Jeff Passan: Red Sox Don’t Have the Talent

39 comments

1. Jeff Passan: They Don’t have the talent.

   Also, Jeff Passan: Redsox are my 6th ranked team.

2. I like how you conveniently cropped the ranking of the Red Sox. He also wrote that they have one of the best rotations in the league. Username definitely checks out

3. We can be critical of the offseason but saying they don’t have talent is just ignorance

4. I heard they’re in on Soto. /s

5. Get ready for like 200 comments about how Sonny Gray and Wilson Contreras are actually Rodger Clemons and Albert Pujols.

6. You’re way overestimating the prospect capital he gave away for Gray and Contreras. Those were not make or break guys and they weren’t the kind of value that would get a big trade done next year.

   The real reason the system is drained compared to a year ago is the Crochet trade and the fact that Mayer, Anthony, and Campbell have graduated. There’s still a lot of young talent on this team and they should have a reasonably long championship window, but they have to be willing to spend money on FAs if they want to take it over the top.

7. Same story as a few years ago, although this time we don’t have a soon-to-be-FA superstar bat to give a massive contract to and then trade him two years later.

8. I dunno what people want. The Red Sox already have too many positional players as-is, they can’t just go sign every player in the world. They obviously need to replace Bregman’s production. But how could they sign anyone else beyond that? Do people just want to give up on Marcelo Mayer and trade him away? Over half of their lineup is young developing players, and the only way those players will develop is if they play regularly. They can’t just go sign Tucker and make even more of their outfield redundant.

9. The thing about it is because they made the playoffs last year some people are content to assume the same thing will happen next year. They look at Gray’s K rate and assume he’ll pitch better than last season, hoping the patchwork rotation holds up and assumes Mayer will stay healthy and make a leap. The amount of hoping/praying is what small market team fanbases have to do because they don’t have the money for the big fish so they gotta just hope for the best. The Red Sox, one of the few teams primed to build from within and spend, seem content to just do the building thing and hope it all works out.

   The Red Sox have added this offseason and in a vacuum they’re decent pickups but I don’t think they’re moves to put them over the top and if I can be completely honest depending on the outcome of the offseason they might actually be a little worse. I personally have them between 83 to 92 wins next year so they certainly should be in the hunt but I don’t think they made enough of an effort to put them in what I’d call “real” contention.

   At some point something has to give but I don’t think it’ll ever be enough for this cheap ass ownership. The payroll has increased sure, but a lot of those deals are expiring within the next year or so so that metric in and of itself is just fool’s gold.

   tl:dr offseason is fine if you’re a mid to small market team but not good enough for the red sox.

10. We have a bunch of high upside young guys who got their first taste of the bigs last year. We have a lot of unestablished talent. 

    Counting on that to materialize is what small market clubs do, though. We can’t be running this team like the Twins.

11. God damnit. Stop with this Shit. Yes. Yes the Sox do have Talent. A lot of Young top Talent. This Doom and Gloom right now against the Red Sox is Total Bull Shit. The Sox have a Bright future. For crying out loud.

12. The Red Sox certainly have the talent. The problem is whether that talent is ready this year or will live up to its potential. We are going into the season with far too many question marks for us to be comfortable.

    But pretending like one player will be the difference between us being dogshit and world series contenders is a bit silly. My main criticism is that we shouldn’t be going into the season with this many question marks when we have the money and trade depth to give ourselves a better chance and we fall short almost every time.

13. These “offseason winners” articles are so stupid and yet we get them every year. The Mets have won numerous offseasons

14. At this point one of Hoerner or Paredes for Duran would fix our outfield and infield situation in the most realistic way possible. The Bichette thing is gonna play out exactly the same as Bregman, Alonso and Soto before them. No way somebody else doesn’t offer more than we do.

15. The team is not awful. But the team needs help. The roster as constructed has a lot of flaws (who is at 2nd/3rd opposite Marcelo), and what do you do with the glut of outfielders. Gotta make moves

16. And even with all that said the Red Sox are still projecting the 9th highest win average in the league at 86.9.

    The org is in a really unique situation where they have the ability to spend money AND deal away an overage of major league talent; and it could set the team up for both short and long-term success.

    The org still has work to do but I don’t want them making a knee jerk move that’ll handicap them in other ways.

    They’re in a position of strength and if the right deal comes along they can really capitalize on that position, imo that’s worth being patient for.

17. See, this is what pisses me off. He says – and this is echoed by so, so many others around here – that we’re a playoff contender, but it may not be enough. Okay? So, what, the offseason is a failure unless we can *guarantee* a World Series win? If we can’t just sleepwalk through the playoffs, we’ve failed somehow?

    We could have signed Soto, Alonso, Bregman, Ohtani, and the ghost of Ted Williams, and we still wouldn’t be *guaranteed* a World Series win.

    We’re a playoff contender right now. Stop bitching.

18. Found John Henry’s burner

19. Did anyone think the Blue Jays had enough talent going into last season?

20. I’m not saying I’m at all pleased with this offseason but they still need to play the games. Signing a bunch of high priced FAs doesn’t necessarily equate to wins. We all want this team to get better but I don’t think we are that far off from being where we need to be.

    Where are our gaps? Infield depth? A reliable 2b and some pop in the lineup? Okay, that’s not nothing but it also doesn’t change the fact that the pitching staff is better and (assuming health), we have a very athletic lineup. Get us a solid 2b and we are absolutely a contender — which Passan admits in his diatribe.

    It’ll be a long season. There will be injuries, breakouts and busts. There will also be a trade deadline where you have a chance to plug holes.

