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You might want to check the stats on the probability of a 5th round pick making the MLB, then making the all-star team. Priester has proven his skill level is high enough that he's a huge asset for Milwaukee and BOS received three guys that may never impact their team and are long, long shots to be equivalent to Priester. For me, that's a decisive win for Milwaukee. Choosing the horses at 99-1 odds is a fun risk even if the three that are coupled on the race card look good on the track. The fact remains, their chances of beating the favorite are slim to none. BOS needed SPs and gave an outstanding one to another team and got back 3 colts that at best have "potential" thus leaving BOS far worse off to compete in 2025.

Seems like this was a forced article since it makes no sense. First, Tolle just arrived in AAA and got clobbered then pitched well. The fact that he did well in AA does NOT suggest he's ready for MLB hitters. If the team is in the playoffs, you should not be looking for a AA pitcher to be your savior. It's not going to happen. Sandlin is getting clobbered in AAA so that's a joke of a suggestion. Nate Eaton has been up before and was an acceptable back-up that never played 1b or 2b the two places BOS needs help. He won't contribute much if he is called up unless he plays 1B or 2B. David Hamilton had 143 plate appearances to prove he simply can't hit!!! Unless he learns how to steal first base, his value is limited to being a pinch runner. That is a wasted roster spot during the playoffs. Your logic on Campbell is insane. You are as clueless as Cora when it comes to player development. Campbell should have been back in the MLB a month ago when he figured out how to play 1B and no longer let it impact his hitting. Now he's experienced at 1B where Toro has fallen off the table and 2B where the injury prone Mayer is out for the year and Gonzalez has fallen off the table. If Cora was smart enough to bring him up to play just ONE position, I'm sure he'll do well because unlike others wasting roster spots Campbell has the clutch gene and that's rare. Wake up and smell the coffee...... Nobody makes more sense than Campbell!!! Whoever suggested the lame approach to player development that you spewed about Campbell needs to be dropped from your baseball reference list. The Minor League Player of the Year earned more respect than you are showing him. The Red Sox missed their chance to get depth at 1B, 2B and C at the deadline. The team has 3 underperforming players and six that are performing well if Cora moves Rafaela to right field and uses either Toro, Gonzalez or Campbell at 2B and pushes the platoon hitters Abreu and Refsnyder to the DH position or uses Yoshida there. Without a solid catcher or 1B/2B BOS will struggle down the stretch but it will be worse than it already is if Cora keeps using Rafaela at 2B and not RF. Abreu is an adequate defender, but Rafaela is far superior, and Duran is an outstanding CF and Anthony is a staple in LF for a decade or two. Whether it is Yoshida at DH or the platoon outfielders the defense is maximized when Rafaela plays RF. That's a simple fact

Seriously? Did you ever play baseball above the HS level? Go look up how many players struggled when after playing one position for years they got moved to somewhere else and their hitting dropped off. Heck, it's happening to Mookie Betts this year. Cora is an idiot, and his moves hurt his players ALL THE TIME. He should be fired for lack of baseball knowledge and his inability to relate to prospects. He's damaged the performances of Duran, Rafaela and now Campbell. That's unacceptable. Throw in his inability to handle in-game situations as a manager, and he's the worst manager in baseball. I rank him below Don Zimmer and Bobby Valentine!!!

