Red Sox 2025-26 Off Season

[slamtheking]

I've never heard of Durbin tbh so idk what to make of the trade lol

But yeah, now Jose Bello is the only guy remaining from the Devers trade. Just a god awful trade (and for salary dumping reasons for ownership to pocket, that's it)

Yeah, I was touting Harrison as the big piece in the Devers deal, if they used that to get Durbin, a RH power bat, kudos.

New projected lineup:

C:  Narvaez
1B:  Contreras
2B:  Mayer
SS:  Story
3B:  Durbin
LF:  Anthony
CF:  Rafaela
RF:  Abreu
DH:  Duran

WS here we come!

I haven't heard Durbin described as a power bet.  Where have you seen that?

he's not a power bat but has decent power.  he's pretty good in the field too.  wouldn't anchor your offense around him but will be a solid spot in the line-up.

[Redz]

I've never heard of Durbin tbh so idk what to make of the trade lol

But yeah, now Jose Bello is the only guy remaining from the Devers trade. Just a god awful trade (and for salary dumping reasons for ownership to pocket, that's it)

Yeah, I was touting Harrison as the big piece in the Devers deal, if they used that to get Durbin, a RH power bat, kudos.

New projected lineup:

C:  Narvaez
1B:  Contreras
2B:  Mayer
SS:  Story
3B:  Durbin
LF:  Anthony
CF:  Rafaela
RF:  Abreu
DH:  Duran

WS here we come!

I haven't heard Durbin described as a power bet.  Where have you seen that?

he's not a power bat but has decent power.  he's pretty good in the field too.  wouldn't anchor your offense around him but will be a solid spot in the line-up.

He'll fit right in with the solid, but not spectacular lineup.

[slamtheking]

I've never heard of Durbin tbh so idk what to make of the trade lol

But yeah, now Jose Bello is the only guy remaining from the Devers trade. Just a god awful trade (and for salary dumping reasons for ownership to pocket, that's it)

Yeah, I was touting Harrison as the big piece in the Devers deal, if they used that to get Durbin, a RH power bat, kudos.

New projected lineup:

C:  Narvaez
1B:  Contreras
2B:  Mayer
SS:  Story
3B:  Durbin
LF:  Anthony
CF:  Rafaela
RF:  Abreu
DH:  Duran

WS here we come!

I haven't heard Durbin described as a power bet.  Where have you seen that?

he's not a power bat but has decent power.  he's pretty good in the field too.  wouldn't anchor your offense around him but will be a solid spot in the line-up.

He'll fit right in with the solid, but not spectacular lineup.

I'd swap that line-up with the Brewer line-up all day and twice on Sunday.  Only 2 bats starting for the Brewers that might crack that Sox line-up are Chourio and Contreras. 

[Ilikesports17]

Durbin seemed a fan favorite in Milwaukee. Decent contact hitter that more importantly is a versatile infield defender.

With no second baseman and major injury question marks at SS and third we really need a solid defender that we can play at different spots throughout the infield.

Strange for Milwaukee to dump him for Harrison given their lack of infield talent and the amount of SP they have. Makes me worry one of the best pitching labs in baseball sees something they love in Harrison.

[Phantom255x]

The pitching and pitching depth is awesome. The defense is better too with Durbin + Contreras, and hopefully more Mayer in the infield. I still wonder though if the lineup is good enough. They are relying a lot on guys like Contreras, Casas, etc. as well as Anthony + Mayer staying healthy. Even then, they lost Bregman and still don't have a ton of pop in the lineup outside of 2-3 bats.

I don't think we lost the Yankees series last year because of pitching. Our offense just didn't have enough juice and besides Yoshida and Bregman didn't have too many clutch guys either. They got shutout in Game 3, Early and the bullpen that night mostly kept them in it otherwise.

And frankly, I still don't think we replaced Devers in the lineup.

