one year ago. View full article