2026 Red Sox/MLB Season Thread

[Roy H.]

Sox starters are 9th at 3.96 ERA.  It feels like it has been better than this, but there it is.

This surprised me, but I think that's because of my own recency bias.  The pitching has been lights out since the streak began.  I think I'm already forgetting how badly the season started.

[Vermont Green]

The Uberstine for White deal is weird.  It seems like we traded a useful reliever for a pinch runner.

Trading for a pinch runner is weird, too, because we have Braiden Ward in AAA who's elite at stealing bases and should get that job in the playoffs

When the trade first happened I figured it was a precursor to a Duran deal, but that never materialized. Maybe they'll have him platoon with Duran until Roman comes back? Or do something with Duran (IL, AAA) and have White start in the meantime? Just a weird deal

It is a small sample size, but White has an OPS about 200 points higher vs. lefties this season compared to Duran, so maybe they will platoon Duran for a bit to help get him some days off and get his head in the right place.  White also has managed to nearly triple Duran in WAR, despite having about 1/3 the plate appearances.  I know that says more about Duran than White, but I think he is potentially more than a pinch runner.

Yes, a platoon seems like where this is headed:

vs. Lefties    White             0.758 OPS
vs. Righties  Duran             0.607 OPS
BOS LF this Season            0.658 OPS

And Duran is nothing special in the field.  This may allow for some improvement in production from LF, until Anthony is back.  Duran has been better lately.  So maybe between White and an improving Duran, we can get this OPS up to something in the 0.700s for the position.

[BitterJim]

Sox starters are 9th at 3.96 ERA.  It feels like it has been better than this, but there it is.

This surprised me, but I think that's because of my own recency bias.  The pitching has been lights out since the streak began.  I think I'm already forgetting how badly the season started.

It's also weird about openers. The games earlier this year with an opener pitching the 1st and Bello coming in afterward count the opener as the starter and Bello out of the bullpen, but in terms of traditional roles I would consider them to be the other way around. So those poor first innings and lights out innings 2-7 count in the opposite buckets from where they "seem" to fit (at least to me).

Ditto for inherited runners counting on the starter, so early in the year Weisert was pitching when plenty of runners scored but they count against the starters' ERA instead of his/the bullpen's (even though, again, it "seems" like the bullpen allowed those runs while watching/listening to the game)

[Vermont Green]

Sox starters are 9th at 3.96 ERA.  It feels like it has been better than this, but there it is.

This surprised me, but I think that's because of my own recency bias.  The pitching has been lights out since the streak began.  I think I'm already forgetting how badly the season started.

Starters' ERA is being plumped up by some early season bad numbers from Bello and Crochet, who have not been starting games lately.  The current core starters [Gray, Suarez, Tolle, Bennett, Sandoval] all have season ERA under the season average of 3.96, actually all are between 2.90 and 3.32.  So yes, this starters' season ERA is a bit misleading.

I still feel the team needs Crochet pitching well to really be a World Series contender.  The starting pitching is good in any case, but with Crochet it would be right there with anyone.

[Vermont Green]

Sox starters are 9th at 3.96 ERA.  It feels like it has been better than this, but there it is.

This surprised me, but I think that's because of my own recency bias.  The pitching has been lights out since the streak began.  I think I'm already forgetting how badly the season started.

It's also weird about openers. The games earlier this year with an opener pitching the 1st and Bello coming in afterward count the opener as the starter and Bello out of the bullpen, but in terms of traditional roles I would consider them to be the other way around. So those poor first innings and lights out innings 2-7 count in the opposite buckets from where they "seem" to fit (at least to me).

Ditto for inherited runners counting on the starter, so early in the year Weisert was pitching when plenty of runners scored but they count against the starters' ERA instead of his/the bullpen's (even though, again, it "seems" like the bullpen allowed those runs while watching/listening to the game)

Yes, and Bello added to this by pitching horribly when he started (10.35 ERA) and great when "in relief" (0.69 ERA).  These are just ridiculous splits for Bello and they distort the overall splits.