Alex Mayes

There was a lot of confusion around the league when the Boston Red Sox inked Isiah Kiner-Falefa to a one year, $6 million contract late in the offseason. The thought was that he didn’t make much sense as a veteran addition to a team that had rookie Marcelo Mayer, Caleb Durbin, Nate Eaton, and an injured Romy Gonzalez already under contract for the season. Sure, he’s a veteran presence in a very young clubhouse but at what cost? Mayer needs to be playing at second every day, even against left-handed pitchers, and Gonzalez is looking to return in just over a month if Chad Tracy still believes that Mayer needs a platoon partner at the keystone. It’s time for the Red Sox to cut their losses and move on from Isiah Kiner-Falefa. If we just look at the numbers, they paint the picture of a veteran who is likely past his prime and struggling with the looks he’s given. He’s only played in 19 games with 42 plate appearances. He’s currently slashing .205/.244/.205 with a zero fWAR and a 23 wRC+. If you look at his Baseball Savant page, he’s not qualified for any of the batting metrics but the stats we have are less than ideal. When he’s at the plate, he’s striking out just 16.7% of the time, but his walk rate is an abysmal 4.8%. His chase rate is 44.4% and he’s only barreling 3.1% of the pitches he makes contact with. He’s as close to an automatic out as you can be at this point in his career. He’s starting against left-handed starters as Mayer is eased into the role of an every day big leaguer, but Mayer has looked at least competent against most southpaws he’s been allowed to face. Any at-bat that Kiner-Falefa is taking from Mayer is doing a disservice to Mayer’s growth and the future of the organization. There was some hope, before the news of Garrett Crochet’s injury broke, that when Nate Eaton was called up at the end of April that maybe Kiner-Falefa had been DFA’d, but that wasn’t meant to be at the time. The saving grace in all of this is Romy Gonzalez is nearing his return to the club. He’s responded well to his shoulder surgery and has been playing catch and taking grounders during the most recent homestand. While he’s not close to game action yet, he’s started baseball activities and that means the next step should be a rehab assignment with a minor league club. Once Gonzalez is big league ready, it’s likely safe to assume that a Kiner-Falefa DFA would be the most logical corresponding move. Gonzalez has been a contributor to this team in recent seasons and has both a higher floor and ceiling than Kiner-Falefa possesses at this point in his career. Romy mashes left-handed pitchers and plays valuable defense at all infield positions. His skillset makes Kiner-Falefa a redundant, and expensive, bench piece that will only see his playing time decrease once the season heats up in late June. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa is a journeyman utility player that has put together a decent professional career. While he was likely brought in due to the nature of Gonzalez's injury, he should be the first name called once Romy is ready to join the big league club. Kiner-Falefa’s skillset is obviously diminishing and he’s taking time away from younger players who need more exposure to at-bats during major league action. It’s rare for Craig Breslow to admit when he made a mistake, but he can save a bit of face by releasing Kiner-Falefa the second Romy Gonzalez is ready to join the club. View full article

While there hasn’t been much going right for the Boston Red Sox so far this season, arguably the biggest bright spot has been Wilyer Abreu. Defensively, Abreu has been his usual self by making amazing catches in right field to help prevent runs from scoring. He’s well on his way to winning his third straight Gold Glove this season, but that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Yet the best part of his 2026 season has been that the platoon training wheels have now been taken off, and he’s finally able to fully showcase what he’s capable of doing on the offensive side of the baseball. As of the week of May 11, Abreu is slashing .295/.377/.473 with a .375 wOBA, 134 wRC+, and 1.4 fWAR over 39 games. He’s launched six home runs, stolen three bases, and added 18 RBIs to his ledger. Dive a bit deeper, and we can see that Abreu has been absolutely dominant against left-handed pitchers. He’s come up to bat 48 times against southpaws and is slashing .372/.417/.488 with a .400 wOBA and 150 wRC+. He’s only hit one home run and has five RBIs when hitting against same-handed pitchers, but he’s getting on base at a massive clip and that puts him in position to score runs. We’re seeing a few different factors that contribute to his success against lefties at the plate. First, Abreu has actually slowed down his bat speed from last season from 74.1 MPH to 73.6 MPH. While this isn’t a huge change, it’s enough that it’s allowing him to leave the head of his bat in the zone for longer. He’s squaring up 30.8% of all of his swings this season, good for the second-best rate in his career. The bat speed isn’t the only difference this season, though. He’s currently standing the shallowest he’s ever been in the box at 29.6”, up from 31.4” when he entered the league in 2023. He’s widened his stance from 30.6” last season to 33.3” this season and has opened up his stance by three degrees from 25 degrees open to 28 degrees open. What explains his uptick across the board against southpaws though is that he’s now standing 27.3” off the plate. This, along with his slightly slower swing, allows for the sweet spot of his bat to travel through the zone for longer. While we haven’t quite seen the power he's accustomed to, he’s hitting screaming line drives into gaps that allow him to reach extra bases. The one knock against his new mechanics is that he’s lowered his attack angle from nine degrees last year to seven degrees this year while upping his tilt from 31 degrees to 33 degrees. In a perfect world, that slight change in tilt would force Abreu to get the ball in the air more, but his attack angle is forcing the ball to play lower once it leaves his bat. He’s also altered his attack direction from one degree to the pull-side to one degree to the opposite field. We all know that playing in Fenway Park for left-handed hitters means that to become great at home, you need to become friends with The Green Monster and learn how to use it. The stats show us that Abreu, while not quite driving the ball to the Monster, is at least starting to spray hits to left field. As he finds a harmony between his new mechanics, then we’ll likely start to see him punish the Monster when he’s not pulling home runs to the bullpen at home. This season almost felt like a make-or-break season for Wilyer Abreu, even with his defensive accomplishments. We needed to see him take multiple at-bats against left-handed pitchers and perform well in those situations. So far, so good on that front. In fact, he’s been outstanding. The Red Sox are underperforming, but so is pretty much the entire American League. If Abreu stays hot, he can be the spark that finally gets this team out of the gutter. Maybe it’s even time to re-explore those extension talks from last season, but that’s a conversation for another day. View full article

