The Red Sox have been one of the more disappointing teams in baseball this year. While they’re shielded from consideration for the most disappointing club in MLB thanks to their division rivals in Baltimore, Boston entered the season as a trendy pick to win the AL East but currently sit three games under .500, 3.5 games back of a Wild Card spot, and 8.5 games back of the Yankees for the division title. While the calendar has not yet flipped to June and there’s plenty of time for a club floating around .500 to turn things around, that didn’t stop chief baseball officer Craig Breslow from expressing urgency in his comments to reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive) regarding the state of the team earlier today.
“The simple answer is it’s not good enough. It’s not the performance we expected in the offseason,” Breslow said, as relayed by Cotillo. “It’s too late in the season and I think the the evidence is too strong to just say, ‘We’re gonna be OK tomorrow when we wake up.’”
Those comments seem to indicate that changes are necessary in order for the Red Sox to reach their maximum potential, though Breslow did not announce any specific changes ahead of this afternoon’s game against Atlanta. Reporting has subsequently indicated that there will be a handful of roster moves ahead of tomorrow’s game, but one name that does not yet appear to be coming up to the majors is top prospect Roman Anthony. Widely viewed as the sport’s top prospect and boasting a .306/.435/.505 slash line for Triple-A Worcester, fans have grown impatient waiting for his highly-anticipated major league debut.
Breslow’s comments didn’t shut the door to the possibility of Anthony coming up in the near future but didn’t provide any new hints that his debut could be on the horizon, with Cotillo suggesting that Breslow simply repeated past comments about wanting to call Anthony up into a situation where he’ll be able to thrive. Aside from the possibility of a promotion for Anthony, Breslow was also asked about the job status of manager Alex Cora. Breslow stood by his manager, referencing his decision to offer Cora a three-year extension last summer.
“We obviously made a commitment to Alex,” Breslow said, as relayed by Cotillo. “We’re gonna see that through. Right now, it’s about making sure that we’re doing everything we can to enable the 26 guys on our roster to help us win as many games as possible.”
It would certainly be a shock to find out that Cora is on the hot seat after the club committed to more $7MM annually to him for the 2025-27 seasons, so it’s hardly a surprise that Breslow shut down the idea of parting ways with his manager. Even so, the fact that the possibility of a change in the dugout came up at all during the scrum highlights the sense of urgency surrounding the Red Sox, and Cotillo adds that Breslow did not fully rule out the possibility of changes to the coaching staff. Breslow emphasized that the club is prepared to “pull a string that that we think will impact our success on the field” should one arise, though he also made clear that he wouldn’t want any changes made to “paper over a more deeply rooted problem.”
One place where the Red Sox appear poised to make some substantial changes in the near future is first base. While Rafael Devers seemingly remains unlikely to move to the position anytime soon, Kristian Campbell has been doing drills at the position in recent weeks and is expected to make his first career start at the position tomorrow, as Cotillo noted yesterday. Romy Gonzalez is also expected back from the injured list in the relatively near future after serving as the club’s primary first baseman during the brief stretch between Casas’s injury and his own. It’s unclear what sort of timeshare will be had at first base once Gonzalez and Campbell join Abraham Toro and Nick Sogard as players capable of handling the position on the roster, but it seems safe to expect everyone from that group who remains on the roster to make at least occasional appearances at first for the time being.
Sounds like Breslow may be thinking the season is not salvagable. Looks like it probably isn’t. They need a couple of bats, a couple of starters and a couple of relievers. Not likely to happen.
I just hope they know where they are at come July and don’t just squander potential trade chips. If they’re not in it they need to truly sell and not just stand fast and do nothing.
They have assets that other teams need, particularly three high leverage LHRP’s. Good time for a team like Boston to try a ‘shake up’ – trade from depth, try to fill a short (1B) and long term (SP) need, and see how the second half goes.
The thing is, they went out and got players to fill some holes for this year and all it has done is backfired. They have tried to improve and have gotten worse than last year. I’m not sure that is an easy task…
They need more than just players… they need a voice and direction, otherwise they aren’t going anywhere
they are far from out of it, no need to add prospects to a farm that is already log jammed.
They need a starter, they should go out and get one and make a run at it.
You can never have enough prospects. The bigger problem is the bigger deals we have made and will have trouble moving
They need a lot more than just a single SP, which is the problem. Ideally an SP, a couple of relievers and a 1B. If they had showed some promise I’d say try and get some, but they haven’t. The lineup in its current state isn’t deep enough for a run, and the rotation isn’t going to get it done. I don’t think it’s worth squandering the future to win 4 more games with an SP from outside.
Assuming they do sell (the practical choice), the prudent thing to do would be acquire major league pieces, or at least major league ready pieces. And hopefully not any middle infielders. In that department we are log jammed.
Breslow spoke for 13 minutes but didn’t say anything. Speaking in mostly generalities the plan seems to be keep piloting the Hindenburg til it crashes to a fiery end…
So basically, punting on 2025 and moving onto 2026…
If they do punt, they should do it for real. Bring up Anthony and trade Buehler, Chapman and Giolitio for whatever prospects they can get.
In Boston, they call it a bridge year.
