Feb. 10: The Red Sox formally announced the signing of Kiner-Falefa to a one-year deal this morning. Righty Tanner Houck was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Houck is recovering from August Tommy John surgery and is expected to miss the majority, if not the entirety of the 2026 season.
Feb. 4: The Red Sox reportedly have an agreement with infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa on a one-year contract that guarantees $6MM, pending a physical. There are an additional $500K in incentives available for the ALIGND Sports Agency client. Boston’s 40-man roster will be at capacity after the signing, so no corresponding move is required.
Kiner-Falefa will apparently be the Sox’s answer at second base after they lost Alex Bregman to free agency. Boston kicked around much bigger possibilities on the trade and free agent markets (e.g. Ketel Marte, Brendan Donovan, Isaac Paredes, Bo Bichette) but couldn’t find a deal to their liking. They reportedly prefer to keep Marcelo Mayer at third base and were looking for a quality defensive player whom they could plug in at the keystone.
A former Gold Glove winner, Kiner-Falefa qualifies on that front. He took home the defensive honor at third base as a member of the Rangers in 2020. He’s a plus defender at any of second base, third base or shortstop. He has more experience on the left side of the infield but carries strong marks from Defensive Runs Saved (+12) and Statcast (+2 Outs Above Average) in nearly 600 career innings as a second baseman.
The flip side is that Kiner-Falefa isn’t going to provide much at the plate. He puts the ball in play but has some of the lowest exit velocities in the sport. He has never reached double digits in home runs in a season, nor has he turned in a .700 OPS in any of his eight years in the majors. Kiner-Falefa is coming off a .262/.297/.334 showing across 459 plate appearances between the Pirates and Blue Jays. He’s a .262/.311/.349 hitter in more than 3300 trips to the dish over his career. He’s a solid baserunner despite average speed, stealing double digit bases in each of the past five years.
Second base was a weak point for the Red Sox last year. Kristian Campbell faded after a monster April and was back in Triple-A by the end of June. He posted disastrous defensive grades and no longer seems to be an option at the position. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has suggested a few times they view Campbell primarily as an outfielder. He’s a good enough athlete to have some promise as a defender on the grass, but Boston’s crowded outfield isn’t going to afford him many opportunities until someone suffers an injury.
The Sox used Romy Gonzalez, Ceddanne Rafaela, David Hamilton and Nick Sogard there in the second half and got just a .242/.292/.333 showing down the stretch. Rafaela is an elite defensive outfielder whom the Red Sox prefer to play in center field. Gonzalez hits lefties well but profiles as a short side platoon bat. Hamilton and Sogard are utility players on a team that expects to contend. Kiner-Falefa probably should be as well, yet there weren’t any clear regulars available in free agency at this stage of the offseason.
Kiner-Falefa is a right-handed hitter whose offensive profile doesn’t change regardless of the pitcher’s handedness. Gonzalez should still take the majority of at-bats against lefty pitching. Kiner-Falefa could slide to third on those days if the Sox want to shield Mayer from same-handed opposition. They might also prioritize having him on the field behind ground-ball pitchers like Brayan Bello and Ranger Suárez while plugging Gonzalez in for a little more offense on days when Garrett Crochet or Sonny Gray take the mound.
It appears the Sox had pushed close to their financial comfort zone after signing Suárez and trading for Gray and Willson Contreras. According to RosterResource, this pushes Boston to roughly $263MM in luxury tax commitments. They’re a few days removed from giving up a mid-tier starting pitching prospect, David Sandlin, to dump $16MM of the $24MM remaining on the Jordan Hicks contract on the White Sox. (Boston also picked up minor league pitcher Gage Ziehl in that trade.) If the cash considerations are evenly distributed, they saved $8MM on the 2026 payroll, some of which they’re now reallocating to Kiner-Falefa.
The Sox are above the $244MM first tax threshold. They’re second-time payors who pay a 30% tax on their first $20MM in overages, so they’re currently set for a minimal tax bill. That was also the case last year, as they paid a $1.5MM fee for going nearly $8MM above the line. The tax rate climbs to 42% for spending between $264MM and $284MM. There are no draft penalties associated with going into the second penalization tier, so that’d largely be an arbitrary stopping point if that’s where ownership sets the budget. The Kiner-Falefa signing comes with a $1.8MM tax hit.
Chris Cotillo of MassLive first reported the Red Sox and Kiner-Falefa were nearing a one-year deal. ESPN’s Jeff Passan confirmed an agreement was in place. Cotillo reported the $6MM guarantee and $500K in bonuses.
Image courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images.
Learn to slide!!!!!!!!!
Bregman will be back. Okay, it’ll be Suarez. No, okay, Donovan! IKF. Welcome to Boston.
Lord – Help me!
Fever, it can’t be for much money so once they move Sandoval, a righty outfielder is still likely. Who is the question? Andujar is my guess now. They should have been aggressive from the start and signed Alonso.
*Insert isildur No meme here
We can’t possibly add ANOTHER outfielder! If anything we should be trading one (Duran). Not that I want to, it just makes the most sense
dewey – Outfielder? They already need to unload an outfielder, they are not acquiring another.
It’s very hard to predict anything when they don’t even have a plan, hafta just wait and see. I think the salary will determine whether IKF is gonna be a starter or a bench player. He’s averaged 137 games the past 5 years, so I have a hard time believing he’ll be a bench player.
This is just insane. Which means they will try it. Their moves are aimless.
Who wants Sandoval? Gonna have to eat money there most likely.
I’d much prefer Romy G to get all the starts at 2B over IKF. What a useless signing this is. The Red Sox need more offense (mainly a power hitter) and their answer is to sign IKF? Make it make sense somehow? Expect a lot of one-run games in Boston. Let’s just hope that Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez both pitch like #2 starters and that Brayan Bello continues to get better. Breslow has put so much pressure on the pitching staff and bullpen to limit runs in 2026 as their offense is going to be considerably worse than it was last season…considerably!
More $$ than I thought and Andujarbis now off the board…
Fenway, one U.S. likely to be traded but injuries will also occur. Look at last August.
At $6m, he’ll play but it could easily become less crowded due to injuries. I’d love for there not to be but Mayer and Story? As for an outfielder. I still can’t believe this team is relying on Casas to provide the power and as I still expect barring an immediate injury for Duran to be dealt, a righty bat that if forced to play 110 games, could provide 15 – 20 homers.
If Sandoval shows he’s healthy, there will be a suitor who due to their own injuries will pay him.
This move is all-time pathetic and embarrassing. He’s not even a lefty, so what was the point? We definitely want Romy playing against all lefties, and his bat is still better against righties than IKF against…well anybody. Could’ve saved the $6 million and just platooned David Hamilton with Romy. This is another Dustin May move – had to do something to make a desperate attempt to show the fan base that they did something. “We didn’t get the two big bats we promised, we didn’t even get one. But run prevention is just as important as run production and that’s where IKF will shine!” Vomit.
One OF…
it’s $6 million guaranteed! how stupid are the Red Sox?
Dunno marinersfan1977, how ignorant are you? IKF made $1.5M MORE than that each of the past two years, and it’s not like he’s especially old or has changed his stock much lately.
An interesting thing is unfolding. Signing Contreras meant the bulk of at bats at first base have to be given to him, with platoon split/rest days with Casas. The Red Sox lineup is worse then last year, and that lineup was already short a power bat to lengthen the lineup when we had Devers. We are now short the power bat, Devers, and lost Bregman. That means if they want A POWER bat at all, they have to find at bats for Casas at DH. That means Yoshida is that much more expendable with no takers for him. It may cost nearly as much money to pay him not to play for us as keep him.
The silver lining is that for the franchise existence Fenway park has always made poor lineups look above league average, good lineups look great, and great lineups look unpitchable. We will have an above average lineup. There is another move ahead. Everyone in that office knows all that work on the pitching side won’t cut it if the lineup can’t reliably drive in runs. Losing a lot of low scoring games has never been a Red Sox tradition. We lose big, or lose slug fests. Also, one more silver lining. After 4 straight years of needing to add an elite power hitter and failing to do so there is zero chance the Red Sox do not sign one next year. Zero.
Dorothy, I don’t know for who but another trade may be coming now or in spring training., Giving up a combination of Duran, Abreu. Bello, Sandoval, Crawford and/or some of the youngsters for that power bat. This is more than I wanted to spend but after thinking more about it, it’s great insurance at its worst for Mayer and Story.
I mean, they kinda just removed some pressure by signing a sorely needed gold glove infielder. The infield defense has been a major boon the last few seasons so I’m totally ok with shoring it up for a cheap, one year deal for a guy who makes decent contact. Not every player needs to swing for the fences.
Dick – Decent contact? He had a .631 OPS in large part because his OBP was below. 300
You’re talking about two black holes in the lineup now, three when Wong catches. That puts s lot of pressure on the pitching staff.
Dewey – Tony said it best, IKF should be a utility player not a starter. But he’s getting paid like a starter. This is Kike all over again, but worse because at least Kike is a stud in the postseason.
FPG – for me, it comes down to one thing, are we trying to get to the World Series or not?
I think that has been answered. We are first going to be fiscally prudent, and, in the words of the boss, “compete for a playoff spot”.
Sad – Exactly. Red Sox Nation came to that conclusion years ago, and even now with the window open that approach hasn’t changed.
In the words of the boss, “all that matters is getting into the playoffs. From there it’s a crapshoot, every team has the same chance of winning”.
Yeah, right. And the Dodgers have just been “lucky” 5 of the past 9 years.
defensive depth is important. expecting mayer, story, romey and hamilton to cover 162 games for the season would be poor. especially with the injury history of some of those guys. having a utility guy with a good glove at all three position is a good move.
hed – They are not paying IKF $6M to ride the bench.
And counting on injuries to happen is kinda morbid.
power isn’t just home runs. the red sox lineup could have 9 guys with 20 home runs and a ton of doubles. they could even have 3 20/20 guys.
defense and pitching wins championships.
“They are not paying IKF $6M to ride the bench.”
$6M on the FA market isnt getting a full-time starter. Refsnyder got $6.25M and he’s “riding the bench”.
IKF is a place-holder until other moves can be made.
william-2
The Red Sox lineup is worse then last year, and that lineup was already short a power bat to lengthen the lineup when we had Devers. We are now short the power bat, Devers, and lost Bregman.
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The Red Sox primarily improved their infield defense compared to 2025:
Contreras is a significant defensive upgrade at first base compared to Casas and Toro.
Contreras also replaces Bregman’s ( Bregman indicators for 2025 – 18 home runs in 433 at-bats.)
Kiner-Falefa and Romy at second base are a clear improvement, Campbell’s defense was terrible in 2025.
I think, Falefa is insurance for Story (we all remember 2024 and Trevor’s injury early in the season) and third base.
Mayer with a good injury-free season, is as good a defensive third baseman as Bregman.
Red Sox will also have Anthony at bat early this season, which they didn’t have at the start of 2025.
Abreu gets carte-blanche against lefties and has the potential to hit 30 home runs in a full season with gold defense in right field.
Rafaela has improved offensively, lowering his strikeout percentage from 26.4 in 2024 to 19.9 in 2025, and raising his walk rate from 2.6 (2024) to 4.8 (2025).
I hope Ceddanne plays exclusively in CF this season and improves his offensive output even more.
Now let’s compare this season’s rotation with the 2025 rotation:
2026 – Crochet, Suarez, Gray, Bello, Oviedo, Early, Tolle, Harrison, Bennett
2025 – Crochet, Houck 8.04 ERA (TJS mid-May), Buehler 5.45 ERA (112.1 INT, 22 HR!!!), Bello missed the start of the season (3 weeks 2025), Giolito missed the start of the season (1 month 2025), Dobbins, Fitts, Newcomb.
At the beginning of the season 2025:
Crochet, Houck, Buehler, Newcomb, Fitts, Criswell.
You forgot the main point of last season – the Red Sox have been playing without Devers since June 15th, without the injured Bregman (out for 2 months, since late May 2025), after the ASG, Bregman had .680 OPS and 4 home runs in over 180 at-bats the rest of the season, Anthony missed September and the playoffs, Casas missed 5 months and the playoffs, Abreu missed 1.5 months (he returned on September 21 and didn’t have time to get back into shape for the playoffs.)
Despite all the aforementioned problems, the Red Sox managed to win 89 games in 2025.
P.s. Of course, I also dreamed that the Red Sox would trade Ketel Marte and solve the problem at second base, both offensively and defensively, but apparently Arizona wanted a king’s ransom in the form of Early and Tolle.
Correct. We don’t know that IKF will be starter. However, if you are a troll, you can assume that and complain about it.
all in the suit
“if you are a troll”
Its a thread of 50 or 60 posts. Who?
FPG
When I said Skubal would get $45 million per you kind of scoffed at that. Considering what Flam. Valdez just got ( $38.3 million ,) what do you think now. ?
Been awhile , hope all is well….
I’m calling FPG a troll for assuming IKF will be a starter and complaining about it. He often assumes things and complains.
hediouspb – who’s the depth and who’s the starter? IKF, Hamiilton,. Romy, Sogard or Gaspar? I’m confused
You will likely need to wait for the season to start to see who starts and who is depth.
Cool
cdc – hi !
Good to see you again, I miss our conversations. Hopefully you haven’t given up on the team.
If I remember correctly I think you had suggested $450M ($45M for 10 years) which is probably what I doubted he would get. Shorter term deals tend to be higher AAV, which is why Framber got so much. Still, Framber is getting an insane amount of money!