Boston Red Sox Weekly Snapshot Record Last Week: 4-2 Runs Scored Last Week: 26 Runs Surrendered Last Week: 19 Standings: 5th in AL East 9.5 GB First Place Transactions: 05/06/26: Red Sox optioned LHP Alec Gamboa to Worcester Red Sox. 05/06/26: Red Sox activated RHP Sonny Gray from the 15-day injured listed. 05/06/26: Red Sox sent RHP Justin Slaten on a rehab assignment to Worcester Red Sox. 05/07/26: Red Sox recalled C Mickey Gasper from Worcester Red Sox. 05/07/26: Red Sox signed free agent RHP Raymond Burgos to a minor league contract. 05/07/26: Red Sox placed LF Roman Anthony on the 10-day injured list retroactive to May 5, 2026. Right wrist sprain. 05/08/26: Red Sox recalled RHP Jack Anderson from Worcester Red Sox. 05/08/26: Red Sox optioned LHP Jake Bennett to Worcester Red Sox. 05/09.26: Red Sox optioned RHP Jack Anderson to Worcester Red Sox. 05/09/26: Red Sox activated RHP Justin Slaten from the 15-day injured list. 05/09/26: Red Sox signed free agent RHP Leonel Figuera to a minor league contract. 05/09/26: Red Sox signed free agent RHP Juan Verdus to a minor league contract. Scores: Game 34 (05/04): BOS 5, DET 4 Game 35 (05/05): BOS 10, DET 3 Game 36 (05/06): BOS 4, DET 0 Game 37 (05/07): BOS 4, TB 8 Game 38 (05/08): BOS 2, TB 0 Game 39 (05/10): BOS 1, TB 4 Series Breakdown/Highlights Tigers Series: The beginning of the week saw three straight games of the best baseball the Red Sox have played all season. Granted, they lucked out by two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal going on the injured list before game one, but they took advantage of a gifted situation and won a game that shouldn’t have been a one-run victory. Garrett Whitlock allowed two runs in the eighth inning to give everyone a bit of an uneasy feeling, but Payton Tolle was able to lock up his first major-league win after pitching through a torrential downpour for two innings by turning in the best start of his career. He threw seven innings of two-run baseball, neither earned, while striking out eight. Game two is where we saw the fireworks, in more ways than one. The Red Sox have always had a propensity for picking up pitcher tells and pitch grips when they are on second and Tuesday was no exception. The Red Sox tagged starter Framber Valdez for seven earned runs, four of those being home runs. Valdez gave up back-to-back moonshots to Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu, then promptly threw at Trevor Story. Benches cleared, Valdez was ejected, and the Red Sox kept rolling. Overshadowed by the offense was just how good Brayan Bello was coming in after an opener for game two. He tossed seven innings with seven strikeouts, one walk, and one earned run. The finale of the series saw Sonny Gray return from the injured list and pitched decently against the Tigers. The team secured their first series sweep of the season against a team that is penciled in to win their division, even if their ace wasn’t able to pitch during it. Rays Series: We had our first reschedule due to rain during the series against the Rays. The Saturday game will be made up on July 17. Game one saw rookie Jake Bennett get tagged for four runs, but the Red Sox fought to stay in the game. Unfortunately for them, Greg Weissert and Ryan Watson had other plans. They allowed four more Rays to score and the late game push to even things up came up short. In game two, the Sox kept the Fenway Green magic rolling by shutting out the Rays behind seven innings and eight strikeouts from Connelly Early. The rookie southpaw showed he was the correct option to take Johan Oviedo’s rotation spot at the end of spring training and is mostly trending up with each start. The reschedule gave Payton Tolle another day of rest but he couldn’t score runs on his own. He gave up three earned, but the eye test looked far better than what the line showed. Unfortunately, Willson Contreras was hit on the hand early in the game and was replaced by Andruw Monasterio. Scans on Willson’s hand came back negative, but manager Chad Tracy said he was very sore. They’ll reevaluate him on the Monday off day and move forward with that information. If there’s one player the Red Sox can’t afford to lose right now, it’s Contreras. Website Highlights Red Sox Minor League Recap: Anthony Eyanson’s Dominance Continues Despite Shaky Red Sox Affiliates by Ben Lofy Boston Red Sox Minor League Pitchers of the Month: April 2026 by Nick John Red Sox Report Cards: Grading Every Boston Pitcher for March/April by Ryan Salvaggio Justin Slaten is More Than Ready For His Return to Boston by Nick John Looking Ahead May 12: Phillies (Zack Wheeler) @ Red Sox (TBD): 6:45 PM EDT May 13: Phillies (Andrew Painter) @ Red Sox (Sonny Gray): 6:45 PM EDT May 14: Phillies (Jesus Luzardo) @ Red Sox (Ranger Suarez): 6:45 PM EDT May 15: Red Sox @ Braves: 7:15 PM EDT May 16: Red Sox @ Braves: 7:15 PM EDT May 17: Red Sox @ Braves: 1:35 PM EDT View full article

