Five Red Sox Thoughts on This Thanksgiving Morning
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you get to spend it with your families and if you’re not, I hope you are finding some time to enjoy yourself or at the very least make a ton of money. Thanks for spending a couple of minutes with me to go over few thoughts I’m having about the Boston Red Sox as I run my first ever Turkey Trot (I am releasing this at 8 AM EST when the race starts).
I hope they get Juan Soto. That would be franchise altering. He'd be the captain of the metaphoric Red Sox battleship and they'd be a few easily purchasable guns away from going to war. He’d immediately the ranks of Fenway leftfield legends Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, and Manny Ramirez. He’d join Ramirez, David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, and Rafael Devers as an illustrious Dominican hero. An incredible legacy to be gained. The Red Sox would be his. With the Yankees, it would still be Aaron Judge’s team, the Mets still Fransisco Lindor’s team. The Red Sox would be Soto’s.
The Red Sox can and should still get those guns even if they strike out on Soto. Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, and Garrett Crochet should all be in play. Maybe even Jack Flaherty plus one of those guys. That would give you a really nice rotation. A rotation of Max Fried/Tanner Houck/Jack Flaherty/Brayan Bello/Kutter Crawford is pretty good. Allows you to slowly work Giolito back into the picture if you don’t trade Kutter. They’re not all staying healthy for a full season.
If Crochet’s price is too high, I wonder if there’s a fit between the Pirates and Red Sox involving AL rightfield Gold Glove winner Wilyer Abreu and promising young righty Jared Jones. Both are talented players but the top prospect in all of baseball, Roman Anthony, is knocking at the door for the Red Sox and the Pirates have a slew of young talent in their rotation including NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes, veteran rock of stability Mitch Keller, and elite pitching prospect Bubba Chandler.
Red Sox rightfielder Wilyer Abreu I'm still not crazy about moving Rafael Devers off third as has been a topic of interest this week but given that I've heard that rumors of the Red Sox being interested in both Willy Adames and Alex Bregman are very real, so I've talked myself into being cool with Raffy DHing more often since there's no way the entire offense is staying healthy all season and this maximizes his bat without taking him out of the defensive game entirely. He just has to still play the field some of the time to stay sharp. Can’t be DH excusive. That probably keeps him in better health too maybe helps him focus more when he has to use his glove. It would still be an absolute waste to move him off completely like they did with Masataka Yoshida in 2024 (also a waste).
If Bregman or Adames are willing and able to play some 2B and SS in addition to 3B, it allows you to ease MLB Pipeline’s #10 prospect in all of baseball Kristian Campbell into his role as a rookie. He can play some outfield, he can play some shortstop as needed. I don’t love the idea of outsourcing a second baseman. My preference there should be an open competition for second base in spring training between Campbell and Vaughn Grissom. If he comes into camp healthy and energized, he deserves a chance to play. But he has to earn it. Being the return for Chris Sale doesn’t make him entitled to anything.
The Red Sox have been building up the farm for years. I think second base is the position you let Campbell compete for. Save the money they would spend on Bregman or Adames and put it towards a starter and a back of the bullpen arm.