FPG:
“dont really have a plan”
Repeat after me: Pitching and Defense, Pitching and Defense, Pitching and Defense.
Every one of Breslow’s moves the past 2 off seasons have been in towards those ends.
2025:
Signing Bregman, Chapman, Buehler, Sandoval, Wilson.
Trading for Crochet, Narvaez
Trading away Devers
2026:
Signing R Suarez, IFK
Trading for Contreras, Song, Oviedo
Trading away Grissom
====
Say you dont like the plan but ‘no plan’? I cant believe how obtuse some fans can be..
BPF – last year the Texas Rangers had the lowest team ERA in all of baseball, and, depending on your preferred metrics, the third best defensive team in baseball. they finshed 81-81.
The Dodgers were 14th in ERA, 6th in defense. The Blue Jays were 17th in ERA and 18th in defense.
This is a very fine needle to thread. Throughout the season it would be nice to simply bludgeon your opponents with HRs and runs scored (instead of prevented). Like it or not, the Judge, Stanton, Bellinger, homerun hitting yankees have missed the playoffs 5 times in 25 years this century……..
Nice word, obtuse though. You make very good informative and thought provoking points, dont have to be condescending to others because you and Breslow have reinvented the sport.
Dodgers were 3rd in Defense and Blue Jays were 4th. Where are you getting your information? Or are you just using errors?
archive.fieldingbible.com/TeamDefensiveRunsSaved
Dodgers rested their pitchers, err I mean the Dodgers pitchers were “hurt” repeatedly during the season. By comparision the Dodgers had 1 pitcher with more than 24 starts, the Brewers had 5.
Sad – You’re bringing the facts, thank you!
At the end of the day, all that matters is outscoring your opponent. Whether its done with great pitching, great hitting, or great defense is irrelevant ….. any of the three can get the job done, if there’s enough of it.
I’m not surprised the person to whom you responded is muted by me. LOL!!
Except he’s probably a starter.
If it makes you feel any better, my team has a great fielder, but .200 hitter with medium power at 3B. They’re paying Ryan McMahon $1MM more per year than the Reds are paying Suarez.
LordDgg:
Your team sounds like they’ve been making a lot of bad moves of late. Hopefully they did a lot to make up for it, this offseason.
The Red Sox added Ranger Suarez, Wiilson Contreras, Sonny Gray, John Oviedo and IFK and it wasnt nearly enough for many MLBTR Red Sox fans.
He was just a few ticks below 300 last season. He’s had about a league avg obp (slightly above some years) for most of his career. Def doesn’t walk a lot but he’s got a career SO% under 16 which is pretty good.
Going into the off-season we all knew the glaring needs. The rotation needed a massive upgrade; we needed at least one more power bat than we had last year (pref. right-handed); we had to re-sign Bregman or figure out a way to replace his production if we didn’t somewhere in the infield. An auxiliary desire would have been perhaps using an outfield asset in a trade for a quality return on a need, and solving the Yoshida issue opening up the DH down the road for Casas and resting players.
Suarez and Gray are not quite what most wanted name wise, but they fit the bill as legit guys to push Bello to the 4 slot which is where he belongs. The staff is solid imho. Rotation depth and the pen should look pretty good since we knocked at least 2 starters into that pen.
Not getting that power bat is a massive let down if it doesn’t get done. I was always ok with and expected Mayer to play second next season. The Mayer plan for third base was fine also if we got the upgrade at second (a hole for years now).
I think that gives an idea of the let down some may have despite what is now a competitive major league pitching staff.
william – Great post! The only difference I have, I am a lot more bullish on Bello. He is a #2 or #3 on most teams. I’d put him behind Crochet/Ranger but ahead of Oviedo/Gray.
Lord – What the hell were the Rockies thinking? He had a career 88 OPS+ when they gave him that $70M extension, that’s nutso!
Granted the contract was heavily backloaded, but still ….. and it’s not like he’s GG caliber. Has he ever even been nominated?
I don’t see it in him, not yet. I have seen him enough to know a few things. He is predictable, and that is not good to be. His control isn’t good enough to also be predictable or to stay in games past 5 or 6 innings due to pitch counts.
He may end up being a good 3 down the road but he has to improve his sequences, get his control to the point where he can trust his stuff and secondary pitchers to challenge more in the zone, but you and I have discussed him since he came up, and I am only slightly more bullish on him today then I ever was. I had him pegged as a 4, as you know, and he is now. That may help him, who knows. Less pressure to be a guy he isn’t. There is no shame in being a quality major league pitcher, but there is a lot of pressure being a rotation go to guy.
william – As you probably remember I was concerned about Bello’s mental makeup his first 3 years and was disappointed about his regression in 2024 and how he often got rattled by a bad call or fielding error or bloop hit.
But last year he made huge strides, he was downright impressive!
Career high innings
Career low ERA (by nearly a full run)
And he didn’t get rattled much anymore.
He went into September with a sub-3 ERA.
Yes he did tire in September and October, but stamina is something he should be able to easily improve on.
Sad.Sox 3 (Skenes in 2027)
2 days ago
last year the Texas Rangers had the lowest team ERA in all of baseball, and, depending on your preferred metrics, the third best defensive team in baseball. they finshed 81-81.
_________________________________
I remember a lot of comments from Red Sox fans from 2021 complaining about Boston having bad outfield and infield defense, no pitching depth, a bad bullpen.
Breslow has done a good job of improving defense at virtually every position.
He’s improved the starting rotation over the past two seasons.
We now have pitching depth in both the starting rotation and the bullpen.
The Red Sox have a Golden outfield, a defensive improvement at first base compared to the 2021-2025 seasons, a defensive improvement at second base compared to 2025, and insurance at shortstop and third base.
Traded for a good catcher last season in Narvaez.
Breslow signed lucrative contracts with Rafaela, Bello, Anthony, and Crochet, who will be the team’s core for years to come.
Many fans continue to criticize every move Breslow and management make.
They call the owners stingy, even though the Boston Red Sox’s payroll this season is $253 million.
The Red Sox have already spent $66 million on strengthening their starting rotation and infield this season (R.Suarez(SP) $26m, S.Gray(SP) $21m, W.Contreras (1B) $13,25m, I.Kiner-Falefa(INF) $6m.)
The key is that Gray, Contreras and Kiner-Falefa are short-term deals that, if they don’t work out, won’t harm the Red Sox’s future
but have a high percentage of reward in case of success.
I get the impression that many Red Sox fans, at least on this site, will always be dissatisfied and critical of any actions taken by the GM or club management.
Great post, Bogey! Agreed that the Red Sox are moving in the right direction.
all in the suit that you wear
Thank you.
It’s nice when someone appreciates your observations.
The funny thing is that most of the critics from 2021 aren’t visible on this site, which means the team is on the right direction. .
Look at it this way. We had clear needs everyone in management knew, coaching knew, the players knew, and the fans knew.
Two rotation arms for the 2 and 3 slots, and one clear right-handed elite power bat. The other goal was retaining Bregman, or replacing him with something comparable at either second, or third. Replacing 1st base was on the table because of the Casas injury, but only for a clear upgrade.
We got a 2 and 3. We did it. Is it the names you envisioned? Most aimed for better, but because the two we got are Suarez, and Gray (was always a three when we signed him), it’s a pass imho. We aimed lower, spent less, but did what was needed. The rotation is, on paper, the strongest it has been since the days we used to compete.
The power bat? Zero.
Bregman? Nope. The replacement was Contreras. Nice bat, and he should hit, but is not a big power bat. I view this as a nice addition that may come close to replacing Bregman offensively, but think of it as a nice pick up, IF we would have gotten that power bat.
The rotation is stronger. The pen is stronger by improving the rotation. The excess arms are now bullpen depth, and rotation insurance. The lineup needed a power bat to add to a lineup WITH Bregman. Last year we watched the lineup look top heavy, thin, and not offer legit threats in the playoffs. We are, at best, equal or weaker to that lineup, right now. They may pull a rabbit out of their hat.
Also, just to make a point about the fans that have the same complaints year after year. The needs have been nearly identical for 5+ years. It isn’t about the Red Sox spending. They do. It is about their approach to spending it. 2 years ago we spent nearly 50 million on 2 rehab projects and a pitcher that was a total reclamation project as an example. That is the value of 1 legit ace level pitcher, and enough left over for an impact bat for second base, as an example. A “volume” of mediocrity to reach or surpass the cap is not money well spent as for 2 quality players that will actually play for the same money.
The complaint is the allocation, not the fact that they are spending.
william-2
56 mins ago
Bregman? Nope. The replacement was Contreras. Nice bat, and he should hit, but is not a big power bat. I view this as a nice addition that may come close to replacing Bregman offensively, but think of it as a nice pick up, IF we would have gotten that power bat.
____________________________
Bregman isn’t the elite hitter you think he is.
He’s only hit 30 home runs twice in his career, and that was a while ago: 2018 – 31 home runs, 2019 – 41 home runs (a juicy ball)..
Bregman has hit 20+ home runs over the past five seasons, but he’s not elite.
Last season, he missed two months due to injury, and after the All-Star Game, he had four home runs and a .680 OPS in 180 at-bats.
He wasn’t the offensive leader after his return.
The team was led by other guys – Anthony, Abreu, Romey, Refer, Story – but not Bregman.
Bregman’s offensive production could be replaced by Contreras, he’s a consistent player and Fenway could improve his stats.
The problem is not the lack of an elite striker, the main task is for Abreu, Anthony, Mayer, and Story to play a full season, then we will get stability in attack.
The problem with the offense in the playoffs last season was the absence of Anthony, Abreu did not have time to get into shape since he returned on September 21 from an injury, Casas was injured in May and missed the rest of the season.
One slugger won’t make a difference in the Red Sox’s offense if Story, Anthony, and Abreu have a poor season offensively. The problem needs to be addressed holistically (starting pitching, defense, and offensive balance – these components helped the Red Sox win the 2013 World Series, ).
The Red Sox had elite hitters in 2022 and 2023 (Devers, Martinez) – it didn’t help them make the playoffs, because their defense was terrible and they lacked pitching depth.
william-2
We got a 2 and 3. We did it. Is it the names you envisioned? Most aimed for better, but because the two we got are Suarez, and Gray (was always a three when we signed him), it’s a pass imho. We aimed lower, spent less, but did what was needed. The rotation is, on paper, the strongest it has been since the days we used to compete.
___________________________________________
Of the options available on the open market: Cease, Valdez, Suarez, Gallen, Bassitt, Verlander. Cease is an inconsistent pitcher; Verlander and Bassitt are a bit old, Gallen had a disappointing season, and Valdez has been inconsistent in the playoffs and much more expensive.
R. Suarez is the best value for money option. His playoff stats speak for themselves: 1.80 ERA 42.2 Inn.
Imagine if Suarez, instead of Bello, had been the starting pitcher in Game 2 against the Yankees.
S. Gray has been a consistent pitcher for the past three seasons, able to pitch 160-180 innings as a solid No. 3 pitcher for $21 million. Damn. The Red Sox had Buehler with a 5.40 ERA in 112.1 innings for $21 million last season.
This step allows the additional stress to be removed from Bello, who can progress further.
Disagree. His stock used to be higher with potential. His stock has fallen with actual production. The price is dropping with expectations as to what he will do now, not what he might do.
In the post I did not refer to Bregman as an elite hitter or even as a good hitter. I just pointed out Contreras will probably replace his offensive stats, and that we are still short the “elite power hitter,” we needed while we already had Bregman.
Agreed. That is why I wrote what I did.
william2:
“everyone knew”, “knew”, “knew”, “knew”
Usually people talk that way when they are trying to sneak an opinion by as a fact. And this is a shining example.
———–
“Two rotation arms for the 2 and 3 slots, and one clear right-handed elite power bat. The other goal was retaining Bregman, or replacing him with something comparable at either second, or third. Replacing 1st base was on the table because of the Casas injury, but only for a clear upgrade.”
#2 Starting Pitcher
#3 Starting Pitcher
Power Bat
Replace 1st baseman
Resign Bregman
—–
You expected all that in one offseason? You set yourself up to be disappointed with the team, no matter what happened. The Red Sox were NEVER going to add that many pieces in three and half months. And truth be told, the Red Sox came ridiculously close to all of that, and could still achieve every one of those objectives by mid-season, but your STILL disappointed anyways. Lol.
william-2
3 hours ago
Disagree. His stock used to be higher with potential. His stock has fallen with actual production. The price is dropping with expectations as to what he will do now, not what he might do.
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Sorry, I don’t quite understand what you’re disagreeing. R. Suarez isn’t worth the money? S. Gray isn’t worth the money?
I never said I expected anything. I said everyone on this planet could look at last year’s roster and know what was needed/missing. You didn’t see it? You are the guy?
Upgraded rotation towards the front, not the back, and a power bat. I clearly wrote that the possibility of losing Bregman was possible, and that a first baseman would probably be a logical way to fit the power bat need while dealing with having no healthy first baseman.
What you missed, and the team ended up showing you was that we had excess talent to trade, and that we would need to split it between trades and signings. So, if you think that I thought they were going to re-sign Bregman, sign a number 2, 3, starter and get a power bat in free agent then you clearly did not read my post, you scanned it.
I assumed both starters would be acquired through trade to be honest, that we would sign the power bat, and either resign Bregman or use third, second, and first as the targets of trade/signing for a replacement to come in. Mayer would man the opening at either second or third.