Boston Red Sox Weekly Snapshot Record Last Week: 2-4 Runs Scored Last Week:13 Runs Surrendered Last Week: 21 Standings: 5th in AL East 10 GB First Place Transactions: 04/29/26: Red Sox recalled OF Nate Eaton from Worcester Red Sox. 04/29/26: Red Sox placed LHP Garrett Crochet on the 15-day injured list retroactive to 04/26/26. Left shoulder inflammation. 04/30/26: Red Sox optioned OF Nate Eaton to Worcester Red Sox. 05/01/26: Red Sox recalled LHP Jake Bennett from Worcester Red Sox. Scores: Game 28 (4/27): BOS 5, TOR 0 Game 29 (4/28): BOS 0, TOR 3 Game 30 (4/29): BOS 1, TOR 8 Game 31 (5/01): BOS 3, HOU 1 Game 32 (5/02): BOS 3, HOU 6 Game 33 (5/03): BOS , HOU 3 Series Breakdown/Highlights Blue Jays Series: The Red Sox never really looked overmatched by Dylan Cease during the first game of the series. Ranger Suarez was magical for the Sox, tossing eight scoreless innings, giving up only one hit while striking out 10 on the night. The offense seemed to be firing on all cylinders against one of the better starters in the league and maybe, just maybe, there was some hope for a turnaround on the horizon. Then games two and three happened. The offense fell back into their ways of not working at-bats, leaving the top half of innings in 10 pitches or less on more than one occasion. Trey Yesavage out-dueled Payton Tolle, who was clearly laboring through arm fatigue after pitching just four days prior, in game two. Then, game three gave us another forgettable outing from Brayan Bello, who looks like a shell of the Bello we saw last season. Astros Series: The Fenway Greens were out in full force during game one of the series. The game was circled on some people’s calendars solely because the pitching matchup had ‘TBD’ for the opener instead of Garrett Crochet. He landed on the 15-day IL with left shoulder inflammation and LHP Jake Bennett was called up to make the start. He pitched well, tossing five innings one one-run baseball while striking out three. Jarren Duran’s bat seemed to finally be waking up as he was good for all three runs the Sox scored in the victory after he put a three-run home run into the seats behind the home bullpen. On Saturday though, Connelly Early looked far from sharp. He surrendered five earned runs over four innings, mostly due to the fact he couldn’t command his pitches at all during the outing. In the final game of the series, Duran was responsible for the lone run with another home run, but Zack Kelly allowed two runs in extra innings to let the game slip away. Ranger Suarez was pitching well, striking out three through four innings but as he walked off the field after the fourth, he seemed to tell Andrew Bailey that he wasn’t going back out. It later was revealed that he was removed due to right hamstring tightness. The bigger story of the entire series was that the Red Sox couldn’t do anything with runners in scoring position. The Astros were begging them to score runs in both game two and three and the Red Sox just couldn’t do it. The bases were loaded multiple times in both games and the team couldn’t do anything to get runners across. Website Highlights Chad Tracy Knows the Red Sox’s Immediate Bullpen Answers Lie in Worcester by Nick John Red Sox Copium: Can an MLB Team Fire Its Manager and Still Make the Playoffs by Maddie Landis Pitching at a Premium: Do the Red Sox Have Enough to Survive Crochet’s Shoulder Injury? by Ryan Salvaggio Brayan Bello’s Struggles Won’t be Easily Fixed by a New Red Sox Coaching Staff by Alex Mayes Looking Ahead May 4: Red Sox (Payton Tolle) @ Tigers (TBD): 6:40 PM EDT May 5: Red Sox (Brayan Bello) @ Tigers (TBD): 6:40 PM EDT May 6: Red Sox (TBD) @ Tigers (TBD): 6:40 PM EDT May 7: Rays @ Red Sox: 7:10 PM EDT May 8: Rays @ Red Sox: 7:10 PM EDT May 9: Rays @ Red Sox: 4:10 PM EDT May 10: Rays @ Red Sox: 1:35 PM EDT View full article