All we've heard about over the last couple of years are Mayer and Anthony. I understood the praise for Anthony based on his performance stats and watching him, but I have never agreed with all the hype about Mayer. His stats were far below expectations for a 4th pick in the draft, if you compare him to others in the first round of the same draft (like Cowser and others) he's been a huge disappointment. I watch him play and he has good athleticism but poor performance on defense. He's a showcase guy not a reliable shortstop. He proves it every year and that's why his fielding percentage in the minors was barely above Devers!!! Yes, the worst 3B in history and his minor league success rate at getting outs on balls hit to him was roughly 15% below league average but his athleticism made fans overlook all his mistakes because he's athletic and smooth with a solid arm. I believe performance is more important that athleticism, so I consider him grossly over-rated and when I saw Meidroth and his numbers I laughed at the fact that he was an ugly looking player from an athleticism standpoint but had outperformed Mayer as a complete nobody. Fans hated me stating the facts because BOS has marketed the crap out of Mayer. The NESN Clowns who get to market concepts to millions of BOS fans couldn't stop going on about how great a defender this .952 fielding percentage player is and how he will be the best infielder defender for the next 10 years. Horsecrap!!!! He had 928 total chances in the minors at SS and made 44 errors. He only had 15 total chances at 3B and 45 total chances at 2B in the minors so he was truly a full time SS ONLY. In the majors he's had 68 chances at 3B where Bregman plays so his performance is irrelevant since he won't be playing there while Bregman is around, he's been pushed to 2B by Cora where he had 29 total chances without an error after having 45 total chances in the minors with 3 errors. So the NESN Clowns bragged about how great a fielder this guy was at two positions without even having 100 total chances at the two positions together after he sucked in the minors at his SS position. That's complete horsecrap. That's why I highlight Mayer's crap performance so much. The propaganda about him is disgusting. The media is NOT telling the truth about his defensive skills; they are grossly exaggerating them. I just want the public to know the truth. That's all. Mayer doesn't control the BS spewed by NESN and the front office, so I don't blame him. They play down his annual injuries which is concerning now that it's happened 4 of 5 seasons. In the meantime, guys like Duran, Rafaela and Campbell don't get the Public Relations support of Mayers and Anthony. That's completely unfair. If ONLY Anthony was being shoved down fans throats, I would be fine with that because he is the best prospect by far but when other players like Mayer and Abreu get false support from the PR department, I constantly try to set the record straight by listing THEIR ACTUAL STATS not the crap the NESN clowns comment on during game broadcasts. So, no obsessive dislike for the player, just an obsessive dislike for the misinformation spread by the PR dept and NESN. The kid and his family seem like great people. Let his performance do the talking and let there be objective opinions about his performance by the media. That's all. Another year or two of injuries and he'll be a modern-day Bob Horner who was also a first-round pick that played 10 years and averaged 102 games a season thanks to injuries.

Injury prone is a label Mayer's earned before this season. Boston has put their eggs in ONE basket named Mayer for SS in the future and it's a HUGE mistake. The word unreliable comes to mind when I think of Mayer. He had a blah minor league performance since being drafted in 2021 until he finally broke-out in 2024 and promptly got hurt yet again and missed his AAA experience that Campbell and Anthony participated in. Mayer started 2025 doing well in Spring Training and then mouthed off about how he deserved to make the team. That's a great insight into who this privileged kid is. It's got to be killing him that Anthony has proven to be a far greater stud than he was supposed to be as the 4th pick in the draft. His performance in AAA this season prior to being promoted was no great shakes and now that Campbell has been in AAA as long as Mayer, he has better numbers yet remains in AAA while Toro, Gonzalez and Narvaez are all failing to hit in the second half. Campbell's future got screwed up by Cora when he converted a SS to 2B to OF and then 1B all while starting off on fire with his hitting. As we are observing right now, players don't hit as well when they are stressed out not playing their normal position. Rafaela can't hit when he plays 2B and Campbell stopped hitting when he got stuck trying to move to 1B because Story was playing well which forced the injury prone Mayer to 2B and wrongfully pushed Campbell out. The Minor League Player of the Year is being treated like crap by Cora and the fan base should be screaming to remove Cora for all his mistakes and prejudice. Campbell outperformed Mayer on defense at SS and 2B in the minors and would have in the MLB had he not been jerked around and asked to play 3 other positions other than the new one he was learning. Campbell is a great athlete and has accomplished so much more than Mayer since he was drafted just 2 years ago that it's a travesty what Cora is doing to him. Mayer should NOT be the future at SS in BOS and if Campbell is going to be forced into a different position based on the biased choices of Cora then let him learn JUST ONE position and leave him there so he can be the best possible player he can be at that position. He's not a utility player like Cora, he's a legitimate star as he proved in 2024. Stop messing with and let him settle in at one position that will help the Red Sox the most and watch him grow into an all-star.