That’s his MO. Speak in generalities, in circles, no direct responses to anything. Typical empty suit politician talk. And he’s just as clueless as his predecessor.
Why in the world would Breslow tell the press what he was planning to do?
Can you imagine how badly that would work out?
People are weird.
Ghost – If you followed the Red Sox you’d know he’s already done that. In the Netflix doc which you obviously didn’t watch he said the team is not to throw many fastballs. He also revealed their pitching approach against the Mariners. And last year he said they aren’t trying to win until 2026 at the earliest.
Are you seriously saying that to be a good Red Sox fan who follows the team you have to watch a staged Netflix production?
Knuck – What the hell are you talking about? He didn’t watch it, I never said that disqualifies anyone from being a fan. He made a bad assumption because he doesn’t have the information needed.
Seriously. Any baseball ops guy with even half of a brain cell isn’t gonna lay out his entire plan to some beat reporters. That’s how other teams can pick up on it and start developing countermeasures
That’s… new?
Rsox – Words from management are meaningless. “We made a commitment to Alex and we’re gonna see that through”. Yeah like the commitment they made to Raffy just 2 years ago? Everyone knows Henry won’t let Cora get fired this season, Cora was asked the other day if he thought he was safe and he said yes of course.
Red Sox acquire:
Taijuan Walker SP
Mick Abel SP
Otto Kemp 1B
Phillies acquire:
Aroldis Chapman LHP
Liam Hendricks RHP
Rob Refsnyder OF
Sounds like a deal. The cheesesteak alone is $15 at most places these days
Taijuan Walker is the epitome of mediocrity; why would we want him?
Cause thats the bottom of the proverbial barrel at which the Red Sox are currently scrounging around.
No, it actually isn’t. If we are bottom of the barrell, we should be trading off our guys and looking to get prospects. This does nithing to help us
I’d much rather the Red Sox trade Crochet for Nate Lowe.
That makes about as much baseball sense as this deal. Nobody’s trading a prospect like Kemp, much less Abel, for this.
Wow, the Phillies would really have to want to be rid of Taijuan’s contract to do this crazy trade.
Maybe throw in the Castellanos contract too. I mean, why not?
Stevie—Brilliant! Love it!
Why wpuld boston want walker?
That start from Mick Abel the other week had to have lit his stock up.
Going to be an interesting TDL.
That’s a trade deficit!
AC – hurry up and get them on a train
What they need to start doing is scoring more runs than the other team.
Hayzee—I swear I heard Don Imus say that on WFAN years ago. Still funny!
They shouldn’t let Cora’s contract be an obstacle. Sometimes a new voice is needed. Cora has been there a long while. Sometimes the message gets stale. Obviously there is some internal strife. It could be time for a change.
This is probably the most true post I have seen.
don- “could be time for a change?” that ship sailed a long time ago.
yes, Cora got a pass for 2018 (and I’ll always thank him for steering that very special team- arguably the best Red Sox team ever- to the title), but that was many moons- and a pandemic- ago.
like it or not, being a manager at any job is all about “what have you done for me lately?” and Cora hasn’t done squat.
the article states that the Orioles are the most disappointing team in MLB, but at least check, they are only 5.5 games behind the Sox for the cellar, and have started to win some games of late while the Sox are floundering.
abandon ship!
Smk – The O’s have only 4 more losses than the Red Sox, and have also played a tougher schedule. I agree last place is still a possibility for Boston, especially if they become sellers.
They *should* be serious sellers. What’s the point of signing all these one-year rentals if you aren’t going to flip them at the trade deadline when you fall out of contention?
Of course they could skip the rentals, sign better free agents, and actually compete…
Well in Buehler’s case there was serious health risk. If he continues to prove his health and pitches well, I 100% want to re-sign him to a multi-year deal.
Chapman, Hendriks, Giolito, on the other hand – all need to be shipped out. Same for Abreu to make room for Roman Anthony. My pipe dream of Story playing well enough to make himself tradeable has not come close to happening, so IMO it’s time to bite the bullet and release him. I’m ready to give up on Casas, but if the team isn’t maybe they hold onto him. But they at least need to get someone with enough talent to compete for the starting 1B job. Our farm system thanks to Bloom is way too loaded with outfielders and middle infielders and hardly anything at the corners, so in addition to pitching I would like to see them make an effort to correct this imbalance so future seasons can’t be derailed by an injury at a particular position because they literally have no one else in the organization capable of playing there.
Wait – I agree, but no sense in making that decision until late July.
Dirty – Continues? He’s 0-for-2 there. Hasn’t been healthy, and hasn’t pitched like a $21M pitcher.
I’d consider him at $8M with innings incentives.
I could’ve phrased it better but stuck with that for brevity. I meant health in the bigger picture sense – I’m not so concerned about a guy missing 2 starts with a sore shoulder as that can pretty much happen to anyone any time. I’m looking at it more as, there don’t appear to be any lingering or looming major arm issues threatening to cause him to miss 3 months or something. If he’s good in that sense, I’ll take it.
And I would say he has pitched fine or good in the majority of his starts. He’s had 2 rough ones making his overall numbers still look a little ugly but there is still plenty of time for that to normalize.