Much like most of the offense, the Boston Red Sox's pitching staff left quite a bit to be desired in April. For a team that was built around elite starting pitching, the rotation has been surprisingly ineffective thus far. As the month closed the top two arms in the rotation, Garrett Crochet and Sonny Gray, were on the injured list and were working their way back to form. That leaves us a limited group of pitchers to choose from, but there are a few standouts who deserve their flowers for trying to hold things together before May. Ranking Red Sox's Best Pitchers In April #3: Aroldis Chapman Chapman gets the number three spot because he’s seen fairly limited action, but he’s been mostly solid when called upon. For the month of April, he posted a 1.35 ERA, 2.25 FIP, a 12.15% K/9, and a 4.05 BB/9. He’s been less sharp than he was last year, but he’s still a dependable closer for the team. There was some initial concern about his lack of velocity early in the season, but he’s been ramping back up to his usual high-90s fastball that tops out above 100 mph when he needs it to. What’s interesting is he seems to be throwing his off-speed pitches a bit more this year instead of just reaching back and throwing gas, so he may be looking to ease some of the stress that years of hurling fireballs has put on his left arm. #2: Connelly Early Early appeared in five games in April and posted a 3.08 ERA, 5.16 FIP, 7.52 K/9, 4.10 BB/9, and an impressive 42.5% groundball percentage. The rookie southpaw has been arguably the most consistent arm throughout April and posted the best start of his career against the Orioles to close the month out. He’s lost a bit of velocity this season, but has showcased his ability to get into the upper-90s when necessary. The biggest knock against Early right now is that he seems quite impacted by the weather on his start days, and he’s sometimes struggled to get past the fourth inning, even when things are going well. That being said, he’s shown a ton of potential so far this season and has the makings of a top-of-the-rotation arm as long as he can remain durable enough to turn over a lineup more than twice. #1: Ranger Suarez Suarez had a rough start to the season, but he has settled down nicely to end the month. He turned in a 2.35 ERA over 30 2/3 innings in April, posting a 2.66 FIP, 1.0 fWAR, and a .208 BABIP. He left 72% of runners on base during the month and worked deep into a handful of games. It’s likely no coincidence that the team’s strongest offers often coincided with Suarez’s best starts of the season. He’s almost the antithesis of the program that Craig Breslow and Andrew Bailey are running; he’s not a fireballer and his K/9 only sits at 7.63 for the month, but he’s effective at getting groundball outs, so long as the defense behind him plays up to par. Suarez felt like a panic signing after the team missed on bringing back Alex Bregman but as April waged on, we started to see the same version of Suarez that helped bring the Phillies to the postseason over the last few seasons. While his contract may be a bit of an albatross in a few years, if he’s going to continue to produce numbers like he did in April, then he’s going to be someone that fans enjoy supporting while he’s on the mound, regardless of what happens during the games he doesn’t start. Not all hope has been lost in Boston, as Crochet and Gray are both nearing their returns and as long as they are able to pitch like we’ve seen in the past, then the Red Sox should be in a better place. The offense can’t be ice cold forever, so everyone on this list should get ample opportunities to either put games away or pitch their way late into games behind multiple runs of support. Chapman, Early, and Suarez weren’t the only bright spots on the pitching side of things, but their performances in April offered the kind of optimism that has been sorely lacking over the past six weeks. View full article

The month of April is likely one that most members of the Boston Red Sox are hoping to forget; enough members of the team underperformed to the point that Alex Cora and the bulk of his coaching staff lost their jobs during the last weekend of the month. Since then, the team has played .500 baseball thanks to the offensive production from a handful of guys that are trying to put the team on their backs. It's a long road between now and contention, but Chad Tracy has seemingly inspired a bit more fire from the roster. There weren't a ton of candidates for this award, but three players in particular stood out for the offensive steadiness in an otherwise difficult month. Ranking Red Sox's Best Hitters in April #3: Ceddanne Rafaela The Gold Glove center fielder has proven through the first full month of the season that he has grown as an offensive player and will likely outplay the contract he signed two seasons ago. For the month of April, he slashed .266/.348/.367 with eight RBIs, a 100 wRC+, and a 0.3 fWAR. Where Rafaela has shown the most growth at the plate is in his pitch selection and his ability to work counts in his favor. While his strikeout rate is still higher than you’d like, 23.6%, it’s come down considerably to start the season and he no longer feels like just a guy who can come through in a clutch situation. When he’s standing in the box, you get excited instead of penciling a swinging strikeout most of the time. Both former manager Alex Cora and interim manager Chad Tracy have moved Rafaela up in the lineup and he’s continued to hit. If he keeps this offensive production up, he’s going to make his contract look even more like a bargain by the end of the season. #2: Wilyer Abreu The platoon training wheels have been taken off of Abreu and it’s paying dividends already. He slashed .287/.368/.404 with a 115 wRC+ and a 0.6 fWAR last month, knocking two home runs while driving in eight runs. He’s looking far more confident at the plate so far this season, and has been great at handling southpaws, hitting over .300 against them prior to May. His swing mechanics are noticeably different against left-handed pitchers—he’s shortened his swing and is getting the head of the bat around to the ball much quicker. Like Rafaela above, he looks more confident at the plate and his strikeout and walk rates prove that, sitting at 17.9% and 11.3%, respectively. His back-to-back Gold Gloves mean he’s locked into the starting right field role for years to come in Boston, but with his bat coming around against all types of pitchers, then he could be playing his way to a contract extension some time during or after the 2026 season. #1: Willson Contreras In what should be a shock to absolutely nobody, Contreras has been the best hitter on the Red Sox during the start to the season. For the month of April he slashed .289/.387/.556 with seven home runs, 20 RBIs, and a 157 wRC+, adding up to 1.3 fWAR. His offensive approach is feast or famine; he’s striking out 29.2% of the time, but when he’s making contact, he’s doing damage. He’s been the spark in the lineup during almost every series so far, and even when he went cold for a couple of weeks, his personality helped keep his teammates in games. He has been the best addition that Craig Breslow made during the offseason without a doubt, and this team would likely be in (worse) shambles if it wasn’t for him. His play at first base has been a breath of fresh air and the passion he brings to each game, even if it’s sometimes a bit overboard when the Brewers are involved, is something this team desperately needs. There’s not been too much to enjoy through April for the Red Sox, but these three hitters are all showing that we have something to look forward to if the front office and Chad Tracy can figure out how to get the most out of this roster. No one had the Red Sox being this bad on their bingo card, but it's a long season. More of the same from Rafaela, Abreu, and Contreras can only help push Boston back into relevancy. View full article