So yeah, I thought the Red Sox could manage to use their outfield, pitching and prospect surplus to do that, and sign and retain a free agent. I also clearly stated that if we did go for a first baseman it should be a clear upgrade. There were only a couple that fit that bill, but that was the least of our needs. It wasn’t a monumental bar to reach.
When did I bring Suarez and Gray up at all in reference to their salaries (positively or negatively)? Is there a reason you are? A number 2 or 3 starting pitcher is a different animal entirely than a 5 teams in 7 years 30-year-old journeyman infielder who is glove first.
I am stating without reservation that IKF is no longer worth 7+ million he was paid last year. That is why his salary is coming down. I am stating without reservation that he is no longer being evaluated going forward on a scale many youngsters are on, which is future potential. His value dropped and will continue to drop now because of his real production. Some would argue he isn’t worth 6 million a year either and they are probably right. I was responding to a comment saying that because a player was paid x amount of money and played mediocre that they should make close to it in this market, and I am saying with a player that is no longer looked at through rose colored potential glasses they tend to get less money and see their roles shift from long term solution at x position to role player, platoon guy, utility guy, etc.
william-2
2 mins ago
When did I bring Suarez and Gray up at all in reference to their salaries (positively or negatively)? Is there a reason you are? A number 2 or 3 starting pitcher is a different animal entirely than a 5 teams in 7 years 30-year-old journeyman infielder who is glove first.
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I asked you about starting pitchers because, as I understand it, you’re not satisfied with Suarez and Gray as the second and third pitchers. I don’t understand what Kiner-Falefa has to do with this; I didn’t mention him in my comment about starting pitchers.
I assumed both starters would be acquired through trade to be honest,
___________________________________________
What pitchers could you get in trade that would be better than Suarez and Gray?
What would these pitchers cost Boston (in prospect)?
I guess Im “the guy” that makes your whole premise wrong.
They only needed half of what you wanted. They could allow young players to fill into their roles and acquire the rest at trading deadline.
Examples:
1) No way to tell if Mayer can handle 3rd and stay healthy if you re-signed Breslow.
2) No way to know if Romy can handle more ABs, while raising his OPS against lefties.
2) Why go stupid signing a poor defending power hitter, and tie up tons of cash for a power hitter when you can get one on the cheap at the trading deadline. As proof: 2021, Aldo Ramirez for Kyle Schwarber.
Again Bogey, I wrote in at least three posts I was happy with the starting pitching upgrades, because they filled the clear need for a 2 and 3. If you want me to list pitchers that I thought were slightly better in free agency that’s fine, except I wrote that I did not expect to sign a starter. I said we would trade from the excess in outfield, pitching, and prospect pool. It isn’t worth going over, because we will probably never know the cost we would traded. We just know they weren’t willing to pull the trigger on whatever it was. The Suarez deal on paper is good money for the years.
If I had my pick, I would have gotten a deal done for Gray, but again, no idea what they asked. I just know what assets we still have, and what already went out the door. Peralta would have been another good target if a window was offered to negotiate an extension on trade. We don’t know if it was asked, granted, or was pursued. Either way, we got a 2, and 3, and I am still happy with it.
Did you just write that you can’t count on 2 of our infield positions, we can wait till the trade deadline to trade guys away for a power hitter, and that we only needed half of what we needed?
BTW, we failed to secure that bat the last deadline, or the last 5 off seasons. Why are you so eager to gamble there will be one this time, and then trade players anyway for them? Is it a rental? If it is, your trading guys for it. If it isn’t, you are definitely trading more guys that are better.
I guess we agree to disagree, and that is ok.
william-2
It’s great that we’ve sorted out the starting pitching issue.
Basically, I’m happy with this deal (Suarez and Gray).
As was the Contreras deal.
Bogey – I will always appreciate JDM and what he did for the Sox, but he wasn’t with the team in 2023 and in 2022 he had a very pedestrian season.
Raffy has been a consistently great hitter for the past 6 consecutive regular seasons.
Fever Pitch Guy
3 hours ago
Bogey – I will always appreciate JDM and what he did for the Sox, but he wasn’t with the team in 2023 and in 2022 he had a very pedestrian season.
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Thanks for correcting me.
J.D. wasn’t around in 2023; was Adam Duvall .
However, J.D. was considered an elite forward before 2022.
william 2
“BTW, we failed to secure that bat the last deadline, or the last 5 off seasons.”
The team was in a rebuild, you dont waste resources on mid-season acquistions, unless you’ve got a decent chance at a championship. Hence, why they made a big move in 2021, and not the other years.
====
Rule of thumb, to tell if youre in a ‘rebuild’:
Is your team trading for younger or older guys in the offseason?
2016: Trading for older
2017: Trading for older
2018: Trading for older
2019: Middling
2020: Trading for younger
2021: Trading for younger (ALCS worked against them)
2022: Trading for younger
2023: Trading for younger
2024: Trading for younger
2025: Trading for younger
2026: Trading for older
—-
Its easy to see where the rebuild was and this means that beginning in 2026, the Red Sox are actually going for a championship again.
Has it been decided by some fans that management admits the last half decade was a rebuild, but they NEVER got around to letting us know that? I am not going to memory hole the things they said or their mantra. Consistent sustained winning. They claimed to be building that, not rebuilding towards it.
At no point did they ever say we aren’t trying to contend. They never even hinted at a rebuild. It was always about making shrewd moves not overpaying and building the farm system while improving the product on the field.
I am not going to even bother with that post. IT NEVER HAPPENED as far as anyone with the Red Sox telling any fan. I claimed it 5 years ago and people thought I was insane for even implying it. The only hint they gave that it was even happening was when “full throttle” was said, and when one guy hinted, they were shooting for 2026.
Fever Pitch Guy will back me up on that for sure.
& take a lead
i could have scored on that grounder
infuriating
Learn to not slide!!!!! Just run and touch the little white thingy and overrun the white thingy.
Learn to leadoff
The Boston Braves got him
IKF, is like the best bench player ever!
IKF is a gamer, works hard, high baseball IQ (minus the WS gaffe).
I thought IKF was told not to take a big lead to avoid getting good picked off. If so, be was following directions.
You’re correct I forgot about that.
and he should never have gotten more than $2 million. Stupid Red Sox!
Actually, learn to take a bigger lead and when NOT to slide feet first on a force out.
Oof
Scraping the barnacles off the barrel with this one
I came to watch the Sox fans heads exploding. Guess it is still too soon? Where is the indignation people!?
Give them time. Implosions are imminent.
Nope…this is the sneaky great move they’ve wanted all this time! No wait…that’s cubs and braves fans. Sorry.
Wade – its coming!!
Nah, not upset about this. Sadly it was the best move left they could make to shore up the infield at this point.
They overplayed their hand this winter and that’s depressing/upsetting, but also far from new information this late in the offseason. Hopefully it is a lesson learned for future trade deadlines and offseasons that they need to do more than a half assed “try” to get deals across the finish line but we can worry about that when we get there. On February 4th I’m just glad we aren’t going into ST with Romy and Hamilton penciled in as the favorites at second base.Just hit .260-.270 with a few walks and great defense and it’ll do.
best move they could make? Are you kidding?
the guy’s never put up an OPS of even .700 in any of his eight seasons in the Majors.
The offer should have been $2 Million take it or leave it. And the Sox were like “here you’re a veteran, we’d be insulting you if we paid you anything less than $6 million!”
guess you hadn’t noticed that IKF can’t hit and also doesn’t get on base much. Terrible signing!
The trend for years is a reactive patient approach by the Red Sox. That is fine, when you don’t have needs and are looking for role players. I am not taking away from the additions to the staff, but does anyone really feel like we went out and got the arms and bats we really needed or do you have the feeling we aimed lower for a few less bucks each time? Is anyone really ok with knowing we won’t have an elite power bat in a Red Sox lineup starting a season for the first time in possibly a lifetime for many people?
The results are plain. The same glaring holes and issues over multiple seasons while spending at or over the cap anyway. This type of inferior option moves for more money than it’s worth doesn’t anger me anymore. It just disappoints me in management each time, because I do not think they are learning, or at least grasping the failure of their approach.
Breslow is a sharp guy, he definitely is learning on the job, because some of the moves make no sense, but I see him as the guy that makes a mistake once, and only once, but that isn’t his trend so far. Waiting out the market is a lifestyle now. When you clearly have major needs and limited targets to solve problems, waiting out the market shouldn’t mean wait till there is no market. The evidence is fairly clear, ownership is derailing the team. You can’t hire 4 consecutive brainy guys, and because they get the title GM instantly become hapless idiots. Breslow is just the easiest to spot because no one believes he is dumb.
william-2
8 hours ago
The trend for years is a reactive patient approach by the Red Sox. That is fine, when you don’t have needs and are looking for role players. I am not taking away from the additions to the staff, but does anyone really feel like we went out and got the arms and bats we really needed or do you have the feeling we aimed lower for a few less bucks each time? Is anyone really ok with knowing we won’t have an elite power bat in a Red Sox lineup starting a season for the first time in possibly a lifetime for many people?
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Let’s go back to 2013 and look at how many elite bats the Red Sox had:
D.Ortiz(DH) – 30HR
M.Napoli(1B) – 23HR
W.Middlebrooks(3B) – 17HR
S.Victorino(RF) – 15HR
J.Saltalamacchia(C) – 14HR
S.Drew(SS) – 13HR
J.Gomes(LF) – 13HR
D.Nava(LF/RF) – 12HR
D.Pedroia(2B) – 9HR
J.Ellsbury(CF) – 9HR
M.Carp(UTL) – 9HR
total of 178 home runs in 2013(Regular season)
World Series (win)
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2025
T.Story(SS) – 25HR
W.Abreu(RF) – 22HR
R.Devers/M.Yoshida – 19HR
A.Bregman(3B) – 18HR
J.Duran(LF) – 16HR
C.Rafaela(CF) – 16HR
C.Narvaez(C) – 15HR
T.Casas/Toro/Lowe(1B) – 12HR
K.Campbell/D.Hamilton – 12HR
Romy Gonzalez(INF) – 9HR
R.Refsnyder (OF/DH) – 9HR
R.Anthony (OF/DH) – 8HR
total of 186 home runs in 2025 (Regular season)
AL WC Series (lose)
__________________________________
2026 Projections:
2026
W.Abreu(RF) – 30+HR (if he plays a full season)
R.Anthony (OF/DH) – 20+HR (if he plays a full season)
T.Story(SS) – 20+HR
C.Rafaela(CF) – 20+HR (If he doesn’t slow down his attack after the ASG)
J.Duran(LF/DH) – 20+HR
W.Contreras(1B) – 20+HR
C.Narvaez(C) – 15/20HR
M.Mayer(3B) – 15/20HR(if he plays a full season)
Romy Gonzalez(2B) – 10+HR
M.Yoshida/T.Casas/Wong/Campbell/ – 30 HR
200+ HR
Do you really think the problem is the lack of an elite bat?
I think I wrote elite power bat. Red Sox have some hitters, sure. I was referring to an elite power bat. Your list shows Ortiz. He certainly qualifies for many of his years as that guy, just like Devers and Betts became those type of guys, but is there a year entering a season when, even if they didn’t do it, where we don’t have a masher? I went through my years being alive in the baseball reference where I don’t see us lacking an elite masher type going back so far into the 1970’s. Devers, Martinez, Ortiz, Ramirez, Vaughn, Armas, Rice, Yaz, Everett ( yeah, that guy), Nomar, Clark, Esasky, Baylor, Evans, etc. There were years like 16, 11, 91, 89, 87, 80 where the mashers were hurt or underperformed as an example, but we did have them and the expectations were for 30+.
I think we are talking about the type of guy where you see the floor being high 20’s but you expect 30+ out of the gate.
Of course we have had a few weaker lineups over 50 years when we were an afterthought for the playoffs, but that ownership wasn’t exactly full throttle, nor did we think they were.
We may have 3 30 home run guys this year for all we know, but there is no one I expect to hit 30. I think we have a collection of some guys that are mid 20’s with a couple maybe getting to what I would consider the floor for expectations from an elite power bat. That was my point. The kind of hitter that pitching meetings spend an extra couple of minutes talking about. The guy that miss hits a few a year out. The guy that is standing on first for free because they don’t want to deal with him.
william-2
I wasn’t wrong to mention Abreu; he really hits the ball hard and has the potential to hit 30 home runs this season. 2024 – 399 at-bats, 15 home runs 2025 – 373 at-bats, 22 home runs. Give him a full season and he’ll reach that mark, barring any injuries.
Damn.
Red Sox could have a right fielder with power and gold glove for at least four more years.
Possible. I wouldn’t put anyone in a category they never reached yet, but hopefully he gets there. We know we need to find that power increase from other places we haven’t seen from to make up for 30ish we lost in Devers, and Bregman probably would have been around mid 20’s.
I actually like this signing, but I don’t like the circumstances or how we got here.
Perfect way to phrase it, well said.
you like paying a guy who sucks $6 million? especially at this point in the off-season, when players are taking what they can get?
They didn’t release the money at the time. It’s an overpay, but he serves a purpose. Team defense in the infield has been bad and he helps. They need a bat though and it’s not likely coming.
$6M seems steep.
With no offense, I’d venture to guess his glove is worth a win, win and a half. 2 wins is probably his best case scenario should he manage to hit a little bit or have a really great showing with the leather. $6M seems fine to me.
Sounds like you’re the guy that buys $7 candy bars at the convenience store!