I don’t understand the continued logic of getting rid of Abreu. Guy is in his second real year, won a gold glove, and has this as his stat line so far in the mlb:
673abs .259 30hr 101rbi
You know who has a similar stat line? Jackson Chourio.
784abs .269 30hr 114rbi
4 years younger I’m aware..100 more abs.
Do we know Anthony will put up the same numbers or better? No, but probably/hopefully/maybe. Moving Ceddane I could say ok, because you could slide Durran or Abreu to center so Anthony moves to right or left.
Makes 0 sense to trade Wilyer, and a year ago or so on here everyone wanted to trade Durran until he was the ASG MVP.
Are we just throwing Chapman away for prospects? I mean throwing the white flag up like you’re saying will never happen, tickets still need to be sold and young players will have dread coming to the park.
Then you’re the Orioles either way, too many prospects and no winning, only losing and knowing going into every game you will probably lose. That’s not how you build a winning mentality with a young core.
Giolito has pitched in 6 games, after being out a season and a 1/3 and we are going to ship him out for what? A box of balls?
Leadership is lacking, obviously with Cora and Breslow.
What would Theo do? What would Dombrowski do?
I don’t have an answer, but logically speaking you don’t trade proven players like Abreu unless you’re getting a very talented SP in return or multiple prospects.
Cdr – The catch is Abreu doesn’t hit well against LHP and he can’t improve if Cora won’t let him bat against LHP.
Or they could trade Duran, sell high, and get the best return.
For me the logic of trading Abreu is that he’s our highest quality trade chip yet also the most replaceable. He is a good but not great young player, but young enough he can still keep improving from what he is presently, I don’t want to trade him out of any animus toward him, but you need to give something to get something. And as far as the rest of the outfield, I want to keep Duran, and Rafaela is less valuable as a trade asset because he hasn’t hit as well as Abreu and he’s already signed a long term contract so there is no economic value like there would be if he were still on a pre-arb payscale.
So that leaves right field to be opened up for Anthony and Wilyer the odd guy out. But the good news is since he has established a floor as a good player in the bigs, he should also more easily fetch us some established or MLB-ready talent. We need bullpen guys who can handle high leverage situations, a good starter, and a first baseman. We have an excess of outfielders and middle infielders. To me it makes all the sense in the world when you have the top prospect in baseball ready to go and take over RF, you trade your right fielder to get help elsewhere where it’s more needed.
Sure, there is always risk any prospect won’t pan out, but you can’t be afraid of that. He and Mayer are the prize we got for dismantling the greatest team in Red Sox history, so if you’re afraid to let them out there and show what they can do then what was it all even for? Anthony is the #1 prospect in the sport and one of the guys they’ve been selling to us for years as a reason to stay patient and trust the front office. If you can’t clear a spot for that guy now that he’s ready, that to me is a bigger sign than anything of a team lacking direction and leadership.
Dirty – I don’t see a GG right fielder as being replaceable. Fenway is the hardest right field in MLB, we have no idea how Roman would do there.
Duran, Abreu, or Rafaela?
Rafaela is the weakest link offensively, an impatient hitter who swings at far too many bad pitches, but he is also an outstanding defender, a “true CF”. Sixty games into the season, he is sitting on a +1.2 WAR as calculated by Fangraphs. Slightly below average offensively, but tremendous defense makes up for that. He is on pace to finish the season with a +3 WAR, and is signed to a very attractive deal that runs through 2031 with a club option for 2032.
Duran was their best player last year, hitting an amazing .285/.342/.492 with great speed on the bases (while playing strong defense), but all of that has fallen back a bit this year. His BB rate has dipped, his power has dropped off. That said, his exit velocities are up and there is some suggestion that he is getting a little unlucky on balls in play. He is a better player than his current +0.8 WAR would indicate, and he’ll have some big games as the weather warms up. Isn’t a free agent until 2029, so he has 3+ years of cost-controlled service remaining. (Unfortunately for Duran, his age/service combination don’t suggest a long term deal like a younger player might receive.)
Abreu had a great season in a platoon role last year, with solidly above average offense, good defense in RF (a strong arm), and positive baserunning. It is the kind of season that creeps up on you – but he did enough things well to finish with a +3.0 WAR. He also struck out a ton and was easy meat for lefty relievers (too bad for them that they usually ended up facing Refsnyder). He has improved a little this year, cutting down on the strikeouts and adding a bit of power, but he remains a platoon player and likely will never be a high-average hitter. And despite the power surge, he seems likely to once again finish around a +3.0 WAR. That’s a very different profile from Rafaela, but not all that much more valuable.
I can see the logic in trading Duran, who is a couple years older, and has an extra year of service time (hitting free agency a year earlier). But Duran plays a key role in the lineup – it isn’t that easy to replace a leadoff hitter and he is one of the best. I can see the logic in trading Rafaela, who is borderline uncoachable with his plate discipline, but it isn’t that easy to find a true CF who makes that kind of impact with his glove. And even if he is tough to coach, he will learn over time. Slowly. So I can see the logic in trading Abreu, whose splits continue to demand a platoon partner, who plays the position that we would ideally hope for Anthony to fill.
It may come down to what other teams are offering? If somebody was willing to give the sun, the moon, the stars for Duran, I think you would have a very hard time turning that one down. But if the trade packages are commensurate with their Fangraphs WAR, then Abreu is probably the most easily expendable.