Priester is a quality MLB SP and Rodriguez is a 19-year-old prospect that has not dominated at ROK, A ball or Hi-A ball. Great young players don't put up numbers like Rodriguez, they put up numbers like Anthony and Campbell did. With as many games as Priester has pitched, he's proven himself as a middle of the rotation starter on a team loaded with pitching. In Boston, he would be the #2 SP but instead we have a weak outfield prospect that won't surpass Anthony, Duran and Rafaela for many, many years if ever. Breslow has gathered talent for Boston in Crochet and Bregman and he's lost Sale and Priester. The Devers deal was by far the most effective deal earning back $260 Million of wasted future payroll and if any of the other parts provide value it's icing on the cake. I like the job Breslow has done but Sale and Priester will remain two of his biggest mistakes but he's so superior to Bloom it's not funny. It's like comparing Bonds as a player to Alex Cora as a player, they are not in the same stratosphere.

Lowe has post season experience with the Rangers. He scored 10 runs and drove in 6 runs while batting in the middle of the Ranger order in the 2023 post season. His OPS was only good in the HOU series (he was in 4 series with Tex). Houston is a likely opponent in October. We have no idea how the rookies will play during the playoffs so having someone with experience is a good idea. Who has tailed off in the second half? Narvaez 1st half .273 2nd Half .130 Toro 1st half .271 2nd Half .183 Gonzalez 1st half .326 2nd Half .242 Abreu 1st half .256 with 18 HRs 2nd Half ..240 with 3 HRs (HRs are his primary value as a hitter) Rafaela hitting as a 2B .136 as an OF .277 (Cora is clueless as to the impact of moving guys so he can force Abreu into the line-up while his production is falling off as it always does in the second half) WHO IS IMPROVING? Duran 1st half .258 with .749 OPS 2nd half .277 with .942 OPS Bregman 1st half .298 2nd Half .302 VERY CONSISTENT Story 1st half .257 2nd Half .260 Consistent but trending upward Anthony 1st half .264 2nd Half .293 TRENDING UP SIGNIFICANTLY Yoshida only up since July so his July number was .239 and August is .296 and he faces both LH and RH pitchers!!!!! Unlike Abreu. So the solid part of the batting order is: Anthony in LF, Duran in CF, Rafaela in RF, Bregman at 3B, Story at SS and Yoshida at DH. The holes projected for the post season are at Catcher where Narvaez is in a free fall, Toro who is drastically falling off, Gonzalez who is falling off and Abreu who is falling off in average AND HRs yet continues to force Rafaela to 2nd where he can't hit. Either Nathanial Lowe or Kristian Campbell needs to play 1B, or Campbell needs to play 2nd with Lowe at 1B and another catcher needs to be found to improve the overall hitting. The team can make the playoffs with the great pitching but will stumble in the post season with 1/3 of the batting order failing miserably in the second half. Narvaez, Toro, Gonzalez and Abreu aren't cutting it and Abreu is impacting Rafaela's success as well as the overall defense since Rafaela is far superior to the over-rated Abreu in RF on defense.

So you hate Story and chose to write a article on why he won't opt out while being one of the most overpaid players in baseball? The concept was so obvious I thought you were trying to find a reason he would opt out because otherwise you are simply pulling a Tim McCarver and stating the obvious. So you weren't trying to find a way he would opt out!! You simply chose to state the obvious. My bad. Clearly, I gave you too much credit. I thought you might have an angle on why he would which is why I pointed out how ridiculous that would be. The only guy less likely to opt out in baseball is probably Devers. Two of Bloom's finer contracts!!!