Sounds like you have trouble accepting what things cost nowadays because they used to cost less at some random point in time in the past.
I thought so too, but that’s mostly just due to pay inflation being hard to keep up with. IKF made $7.5M each of the past two years, and he signed that contract coming off a 0 WAR/78 OPS+ season. Guess that’s the going rate for a glove!
Breslow dumpster divin
101 – Now that everyone else is gone, finally the Sox slithered up to the buffet table and grabbed some remaining scraps.
not exactly. If he were dumpster diving, he wouldn’t have paid the homeless IKF $6 million!
Finally the power hitting RHB that Breslow promised! He’s good for at least 2 homeruns this season, WOOO HOOO!!!!
Who needs Paredes or Marte when you can have a solid .631 OPS guy for a fraction of the cost!!
They should be all over trying to get Paredes at this point. Marte is supposedly off the market now and would probably cost one of Tolle or Early. Paredes should come cheaper, and his pull-heavy approach should be a good fit at Fenway. He’s also somehow still only like 26, which I can’t believe. Seems like he’s been around for a long time now.
Dude give it a rest. We all know. Literally the same 5-6 sentence summary doesn’t need to be repeated by ever tom dick harry. Is this AI? It’s gotta be AI right?
Paredes is not the answer. Not nearly enough power to make a material difference. They said defense was the priority. Let’s see what happens. in 18, they won with big time hits, pitching and key defense. Maybe 26 will be the same.
dewey – In 2018 they had two guys with an OPS over 1.030 who led MLB in Runs, RBI, Batting Average, SLG, Total Bases, and WAR.
One won MVP, the other came in 4th.
The pitching was just meh, Sale was injured in the second half of the season and no other pitcher had a standout season.
This year’s pitching staff is no doubt deep, but the lineup has a lot of question marks. Let’s hope KC and Casas and Duran step up.
Fever and JDM was signed late and neither he nor Mookie hit 45 bombs. They won as I said due to big time hits (Moreland pinch hit homer, Pierce every at bat it seemed), pitching (Eovaldi staying healthy) and solid defense (Benny’s catch, Mookie’s throw), etc.
Bear in mind that meh pitching was Price (ace level signing), Sale(hurt, but unquestionably an ace level acquisition), Rodriguez (diamondbacks signed to be their ace), Eovaldi (no slouch at all), and Porcello( great year).
Just saying. 2018 Sox weren’t a terrifying lineup but it was solid, deep, and got on base. I would rate that 2018 lineup on paper as far superior to what we have now.
dewey – If you’re saying homeruns aren’t important, the Red Sox were 6th in the league in HR for 2018. They were 5th in 2013, and 4th in 2004.
I agree with you that well-timed hits are very important, especially with RISP.
BTW – In 2018 the Red Sox led MLB in scoring. The pitching was good, but didn’t carry the team.
And in 2018 the defense wasn’t that good. They were 13th in DRS and 15th in OAA with a negative rating (-1).
But yes, they were clutch in many ways, which is typically what’s needed to win championships. Nobody has emphasized the importance of clutchness more than I, especially with the analytics crowd constantly insisting “there’s no such thing as clutch”.
william – I totally agree with you the 2018 lineup was special, loaded with stars.
I called the pitching meh because Sale pitched only 29 innings in the second half, every other starter had ERA’s between 3.58 (Price) and 4.28 (Porcello) and Nate doesn’t really count because he started only 11 games.
For the bullpen, Kimbrel sucked in the second half and the other top guys like Kelly, Barnes and Hembree had a combined ERA over 4. Thank God Joe turned into Mariano in the postseason though.
Paredes will cost either one of Tolle or Early. Marte more.
Astros71: “Paredes will cost either one of Tolle or Early. Marte more.”
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If that’s what they were asking for, I see why Breslow didn’t pull the trigger.
Now they will ask for a Wilyer Abreu or Jarren Duran 1-1 swap.
I think Abreu and Duran are both better than Paredes. Not sure how their control/pay all compare though.
Astros71, face it, you are overvaluing Paredes, a decent hitter but one who can cost you in the field. He simply is not worth a Duran or Abreu.
Paredes I believe has two years, Duran three and Abreu four.
They’re done
Right handed David Hamilton. Yay
Hamilton does not have the defense
What? Sure he does.
Or offense
Not even close. One has speed but doesn’t know how to use it (or can’t get on base enough) while the other is a nice but not spectacular player who plays infield defense twice as well.
When the GM says we are prioritizing a power right handed bat it is not a promise. The team is a better team than last year and its being built with short term improvement and long term sustainability. If one cant see the quality and depth of this team then their mind is closed and focused on only the negative. Top 3 rotation in the league and so much pitching depth than we have ever had… Cubs and Bregman will both regret this contract in 3 years and they wont be in a world series by then either. We have 0 bad contracts that we are stuck with.
SoxFan55 – is the goal to be fiscally prudent or gather enough talent to be better than the Blue Jays, Yankees and Mariners?
Why do you care about “bad” contracts? Care about 5 mediocre to less than average platoon players for 162 at 2B…..
Bad contracts lead to bad years in last place or no playoffs. Being smart not overpaying for aging and players in their declining years allows a team that drafts well to continue to invest in young players like Anthony and Crochet and sign one or two good fit free agents when needed or opportunity strikes. Bad contracts and aging players stuck on a roster like Stanton only hurt a team and keep it cyclical.
SoxFan55- so was Alonso a “bad” contract in your opinion?
We are still in the process of building that sustainable success but very close.
Why don’t you wait and see if the Alonso contract is good or bad?
Yes… bad defense and and that has already been an issue for us
Suit – the post was that the Sox aren’t saddled with any bad contracts.
So, I am curious if he thought that the Alonso contract was good or are the Orioles saddled with it? Because my contention is 2yrs of Contreras plus five bad offensive players at 2B aren’t as good as having Alonso behind the top three in the lineup
Sad – It’s sad when fans care more about ownership’s wallet than winning.
This year was supposed to finally be the GFIN year. If they don’t go the extra distance with Roman, Crochet, Chapman, Suarez all in peak form then they never will.
I’ll still give them until Opening Day before passing my final judgement on this offseason.
Fan55 – Weren’t you completely supportive of signing Bregman? if so then you are being hypocritical, as he is truly declining.
Sad – I agree Alonso’s contract is not likely a bad one. He has been a model of consistency for 7 years and he is only 31, he should be fine.
FPG- there are only so many seasons where you are on the brink of greatness. In November the Sox had the world by the balls. Tens of millions under the cap, a farm system overflowing with prospects and budding superstars in Crochet and Anthony.
A promising kick-off by trading for Gray, and then the same old “one step forward, one step back penny pinching” strategies.
There were three named (by Breslow) goals for the off season. Resign Bregman, right handed power bat, starter to follow Crochet. He managed one of the three…..
So in the 8 seasons Stanton has been in NY they’ve had a winning record each year and made the playoffs in 7 of them. If that is “cyclical” it’s a cycle just about every team would take.
Sad – Didn’t Breslow also say they’d get a high leverage relief pitcher as well?
Remember the talk about them being in on Diaz? That still cracks me up.
FPG- I kinda thought the few bucks they saved on Hicks would go to his replacement in the ‘pen. After they brought back Gaspar I thought then definitely another bullpen arm. But he doubled down and gave both spots on the 40 Man to second basemen.
Guess we’ll see Sandoval, Harrison in the pen, maybe?
@SoxFan55, Are you joking? This team is poorly assembled and has many unresolved flaws that were easily resolvable this offseason.
The lineup is absolutely worse than the beginning of last season. Last year’s Opening Day lineup had Bregman and Devers in it. Their bats have basically been replaced by Contreras (whiffs a ton and has never hit more than 24 HR) and IKF, who is one of least valuable hitters in the entire league. It’s true that nothing is guaranteed, but at beginning of offseason Breslow stated publicly about how important it was to add a legit power bat that the opposition has to plan around when facing you, and to put it kindly he failed miserably at achieving what he claimed to prioritize.
However, Breslow did radically upgrade the pitching rotation and it is arguably the deepest in MLB. That alone should raise the floor on the win total, but also the ceiling is limited by having an inflexibly built roster with a mostly lefty lineup with two slow-footed lefty DHs, 4 starting outfielders, half the infield has a poor injury history and many question marks about their abilities, but we do have a good catcher. I like Narvi, he’s quite underrated, one of the best defensively and I believe can be better with the bat than what we’ve seen so far. In the bullpen, Chapman and Whitlock are great, but the relievers beyond them are mostly poor. It remains to be seen if any of the 10 or so starting pitching candidates will be used in the pen, or start the season in AAA, or get traded.
There’s good and bad with this team. The good is mostly Roman Anthony’s greatness, Crochet, Suarez, and the starting pitching depth. The bad is a poorly assembled team that isn’t built to function well. It will be hard for Cora to utilize roster well with the limitations of it. What happens when both Casas and Yoshida are on the roster at the same time as 4 outfielders? There’s only one DH slot to pass around and with Contreras at 1B, Cora’s bench might be quite limited the way things are constructed right now.
It’s frustrating to see the Red Sox so focused on avoiding the next luxury tax tier when other teams in the division take steps to improve their lineups. Yes, our pitching will be good and that will result in wins. But our lineup might not be competitive or complete enough to realistically compete well in the toughest division in baseball
Came here to write that your comment is spot on.
I have seen SoxFan arguing that Marcelo Mayer, owner of a .674 OPS, is going to replace the production of Bregman and that Mikey Romero, a below average hitter at AAA, is the 2B of the future and has some pop. These two claims alone are disqualifying and it’s beyond obvious that he is just a homer.
As for the roster, it’s a jumbled mess. The pitching is great and has a lot of depth, but this team is going to struggle to score runs, especially against LHP. This is a terribly constructed team and it’s clear that Breslow and Co. don’t have any semblance of a plan. Breslow would be amazing in a role as a pitching coordinator/development, but when he is your Chief Executive your franchise is in big trouble. No one wants to read this, but the Sox are a Trevor Story injury away from catastrophe. I would not be surprised at all if this team doesn’t make the playoffs, but more importantly for us we aren’t World Series contenders. There is nothing to play for really.
Sad times being a fan of this team.
Yoshida is a bad contract, Campbell as of right now is a bad contract.
Sox – Breslow said he would improve the team with a power RH bat, but he hasn’t made a serious effort yet in doing so. Running out of time …..
Pitching staff is better, lineup is arguably worse without the numbers that Bregman/Raffy/Ref put up.
Let’s hope Abreu and Story and Casas and Contreras and Yoshida and Romy and Roman and Narvaez can all stay healthy.
We’ve only got depth in pitching now. It’s the opposite of bloom.
No bad contracts except for Yoshida and Sandoval. Nearly $30m for a reclamation swing starter and a singles hitter with no path to ABs.
JP76, Alonso making $31m, and, Devers making $28m. Better to have Sandoval and Yoshida….
I don’t believe you’re going to have a Top 3 rotation in the league. After Crochet there is a lot of variance. Sonny Gray is 37 years old with a 91 mph fastball. He is going to give up the long ball. Suarez is a soft tosser who never throws a full season with a fastball around 92 at max. Who knows what Oviedo will bring you. I just think there is too much uncertainty to declare a Top 3 rotation in the league right now at this point.
Just curious. Sustained winning has been the mantra now for over 5 years. At what point do you expect it? This will be year 6 of the sustained winning plan, how many years of sustained winning do you accept for all the sustained losing we saw? 4 or 5? 10? We sandwiched a bunch of World Series wins in between some ugly seasons and those bad years as a result caused the “sustained winning” mantra to materialize.
Also, the lack of desire to sign long-term contracts, include no trade clauses, or rely so heavily on valuation models automatically reduces the talent pool every off season and creates a much higher turnover rate. That seems counterintuitive to sustained winning if you are needing more players for more spots year after year from a less talented pool and are willing to wait the market out and be less aggressive at even that level.
william – As always I enjoyed your post!
I’m not so sure the sustained winning mantra was the result of the “worst to first” seasons”, I believe it had more to do with them trying to sell the “not trying to win” rebuild years as temporary while they build a supposedly superior farm system that will establish a pipeline of cheap cost controlled prospects that can be traded so free agents are no longer needed.
You are totally right on the contract policy, top players will usually not accept just one or two year contracts and they will want NTC because of Boston’s sordid history of trading away players after a short time. I don’t blame Bregman for not wanting to risk having to uproot his family again.
Fever- This must be an inexpensive contract to bring him in as a utility guy who has been known as a decent defender. It would not make sense for him to have a full time role as he doesn’t provides less upside than some of the in house candidates. I can’t imagine there is not another move or two coming. I think of him as a replacement for Hamilton.
Uncle – I hope you’re right, time will tell. He’s been a starter averaging 137 games the past 5 seasons, so its hard to believe he will suddenly because a bench player.
York – Ruining baseball only for Red Sox fans.
Fever, I gave you a thumb’s up but at least moves are being made and we’re posting about them. Henry is probably trying to figure out how to monetize our posts for more money to invest on another sport.
Fever Pitch Guy
Who needs Paredes or Marte when you can have a solid .631 OPS guy for a fraction of the cost!!
___________________________
Marte is worth a king’s ransom (Early, Tolle) and he’s on the wrong side of 30 (32 years old) and has missed more than a month of the regular season in the last two years.
Would I have pulled the trigger if I were in Breslow’s place?
Perhaps, if Marte had been a couple of years younger.