To say the beginning of the season has been an absolute disaster for Brayan Bello could almost be considered an understatement. The 26-year old righty was hoping to build off a solid 2025 while positioning himself as a crucial piece of the Boston Red Sox’s rotation behind Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray, and Ranger Suarez. Unfortunately for him, he’s currently sitting on a 9.00 ERA after his blow-up start against the Orioles with a measly 13.0% strikeout rate to go along with an 11.3% walk percentage. His FIP has shot up to 8.27 to pair with a -0.6 fWAR. As a long time Bello Believer (trademark pending), I wanted to take a look under the hood and see if we could explain what’s going on with the young, former Opening Day starter. Maybe the most glaring thing is that Bello has all but scrapped his four-seam fastball. While it was never a pitch he favored, it’s taken a significant step back behind his other options, including a new curveball, so far in 2026. In 2025, he threw the four-seamer 15% of the time and averaged 95.1 MPH on it. Now, that percentage has dipped to 3% and it’s lost some gas at 93.7 MPH. This could be, in part, due to pitching coach Andrew Bailey’s preferred use of off-speed and breaking pitches, but the last time that happened in 2024 Bello was vocal about reintroducing the pitch back into his mix and it helped to turn his season around. From the outside looking in, it seems more like Bello no longer trusts the pitch and that has taken away a lot of his grip-it-and-rip-it style of pitching. That style though, is what his career has been built on. He’s been at his best when he just pitches. Now, he seems to be trying to nibble on the edges of the plate too much and he’s being crushed as a result. That’s not the only reason for concern, though. Bello has raised his arm angle a staggering 10 degrees, from 33 degrees in 2025 to 43 degrees this season. If you compare pictures or videos from previous seasons to now, it’s fairly noticeable. While there are merits to raising the arm slot, none of them have really panned out for Bello. It is likely what has contributed most to his massive uptick in generating whiffs, up from 20.1% last season to 31.6% now, but it’s also leaving him vulnerable to his sinker playing a lot higher in the zone than intended. We saw the results of that against the Orioles, when Adley Rutschman took a 95 mph sinker that hung out high and inside to deep right field. To be fair, Bello gave up home runs on his cutter and four-seam fastball as well, but the sinker got crushed all night because it failed to sink at all. That flat action on all of his pitches is a direct result of his raised arm angle as well. While the raised arm slot would work, or should work, for a four-seam fastball because the angle causes it to ride more, it has the opposite impact on the sinker. As we know, Bello is a sinker-heavy pitcher so such a drastic, upward change in his arm angle makes the pitch less effective. It also takes the sweeping motion away from his sweeper and forces him to rely on that new curveball as a snappier breaking ball. We can see an obvious difference if we look at his movement profiles from 2025 and 2026 side-by-side. His changeup and sinker are living in the same zone again this season, but when the velocity is down on the sinker, almost a full mile per hour from 95.3 to 94.4, then the pitches don’t play off each other nearly as well as they did last season. His four-seamer gave hitters a different look last season but now, when he does throw it, it’s cheating into the same movement profile as his sinker. Flattening out his arm angle could do wonders for him, and there’s been some tinkering from start to start recently, but we’ve yet to see it pay any true dividends. Also contributing to the issue is that Bello has lost spin rates on each of his pitches, and some have a fairly significant drop-off. His sinker is down from 2,121 RPM to 2,036 RPM, his cutter from 2,479 RPM to 2,333 RPM, the four-seamer from 2,161 RPM to 2,056 RPM, the sweeper from 2,476 RPM to 2,335 RPM, and his changeup is down from 1,842 RPM to 1,696 RPM. Yes, he’s working with a much smaller sample size so far this season, but the decrease in revolutions per minute is concerning. That spin allows the ball to break how it’s supposed to. It helps aid in the “ride” the four-seam is supposed to have and is what forces a sinker to dive as it’s reaching the plate so the hitter swings over the top of it. Now though, a lot of his pitches are living in the same RPM realm and it’s causing them to bleed into one another as they approach the plate. The sweeping action is less on his sweeper, down from 9.9” of glove-side break to 7.2” of glove-side break, and his cutter is almost running completely flat in 2026 as it has dropped from 0.9” of glove-side break to a measly 0.2”. Without the spin on each pitch, likely due to the increased arm slot, Bello goes from a groundball-inducing sinkerballer to someone who can't aggressively attack the bottom of the zone. This makes every other pitch in his arsenal far less effective as a result. I won’t go so far as to say that the Brayan Bello we got in the second half of 2024 and most of 2025 is gone, but it’s looking like that version of him is very lost right now. Might he benefit from a stint in Worcester to get his mechanics back on track> If the rotation were completely healthy, that’d be an easy enough decision. With Johan Oviedo on the 60-day IL and Sonny Gray on the 15-day IL, though, it’s a bit easier said than done. Once Gray comes back (Alex Cora gave a positive update on him before being ousted), then a much tougher conversation is likely going to happen than what happened on the mound during Bello’s start. Rookie Payton Tolle looked absolutely dominant against the Yankees in his season debut. He was electric and brought an energy to the team that they’ve needed since the season started. Perhaps he (and fellow rookie Connelly Early) can keep pitching well enough to buy Bello a little time to get his A-game back. View full article