Is it harder to find a RF to play Fenway, a true leadoff hitter, or a true CF who can make plays in the Triangle?
Of those three, I think Anthony has the best chance to fill the first role.
Too many good players – what a problem!
Dirty – Not to nitpick but he missed 4 starts, he was out from April 27th thru May 19th.
And he’s had literally only 3 quality starts.
I appreciate your optimism, hopefully he can turn it around.
they shouldn’t be afraid to open a spot for Anthony and they also shouldn’t be afraid to move on from Duran who given his age and position doesn’t fit the timeline of the better younger players on the sox. He’s also the person who should fetch the largest return.. Also Duran given his position is much more replaceable with Anthony than the guy who won the gold glove and is on pace for a 30 HR season.
in terms of replacing Duran, Anthony has been batting leadoff all season in AAA and do so the majority of the time at AA as well.
Wait – Here’s your answer:
Anthony 401-L 1,425-C 259-R
Rafaela 74-L 3,276-C 9-R
Duran 1,428-L 4,536-C 410-R
Abreu 1,288-L 1,324-C 2,583-R
My mistake on Buehler, misremembered based on it feeling like a quick absence. Should’ve looked it up to confirm.
Again, want to be clear I am not knocking Abreu at all. He’s a fine young player and whether it’s in Boston or elsewhere hope he continues to flourish.
I think Duran is the least replaceable of our starting outfield. He’s been an amazing leadoff hitter and I don’t see anyone else on the team being able to step in and do as good of a job as he has been there. Rafela is too free-swinging and maybe Campbell could be that guy in time but he isn’t ready yet. Anthony profiles as a middle of the order bat so he’s not someone who is going to come in and be a Duran replacement.
When it comes to Rafaela – his bat is certainly replaceable but how many gold glove caliber center fielders grow on trees? He may not have the hardware to show for it like Abreu, but he is already a very good defender at a premium position. Like JBJ will probably only ever be a streaky hitter at best, but put all together that still makes for a quality major leaguer. Another big reason I don’t want to trade him is based on his performance this year, you’re likely selling low on him. The time to do it would’ve been a year or two ago, instead they extended him. So you have to assume he’s locked in.
That leaves Abreu – a lefty hitting middle of the order type of bat corner outfielder. That’s exactly what Anthony is supposed to be. Do I expect him to come win a GG as a rookie, of course not. But if he is as advertised he will quickly be a better player than Abreu, and that’s a testament to his upside not a knock on Abreu. Abreu is also pre-arb so he carries economic value in a trade and not just baseball value.
So instead of carrying 4 starting-caliber outfielders, yes, I’d rather trade one to fix other weak spots and Abreu is the most logical one to be that guy.
Dirty – Honestly as frustrated as I get with Rafaela’s hitting, I think they need to keep all 4 outfielders because Rafaela will probably be needed in the infield at some point in the future. Especially if Bregman leaves after this season and Story bottoms out or gets injured again.
But if they are nervous about rushing Anthony, as they appear to be, trading the best player on the team and immediately promoting Anthony into the leadoff spot to replace him is about the least logical thing they could do.
Dirty – I think it would be a mistake to trade any of the outfielders until Anthony gets a chance to play RF at Fenway. As my earlier post shows, he’s got very little experience playing any RF. Same with Duran and Rafaela.
And make no mistake, Roman is being kept down for service time manipulation. He’ll probably be called up toward the end of this month or early in July.
That’s fair, Bregman has fit like a glove for both the lineup and clubhouse so I am hopeful they can convince him to stay, but there is a real risk he opts out if he keeps playing the way he was before the injury, whenever he comes back.
Oh yeah, you are 100% correct about why Roman hasn’t been called up yet. He’s got nothing left to prove in AAA. It’s all about keeping that service time down.
Not at the major league level they haven’t… In the minors, everybody plays SS and CF.
Bregman wants a big deal, so assuming that he returns and hits well to finish off the season, I’m thinking he opts out and goes for the gold.
Regardless of his success this year, and he is a PERFECT fit for the current roster, I don’t think it makes sense for anybody to give him $200M+ at this stage of his career.
Dirty – Breslow really sounded like he wasn’t optimistic about this season, so might as well keep Roman down a little longer to ensure he doesn’t get a year’s service time this season.
Given the need to move Duran or Abreu, the promotion of Anthony could also depend on a trade. And that depends on other teams and GMs, not just the Red Sox.
Agreed, $200 million for the twilight of his career would be a no for me. I would’ve given him Matt Chapman money last winter and the way he started this season, I’d be willing once again to go there this winter. I know he’ll be aiming higher than that, question will once again be if anyone is desperate or crazy enough to top that.
Maybe the Phillies if they don’t want to move Aidan Miller to third? Maybe the Yankees if they shift their infield around? Or the Dodgers if they pull the plug on Muncy this winter? Though they may also envision Alex Freeland taking over there, I don’t know.
I’m not either, I am happy they at least tried this year but I think the injury bug has/will continue to help dig too deep a hole for this group to crawl out of. I understand not wanting to start his service clock, but at the same time I’d rather confirm he can handle right field in games that don’t matter and unless we really catch fire in the next couple weeks here we are quickly approaching the point where the games will no longer matter.