Paredes played poorly defensively last season at third base—766.2 Inn, (-4Drs), (-3OAA) and he doesn’t have Devers’ elite offensive output.
In that case, they might have simply kept Devers.
Bogey – Agreed, there were no ideal players available this offseason. Every single one of them had injury concerns and/or defensive concerns and/or behavioral concerns.
At the end of the day, it all boils down to what is valued the most and what is needed the most.
At the start of the offseason Breslow identified RH homerun hitter as a top need. He has done nothing to address that need, yet. Let’s hope he is working on something. The clock is ticking.
Replacing Bregman with IKF. Nice.
HBan22 – Contreras + IKF doesnt even get you back to Bregman.
Think Contreras will have a huge year in that stadium.
Think and hope won’t cut it. We NEED him to have a HUGE year to help make up for the lost 55ish home runs.
Replacing Bregman with Mayer…. Falfela is filling a need at second.
Soxfan55- no, your replacing the guy who stands to the right of third base with Mayer. As a potential right handed impact (power) bat in the lineup youre replacing Bregman with Conteras and IKF
One way to look at it. Bregmans production will be replaced by Mayer. Contreras stabilizes production and defense at first and falfela/romey stabilize defense and avg production at 2nd. With a top 3 pitching staff and top 3 outfield. Much improved team. Romero is close to ready to take over 2nd and he has some pop.
Sad- Let’s not assume he is going to be given a full time role. He may be more of a utility/bench guy. When we see details of the contract we will know better. I would much rather have him playing than Hamilton.
SoxFan55 – if Bregman stayed Mayer was the full time 2B. His production was never meant to replace Bregman’s…
Uncle – you could be right. As a bench/utility/injury replacement, I say fine.
Unfortunately, if thats his role, than that leaves us with Hamilton, Romy, Sogard and Gaspar at 2B
Agree, we are still missing an offensive piece to the puzzle. This certainly is not that.
Hamilton needs to go. IKF is taking his place. We will see what they get out of Gaspar, I am not expecting much. This is not the exciting move I was hoping for, but I don’t hate it if they can find another player who can provide the right handed power bat somewhere in the lineup. Romy and IKF is better than Romy and Hamilton. Not great, but better.
They’re replacing the production at 1st, 3rd and 2nd from last year with Contreras, IKF/Romy and a full year of Mayer. Romy and Mayer moved around last year, so it’s not as clear cut as it could be, but it looks like a wash to me (unless Mayer explodes…one way or the other).
As of now, Rafaela at 2nd/SS against RHPs seems like the way to go. IKF provides depth, an occasional platoon with Mayer and a defensive replacement at 2nd or 3rd.
We didn’t get a big upgrade offensive as we had hoped, but the starting pitching has been greatly improved.
If Mayer and Anthony play a full season,they will produce.So that would make the lineup better.
Mayer equals Bregman production? Quite optimistic.
I would be shocked if Gasper makes the roster out of camp
Fan55 – I do appreciate your optimism!
If you mean Top 3 defensive outfield, I agree.
Rotation? Possibly Top 3, but no guarantees. Crochet and Ranger and Bello are dependable. Gray and Oviedo are not.
I think Gray will be fine not great and Oviedo’s a project. They’ll be dependable enough for numbers 4 and 5
Fanatic – Oviedo I really like, he just needs to prove he’s fully returned to good health.
Uncle – We have our answer. $6M means he will be a starter.
$6 million guaranteed. That is the contract. about 3 times as much as he should have been paid. Breslow is dumb
Mariner – It’s Kike all over again, overpaying for “versatility”. .
Fever- I did not think he would get that much. I figured this was more of a bargain bin addition for depth. We will see if it was worth it. I assume all of the potential trade partners were asking for too much. I guess we could still see something else happen if they can use an outfielder or pitcher to bring in a bat, but not sure where they would play.
Uncle – I never thought of him as a bench player. They’ve already got plenty of that with KC, Sogard, Eaton, Romy, Gasper and Hamilton.
But I never imagined them giving him $6M for just this year!!! Toronto gave him the foolish $15M/2yr contract, but they traded him halfway through the first year.
Gray will open the season as the #2 starter, which is consistent with his ability and recent results. (It also splits up the lefties)
WCSoxFan
As of now, Rafaela at 2nd/SS against RHPs seems like the way to go.
==========================
If they had an interest in having Ceddanne take over 2nd, I don’t think they’d have signed IKF.
marinersfan1977
8 hours ago
$6 million guaranteed. That is the contract. about 3 times as much as he should have been paid.
=====================
The NYY and BJs gave him an average of $7M over the past three years,
marinersfan1977:
Youre team just paid Refsnyder $6.25M for about 200 ABs. When the Red Sox paid him $2M last year.
Oh, the irony.
@joebrady why not?
They needed a RHH infielder who could backup 3B and SS regardless. IKF handles that role while giving them another option at 2nd and providing a defensive replacement late in games.
If IKF is playing great, which allows Rafaela to stick to CF full time, great! But he’ll likely continue to be the same guy he’s been the past few years.
Fever- My hope is that by adding IKF, some of that depth will end up in AAA and they can still add an offensive player to the mix. I really thought it was going to be a much lower contract. Did not see him as worth anywhere near that much. Maybe $2-3 million, not 6.
@Pedro If Hamilton goes, then IKF because the team’s top pinch runner – not a very popular decision at the moment. Also, Hamilton is the only LHH on the bench currently. If they still had Tristan Gray then moving on from Hamilton would be more viable.
Side note: Hamilton still has a minor league option, so they can always send him down to AAA.
WC- I agree that IKF is not going to provide the speed on the bases that Hamilton does, but seeing Hamilton constantly hitting into a double play or strike out was hard to handle. It is difficult to carry someone on the roster strictly for base running, especially when they struggle to get above .200 with their batting average. He showed a bit more potential in 2024, it is too bad he can’t put it together with his offense.
IKF may be viewed as 3B depth in case Mayer gets injured or struggles offensively.
Still time to complete the AL East bingo card, Rays next year and a mid season trade to the Orioles and he’s done it.
Bad – Steve Pearce says hello.
He did all five consecutively.
I mean I guess he raises the floor… but I think an argument can be made that he actually lowers the ceiling versus someone like Romy who might actually knock in some runs and hit a few HRs
This is exactly what worries me about this signing. IKF is one of the least valuable hitters in MLB, all of what limited value he brings is from his glove, so as an everyday player he takes at-bats away from Romy, and Romy took a huge step forward last year. On a rate basis Romy was way above average in several hitter categories. Now maybe he platoons with Mayer at 3B or backs him up? Plus, Casas returns by May. Then with him and Yoshida there’s two lefty DHs on a roster with mostly lefty batters. I have to think a big trade still happens before Spring is over. Four high quality outfielders. A mostly lefty lineup. A gajillion starting pitchers, and not much quality relievers after Chapman and Whitlock. This team does not feel assembled well
The signing makes sense as a Brock Holt type. If he is resting the other guys then his value is as a versatile glove. That begins to make sense.
Not as a starter.
Romy will get plenty of at bats against lefties as he has been. If Yoshida is traded or doesn’t hit, Romy will DH against lefties, etc. Also IKF at this stage will not start 130 games.
Whether it was Bregman or not, it was always going to be a defensive plus. IKF isn’t going to blow anyone away with his pop, but he hits for decent average and gold glove capable and can mix and match positions.
trot – He’s won no Gold Gloves in a regular season and he’s a career .660 OPS hitter.
But sure, Cora will love constantly moving him around the field.
Ironically, the only position he hasn’t played ….. is first base. LOL
Fever- In the article above it says he is a former Gold Glove winner. That was where that came from. I don’t know if it is accurate but it is in the article.
Uncle- 2020 was a 60-game joke, not a regular season. That’s what I meant 😉
Fever- Ah, now I get what you meant. Did not realize it was the shortened season.
Uncle – Yeah the MLB homerun leader that year hasn’t set foot on a MLB field since 2023.
The NL Cy Young winner pitched one more MLB season, that’s it.
The AL MVP was done 3 years later.
The NL Rookie of the Year was done 3 years later.
They never should have given awards out for 2020. I look forward to the future when nobody is left that played in 2020.
Fun fact. Palmiero won the gold glove as a first baseman playing everyday DH.
Cora loves this signing…. he craves a roster full of Utility players just like him. Maybe when this team crashes and burns this year and goes backwards they will get rid of his sorry ***
Coop – Exactly. The more multi-positional players he has to work with, the less bad he looks when he makes managerial blunders.
It’s a control/ego thing, making as many managerial changes as possible.
Cooper- I don’t see this team crashing and burning. Unless we have major injuries the pitching staff will be the best they have had in a long time. The defense as a whole should be solid and while we still don’t have that right handed power bat I think there are plenty of players who have the potential to produce some significant offensive numbers. That is assuming players like Anthony and Mayer are healthy, but I am trying to stay optimistic this year.
Would I have preferred having Schwarber as the DH, heck ya. Did I expect Bregman to be back on the Sox, heck ya. I still think they have a strong overall team who should contend for a playoff spot. I also think there will be at least one more move and hopefully not one like IKF.
IKF is insurance for Story and Mayer. In that regard it’s a good move.
Dewey – if that were the case shouldn’t we have an everyday 2B already?
I am concerned that IKF is about to play 115 games at 2B
Just remember… they just gave 6 Million to a guy that was cut by the Pirates last year.
Decent average?? IKF is a career .262 hitter who also doesn’t walk much. He had an incredibly bad .297 onbase% in 2025. His wRC+ was 75, which by that metric means his hitting is 25% worse than the production an average MLB hitter. IKF is the definition of well below average, as a hitter. In fact, his batting run value (which is a great all-around hitting metric) places him in the bottom 5% of MLB hitters. Another way of looking at that, is that IKF’s batting run value is worse than 95% of MLB. That’s really, really bad
With the glove though, his reputation is that of a good glove man. However, when looking at his fielding run value in 2025, his performance has declined quite a bit in the field. His fielding run value in 2025 was a -2, which was worse than 65% of MLB.
Overall, this is a terrible acquisition by the Red Sox. The Red Sox would be better served by any of their current bench players (and even some of their minor leaguers) than they would rolling IKF out there. This signing has me convinced that Breslow is not that bright a baseball mind in areas outside of starting pitching. Playing IKF literally makes the team worse. If he’s used sparingly as a backup glove off the bench and a pinch runner then that might be ok (he is a good base runner), but I think the intent is likely for him to start at 2B for 2026, and that’s an awful plan
Thirdbaseman – I agree with you. All the credit in the world to Breslow for building a starting rotation that could be first in the league, and, is literally 8 deep.
He does not have the ability to build a 26 man roster with all of the parts complementing each other in a way that the sum is greater than all the parts.
Third- It is all relative. Compared to Hamilton with his .198 average last year, he is a decent hitter. Not great, but not terrible.
@Uncle Pedro, I wouldn’t compare IKF to Hamilton. One could argue Hammy has more upside as a pure burner on the basepaths. IKF has practically no value other than as a defensive replacement and occasional pinch runner. IKF makes smart decisions as a baserunner, but his decline phase has already begun. Last season IKF’s sprint speed was slightly below average, whereas Hammy’s sprint speed was elite, faster than 95% of MLB. Hammy’s career OPS, although terrible, is only slightly worse (.642) than IKF’s career OPS (.660). Neither player hits well, and Hammy definitely hits worse, but from a pure pinch-runner perspective, Hammy has more upside. Also quite surprisingly (and indicative of how IKF’s abilities have declined), according to StatCast in 2025 in the field Hamilton had greater range on balls hit to him and greater arm strength on throws than IKF did.
Don’t get me wrong, Hamilton’s a crummy player, but IKF isn’t as clear-cut an improvement as one would expect
What is the average BA for a hitter in the past decade? We don’t even need him to play full time. If people are throwing out advanced metrics, take a look at Romy’s ranks last year and tell me he won’t be the primary 2B this year. Don’t forget about Campbell, whom they still hope can be 2B/OF and certainly have nowhere to play him in the OF. IKF is the right complement to this group without mortgaging our top prospects for aging and/or subpar defenders.
@trotalongnixon, if the plan is to use IKF sparingly off the bench mainly as a late-innings fielding replacement or pinch runner, then the signing makes sense. But from what I’m reading here and elsewhere, it sounds like the plan is for IKF to be the starting 2B. That’s why I feel it’s a terrible move. I’d much rather see Romy start at 2B than IKF
Teams keep grabbing up IKF because of the glove but also the anticipation he will progress offensively. Sometimes you get an Inglesias. Nothing eye popping, but he became a good hitter over years to accompany a great glove.
Also, sometimes you get what you see.
I look at it this way. He is a good glove, and the Fenway effect will make his stats look slightly better than they should be. It nearly always does, which is why it is unfathomable to me why Hamilton still gets reps when he’s isn’t particularly strong defensively and offers very little offensively with the Fenway effect. Did I want IKF, no. I couldn’t imagine a scenario where his name would even blip on the radar, yet here we are. Sometimes the substandard internal options are better than making a move when that move isn’t a clear upgrade, or doesn’t fit the need you had.
Ladies and gentlemen, we found our second baseman
… ok *shrug*
MAKIN MONEY MOVES!
Would honestly rather have Romy out there instead of IKF.
Why didn’t Boston bring back Refsnyder? IKF. How does it feel to be the reason for a WS loss???
I mean, there were multiple reasons why they lost.
The type of chip on the shoulder that’s unpredictable.