In perhaps the most shocking bit of news since his tenure in Boston began, Alex Cora has been fired as the manager of the Red Sox. While it was clear there were some divisions between him and the front office, very few expected the team to part ways with almost the entire coaching staff a mere 27 games into the season. The front office, correctly, promoted Triple-A manager Chad Tracy to interim manager of the Red Sox to help guide the young team, many of whom he has coached as recently as last season, through this brand-new chapter in their lives. What remains to be seen, though, is what happens after the final pitch of the 2026 season has been thrown. With that in mind, let’s look at three potential names who could be next in line to lead the Red Sox from the dugout. 3 Alex Cora Replacement Options for Red Sox Chad Tracy Current Role: Red Sox Interim Manager We’ll start with the most obvious one first. Tracy has already been promoted to the big-league club and in his first game in Baltimore, he showed some new wrinkles to an offense that struggled to get going throughout the start of the season. They were far more active on the basepaths, something he indicated in the post-game presser that he wants to continue, and he allowed youngest Marcelo Mayer to stay in the game against left-handed pitching. Mayer rewarded Tracy’s faith in him with an RBI single to put the team up 5-1. Tracy will likely get the rest of the season as an extended audition for the full-time manager role in 2027. If the team responds well to him, and there’s evidence that may be the case, then he should have the inside track for the position over anyone else. Make no mistake, Tracy has been viewed as the manager in waiting by some for quite some time. There will be a lot of people behind the scenes hoping he succeeds. He likely has his future in his own hands right now. No pressure or anything. David Ross Current Role: ESPN Analyst Rossy is going to be a very popular name fans think of most when they start to ponder who will replace Cora in a full-time role next season. He’s a World Series champion, fan-favorite, and semi-recent MLB manager who was only relieved of his duties because the Cubs' dream candidate became available. Ross also has a couple of different connections to President of Baseball Operations Craig Breslow. The two played for the Red Sox together and Ross was the manager of the Cubs when Breslow was brought into Chicago to head up their pitching department. He went 262-284 overall in Chicago, good for a .480 winning percentage. That won’t inspire a ton of confidence right away, but he’s likely to get an interview simply because of the good PR and his history with Breslow. Rocco Baldelli Current Role: Working in the Dodgers’ Front Office Would Baldelli consider leaving the cushy L.A. lifestyle and make the move to Beantown as the manager of the Red Sox? It’s possible. Baldelli’s tenure in Minnesota ended with a whimper — he was relieved of his duties after posting a 70-92 record in 2025 that can largely be attributed to the Twins having a fire sale at the trade deadline. He posted a 527-505 managerial record during his seven-year tenure with the Twins and for all intents and purposes, his teams apparently enjoyed playing for him. He has one 100+ win season under his belt and likely would be a solid bridge between the front office and the players. He’s seen his way through semi-rebuilds and coached teams that have won their division. While Sox fans likely will look to his last season with the Twins as a sign that he’s maybe not the right man for the job, he’s going to land a job back in the dugout sooner than later. While we likely won’t have any kind of answers until the offseason about who will lead the charge in 2027 for the Boston Red Sox, the three names above likely will garner the most interest early in the process. There has been some speculation that Dustin Pedroia could be viewed as a candidate, especially if the front office is trying to soothe troubled waters with the fans at the end of the season, but that just feels too far-fetched with the current state of the front office. There will likely be other managers who move on from their teams and vice versa as the season unfolds, so expect the potential list of candidates to grow as we march on to the dog days of summer. View full article