A reinvention of a player after just two starts? Hyperbole is the word that jumps out to me. A player develops a new pitch and the first two teams that see it don't adjust well to the unscouted pitch, and he has two good games. That's what actually happened. If he's dominant for another dozen games then we can start talking about reinvention but it's likely teams will add the pitching to the scouting reports and the success with it will significantly drop. BOS needs to be careful with it's evaluation of May because if they use a small sample to try to extend him before the season ends, the data won't be very conclusive so the guess as to his future value could match a very large spectrum of numbers. He might be a steal, and he might be an albatross or anything in between. His KC game wasn't great, but his HOU game was. He got rocked for LA in July so the success of the new pitch might prevent him from being rocked or it might simply delay him being rocked again until the opponents get the new pitch scouted. It's very hard to say. Extending him to keep him from being a FA at the end of the year all depends on his starts in August and September. Let's hope he doesn't drop off as teams scout his new pitch. He's always had good stuff, but his surgery was a huge setback. With Crochet and Bello locked in for 2026 adding both May and Giolito would significantly lower the off season needs.

So you don't think it's an overreaction to think a guy who has performed so badly for four seasons while making $23.3 million a year is likely to opt out because he finally had one decent season that isn't over and could still end with him getting hurt again or falling off in Aug/Sep? I think the season has to play out and we need to see if the guy who is keeping Mayer from playing shortstop will opt out when he has already been shown that he's going to get to play and his 33/34-year-old seasons at $23.3 Million are still on the horizon. Who in their right mind would pay more than $23.3 Million for an injury prone old guy? BOS is locked into paying him more than he is worth, nobody else would be as dumb as Bloom. Maybe Breslow can trade him after the season so Mayer can play but it probably would need be a paydown situation. Bloom paying him $23.3 Million with a 112 OPS+ in COL made absolutely no sense and now his BOS OPS+ is 94. He a solid defender but 94 hardly qualifies him for $23.3 Million or more a year so the opt out seems incredibly unlikely.

Nate is great and would be an excellent addition.

Story is not going to opt out without further incentives from the Red Sox. He's in his fourth season at $23.3 million and has produced a .242 average, .298 OBP, .406 SLG and .706 OPS when his non-Boston career numbers are .272/.340/.523/.863. Story is thanking his lucky stars that Bloom was such an idiot. He's going nowhere unless Breslow further incents him so Mayer can play SS next year (until he gets hurt again!). I don't see that happening and I don't see Story repeating his 2025 performance either. Fans overreact when someone has a good year. I'm guessing you were one of the fans that said Wong was our long-term answer at catcher after ONE good year since we got him in 2020. Guess what, he's a back-up catcher at best and his career numbers prove it. Taking temporary success and extrapolating it is not a way to project the future of a player. Narvaez is in the same boat as is Gonzalez, Toro and Abreu. Abreu is a bit different in that he simply repeats hot streaks and cold streaks over and over while not facing LH pitchers for the most part. That's not a long-term solution either but he swings for the fences and hits for power when he connects so he could be a late inning pinch hitter like Dalbec used to be. Ironically, Dalbec hit .253 vs LH pitchers and .203 vs RH pitchers, a mirror image of Abreu (.268 vs RH pitchers and .213 vs LH pitchers!!!) Dalbec was not a platoon-player, so fans hated his overall performance because he sucked against RH pitchers. Cora protects Abreu by platooning him. If he is played full-time, it's highly likely fans would turn on Abreu like they did on Dalbec because he simply can't LH pitchers. Also, Dalbec was a better fielder than Devers at his primary position and Rafaela is a far better fielder than Abreu at his primary position of RF. Thus, Abreu, at best, should be part of a DH/4th outfield tandem with Refsnyder. Or he can remain as one of the most over-rated below average hitting right fielders in the game if he ever gets full time status. Will Story jump ship? He would be insane to do it without further incentives.