Refsnyder doesn’t play the infield anymore (Cora wouldn’t even entertain the idea) and they have no space to play him in the OF/DH. He was never coming back.
Same! Or at the very least, a platoon of Romy and Eaton.
He’ll get his at bats in on left handed statrting pitching
100%. Hopefully IKF is nothing more than a back-up at multiple positions, because he is definitely not a starting calibre player. Romy needs to be the starting 2B. A way better hitter and improved on defense as the year went on.
nobody pays $6 million for a backup who can’t hit!
I assume anyone would rather have Romy than IKF, but now we have both. Even if Romy were to start every game at 2nd (which I’m not advocating) IKF is a very good defensive replacement.
I wanted them to bring back Refsnyder too. He was a perfect compliment last year to an all LH hitting OF. The Sox easily could’ve beaten the Mariners offer if they had really wanted to. Maybe Campbell will try to fill that role this season.
Cora has said that Abreu will hit vs lefties more this year, so there wasn’t a full-time spot left for him.
That means Romy is trying to get full playing time vs lefties in place of Duran/Yoshida/Abreu/Mayer, who should all see time vs lefties. But this backfires if Romy becomes the every day 2nd baseman, which was never the plan.
Also, they seem to really like Eaton.
Guaranteed Abreu sits versus most Lefties. This move will force Meyer to sit versus most lefties. Mr Platoon Manager is going have lineups versus lefties this year featuring, IKF at 3B, Romy at 2B and Eaton in RF. Pitching is going to have to win games for the Sox this year more than ever. And just wait for the multiple pinch hitter moves removing the lefties then getting stuck in extra inning versus the same trio of Eaton, IKF and Romy facing righties.
Given that Cora is the manager and determines who sits, I think we can safely rely on his take over a guarantee made by a random person on the internet. Going forward we should expect to see Abreu hit vs lefties unless/until he proves he can’t do it.
Where there is a track record of Cora doing exactly what I stated, I will gladly state that the trend will continue, because he can’t help himself…. he is smarter than everyone else.
And when Abreu proves that he can’t hit lefties consistently, which will be the case unless he makes some serious adjustments to his approach, then let me be the 1st to say I told you so.
“And when Abreu proves that he can’t hit lefties consistently”
This completely contradicts everything else you have said and acknowledges that you were wrong. But you then follow it up by claiming that you are right. How Abreu performs against lefties was never a debate.
Abreu’s approach is the same against lefties. His BB and K percentages are nearly identical. The reason he has had trouble is that he’s late on pitches (typical for LHBs vs LHPs) with a 16% lower pull% and hits too many ground balls with a 13.1% increase.
No, the reason why he can’t hit LHP is because his swing is too long and can’t adjust to off speed pitches after teams attack him with high fastballs up in the zone. Check out hit charts on pitches in the top 3 quadrants of the strike zone… not good versus RHP…. terrible vs LHP….. Then check his chase factors vs LHP low and away. Explains it all
You’re rebutting that he has the same approach against LHPs than RHPs but your proceeding comment refutes that claim. You’ve also contradicted yourself again in shifting to his ‘swing’ being the issue, and not the approach. Please figure out your claim first and THEN start an argument as it’s tough to hold a coversation when you can’t make up your mind – you’re extremely negative but also all over the place.
High fastballs have been a common issue for left-handed batters, particularly against LHPs, for over a century. Low and away against same-handedness batter is the typical way to get a player to chase as most sliders, sweepers and curveballs naturally run down and away from the same handedness batter – this is common amongst baseball players and the reason pitchers often switch to change-ups and sinkers against opposite handedness batters.
You’re making claims based on very small sample sizes which is leading to inconsistencies. Everything you’ve discussed with the heat maps were clealy from 61 plate appearances vs LHPs in 2025, but if you look at 2024, he had NO issues with pitches down and away BUT he had issues chasing down and in instead. This is the problem with making assumptions off small sample sizes as you’ll find consistently inconsistent results.
WCSoxFan
You’re making claims based on very small sample sizes which is leading to inconsistencies. Everything you’ve discussed with the heat maps were clealy from 61 plate appearances vs LHPs in 2025, but if you look at 2024, he had NO issues with pitches down and away BUT he had issues chasing down and in instead. This is the problem with making assumptions off small sample sizes as you’ll find consistently inconsistent results.
_________________________________
I agree with you, that many Red Sox fans take a small sample size and draw conclusions about a player based on that.
But even in those small sample sizes, Abreu showed improvement against left-handed pitchers.
W.Abreu vs LHP;
2024 – 61AB, .180AVG, .254OBP, .279SLG, .533OPS
(5walks, 11hits, 18SO)
2025 – 61AB, .230AVG, .299OBP, .377SLG, 676OPS
(6walks, 14hits, 14SO)
Abreu needs to improve his approach against left-handed pitchers a bit more, be more patient in his pitch selection, and then his averages will improve.
If he could do that with such a small sample size, then why can’t Wilyer improve his game with more confidence against left-handed pitchers?
I can give you examples of two former Red Sox outfielders who were able to improve their game against left-handed pitchers.
A.Benintendi vs LHP
2018 – 150AB, .247AVG, .301OBP, .393SLG, .694OPS
2019 – 160AB, .269AVG, 358OBP, 438SLG, .796OPS
J.Bradley JR vs LHP
2016 – 164AB, .241AVG, .313OBP, .360SLG, .673OPS
2017 – 116AB, .276AVG, 361OBP, .405SLG, .766OPS
If Benintendi and Bradley Jr. could improve their approach against left-handed pitchers, why can’t Abreu do the same in a full season?
P.s.
I did a little analysis of Red Sox left-handed hitters against left-handed pitchers MLB 2018.
2018
R.Devers(3B) vs LHP
118AB, .229AVG, .272OBP, .347SLG, .619 OPS
A.Benintendi(LF) vs LHP
150AB, 247AVG, .301 OBP, .393SLG, .694OPS
J.Bradley JR(CF). vs LHP
119AB, 185AVG, .260OBP, .303SLG, .563OPS(very bad)
M.Moreland(1B)
95AB, .305 OBP, .379SLG, .684OPS
Let me remind you that these were 4 starting lineup hitters.
The Red Sox won the 2018 World Series.
I appreciate the time you put into this, but unfortunately you ran into the same small sample size trap.
To expand on your two examples which you claim showed that the players ‘improve their approach against left-handed pitchers’:
A.Benintendi vs LHP
2018 – 150AB, .247AVG, .301OBP, .393SLG, .694OPS
2019 – 160AB, .269AVG, 358OBP, 438SLG, .796OPS
2020 – 7AB, .000AVG, .364OBP, .000SLG, .364 OPS
2021 – 145AB, .303AVG, .340OBP, ..455SLG, .795OPS
2022 – 134AB, .269AVG, .347OBP, .328SLG, .675OPS
J.Bradley JR vs LHP
2016 – 164AB, .241AVG, .313OBP, .360SLG, .673OPS
2017 – 116AB, .276AVG, 361OBP, .405SLG, .766OPS
2018 – .119AB, 185AVG, .260OBP, .303 SLG, .563OPS
So the improvements which you claim JBJ made in 2017 are immediately reversed, and then some, in 2018 to lower levels than in 2016. Meanwhile Benintendi was injured for most of 2020 before a 2021 which looks very similar to his 2019, to show that the improvements are true….until 2022 where he regresses below your control year of 2018. This just goes to show that using surface-only numbers in small sample sizes won’t show you whether the player has actually made improvements or not. If you really want to get into the weeds with small sample sizes, I suggest you work with the underlying measurables (bat speed, sprint speed, O-swing%, Z-Contact%, GB%/FB%, etc.) – these will give you a better idea of whether there was actually improvement or if it’s simply circumstial luck.
Along with focusing on surface level statistics and small sample sizes, there are a couple of other mistakes in your methodology. You chose to use ABs rather than PAs to demonstrate sample size, but PAs are much more useful as ABs are batter outcome dependent while PAs are not, but due to using OBP which is based upon PAs and not ABs, using ABs at all in this case isn’t useful and can be misleading or deceptive. (side note: I used PAs in my previous post but accidentally listed the number of ABs instead)
The second issue was not establishing a RHP baseline as in each example we don’t know if the player had improved results solely against LHPs OR if they had improved results gainst ALL pitchers – they may have simply had a much better overall season while still retaining the same RHP/LHP gap as before.
The third issue is one the other poster also ran into and that’s using the term ‘approach’. Whether or not a player’s statistics improved, or even the player themselves improved, it doesn’t mean that their ‘approach’ improved. There are many ways a player can improve which have nothing to do with their approach (strength, speed, mental processing, hand-eye coordination, swing path, etc.). It’s impossible numerically to say for certainty whether the approach is what improved, but if you want to get as close as possible, I’d suggest focusing on O-swing% and Z-swing% – these will at least tell you whether the player is swinging more or less at strikes or balls.
I hope I haven’t discouraged you as I always appreciate those who use statistics to show what’s actually going on within the game. I’ve spent most of my career analyzing statistics and creating forecasting systems (not in baseball) so I have an acuity for these things in the way to look at them.
My 2 cents on Abreu: his results were slightly better against LHPs last year, I don’t think we can conclude whether or not he improved, but Cora seems committed on finding out whether he can hit LHPs going forward, so we should have a larger sample size to pick through before too long.
WCSoxFan
3 mins ago
________________________________
I completely agree with you.
Perhaps I used the word “approach” prematurely.
But using Benintendi and Bradley as examples, I simply wanted to show that Abreu can achieve greater success over a full season and with a larger sample size against left-handed pitchers.
As I mentioned in earlier comments, Abreu needs to be more patient against left-handed pitchers, if he can do that he will be a legitimate starter and possibly a regular All-Star.
Although we can’t be sure whether he’ll perform better or worse against LHPs in 2026, I think it’s fair to say that with more exposure players generally improve (occasionally though they themselves get exposed and regress as a result). LHBs tend to have an issue against LHPs ofen because they don’t see them enough (unlike RHBs vs RHPs), so I agree that there’s reason for optimism.
In terms of ‘patience’:
Abreu vs LHPs 2024: 3.75 P/PA
Abreu vs LHPs 2025: 3.93 P/PA
Abreu vs RHPs 2024: 4.07 P/PA
Abreu vs RHPs 2025: 3.87 P/PA
MLB vs ALL Ps 2025: 3.88 P/PA
If we want to be optimistic with the SSS, we could say that he already had improved his plate patience vs LHPs. Then again, he was more aggressive vs RHPs (and overall) in 2025, so it’s may just be noise. But it’s more fun to be optimistic.
WCSoxFan
18 mins ago
At the very least, Abreu deserves this chance.
Considering his elite defense in right field and his pop at bat.
The Red Sox gave a full season’s chance to the worst hitter in the outfield (Verdugo) – who had no pop and mediocre defense in right field, and also had stats from 3 full seasons against left-handed pitchers (2021, 2022, 2023 with the Red Sox) 484 AB .619OPS
Following the footsteps of HOFer Rob Ref!
“Best SS in the league” – Aaron Boone
Clipper – hmmmm, i notice he isn’t still on the Yankees
“They reportedly prefer to keep Marcelo Mayer at third base and were looking for a quality defensive player whom they could plug in at the keystone.”
If they want qualify defense, why did they sign IKF?
Because….he’s BETTER than a quality defender?
Isn’t David Hamilton better than?
IKF is the better defender and has more positional flexibility. Hamilton doesn’t have the arm for 2nd or 3rd.
sry, ss or 3rd*
@WCSoxFan, one would think so based on what IKF has done in the past and how crappy Hamilton is, but surprisingly in 2025 Hamilton actually had greater range and stronger arm strength on throws than IKF did. Range-wise in 2025, Hamilton was 2 outs above average at 2B and IKF was 0 outs above average at 2B, and -2 outs above average (worse than average) at 3B
@Thirdbaseman IKF played mostly SS in 2025. At 2nd he was neutral at 0 OAA in 26.1 innings and at 3rd he was +2 (not -2) in 256.2 innings – both consistent with his career norms, but evaluating defense over a single season is tricky and worse in these extra small sample sizes. His SS play was also consistent with his career numbers, so it’s safe to say he’s still a very strong defender.
You’re right about IKF having a weak arm, I hadn’t realized that. Not sure who’s arm is weaker, but IKF’s arm strength has trended downward the past few years.
Just FYI, despite what Savant says, OAA does not really mean ‘range’. It’s a cumulative statistic for all plays not including double-plays (for infielders), so it includes errors, bad throws, etc. (I really wish they wouldn’t confuse people by calling it range). Unfortunately statcast/savant doesn’t have a range metric for infielders, they just have in/out/left/right – the range metric for outfielders is called ‘jump’.
@WCSoxFan, nice catch. That was my bad, when zeroing in on the 3B numbers, turns out I was looking at IKF’s fielding with the Bluejays (which at 3B was -2 OAA and -9% success rate added) but somehow missed the total which also includes his good numbers with the Pirates at 3B (+4 OAA and +5% success rate added, and that was over 3 times as many plays than he was exposed to at 3B with the Jays). Combined it works out to +2 OAA at 3B. But he was also a -3 OAA and -1% success rate added at SS with the Pirates.