At some point, ownership is going to clean house, possibly by the All-Star Break – potentially firing Breslow, Cora and Andrew Bailey (+ others).
Things need to change in Boston – being stuck in mediocrity for the last 4 years with no real direction on how to get this team back to championship contention is not going to help.
Dig – Cpra and Breslow won’t be held accountable during the season. They are already making injury excuses and pointing to how “good” they are by losing so many close games because of “bad luck”.
A 6-15 record in one-run games would indeed point to them having been unlucky.
Or maybe they lost 15 1-run games due to a poorly constructed bullpen and a wildly inconsistent offense outside of Devers & Bregman
Hank – With all due respect, you need to actually watch the games. They grossly underperform in close and late situations. While opponents bunt and make contact to advance runners in tight games, the Sox always swing for the fences leading to massive strikeouts. They simply choke under pressure, in part because they are so young and inexperienced but also because they can’t handle pressure.
You don’t get “unlucky” 15 out of 21 times.
Yammering Hank is just that.
A bad record in one-run games also points to bullpen mismanagement. Some luck, sure, but also a fundamental flaw in the team.
Wait – Absolutely! Managerial strategy is a bigger factor in close games. And Cora sucks in close games, especially when he doesn’t have a stellar bullpen.
It would “suggest” bad luck, until you actually watch the games instead of just looking at box scores, and see that their terrible record in close games is not a fluke.
Bad luck is when your pitcher makes a great pitch but the batter happens to make a perfect guess on it and blasts it a mile into the stands anyway. Constant mental lapses, fielding errors, giving up too many walks, inability of half the lineup to hit for contact, etc. etc. – those issues are not luck. That is by design. These guys do not have the discipline or mental toughness to execute when pressure is on or if things aren’t going exactly their way.
The biggest part of that problem is roster construction. I don’t fully blame Breslow for this yet as he stepped into a position that’s kind of like trying to steer the Titanic. Some of the problem players have been young kids they envision having bright futures with the team but are still learning the ropes. Some of them have been vets on untradeable contracts. Not that every move Breslow has made has been perfect, but as far as the worst parts of the roster go I still view that as mostly Bloom’s mess. If he doesn’t start doing a better job at cleaning it up that’s another problem to talk about but for now I’m still ok chalking this up as a work in progress.
Next biggest problem I see is philosophical. I understand the appeal of strikeout pitchers at Fenway Park where any balls in play can quickly lead to disaster, but their obsession with “stuff” over results has helped create this situation where we have what looks on paper like a staff that should be very good, but winds up struggling with walks and high pitch counts that invariably lead to yielding backbreaking big innings to opposing lineups that ours can’t rake its way out of. There is also the problem on the defensive side where they have expressed a clear preference for athleticism over experience or ability to play a defined position. Maybe they thought positionless baseball was the future, maybe they thought they were going to find the next Mookie Betts (to think they could’ve just *had* Mookie Betts on a contract that already looks like a bargain compared to recent FAs), who knows. What we do know is that expecting a hundred middle infielders to turn into a coherent defensive alignment does not work. I pin most of the blame for this on the player development infrastructure, maybe partially on the analytics department because their points of emphasis on this side of the ball have become far too “new age” in the worst kind of ways. Clearly nobody is teaching these guys how to play good defense at any level of the Minors, so is it really their fault they can’t do it passably in the Majors? Sure, they can put the effort in on their own to improve and some of them probably will, but it takes time; more time than they would’ve had to spend if it was a larger focal point in their development in the first place.
I still view those as being much bigger problems than anything Cora’s doing, but even as someone who has stayed in his corner much longer than seemingly most of the fanbase, I am starting to come around on why so many have soured on him. I think his level headed demeanor is a positive more often than not, but at this particular point in time it seems the clubhouse needs more structure and a strong voice from the top than he brings to the table.
Good comments, Dirty, you touch on so much that the team needs to address.
I do have faith that the kids will improve, but they also need coaching and a manager who can help them get to that point.
6-15 in one run games and they have a positive run differential. Ouch.
Because they have outlier 19 run games. Fans keep saying they hit well with RISP, but those stats mean nothing if you do it in all one game. We need RISP in situations that matter
No, it’s because they have had terrible sequencing of runs allowed and runs scored. They’ve given up some terrible runs games to balance the positive runs scored outliers, but 6-15 in one run games for a .500 team is self-explanatory.
Whatever way you put it, they’ve done this the past three years.
No, you just need high on-base and slugging percentages. Hitting with RISP is largely luck anyway.
Even OBP and slugging aren’t always timely
When you sign and trade for Alex Bregman, Garrett Crochet, and Walker Buehler to add to what we did last year and have a worse record with those guys, you know there’s clearly a problem. And honestly, it starts with Cora
No, honestly and obviously it starts with being down 3 SPs before the season even started and then dealing with too many other injuries and the wrong shuffles at the wrong time. It’s exactly what you expect to see from a talented team that is still plenty competitive but can’t seem to get a run going.
Baseball fans have been overrating the impact of the manager for almost as long as this sport has existed.
We have like 8 to 9 starters total… enough with excuses. Good teams fight through injury. We got depth this year and can’t even do that. It’s all deadwood.