21. Ownership is the issue not breslow, they are 100% the lead advocates for a salary cap even though they have no idea what it would be or entail and are trying to get ahead of it for god knows what reason

22. Our farm system went from 1 to 15 because a lot of the top end prospects graduated, not because of trading Brandon fuckin Clarke dude

23. They have just a enough talent to warrant spending money in the offseason to prepare for a potential pennant push. Unfortunately they haven’t and probably won’t.

24. I agree on the disappointment but I think Steamer is pretty bad at predicting rookies who are clearly advancing. 

    If you look at Roman Anthony, it sees him becoming an average-ish player next year. It’s certainly possible but I think it’s fair to expect a little more.

    Part of the problem is how it handles age. He will be 22, most 22 year olds in the league are not very good and are being used for cheap defensive coverage on teams like the Marlins. So he’s getting penalized for that but he’s really on a different trajectory than most players that age.

    While I don’t think we’ve done enough to be World Series contenders, I think fourth place is very pessimistic. 

25. I don’t think we’re a shoe in for playoffs in any fashion. Even calling us a contender with the current roster is dubious.

26. The Red Sox are super close and really just need 1 big bat in the lineup to help solidify the offense and maybe 1 more SP if they don’t want to rely heavily on the young guys just yet.

27. Pats are still in the playoffs, call me in April.

28. Passan blows

29. I don’t see any lies

30. I wish the Sox were more aggressive. Like god damn look at the dodgers they’re just handing away bags and bags of cash. They pay their luxury tax and win World Series. Like fuck.

31. Well hold on now, I liked Bregman and really wanted him back, but let’s not pretend he’s Mookie. Bichette had slightly more WAR, Suarez slightly less WAR. Bichette would be an overall upgrade because of his offense, Mayer can play third, and this is a 95 win team in that scenario. Suarez isn’t as good obviously but he was a 3.6 WAR player, 13-14 WAR and 163 homers the last 5 years, basically 32-33 a year for his career. Bregman’s got about 6-7 more WAR going back to 2021, about 1-1.5 more a year. It’s not like we’re losing 8-10 WAR Mookie and can’t replace him.

    There’s other ways too, run prevention, another quality starter, another great reliever. If they had signed Bregman I’d have given them at least a B+ off-season grade, maybe an A minus. Gray is moderate upgrade on Giolito, more importantly strikes guys out so our shit defense can’t screw things up, Contreras is a very good player who will be a massive upgrade at the black hole that was first last year, a career. 811 ops , 3rd best defensive 1st baseman in baseball. A full season of Anthony and, hopefully, Abreu. Losing Bregman doesn’t take the off-season grade from b+ to F by itself, he was important but not irreplaceable.

    They still have avenues to improve, and still 2+ months to do it. Let’s put the torches and pitch folks down, at least temporarily, and not storm Castle Frankenstein, let’s see how they pivot. And if they don’t sign Bichette, don’t sign Suarez and a pitcher, don’t make a meaningful move, then let’s grab the torches and riot. It’s frustrating, because this team is going, so close to being very good/great. Fortunately it’s only Jan 14 and not March 14th.

32. Not gonna defend Breslow, but you make it seem like this is all on him. Henry & FSG are equally complicit in this because they would rather take the profit from the Sox, pocket most, and spend a bit on his numerous other sports offerings.

33. Stop paying for NESN. Stop going to games. Stop buying jerseys. Stop supporting FSG. Period.

34. This post is melodramatic garbage

    > This offseason is a capital F failure, and Breslow has shown himself to be atrocious at his job.

    This offseason is fine if they get one of Bichette, Donovan, Paredes or Hoerner, or a similar player. Also, Breslow has either aquired or extended several players of one of the best young cores in the game (Crochet, Anthony, Rafaela, Narvaez). He has already achieved things beyond the scope of one offseason.

    > and 1/2 year aging rentals of Gray and Contrares,

    Gray is still an elite arm (led the NL in K/BB last year) and Contreras is a great RHH addition.

    > we have a 4th place team to show for it

    Bullshit

    > and our farm system went from #1 to #15

    What does this have to do with anything? You realize this is overwhelmingly because the top three prospects lost prospect status last year, right?

    > Breslow has effectively closed the window to actually compete

    This is so hilariously braindead lmao. The Red Sox have one of the most promising teams in terms of young talent under long term control. I can’t believe takes like *this* are getting upvoted on the sub right now.

    > Breslow trading Devers for absolutely nothing in return

    Devers’ contract was never going to fetch anything significant in return, we’re lucky we got a pitcher with some upside like Harrison.

    > and then trading away prospect capital for aging rentals

    Totally braindead thing to complain about given what was given up and what was received.

    All in all, this is an example of an opinion not worth respecting. Too much 98.5 has actually melted the brains of some users here lmao.

35. I always think it’s based on past performance. And although that’s a guide, you never know what this year brings. Could be breakout seasons for a couple of guys. Could be cool down periods for other others. There’s no guarantee that that’s why you play the games. Do I wish we had signed a big right handed back for third base absolutely. But they didn’t. I still think this team has a chance with the pitching staff that they have. They have gamers they have an ace. Is it enough? Who knows the games will decide that. But all this freaking crying over spilled milk is unbelievably annoying.

36. you guys are getting put in the media blender lmao, stop hanging on every word from these guys they are so reactionary

37. Failure? Lmao. Yur nuts

38. > And before you say that the offseason is not over, there is no realistic move that makes the Red Sox a true World Series contender that finishes better than 3rd in the division.

    Well, there are moves. Sign Suarez, sign Bichette, trade for Marte.

    But since that would cost Henry more than fifty bucks, he’s out.

39. The Red Sox now have my King, Willson Contreras. There is no shortage of talent in Boston.