Boston Red Sox Weekly Snapshot Record Last Week: 3-4 Runs Scored Last Week: 36 Runs Surrendered Last Week: 32 Standings: 5th in AL East 7.5 GB First Place Transactions: 04/21/26: Red Sox recalled LHP Tyler Samaniego from Worcester Red Sox. 04/21/26: Red Sox placed RHP Sonny Gray on the 15-day injured list. Right hamstring strain. 04/22/26: Red Sox selected the contract of LHP Eduardo Rivera from Worcester Red Sox. 04/22/26: Red Sox optioned RHP Jack Anderson to Worcester Red Sox. 04/22/26: Red Sox transferred 1B Triston Casas from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Recovery from left patellar tendon repair. 04/23/26: Red Sox optioned LHP Eduardo Rivera to Worcester Red Sox. 04/23/26: Red Sox recalled LHP Payton Tolle from Worcester Red Sox. Scores: Game 22 (4/20): BOS 8, DET 6 Game 23 (4/21): BOS 0, NYY 4 Game 24 (4/22): BOS 1, NYY 4 Game 25 (4/23): BOS 2, NYY 4 Game 25 (4/24): BOS 3, BAL 10 Game 26 (4/25): BOS 17, BAL 1 Game 27 (4/26): BOS 5, BAL 3 Series Breakdown/Highlights Yankees Series: Not a lot went right during the first homestand against the Yankees. The offense looked listless and failed to show up for the first two games. At least in the third game, things started to seem different. The team recalled Payton Tolle to make the start in the final game of the homestand, pushing back both Brayan Bello and Garrett Crochet’s next scheduled starts, and he lit Fenway Park on fire. He began the game with five straight strikeouts and went on to strikeout 11 on the night while surrendering only one walk and one earned run on a Jazz Chisholm home run. He induced 18 whiffs, thanks in large part to his arsenal of high-velocity fastballs and his power curve He pitched his way into a couple of jams, and then turned right around and pitched his way back out of them. It was an absolute shame that the bullpen let him down in his first game this season, but if he keeps pitching like he did against the Yankees, then he’s going to have ample opportunities to earn wins for the Red Sox. Carlos Narvaez also took Cam Schlittler deep over the Green Monster for his first home run of the season. Orioles Series: This series was completely boring and offered no newsworthy, drastic changes to the coaching staff. Game one started off much like the entire Yankees series—just uninspired baseball from the entire team. Brayan Bello looked like he has for much of 2026—lost on the mound. His frustrations grew with each pitch and he let it show on his face for much of his outing. The Orioles ran out of fireworks due to the amount of home runs they hit in the game. That’s never a good thing when you’re the visiting club. Game two thankfully, sang a much different tune. Garrett Crochet looked every bit of the ace that the Red Sox expected him to be again this season. He tossed 90 pitches over six innings with 57 of them going for strikes. He allowed three hits, zero runs, two walks, seven strikeouts, and had 12 whiffs. He topped out at 97.5 MPH and almost doubled the use of his four-seam fastball, kicking it up to 59% of the time from 28.3% in prior outings. Andruw Monasterio hit a grand slam, Caleb Durbin got his first home run in a Red Sox uniform, and Willson Contreras looked like a true middle-of-the-order slugger. Shockingly, following that contest, the team parted ways with manager Alex Cora, hitting coach Pete Fatse, bench coach Ramon Vazquez, game manager Jason Varitek, and hitting instructor Dillon Lawson. At least they went out with a blowout win. In game three, the Red Sox became demons on the basepaths under the new management style of interim manager Chad Tracy, swiping four bags. Contreras continued his hot streak and Monasterio was again a spark in the lineup. Arguably most impressive, though, was Ceddanne Rafaela throughout the entire series. He’s shown a new plate approach that is paying dividends for him. He’s quickly becoming a star caliber player right in front of our eyes and it’s been incredible to witness. Connelly Early turned in his best start of the season in the series finale, tossing 6 ⅔ innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs, one walk, and four strikeouts. Website Highlights Red Sox Fire Alex Cora, Most of MLB Coaching Staff in Shocking Pivot by Nick John The Red Sox Can’t Hit Baseball’s Most Fundamental Pitch by Jack Lindsay Carlos Narvaez is Getting Eaten Alive by Fastballs, but the Red Sox Shouldn’t Lose Hope by Gottie Chavez Jarren Duran’s Struggles are a Bitter Reminder of the Red Sox’s Poor Roster Construction by Alex Mayes Looking Ahead April 27: Red Sox (Ranger Suarez) @ Blue Jays (Dylan Cease): 7:07 PM EDT April 28: Red Sox (Payton Tolle) @ Blue Jays (Trey Yesavage): 7:07 PM EDT April 29: Red Sox (Brayan Bello) @ Blue Jays (Max Scherzer): 3:07 PM EDT May 1: Astros @ Red Sox: 7:10 PM EDT May 2: Astros @ Red Sox: 4:10 PM EDT May 3: Astros @ Red Sox: 1:35 PM EDT View full article

Story doesn’t have the arm to play short, let alone the arm to play third.