The team needs a new voice who can make the most out of the deoth we have
Mets down 3 SPs.
Manaea
Montas
Blackburn.
Mets are still pitching well and winning.
I’m ready for your next bad take.
Dodgers down 14 pitchers. Still winning.
The Dodgers have/had quality depth. The Red Sox do not. Alex Cora isn’t a perfect manager but he can only work with the roster he is given. So far, what he’s been given has included 6 starts from Lucas Giolito, 5 from Sean Newcomb, and 14 appearances from Liam Hendriks; all of which have been mostly disastrous. That might’ve been an exciting trio to have in 2019, not so much in 2025.
He’s also had pretty much everyone in the bullpen crap their pants several times in leverage situations, outside of Chapman. So again, not sure what you’re supposed to do managerially when you’re given a puzzle with all tabs and no blanks.
This I agree with you on.
He has little to work with, and like most humans he goes to who he trusts, like Bernardino etc. and kills them by the All Star break, then we have Zack Kelly giving up 800ft home runs to Judge.
I remember way back when they tried the closer by committee and finally had to give up on that idea. “Some” of these bs metrics and game strategies need to go and a balance of 100 years of what worked with the addition of metrics to support it and improve it needs to be installed.
Problem is which has been the 4 years is Cora.
Takes a starter out who is going good
Leaves a starter in who doesn’t have it that day
The pr&ck took out one early yesterday wth 2 outs 4.2 innings in. Can’t get the win with the lead But leaves in a starter giving up 5 after 5. There is no logic to that what so ever.
Been saying it all along. He’s a stain on the Sox. Shouldn’t even be in this league or baseball cause he’s a cheat.
If you ain’t cheatin’ you ain’t tryin’. If everyone who has “cheated” at all in baseball were removed there wouldn’t be many people left.
The obvious next move should be to bring up Roman Anthony and improve the team’s offense. But to major league baseball teams this isn’t always so obvious.
Hank – There was a guy behind third base today holding a “Free Roman” sign. Unfortunately the service time manipulation won’t stop just yet.
The problem is that there has been no coherent plan to move forward ever since Dombrowski spent all of their money on the one championship before bailing. Bloom had to dump salary, but was incompetent at fully rebuilding the team once payroll was reset. Now Breslow has to make a push and he’s been middling at best so far.
The whole Devers thing has been dumb as hell too. If you’re gonna throw $300M or more at a player, you better know for damn sure that he’ll do what it takes to help the team, and you better make damn sure you clearly communicate what your expectations are for him. Don’t tell him to put his glove away only to then turn around and say “oh, you actually need to learn first base now” like a month later because you couldn’t build adequate depth behind a perpetually injured Triston Casas.
Clubhouse leadership is non-existent, the silence from the other 25 players on Devers stand is deafening. They better get it straight or they will ruin Campbell, Mayer and Anthony.
Jarred – Great post! Yes the reactionary approach management has taken the past few years has really hurt the team. Since the day they signed Devers out of the Dominican they knew he would need to move to first base. Not telling him to learn the position all the years since then was unconscionable.
This year all they are doing is making panic moves, especially by throwing another position at KC. Hopefully he can recover from this abuse.
Red Sox are just terrible. Far too many holes to fix this year. Probably should start looking to trade some of their players at the deadline.
Offense:
1. High K% (K%+ of 105)
2. Mediocre On-Base and Slugging Output.
3. The team’s WPA of -5.07 and clutch score of -3.96 indicate they underperform in high-leverage situations.
Pitching
1. Ineffective bullpen with 14 blown saves.
2. Terrible at run prevention. a .305 BABIP and a 71.4% LOB%, both slightly worse than average, suggesting they struggle to strand runners and prevent hits on balls in play.
3. Lack of Dominant Strikeout Stuff: While their 8.30 K/9 is near league average (K/9+ of 98), it’s not elite, and their 3.29 BB/9 (BB/9+ of 100) indicates control issues. This average K/BB ratio (2.52) limits their ability to overpower hitters, especially in high-pressure situations.
Fielding:
1. Tons of errors. Tied with Colorado for most errors and worst Fielding Percentage.
2. Poor Range and playmaking: due to the Range Runs being only 2, and the Overall Arm Accuracy (OAA) is a mere 1,. The rPM of -5 further highlights their struggles to cover ground and prevent hits.
3. They don’t capitalize on double plays based on rGDP being -2, thus limiting the number of baserunners.
Losing so many 1 run games is not “unlucky”. It’s proof that the in-game management is poor. Losers lose close games. Cora is a loser.
I think the red sox are on a good path, just a little bit is missing.
The offense is solid at a 105 wrc+ but some of the young guys haven’t fully arrived. Casas first struggling and then getting hurt and Campbell faltering after a good start hurts the depth of the lineup. Raffaella is also doing quite badly. Over time this should get better as the young guys improve but maybe it takes until next year.
Pitching isn’t great, 21st in starter era and 11th in pen era.
Still I think there is potential in the pitching to be more solid, but Long term they do need to acquire a second ace.
They also are unlucky in run differential slightly, their Pythagorean record is 31-28.