[Vermont Green]

We are still in the 2025-26 off season but the roster and likely line up are starting to take shape.  The big question of course is if the line up is better or worse or about the same (line up, not pitching rotation).  Below is how the Sox did by position last season.  The rank is in the AL by OPS:

POS   Rank   AVG   OBP      SLG   OPS
  C     10     0.223   0.289   0.363   0.652
 1B     12     0.244   0.305   0.386   0.691
 2B      9     0.241   0.308   0.362   0.670
 3B      4     0.265   0.340   0.436   0.776
 SS      6     0.261   0.306   0.431   0.737
 LF      3     0.259   0.337   0.444   0.781
 CF      5     0.263   0.324   0.450   0.774
 RF      2     0.272   0.346   0.475   0.821
 DH     3     0.272   0.361   0.465   0.826

In spite of some weak production from some positions (C, 1B, 2B), the overall team managed to rank 4th in the AL for overall OPS.  3B was a strong position for production and we lost Bregman, replaced with Durbin (my assumption).  Starting the analysis with 3B, the overall team OPS for 3B was 0.776.  Durbin last season was 0.721 in his rookie season.  You can't expect Durbin to improve enough to match what Bregman did (0.822), but the overall position may not suffer all that much, if at all.  Second season, in a park that suits him, Durbin should improve on his rookie season.  Bregman's overall impact was reduced due to the injury and he wasn't as good when he came back.  DH is unclear, it may be a lot of Duran.  A lot of players had DH at bats including Devers.  Team DH production may drop.

Now for the positions that should improve, starting with 1B.  The team's collective 1B had an OPS of 0.691.  Wilson Contreras had an OPS of 0.791.  That should result is a meaningful improvement, maybe enough to offset the loss of production at 3B.  It may be Mayer who is the everyday 2B or a platoon.  Either way, I don't see it as a stretch that the production from 2B improves from last season's 0.670 OPS.  At Catcher, Wong was bad at the plate, well below his career averages.  Not sure why or if he will bounce back.  But it is realistic that production from Catcher could also improve.

The OF was really good last season but should improve.  Another year of development for Anthony, Rafaela, and Abreu.  Hopefully more health and at bats. Duran also in the mix.  Reasonable to expect some level of improved production from the OF overall.  I think SS will remain about the same.  I think Story can easily match his 0.741 OPS. 

Overall, to me, this adds up to a team that should have at least as much production as last season and likely a little more.  BOS should be a top 5 hitting team in the AL, in spite of the fact that they do not have any traditional middle of the line up "thumpers".  They should be above average at every position except C and 2B.

[Vermont Green]

Now for the starting pitching.  I am carrying forward a summary I had posted a while back.  It lines up last year's starters based on starts next to this year's likely starters.

2025                    2026
Crochet    (32)      Crochet
Bello        (28)      Suarez
Giolito      (26)      Bello
Buehler    (22)      Gray
Dobbins   (11)      Oviedo
Fitts         (10)     Crawford
Houck       (9)      Sandoval
8 others   (<5)     Houck, Early, Tolle

I have seen projections that this could be the best starting rotation in the majors and at worst, top 3.

2. Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox have the deepest starting rotation in the American League and even give our number one team (LAD) a run for their money in terms of depth. The Red Sox have completely retooled their starting rotation from last season, building around the 2025 AL Cy Young runner-up: Garret Crochet. The Sox added Sonny Gray and Ranger Su?rez to a rotation that already included Crochet and Bryan Bello. Additionally, the Sox have Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, and Johan Oviedo available in case of injuries. Last year, arguably the biggest knock on the Sox was their lack of pitching depth behind Crochet, which the front office addressed and then some this offseason.

Last season, BOS was 6th best in the AL for staters' ERA.  5th best for starters' IP.  There is always volatility in starting pitching but this BOS group is so balanced and so deep that it should be able to survive some injuries.  Pleasant surprises add to the volatility also.  Houck, for example, could come back in the 2nd half of the season and be an all star level pitcher again.  Or Early or Tolle could have break out seasons.  Sandoval may bounce back.  No one should be counting on any this, but it is not a stretch to expect at least one of these to be this season's pleasant surprise.