I've been vocal about how Story is the issue with the infield since last season, and it's even more noticeable now. Give me Mayer at short, Sogard at third, and Durbin at second in that scenario. If AC is determined to keep Durbin at third though, then to fix both log jams you would pull Ceddanne in to play second while shifting Mayer to short, where he should be playing every single day. But, Story makes that impossible since he isn't moving off short unless he's dealt or DFA'd, both unlikely, or injured, far more likely.

It’s more that Durbin has a ceiling that can help this team and IKF is washed. Give me the second year player who can grow into a role instead of the journeyman who has limited upside.

The day IKF is DFA’d can’t come quick enough. Durbin has all the makings of a great super utility player, which this team needs. Just makes the price paid for him less stomachable. If Ceddy’s bat stays solid, it’s worth the defensive trade off.

The best path forward for him right now, and probably the team as a whole, is to move Ceddanne to second, put Duran in center, and send down either Mayer or Durbin while the other plays third. I don't love bringing Rafaela out of the outfield but something has to give quickly.

Thanks for clearly not reading the article and making more baseless claims. This piece highlights why the roster construction is holding Duran back, but facts don't matter. Find the Houck pieces you mentioned, because you won't. I've been a big proponent of his since he was called up. Did I document his struggles last season? Absolutely. That's part of it. Not everything is sunshine and rainbows in the world of baseball. But those pieces are built on facts, and the facts showed that he was hurt long before he landed on the IL. I've been a big believer in Bello since he was called up as well, but have already this season documented his struggles. But facts don't fit your narrative.

What a forgettable start to the season it’s been for Jarren Duran. He’s mired in that fabled outfield logjam that is getting worse by the day, and when he is getting at-bats, he’s not producing. Alex Cora has moved him around the lineup multiple times to try and get his bat going, shuffling the 29-year-old from designated hitter, to left field, and then to center. In what may be the most damning piece of evidence that Duran is losing his grip on what little playing time he sees, he was pinch hit for by Isiah Kiner-Falefa in the series finale against the Tigers. Instead of letting Duran attempt to get on base, even with a bunt as Kiner-Falefa was instructed to do, Cora would rather turn to someone who currently holds a .179 batting average over 12 games. That’s not to say Cora's thought process was entirely flawed; as of the series finale against the Yankees, Duran is slashing .194/.266/.306. Still, you’d think that someone Cora trusted to show up in big spots over the last two seasons wouldn’t be sat down for a veteran journeyman who arguably doesn’t have a true role on this team. Dive further into Duran's start, and things start to look even worse. He’s currently in the 18th percentile for expected batting average, the 20th percentile for xwOBA, and the 25th percentile for xSLG. The only red areas on his Savant page are his barrel rate and bat speed. Those are solid indicators of someone who can do damage from the batter's box, but not when everything else presents a glaring red flag. What’s maybe most concerning is the fact that Duran is chasing a ton of pitches this season. He’s currently sitting at a 34.0% chase rate, ranking in the 26th percentile, which is an increase from both his 2025 season, 31.1%, and his 2024 season, 28.1%. As with all things Duran, his 2024 mark was the best of his career. If you judge him solely on the eye test, you’ll see similar troubling trends. He’s swinging out of his shoes at pitches that never touch the plate while staring at fastballs pumped right down the middle. That’s not someone who’s just struggling, that’s someone who is completely lost in his approach. MassLive.com’s Chris Smite spoke to the Red Sox's skipper about Duran’s struggles and Cora had this to say: “…Now he’s not even doing that (walking)… Kind of like slow it down, even a bunt or something. Just get it going. We need him to run the bases, do what he does. Hit one in the gap and stretch it out to a triple or one of those ground balls that get through and get to second and get that energy going. We need it as a group, he needs it as a player.” Those are telling comments from the manager who pulled Duran in a bunt situation later that day. Should Cora have kept Duran in to attempt that bunt scenario, especially when Kiner-Falefa bunted the third strike foul? Possibly, but the fact Cora pulled him shows that the trust he once had in Duran is waning quickly. Unless the team finally trades an outfielder so that Duran, or even Masataka Yoshida, can get more at-bats, there’s no clear answer to the current problem. Duran’s struggles are likely due in large part to the fact that he’s sitting on the bench more often than not at this point in the season. As long as the outfield logjam continues to exist though, it’s not going to get any better. Duran’s All-Star 2024 was followed up by a quiet yet solid 2025. His 2026 season, though, paints a picture of a hitter who is falling further from his peak. His at-bats are unspectacular and the process behind them is even worse. As currently constructed, the Red Sox can't afford to give someone struggling this bad more opportunities... which is exactly what Duran needs to break out of this funk. View full article