I think it is simply a year early, maybe it clicks in the second half and they can win a WC in the weak AL but more likely it is next season
Domingo – You make some good points but you are ignoring the 2nd-easiest schedule in MLB and the few blowout wins that have skewed the run differential.
When they start losing big in June and July against good competition, you’ll see how meaningless your stats are.
It’s been next season for three years… what are we waiting for?
Currently waiting for 2026…. Will reconsider that timeframe in February again, as always..
I don’t know. I really think it’s Cora/the front office/ and their inability to convey a positive, consistent message down to the players. Breslow is probably way over his head. Communication between Cora and Breslow seems haphazard and toxic at times. Cora exudes a toxic/lethargic/laconic demeanor that must inspire nobody. The players don’t seem very loose or look like they’re having much fun. They’re all really tight looking. Lots of talent on paper. It’s getting it to gel is the problem.
This guys is pathetic. Ref Sox nation is tired of your bland rambling answers. He clearly isn’t the answer as GM. There is no sense of urgency to fix issues. He does not know how to build a winning roster. It’s time they move on from him and bring in a seasoned GM who actually knows what he’s doing.
But the ownership is meddling in every big decision. Betts. Devers. Etc.
Ownership can’t get out of its own way.
Not wrong there MLB Fan, we do though need a GM who has experience. Fan base is growing angry fast by for the past 5 years
Quinn – The Netflix doc really opened eyes and shined a bad light on Breslow. He thinks he’s reinventing the game.
Couldn’t agree more, he became a front office exec too soon
The downside is that, think about when they hired Breslow. They couldn’t get the good, promising GM talent to even accept an interview for the job. It’s because ownership has proven that they will accept none of the blame and will hang whoever is the GM out to dry at the drop of a hat. If they turn around and fire Breslow, then what? Nobody wants to work for Henry and his cronies and this will further kill their reputation. The sad truth is we have an ownership problem, not a front office problem. If you happen to know of a way to fire an owner…
Mango – Excellent post, that is truly the big picture.
Henry can be fired if all the other owners vote on it, but I doubt Werner or Kennedy would go for it.
I remeber I got roasted by all the bean town fans before the season for saying the Red Sox are 83 win team if everything broke right.
Not – Things haven’t broken right, so what’s your point?
Roman Anthony hits lefties even better then righties he did last year and he is hitting for a higher batting average and slugging percentage again this year against lefties he hangs in very well against lefties this is total BS if that is the reason that they are keeping him down. If they said they would like to see him weaponize his power potential by hitting the ball in the air more that’s fair argument, still weak byt more fair.
The average fan doesn’t understand how the rule 5 will affect selling off veterans. It’s not as easy as for the Red Sox, they already have a great but incredibly deep farm system. If they traded away veterans they would have to make sure they get back very young prospects that aren’t rule 5 eligible for years. The Red Sox are already playing on a consistent basis a bunch of rookies. It’s hard to win when half your lineup on a given night is rookies. My guess this team will get better as the season wares on and the rookies acclimate to the bigs. The point is it’s not as simple as trading away veterans and adding more prospects that you are likely to lose in the next few years rule 5 crunch.
Bruin – The Worcester manager has stated there’s nothing more for Roman to learn there, there’s no benefit to keeping him down.
Can’t he learn to hit the ball in the air more while in Boston?
FPG I agree that Anthony should be up if you are going to call up Eaton. I think it’s a weak argument to argue weaponizing Anthony’s swing but it’s a way better argument than the left handed argument. I think this is still a weak argument to keep him down just because he hits a lot of ground balls. As a lefty he goes to left field as well as anyone in baseball he hits the ball really hard maybe only a few guys in all of baseball hit it harder. So what if he only hits 15-20 homers before he learns to launch it and weaponize that tremendous power he has. I’ll take a .300 35-40 doubles 15-20 homer guy all day long because that’s who I think he is. He will wear out the wall in left At Fenway. He needs to be up imo and playing everyday.
The Red Sox are playing a ton of young players. The lineup usually has three rookies and two second year players on offense. They are very young and will be even younger when Anthony comes up and plays. It’s not unusual that such a young team is going to be very inconsistent offensively. It’s going to take time.
The Red Sox are also playing without Bregman and Casas. Say what you want but the Red Sox brass was counting on Casas to be the offensive force he can and should be. They are without their 3 and 4 hitters in this lineup and they are putting rookies in those spots what do you expect? I think it gets better in the second half of the year as the rookies start to adjust they have a ton of talent and it will manifest itself at time goes on.
The reality is I think we as fans were a little too excited about the additions and the possibilities still exist. The comments that Breslow doesn’t know talent are just stupid. He added Narvaez, Chapman, Crochet, Wilson, and of course Bregman. Those guys have been good unfortunately Bregman is injured. He is also creating a pitching factory in the minors with lots of talent coming but yea let’s say Breslow doesn’t know talent when people say stuff like that it just makes them look ignorant and lazy.
FPG I agree with you Cora imo is a big reason this team is under .500 and not 3 or 4 games over .500. He clearly has no clue how to handle a bullpen. There is talent in the pen yet he seems to find ways to make it look like there isn’t. He has to be worst manager of bullpens I have ever seen. The unfortunate thing when the rookies really start adjusting and hitting he will have a gassed bullpen and it won’t matter. In short I think Breslow is not the problem but Cora isn’t really that good of a manger and he’s awful with the bullpen.
