r/redsox

… first time they’ve lost a series against the Twins at home in 12 years. We really did break them. Now they faced Tampa Bay, our division leader, for four straight games

I have, and for the most part, rightfully so, read nothing but negativity about the Red Sox this year, their spending, roster construction, and Craig Breslow. It’s been bad and as always, Sox fans have howled about it all. It’s been accurate, too. I’ve been part of it.

But in looking at things as the All Star break arrives, it occurs to me that Breslow did not strike out every time.

Ranger Suarez has been exactly the effective pitcher those of us who had him in fantasy leagues thought he would be. Hes an All Star. Signed as a free agent.

2 other Sox players should be All Stars: Sonny Gray and Contreras. 2 more savvy trades by Breslow.

I liked the addition of Contreras mostly for the improvement on defense at 1B, plus the fire he brings. I did not expect him to literally match the power we missed out on by not signing Alonso. Now, Id prefer Breslow brought them both in… I still think Pete would have been a primo DH here, but Contreras has been great.

As has Gray. AI doubted this one, as I assumed the AL East would eat him alive as it did to him in New York. I was wrong, he’s been outstanding.

And how about Durbin? The kid has remade himself, been brilliant at 3B, runs and hits and plays with aplomb. Hes a joy to have around.

Is there a Red Sox fan alive still angry about not signing Bregman? And that guy they sent to San Francisco? They are begging to give him away.

Im not going to dissect the roster here or make the argument the Sox do not need further huge additions, or that Breslow has been a great team builder. But this morning, things just dont seem as awful as they did not that long ago and thats kinda cool.

Welcome back. With all the injuries, I feel we all forgot about him. Him and Refsyner were so critical to our success last year. Last night is exactly what we needed all year. Someone who can hit a home run and blow a game open and not look back.

Although he hasn't pitched that many games yet, Bennett has 14.11 P/IP, which would be 3rd in the MLB if he were qualified (just above Sonny Gray, who has also been quite efficient!). This is in part to a 99th percentile chase rate of 40.4%, 97th percentile walk rate of 4.5%, and 95th percentile ground ball rate of 53.5%. Normally, southpaws tend to perform worse in Fenway because of the Monster (right?) But Bennett's stats seem like he can still thrive in Fenway due to his characteristics, and get really quick outs.

Pretty excited to see us have a possibility of hitting 40 wins before the all star break. Something I didn’t think was possible 4 weeks ago. Let’s go Sox!

First Take, Floridas weather and night life is probably horrible right now compared to Boston. Time away from the seaport can probably provide some extra motivation to heal.

Honestly I hope he is back after the all star game and this weirdly gives me some hope.

We are very good team against lefties. Especially now with Romy back. Our weakness is unfortunately right handed pitchers which still make up vast majority of mlb starters except our team with 3/5 lefties. Sandoval is another.

Our offense's biggest problem is not what side of the plate thry hit but how they do against left handers and right handers. We seem to do well vs left handers but struggle vs right:

Hitters vs Righties:

Contreras .901 OPS

Seigler .899 OPS

Wong .830 OPS

Gonzalez .718 OPS (2025)

Rafaela .715 OPS

Wilyer Abreu .687 OPS

Caleb Durbin .683 OPS

Jarren Duran .608 OPS

Monasterio .482 OPS

Cheng .464 OPS

Narvaez .488 OPS

Sidelined:

Nick Sogard. .851 OPS vs RHP

Isiah K-Falefa. .804 OPS vs RHP

Trevor Story (25) .743 OPS vs RHP

Roman Ant. (25) .903 OPS vs RHP

Duran's 25 seas. .852 OPS vs RHP

Wong is .342 OPS higher vs right handers then Narvaez is.

It is important for Romy to be in the lineup vs right handers too as he has 5th best ops if going by ladt year's numbers as 2026 has just started for him.

Getting IKF, Sogard or Story back will be a signifcant boost in OPS at shortstop.

Sogard is highest bump in OPS from Monasterio vs righties, .369 ops increase. While Story had the lowest OPS of the three sidelined shortstops, he is the only one with significant power with 25 home runs last year. In IKF's best home run year, he has obly hit 8 home runs in a year and Nick Sogard has never hit an mlb regular season home run.

Best shot at increasing left field OPS is a healthy Roman Anthony but Jarren's 2025 was an .850 OPS compared to his .608 OPS this year.

At the 7/3 game in Anaheim and Contreras graciously signed my son's ball. Really made the game for my son. Bonus: Sox won 5-2.

https://preview.redd.it/lntzylg3cfbh1.jpg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=465dd8a88067b8427f318a1c624e59d7a20320ee

At 38 years old Aroldis Chapman is still bringing it with the most strikeouts by a reliever