Cherry picking. Meidroth in 2025 84 games, 349 PA, 310 AB, 78 Hits (.252) DBL 12 TRP 0 HR 3 RUNS 36 RBIS 15 SBS 11/14 Mayer in 2025 44 games (injured), 136 PA, 127 AB, 29 Hits (.228) DBL 8 TRP 1 HR 4 RUNS 20 RBIS 10 SBS 0/2 Meidroth .252/.330/.319/.650 OPS+ 85 Mayer .228/.272/.402/.674 OPS+ 85 The reason people don't bias numbers by cherry picking specific small segments is because it's a completely bogus way to do analysis. Put the players head to head and compare the longest time period possible and in this case it's the 2025 season. Same is true if you compare their performances in the minors. Selecting the ONLY time Mayer was good and claiming it makes him better has been a very, very weak analysis done by very, very weak fans who prefer to cherry pick. That's why Meidroth was completely under estimated as a player and Mayer was completely over estimated. Throw in Mayers series of injuries year after year and I have preferred Meidroth since 2024 and the numbers support that one should have not been unranked as a prospect while the other was in the top 25. Only Anthony and Campbell earned their spots in the top 25 of the prospect rankings.

The White Sox front office is much better than they have been in the past. Meidroth was a no name who put up comparable numbers to Mayer in the minors and wasn't injured like Mayers. Great move on their part to include our #1 pick, a no name instead of Mayer and a potential Fisk/Varitek catcher. A mediocre front office would have wanted Mayer who was over-rated, Blaze Jordan who was over-rated and Bello who appeared to be over-rated until he finally stepped up this year. If we could swap Teel, Montgomery and Meidroth for Mayer, Jordan and Bello, I'd do it in a heart beat. We have no long-term solution at catcher so Teel is by far the most valuable player lost, Meidroth is outperforming Mayer in the MLB already, Bello has looked outstanding this season but will it continue compared to the upside potential of Montgomery? Hard to say. Like I said before, give the CWS front office so credit, they picked the right prospects for the quality of Crochet. We needed Crochet so the deal was necessary but it sure would have been nice if Chicago used a more normal ranking system to request prospects from BOS.

Sure would be nice to have Teel!!!!!!! Great to get Crochet but Teel was the key piece that should have been another player like an injury prone Mayer or Abreu.

Completely agree. What about Maldonado who just got released?

Worse than Wong? Sanchez's current average is .235 compared to .171 for Wong. Both suck. We've seen Wong suck but not Sanchez so there is hope his change of scenery will help and maybe Breslow thinks he can improve him.

Brandon - Great article that represents the thinking of a major portion of the fan base. Campbell in AAA and the one-dimensional Hamilton on the MLB roster has never made sense. Also, the Ali Sanchez claim hopefully will allow Boston to dump Wong as well. Both players are career minor leaguer's from a talent standpoint. The Red Sox during the Bloom years needed to use guys like Hamilton and Wong but with all the talent added by Breslow this team has upgraded itself and fan expectations. The time for Hamilton and Wong has passed and its time for all 13 hitters to be MLB quality. Campbell has now surpassed Mayer's numbers in AAA and deserves to get a second chance by playing 1B ahead of Toro and others. He is the long-term solution and needs to rebuild his confidence before the post season begins. Likewise, Mayer needs to get healthy and rebuild his confidence prior to the post season. An infield with Bregman, Story, Mayer and Campbell and an outfield with Anthony, Duran and Rafaela with Abreu/Yoshida/Refsnyder at DH looks to be the best of two worlds; great hitting and great defense. Hopefully, someone in the front office can advise Cora on where the team's talents really lie and can force him to start logical line-ups going forward and to stop all the excessive bench play. Normal MLB players should be able to play 150 games a season and using the superior player at each position for 150 games has been a given for 100 years or more. Injuries happen and there is no proof that playing lesser players more reduces the chances of the better players getting hurt so all that results by playing the lesser players is lowering your chances of winning. That's NOT a winning strategy!!