Bruin – Great post! Yes Cora is fixated on reliever matchups and pitching changes. Already Slaten has a dead arm, way too soon. He needs to keep starters in longer and not worry about third time through the lineup. I’d also like to see him utilize more relievers like he does with Whitlock, multiple innings.
Last eight appearances for Slaten, four pairs of back to back games. More than an inning in some of those. Relievers do best on a regular schedule, and a good manager has fo find a way to make that happen.
Wait – Yes, and one thing Cora doesn’t realize is warming up in the pen takes a toll on the arm too. Better to warm up once for a 2-inning appearance than twice for two 1-inning appearances. And that’s not even counting the times they warm up without ever being used.
Everyone, calm down! They promoted Nate Eaton.
Crisis averted, cue the Duck Boats! World Series here we come!!!
This is what happens when you hire an Ivy Leaguer, who never ran a department, and thinks his intellect can out maneuver more seasoned GMs.
Sadly he was the best we could get. Nobody good wanted the job.
Thec
I think Breslow has done a good job of acquiring players . Crochet, Bregman, Narvaez.Chapman ( to my surprise ) I still have some hope for Buehler. His and Coras handling of the Devers fiasco , troublesome. Devers refusal to play 1st, Yikes ! No MLB level backup plan for the oft injured Casas, inexcusable. Abreu is a good MLB player ,you cannot have all-stars at every position. Reminds me of Trot Nixon.or Troy O’Leary. Raffy needs to hit better to stay in the lineup every day. Think Jackie Bradley jr
Toro may have been part of the backup plan? I know he was awful last year, but he isn’t totally without talent – and as you can see he is playing well right now. Seems to be the rough equivalent of Dom Smith, and that’s about the best you can hope for in minor league depth. No room on the ML roster for a 1B backup when you have just a four man bench.
As I have expressed before Devers switching positions should have been in the works for years. The lack of a backup plan for the injury prone Casas is very troubling. Did they believe this was the year you could pencil him in for 150 games played? Gonzalez,Toro,Sogard,and now Campbell,not exactly murderers row. The cleanup spot in the order has one of the lowest B.As in MLB if not the lowest. Blame is aplenty. Injuries occur to every team,and the good teams find a way to overcome them. Bregman getting hurt should not have been the deathknell for this team,they have talent.
A season that started with so much promise and hope is now a season in disarray.
The Sox have struck out 550 times this season. Good for 3rd worst in MLB. They lead all of MLB with 160 Ks with RISP.(baseball.reference) I would expect a team with so many young players to K a lot but this is bad. Also T.Story’s RISP stat line
B.A. .192 O.B.P. .222 and 11 Ks.
Striking out is the worst possible outcome a hitter can have at the plate and this team is unfortunately very adept at it.
Cdc – Big picture, they need to fire Lawson, Fatso and Driveline. Their aggressive swing for the fences approach to hitting is not working. Yesterday even worse than the 14 strikeouts was the zero walks. Opposing pitchers know they don’t have to throw strikes, which gives them a huge advantage.
Toro is batting cleanup today. LOL
Some bonehead laughed at the suggestion I made of brining Blaze Jordan up. He’s been tearing it up in AA. Just got promoted to Worcester. And plays corner infield. 1B if the future? Why not give him a cup of coffee if he hits well early?
Standing by Cora is not his choice I’m sure
Cora needs to go. Unless someone else is telling him to pull starters after 4 innings, even if the offense wakes up, we don’t stand a chance. Every game is a bullpen game. It’s embarrassing
Trade veterans for prospects/suspects, and allow the kids to play. Sounds simple doesn’t it? There is of course time to turn it around and waiting for the trade deadline might make some sense. Do something that has not been done in years…….. move on
Breslow is not a GM that knows talent. The problem is that know one in the Red Sox knows how to evaluate legit major league talent and the prospects who are overhyped and need to be Tara
Fed for legitimate major league talent! The two former GM’s had this knack! Plus much money have we bloom has beens pitching projects, etc he loots, Sandoval, Hendricks and severe
L others when we could have had Evoldi or Pivetta. John Henry and company act
Ct like they are smarter than everyone else. They think that Fenway allows them to low ball players and that everyone wants to be there! Most modern players don’t care about the past, they care about winning and getting paid! Period! Bregman is only here on a one year deal and he will be gone! Then we will sign more reclamation projects because we are cheap and so much smarter than everyone else! We are done as far as this point moving forward because Cora does not know how to use a bullpen and the starting pitching does not go very far into games! Everyone wants to blame Devers for not moving to first base, I can’t blame him, he mentally has settled into the DH role and is thriving there. Abreu is not a star player and needs to moved. Rafella needs to sta
Y for his defense. We need leadership that knows how to win and not just look good wherein a polo on camera!
Devers: “I’m a ballplayer”
Also Devers: I won’t play in the field in a pinch.
ibget he hasn’t practiced at it, but a few practice reps to see if it is a reasonable thing to attempt….
The players, overall, just aren’t good enough. Not with Bregman and Casas out at least.
Last time they traded for Schwarber sub 500 they made the playoffs. He’s looking tradey again.