IKF has been a good glove in the past, and who knows maybe he still will be, but he is definitely declining. IKF averaged 79.9 mph on throws with 84.3 mph max, and Hamilton averaged 82.6 mph and 90.5 mph max. I don’t see IKF as a strong enough difference-maker with the glove to warrant an everyday role. But it seems that’s what the intent is, despite Romy’s bat being quite decent. Although Romy’s fielding is notably worse than IKF, it’s not so abominably bad that you’d sacrifice his bat for IKF’s glove
There’s no indication that IKF’s glove is declining or that he will have an everyday role on the team. There’s no place for him to have an everyday role as it stands and players don’t sign for 6mil expecting to have everyday roles.
He may get some platoon work while providing a defensive replacement at 2nd/3rd and badly needed depth at 3rd (after they traded Gray).
The sooner we can move on from Hamilton the better. Speedy but otherwise below average and don’t see upside. He’ll be DFAed or traded by this time next year.
You can never have enough David Hamiltons
Imagine if David Hamilton was the Pinch Runner in the WS instead of IKF…. the Blue Jays would be WS Champs…. he would have scored standing up
Underwhelming
If im trying to be hopeful, maybe this gives us leverage in trading since we technically arent knocking on death’s doorsteps if we dont get a second baseman?
Cheeezus cripes!
Guess Red Sox are serious about committing to defense to win games. Who needs to produce runs when you can stop the other team from scoring…
Seriously though it’s plain as day that Bregman had no plan beyond Bregman and after that failed, there was no other plan. Unless you consider a plan to be: 1) add starting pitching. 2) add more starting pitching. 3) ignore infield and lineup deficiencies. 4) pivot to defense-first mindset. 5) sign superstar of the bottom-of-the-barrel dwellers, the 0.7 fWAR, 75 wRC+ Isiah Kiner-Falefa!
Guess the Sox finally got that high impact righty slugger Breslow talked about prioritizing at beginning of this winter
Haha!! Good one. Yeah thought I tapped “Breslow” but thumbs got the best of me. I was overcome with excitement by the IKF signing
That was not on my bingo card. In fact IKF signing with any contending team was not.
He is good on defense but the Sox already had a glove first 2B.
Who is our glove first second baseman? Its certainly not David Hamilton or Kristian Campbell
It most certainly is David Hamilton.
An Astros and Red Sox deal pretty much dead. However, Falefa is likely a bench guy on this sort of team, so yeah. Good pickup for the bench. He joins another one of our rivals.
He’s not a bench pickup. He was picked up to be the starting 2B, which is embarrassing.
I truly hope he does not start more than 20 or 30 games in 2026. He is far worse than Romy, about on par with Hamilton, and maybe a bit behind Eaton as well. If he does, that is a bad sign for Boston.
He makes a good safety net for Mayer not being ready, but if they’re serious about competing they should still heavily pursue Paredes or Hoerner.
Waited all winter for this…..not surprised though. I like IKF but it’s not what the team needed
IKF at 2B would be perfectly decent if the rest of your lineup is set but when you’re banking on a rookie 3B and a platoon DH who doesn’t hit for power, IKF ain’t gonna cut it.
Defensively, an excellent move. Offensively, it leaves something to be desired. But hopefully, Mayer and Anthony provide the offense that was lost in losing Bregman.
I think Contreras will pretty much replace Bregman’s offense and the offense is pretty much the same as last year. So, they still could use another bat.
Allin – agree. IKF may play some 3B platooning with Mayer while Romy plays 2B against LH pitching. Adding those two to Story, Contreras, Narvaez, and Rafaela it gives the Red Sox six RH hitters to a combo of Duran, Abreu, Anthony, Yoshida, and eventually Casas for the other 3 against LH pitching. Against RH pitching they have 4 of 5 listed LH hitters (3 OF and DH) plus Mayer at 3B, and with IKF moving to 2B (4 RH at C, 1B, 2B, SS).
IKF’s addition does not stop them from adding another infielder as they have very little depth on the infield. A trade may come during spring training after other team see the Red Sox surplus pitching and outfielders.
IKF has been playable vs RHP in a reverse split. Which should pair well with Romy. Remains to be seen if this works out, but another guy at the bottom with a chance isn’t as bad as doing nothing.
The offense is undeniably weaker than last year. Their opening day lineup last season was actually really good on paper. Yes, things didn’t exactly work out with Devers being traded, Casas and Bregman getting hurt, Campbell hitting a wall, etc. But it was a rock solid offense on paper. I’m not very impressed at all by the current offense as is.
Except you’re forgetting a full season of Anthony.
I’m not saying it’s a great offense but essentially comparing to last year we’re replacing Devers/Bregman with Contreras/Anthony. So it’s not as bad as it seems.
But you have to admit on paper the rotation is looking much stronger.
Not much good paper is if there aren’t rocks.
Fenway has breathed life into dying careers before. All that matters is if they can score runs when the time comes. A bounce here and ricochet there, the ball finds the ground better than most fields.
Kiner-Falefa won’t make that mistake twice if there is any competitive spirit left.
Don’t count your chickens before they hatch cliche is necessary here especially for paper rosters and pitchers. If one of those starters performs excellently, it’ll be a good season. It doesn’t matter which, just need one.
And there you have it IKF to Boston…Yanks feel like they already have what they need in Caballero and Rosario& no need to reunite with IKF…Still thinking that Andy Ibanez,after having just gotten dfa’d by the Codgers, could be another fine claim for an IKF type hustler despite having to shell out a salary slightly above league minimum.Step up Cashman and make Ibanez a Yankee. His versatility would pay dividends when the injuries start piling up
This guy hit 36 homeruns this is the bat we need oh yeah thats his total for his career nice job Breslow you needed a homerun hitter and you got a utility hitter.
Red Sox got one foot in and one foot out. IKF is a great defender and would make a great role player on a team with some big moves around it. This ain’t it though. They made a big trade for Crochet last offseason, extended him, and then don’t properly build around that move. I don’t get it.
I get it. Ownership doesn’t want to spend money anymore. It’s pretty clear by now.
HBan22 – Liverpool just paid €60m transfer fee to bring a player in…..wonder who their Pres. Of Football Operations is? Would like him to take over Sox
It’s not just ownership though; they are spending $265M on this roster.
Breslow is the one who just doesn’t have any idea what he’s doing: there is no direction for this franchise, a ton of deadweight (Casas, Yoshida), a bunch of pieces that are superfluous (Duran, Crawford, Sandoval), and a lack of RHH.
Red Sox are truly in a bad place, despite having some promising young talent and a wealth of pitching.
Okay I guess. Not clear that this is an upgrade, outside of having more ML experience
The defense overall got better. That’s fine. At more than one point this season, IKF is gonna make a big play to get out of a jam. Or turn a tough DP. And we fans will be like, yeah! Great pick up!
The pitching staff is good w this move for sure.
Let’s hope they are going to move some of their other pieces and view IKF as utility backup. Otherwise inexcusable. Maybe now they pivot again and sign Framber. Sheesh.
Sure it’s not a big signing but you already have a better team than at least half the league…
Ok, so let me see here…..
Hamilton, Romy, IKF, Sogard, Gaspar, Campbell…..
How in the world is this better than spending $15m on Eugenio Suarez and playing Mayer at 2B???
Who said Suarez would have signed that contract with Boston? He has past experience in Cinci, and turned down a 2 year from Pittsburgh.
The the air has left the room. they signed a bat to already weak lineup. talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Garbage!!! Rather not of signed anyone then waste this money
This is fine if it’s a depth move, not the starting 2b.
Topper47 – depth for who? The existing 2B quartet of Hamilton, Sogard Rkmy and Gaspar?
IKF may be depth for 3B as Mayer seems to get injured. He won a gold glove at 3B in 2020.
See, you’re the only one so far who has recognized the genius of the Gasper pickup. He’s got great facial hair, hits well in AAA and has no range at 2B but owns the glove. That makes him the “Collect Underpants” part of the master plan.
89 wins last year and the team is markedly better this year.
That is ALL.
Good night.
By WAR you’d think he is a good player but it doesn’t measure baseball IQ
cost the blue jays the world series
still pissed about that
Lots of hate towards the dude, but IKF is a solid player. Not flashy, but a good dude to have on any club. tbh. Not sure about being THE starter at 2nd, but he’s a good plugable role player.
Whoopdeedoo. Lets goo! This is that middle of the order bat we’ve been waiting for. It’s gonna be an awesome 80 win season.
This can’t be the answer – two David Hamiltons? Please. This can’t be the answer.
True. They need another one.
30 Parks – the Sox now have FOUR Hamiltons:
Sogard, Romy, IKF and of course, Hamilton
Great replacement for Bergman! LFG
You guys should trade for gorman and jojo. Probably wouldn’t cost alot
He’s a decent, useful player, and Boston has had an excellent off-season.
Brian, my friend, ummmmm
When they go low, we go Breslower.
We all need to relax – not the move we wanted – but team is better than last year and we have moveable parts for transactions mid season when we see what we really have – is the team acting cheap now – sure – but instead of overpaying right now let’s let the games begin!
Most real fans recognize this is going to be a very good team.
What you have here is a whole slew of angry trolls.
This is the height of delusion lol
I disagree. Gray won’t be better than Giolito was last year. Suarez was the only meaningful upgrade and even he’s no slam dunk, as his velocity has decreased by a decent amount the last 2 years. Last year we began the season with a healthy Bregman and Devers in the lineup. We have replaced neither, never mind adding to our offense, which Breslow promised. And no bullpen additions, only losses. We may win 85 games if we’re lucky.
Corradoj30
14 hours ago
I disagree. Gray won’t be better than Giolito was last year. Suarez was the only meaningful upgrade and even he’s no slam dunk, as his velocity has decreased by a decent amount the last 2 years. Last year we began the season with a healthy Bregman and Devers in the lineup. We have replaced neither, never mind adding to our offense, which Breslow promised. And no bullpen additions, only losses. We may win 85 games if we’re lucky.
____________________________
Without Devers since June 15th and with Bregman injured since late May and barely out of action for the rest of the season with a .680 OPS, the Red Sox have won 89 games. Don’t let the facts fool true Sox fans.
Can we now put to rest trade rumors for Nico Hoerner and Matt Shaw
Where’s the fun in that?
Nico Hoerner was always a doubtful ask.
Matt Shaw could still happen. He would keep Marcelo Mayer at 3B, his best position, and take over as the starting 2B where his bat profiles best.
The Cubs seem to be awaiting a decision from Zac Galen before potentially pursuing another starting pitcher. If they fail on the free agent front they may turn to the Red Sox and use Shaw as a centerpiece to a trade for Payton Tolle or Connelly Early.
If the Cubs add a SP they could still line up on a trade with the Red Sox. LF Ian Happ and RF Seiya Suzuki are pending FA’s following the 2026 season. Boston has a wealth a controllable OF depth which ought to intrigue Chicago in addition to the Red Sox deep well of arms.
The Cubs trading their best bench bat essentially their only back to 3B and 2B in case Bregman and Nico get hurt would be just a flat out stupid move. The Cubs need Matthew Shawbrist. He’s gone f around and hit 25 bombs as the Cubs utility man.
Mr Mac Cubs are out on Gallen. He is holding out for 3 years and Hoyer wanted him for only one.
They are still in in him. Only wanting him for 1 year Doesn’t make sense. Especially when nearly half the Cubs rotation will be free agents after this season.
It’s Feb 5, Holding Out becomes Out in a week. They can settle on two if they want to.
Romy is gonna be playing second base, but they did need someone in the utility role. That’s what this is.
On prom night, Boston pivoted from the cheerleader captain to the girl with braces and a mustache.
I thought that was the Gasper move?
Hamilton, Kiner-Falefa, and Gonzalez with spot appearances of Rafaela is probably manageable.
Hamilton and Kiner-Falefa could both have bounce back seasons. Kiner-Falefa could be a back up for a Mayer absence in a pinch.
Overall, not a great signing, but it covers the bottom lines. Would be nice if there is more story to come.
*manageable IF Mayer is ready to be a plus contributor. But that’s another roll of the dice.
Its well below bottom lines, its garbage. Heck, id rather just play Campbell, at least he has some real upside. IKF has never had even 10hr, he has Zero power and never had a season above 0.32 obp,, last season was 0.29% yikes!!
No power, cant get on base, and hes on the wrong side of 30. As a bench player maybe, as a starter this is disgustingly awful for a big market team full of trade and free agent options who wiffed on every single one.
IF his defense falls off what does he have? Nothing, a totally useless player.
Your bottom line clearly is different if you think those are concerns for the Sox.
It’s a bottom line so it’s about covering your basics. And Kiner-Falefa does that with a really shallow 2B market. All there is to know is after Kiner-Falefa, the options are a chasm of awful. When we signed and traded for Suarez and Contreras, the doors were closed on signing Bichette or Bregman.
And it’ll be fine. There will be room for Campbell to get in there. There is plenty to be optimistic. Kiner-Falefa is acceptable if you know where to squint.
Seattle won this trade!
So did everyone just forget Tarik Skubal’s hearing? What was the outcome?
The verdict is expected tomorrow.
The immediate “outcome” is the Tigers signing FA Framber Valdez. 🤔🤫
Coming tomorrow
.262/.297/.334. Not much else to say. He stinks.
Pitching, D and good baserunning.
Sox going full Brewers now….
White flag Sox fans. That’s a wrap on your off season
The IKF signing put a wrap on Boston even making playoffs as wild and team in 2026. That’s a wrap on Bostons 2026 season too. They’ll finish at least 3rd with alot of luck. Contreras & IKF puts them over that bump needed to reach 79 wins
…and yet you keep talking about them.
Yanks and Blue Jays, eat your hearts out!