Nick - Nice job discussing the depth for the remainder of the season. For me, I would set our roster as follows: Hitters Narvaez - C, Campbell - 1B, Gonzalez/Mayer 2B, Story - SS, Bregman - 3B, Anthony - LF, Duran - CF and Rafaela - RF with Abreu at DH. That's 10 hitters so I would also carry Refsnyder, Yoshida and Maldonado (sign him to replace Wong). Pitchers Crochet, Bello, Giolito, Buehler, May, Chapman, Hicks, Whitlock, Weissert, Wilson, Matz, Tolle and Sandlin. I'm not a Kelly fan, I'm not a Sogard fan, I'm not a Criswell fan but his last start was very impressive vs Houston (he should be the 14th pitcher waiting in AAA) and I think Garcia only should be promoted if another player gets hurt on offense. So for now with Mayer out I think Toro should be on the roster and be the 14th hitter when Mayer returns with Garcia the 15th hitter if there are two injuries.

Was it ok when the press called the owners racist? They sent their two best black players to LAD. What level of proof was demanded of them to make the observation? NONE!!! It's been a word associated the Red Sox since Jackie Robinson. If you don't agree, that's your opinion. Are you saying that this website demands a higher level of proof than the press needed to make a similar statement for 50 years? Moderators should not be abusive with their position of authority. You crossed a line with this comment as you often do. Are there any other topics you personally want me to specifically stop without the authority to stop them? How about your attempt at stopping me speak the truth about nature of metric estimates? That was the previous topic you disagreed on and threatened me on. You made things personal from day 1. I've been singled out because you don't agree with my opinions and despite all your inflammatory comments to me, I have hung in here because there are many educated fans on the site that understand the game. They make the site worth visiting daily. One of my favorites is Brandon Glick. So next time you don't agree with me, don't comment to me because I have absolutely no interest in your opinions. Also, I don't answer to you when I write a comment and you are pressing me for answers. Do your job without abuse.

FYI .... here are the AAA stats for the big 3 prospects (one of which is not on the MLB roster so he could go learn 1B) Anthony 58 games, 212 at bats, 61 hits (.288), 9 dbs, 2 triples, 10 HRs, 45 runs, 29 Rbis, 51 BBs, 56 Ks, 3 SBs and 3 CSs, OBP .423, SLG .491 and OPS .914 Mayer 43 games, 179 at bats, 46 hits (.271), 5 dbs, 1 triple, 9 HRs, 31 runs, 43 Rbis, 20 BBs, 38Ks, 2 SBs 0 CSs, OBP .347, SLG .471 and OPS .818 Campbell 39 games, 138 at bats, 37 hits (.268), 5 dbs, 1 triple, 5 HRs, 26 runs, 25 Rbis, 25 BBs, 45 Ks, 2 SBs 0 CSs, OBP .402, SLG .428 and OPS .830 As Campbell approaches Mayer's game total of 43 games he's got a higher OPS and OBP, a lower SLG, more walks and more Ks but the numbers are very close yet he's in the minors while Mayer sits on the IL in the majors which makes it four seasons in a row with injuries for the injury prone Mayer. It can't be fun for Campbell to be Cora's latest red-headed stepchild. FYI... clearly Roman has done well at the MLB level so far but is there really a big difference between Mayer and Campbell that dictates he doesn't get to be part of the 2025 success? Why tread Campbell like crap after the organization invested in him? Hamilton hitting .174 on the MLB roster and no Campbell? That's insulting. Good thing he's already signed long-term!! He should be enjoying being part of the 2025 run before it ends. The atmosphere of the clubhouse in August in completely different from the atmosphere in June when the team was .500. As a player secured for the long-term he deserves to be on the MLB roster not Hamilton.

He pitched today and got his butt kicked 5 innings, 5 earned runs, 6 total runs, 7 hits, 1 walk, 3 Ks and 2 HRs given up. Maybe he's not ready for WOR! Let's hope he doesn't get discouraged by the pummeling and his next start helps him win back some confidence. Rushing players in August in hopes they will be ready by October to help in the playoffs is a double-edged sword.