Wait till all the prospects come up they said, we will spend/contend. So what do they do? Let their best player walk over a no trade clause and sign bargain basement bums instead.
Welcome to the Boston Cheap Sox.
Really thought the Mets and Red Sox were going to make deal for Brett Baty and one of the Boston outfielders
Solid base runner until it’s time to win a WS and instead his base running cost the Jays a championship
I’m a Pirates fan who lives in Massachusetts and I’m so happy that I don’t have to see IKF come to the plate for the Pirates. the guy is just not a good hitter and I had a fear after they lost out on Saurez they were going to bring IKF back. I also watch a lot of Red Sox games and it’s going to be fun watching him hit with the Sox. Did I mention I hate the Red Sox!!!!
You’re a pirates fan don’t you pretty much hate everyone LOL
Refsnyder’s replacement as a utility player…
Still think we should expect to see a platoon at 2B, IKF is just another flexible option they love to stack up so much
“He’s a solid baserunner”
Jays fans disagree.
SIX MILLION?!?!?? Breslow… My man. You need someone to oversee the position player side of things. That’s idiotic.
That’s about what was expected though. Fangraphs had him for a 1 year at $6M.
It’s also not crazy. Kiner-Falefa earned 0.7fWAR in ’25 which is pretty close to $6M if you subscribe to 1WAR $10M rough equivalence.
What can be noted is that at 31 years old Kiner-Falefa was surrounded by defensive liabilities or older guys in the market, all that are similar holes. The positive asides defense was position flexibility and health bill is better than Rengifo’s. So despite it being notably underwhelming, it could’ve been worse, and the Red Sox might now have found a chair after the music had ended.
The Red Sox have about 12 utility guys on their 40man or in AAA, they need some more offense. IKF isn’t that, and uses up valuable resources in terms of 6MM and a 40man roster spot.
IKF was also worth -2 FRV last season, so…. That’s not good for a defense first guy
..
Falefa-Rafaela platoon at 2B?
HBan22 – there is no way Rafaela should be in a platoon at any position (in terms of defense) he’s either playing 155 games in CF or 2B, he can’t be shuttled around.
@Sad.Sox Rafaela has been ‘shuttled around’ the past two seasons and it has worked out quite well, so why not now? I’d rather we had a team where he could play full-time in CF, but that means one of Duran/Abreu/Roman are DHing and Yoshida isn’t batting while Romy/IKF/Hamilton at splitting time at 2nd.
If they put him at 2nd they could platoon Romy/Yoshida at DH, which is fine I guess. But I have a hard time believing that it’s better defensively to have Rafaela at 2nd and Duran in CF than Rafaela in CF and Romy/IKF at 2nd. (but maybe he quickly becomes a stud at 2nd – but if we’re committing him to the infield, I think we would be better off with him at SS and Story at 2nd)
WCSox – Ceddane played 141 games in CF. Hardly a platoon player. IMHO, the stability lead to an increase in production at the plate, and him winning a GG in CF. Why in the world would you want to endorse him sharing time with IKF at 2B?
If the idea is to play the three others in the OF, then make Ceddane the full time 2B.
Most players prefer the stability of playing one position, and for the younger guys it leads to progress in their career trajectory.
@Sad.Sox nobody has called Rafaela a platoon player as you say. But he was platooned in just the way I mentioned at times last season (24 games with 19 starts) when the outfielders were all healthy. He may have played in 141 games in the OF, but 12 of those games he didn’t start as he was inserted as a defensive replacement and given the current roster, inserting Hamilton or IKF at 2nd with Rafaela in center in late games with leads, makes the most sense.
I don’t want Rafaela to share time with IKF at 2nd base – please don’t misrepresent what I write. As of right now, the best setup would have Rafaela splitting time at 2nd with Romy while IKF is a defensive replacement and injury fill-in.
Rafaela has never expressed a desire to strictly play one position and I’ve only ever seen SSS theories that maybe he’s worse when playing 2nd, but those are quickly dismissed given they’re completely babip driven.
Do you have any evidence to back your assertion that playing one position ‘leads to progress in their career trajectory?’ This seems like something that you made up, but I’m willing to take a look if you have anything to back it.
Cora had Rafaela playing 2B last year when the OF was fully healthy and, unless a trade is made, I expect that to once again be the best lineup against RHPs.
Well last time Redsox had some one on team born in Hawaii they won the WS!!! So they got that going for them….
Olmtiant – great call
It’s about time pineapples and canadian bacon find its way back onto pizza in New England… at least once this season for good luck. And then you must do a proper slide into home.
Strangely, after the Donovan trade, I had a funny feeling this was going to happen. Or a 5% chance of a wildly ridiculous overpay for Hoerner or Marte.
Not loving this move… but also not hating it. Basically they’re going all in on run prevention and defense. But we could really use some more bullpen help.
They did absolutely nothing to address the bullpen this offseason, besides trading away all of their lefty relievers besides Chapman. At least they got rid of Hicks!
HBan22
3 days ago
They did absolutely nothing to address the bullpen this offseason, besides trading away all of their lefty relievers besides Chapman. At least they got rid of Hicks!
____________________________________
The Red Sox potentially have enough left-handed pitchers to use someone in the bullpen:
Harrison, Drohan, Sandoval,Moran, Bennett
The bullpen help is Kutter Crawford and Kyle Harrison.
$6M? I’d be willing to bet no one else was offering anything close to that. Weird to sell a good prospect to save a few million then turn around and overpay for a fringe guy.
Glad to see that big bat the Red Sox need is finally coming to town. Well worth the wait…….
This is the signing that will put Bosten squarely in position to maybe runaway with 3rd or 4th place in Central Division.
$6 million?! I hope they did the math right and this deal doesn’t put the Sox over the 2nd tier of the CBT. That would just be embarrassing. Almost as embarrassing as running IKF out there to 2B vs. RHP. For the money, this is worse than putting D. Hamilton at 2B. I guess that means Boston won’t be trading for M. Shaw… bummer. Sox fans would love that guy.
IKF at 6mil or Andujar at 4mil. I’ll take Andujar as a platoon at 3rd over IKF at 2nd for nearly double the cost.
Boston should at least think about whether their defense would be better with IKF at SS and Story at 2B. Especially if Story’s shoulder is still iffy.
paredes + mathews for duran… Play Ball.
not even for celina midelfart.
Remove Duran… Insert Abreu
The R Sox were not willing to pay Refsnyder $6 million but are willing to pay it to IKF?
Refsnyder not 2B/3B. Red Sox OF is crowded — Duran, Rafaela, Anthony, Abreu, and Yoshida.
Kiner-Falefa fits 2B and other utility needs.
Refsnyder is an outfielder
..they have 5 of them already
This move is all-time pathetic and embarrassing. He’s not even a lefty, so what was the point? We definitely want Romy playing against all lefties, and his bat is still better against righties than IKF against…well anybody. Could’ve saved the $6 million and just platooned David Hamilton with Romy. This is another Dustin May move – had to do something to make a desperate attempt to show the fan base that they did something. “We didn’t get the two big bats we promised, we didn’t even get one. But run prevention is just as important as run production and that’s where IKF will shine!” Vomit.
IKF has been better against RHP so his reverse split works fine with Romy. A big reason they might want him is that he can play both 3b and 2b well. Mayer could get injured as is typical of his career so far. Also, Sox starters use GB rates higher than we’ve seen previously and Gonzalez isn’t lockdown defensively, so it provides them with a solid option if Hamilton doesn’t work or isn’t available.
ClevelandSteelEngines
IKF has been better against RHP so his reverse split works fine with Romy.
___________________________________________________
I disagree with you. Romy’s 2025 stats: 185 at-bats vs RHP .286 AVG, .718 OPS Kiner-Falefa’s 2025 stats: 312 at-bats vs RHP .276 AVG, .668 OPS
Falefa will most likely be a utility player, playing all over the infield except first base, occasionally giving Story a rest, providing insurance for Mayer at third base (in case of injury), and possibly also being a defensive replacement for Romy at second base.
I said it was works fine. I didn’t say it was great. And agree there is going to be an utility role for Kiner-Falefa. But that should just be the minimum. Unless there is a major turnaround for Hamilton, Kiner-Falefa and Gonzalez are going to be juggling 2B a lot.
A Kiner Falafel kind of world: George Bush Sr would approve!
💁🏼♀️ Red Sox are done adding, see you in 5 days (the 10th), FIRST FULL SQUAD WORKOUT on the 15th. ⚾️ ‼️
I remember the Blue Jays fans having the exact same type of discussion the Red Sox fans are having right now when they signed him a few years back. It was obvious we needed a bat at the time and their answer was IKF.
We all kept trying to convince ourselves that it wasn’t that much money, so maybe he wouldn’t be starting and he was just a slightly expensive utility guy. That convincing turned out to be in vain though. I know that we are generally at odds, but I feel for you right now Red Sox fans.
I’d rather have Christian Arroyo
This is simply a sign they did not want to give up Tolle or Early for one year of Hoerner Parades or CJ Abrams. He signs for 1 year at minimal cost and doesn’t clog the roster. Not ideal – but I’d rather keep the pitching.
Wow talk about getting left holding a bag of poop, they should have traded for a better infielder
He will bring his glove
I liked IKF as a Blue Jay, I think he gets too much heat for the world series blunder, I wish him well with the Red Sox.
Time to package some of the former prospects or prospects players soon, during spring training and surely at trade deadline. But some of these signings could also be traded, if season doesn’t go well by deadline. I’d say if last place at deadline, fire sale with nobody untouchable.
Nobody wants former prospects. Front office gurus dream & sleep about former prospects
Is IKF really an upgrade over Romy and Hamilton? At best he is a platoon player, why waste the money when you have solid trade chips to offer for quality players?
homer 2
3 hours ago
Is IKF really an upgrade over Romy and Hamilton? At best he is a platoon player, why waste the money when you have solid trade chips to offer for quality players?
___________________________________
Significant trade options require a king’s ransom – Breslow clearly isn’t willing to sacrifice Early and Tolle for a one-year deal for Hoerner and 32-year-old Marte, who has missed more than a month of the regular season each of the last two years.
Early and Tolle are the Rice and Lynn of pitching.
Bogey
Romy put up decent numbers for a part time player the IKF can’t replicate. 2.0 war not bad for platoon.
BoSox fans are so mind numbing thinking they can compete in the AL EAST. Maybe they’ll compete for about 3-4 weeks before they’ll be logically eliminated after month one.
NewOrleansSaintsFan
1 day ago
BoSox fans are so mind numbing thinking they can compete in the AL EAST. Maybe they’ll compete for about 3-4 weeks before they’ll be logically eliminated after month one.
___________________________________
I read and heard this nonsense from many trolls last season (KD17 or whatever his name was, he predicted 79 wins last season; now I don’t see this troll on the site .
The Red Sox bolstered their starting rotation with three pitchers (Suarez, Gray, Oviedo) this season, and they have depth—Crawford, Sandoval, Early, Tolle, Uberstine.
They strengthened the defense at first base, second base and third base.
Kiner-Falefa’s deal is a sideways move, will serve as insurance for Story and Mayer.
Otherwise, the Red Sox wouldn’t have acquired Durbin (mini Pedroia).
Romee might not be ready for Opening Day, so there’s insurance at second base.
The important thing is that the Red Sox retained all of their key homegrown players and top prospects.
Yes, they didn’t acquire an elite right-handed hitter, but the Red Sox have young players who will improve offensively and have elite defense (Abreu, Rafaela, Anthony).
The Red Sox don’t have 30-year-old players under contract for five years or more, which will weigh down the team’s payroll in the future and will not allow for flexibility in signing free agents to strengthen the team.. They signed lucrative contracts with Crochet, Bello, Rafael, and Anthony, who will be the core for the next five or more years.
Their pitching system is developing and will produce good pitchers in the coming seasons, and they’re developing outfielders very well. This team will be excellent in the coming years and even with flexibility in signing free agents.
You’re either a troll or incompetent.
Nice moves Red Sox. Lose Devers and Bregman but you got IKF to save the day.
The Red Sox had a better record without Devers last year than with him and Contreras will replace Bregman’s offense.
You can chalk that up to the randomness of baseball. Losing a 4.1 WAR, 35 homer guy is not a good thing.
Riiiiight…when things go good for the Red Sox it’s just randomness and luck.
all in the suit that you wear
That shouldn’t be to hard as underwhelming Bergman was.
I put in a request for a slick fielding shortstop who can bat ninth and bingo bongo the Red Sox deliver. Let the crybabies sob. It’s exactly what they needed.
Hells bells they won a championship with Lugo and Cora!
whyhayzee
Wasn’t Big Pappi there too?
Not playing shortstop!!!!!
He will also get a 5k bonus each time he takes a lead of more than 6 inches when on third base
This is a solid signing for a decent super utility guy. Solid defender at all the positions he plays. Average bat at best but if you have to start him for 100 games or more you have had some injury problems. The Red Sox infield is average across the board but it should be better in it’s defense and versatility.
BOOM…….Nothing Burger
Alex who ? He won’t be missed.
I’m hoping to see somebody play at 2B to remind me of Jody Reed or John Valentin this season. Bunch of hits off the Green Monster or in the gaps and then someone drives them in when playing at home.
Anyone else thinking that signing the “Six Million Dollar Man” was a bit premature? He’s not “better, stronger or faster”…
IKF BLEW CHUNKS AS A YANKEE… MORE OF THE SAME AS A RED SOX, NO DOUBT!