I never said that. You made that up. So no, I can't explain it. Maybe you can? You need to read comments more carefully and avoid extrapolating comments incorrectly.

No offense but this was a puff piece. We all know he is a good player but since Cora didn't screw with him at all Anthony has no idea about adversity. When a guy sucks at hitting like Anthony did when he first came up, he usually gets sent back down or drops to 9th in the order. He batted in the top three spots because he's already been anointed. Had Cora treated Duran, Rafaela or Campbell like that the results on all three would have been far different. Anthony is getting the Devers treatment not the Mookie treatment. The organization tried to make Mayer and Anthony the two stars and Campbell ruined their plans by outperforming both in 2024. They didn't want to acknowledge him but had to since he won a huge award. The second he wasn't hitting .400 at the beginning of the year or .300 after the first month, he got shipped to the equivalent of Siberia as a batter, he became the 9 hitter. A spot reserved for the weakest hitter on the team. Duran and Rafaela got denigrated the same way in prior years but not Mayer or Anthony. It's easy for a player to have a better chance of fulfilling expectations if they are treated with privileges others don't get. Look at that clown Devers. In 2018 he should have been in the minors but got to hit .240 instead and make a couple dozen errors or more. It wasn't fair to others competing to play 3B but someone "on high" decided he was to be the face of the franchise not Mookie. Much like Campbell achieving a prestigious award last year, Mookie came out of nowhere to be the real generational player not Swihart who was the front office supported player like Anthony and Mayer. It must be great for Anthony that he got to bat 3rd while hitting under .100 while his teammate was shipped to AAA after hitting .400 for two weeks, .300 for the first month and then hit a cold spell resembling what Anthony was going through. Favoritism is the Cora way. Racism isn't typically talked about when it's not related to white people, but a Latin manager can be just as guilty of racism as a white manager and Cora is guilty of it just like he is guilty of cheating. Yet here we are 4 losing seasons later employing a manager with no skills or integrity. This season looked to end things for Cora, but Breslow provided too much talent and selected so much better coaches that the dumping of Devers has shown to be addition by subtraction. Cora being eliminated would result in similar results, but it won't happen while the team is winning. Hopefully, a fourth consecutive season swoon in September will convince the ownership group that this year's results through August were about Breslow moves that increased talent and the SEP swoon once again is on Cora.

The other three that don't have extensions that were identified in the article don't deserve extensions: 1 - Marcelo Mayer plays SS where Story is for the next few years and Mayer can't stay healthy. He's a HUGE risk due to being injury prone. Also, we have other excellent SSs in the farm system so he needs to prove a lot more than he's proven so far to get an extension. 2 - Wilyer Abreu can't hit LH pitchers so he's a PLATOON player thanks to a batting average that oscillates above and below .200. He's a trade chip, not a keeper. Let's hope Breslow can use him effectively to get pitching. The outfield for the next decade needs to be Anthony in LF, Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF. Refsnyder is an outstanding 4th outfielder. 3 - Carlos Narvaez has never had a year as good as the 2025 first half. That's why the Yankees let him go. That's why he should be considered a back-up catcher at best because he's NEVER hit as well as he has in the first half, much like Wong never hit as well as he did in 2024 and he's proven he's at most a back-up as well with his 2025 performance. I believe Breslow is smart enough to realize these three players don't deserve extensions like the best core farm system players that have been extended. Rafaela is a superstar defender who will contribute significantly on offense and flourish as the RF in the future because he's the best defender in the toughest field at Fenway. When Cora gets fired and Rafaela finally gets to bat higher in the order his productivity will grow exponentially. Campbell's first speed bump of his career is ending and he's going to a potential all-star for years to come. Anthony is the face of the franchise now that Devers has finally been demoted from a position that should have been Mookie's. And Brayen Bello is finally looking the pitcher who they invested in but for me he is the big question mark. I'd rather have Houck signed long-term because he has superior pitching skills. So, add him to the list of players they should extend once Houck gets back from his injury.