Spring training is still a ways off — just about seven short weeks away — but we thought it was time we take a stab at a roster prediction here at Talk Sox. Boston Red Sox fans are the type of fan that likes to play the ‘what-if’ game and start building next season’s roster as soon as possible. Right now, there are still holes to be filled and a lot of rumors swirling around potential free-agent additions or trade candidates. While there’s not telling what will happen in those pursuits, we wanted to take some time and think about what the roster on Opening Day could look like once the offseason dust settles.

Starting Rotation (5)

The ultimate goal for any franchise is that all of their starting rotation will make 30 starts and be lights out from top to bottom. Realistically, that won’t come to pass for any club. The good news, though, is that the Red Sox have quite a bit of starting depth stashed away at the upper levels of the minor leagues that will allow these five to get extra days off and, in the worst-case scenarios, be replaced due to injury.

Obviously, Crochet isn’t going anywhere, and Gray can likely join him on that list unless the team has just completely fallen apart by the trade deadline. Bello took positive steps forward in 2025, but as I wrote previously, he’s the most under-the-radar trade chip the team possess right now, so he could potentially be calling a different city home in the near future. Oviedo comes with a ton of upside, but just as much injury risk. I gave Early the nod over fellow rookie Payton Tolle solely because Early has the secondary stuff that you can trust more earlier in the season, and I think the organization showed more trust in him during the postseason by letting him start game three of the Wild Card round while moving Tolle to the bullpen.

Should any of these five come out of the gate slowly, you can expect Tolle to be the next man up along with Kutter Crawford, Kyle Harrison, and Patrick Sandoval. Behind them, there’s still a ton of depth floating around in Worcester, so there’s not a lot of concern about the arms they’ve traded away to bolster the major-league roster.

Bullpen (8)

A lot has been made about the team’s need to acquire another starter and there’s a ton of validity to that, but the bullpen clearly needs some help still. Obviously, Chapman is going to close games out after his dominant 2025 and subsequent extension he signed at the end of the season. Whitlock proved just how dangerous he was out of the bullpen again last season. Slaten had his ups and downs, and injuries, but he proved to be a steady arm more often than not. Watson is a big question mark at the moment and has to stick on the 40-man roster or be returned to the A’s, but the Sox have proven with both Whitlock and Slaten that they have an eye for identifying talent who can contribute in big ways through the Rule 5 draft.

After that group, though, there are question marks all over the place. Weissert pitched fine in 2025 but ran out of gas by the All-Star break. Kelly showed flashes of potential but hasn’t proven that he can be fully trusted yet. Moran is the only other lefty in the pen besides Chapman at the moment and doesn’t bring the strongest track record with him, Hicks is well… Hicks. Sure, he can hit triple digits, but your guess is as good as his as to where it’s going to actually go once it leaves his hand. There’s still work to be done in the bullpen, and guys like Crawford and Sandoval above could be utilized here if need be.

Catchers (2)

As currently constructed, the Red Sox should return both catchers from last year. Narvaez has a firm grip on the starting job and likely won’t let it go unless something catastrophic happens. He’s young, talented, and exactly what the team needs behind the dish on a near-daily basis. Wong, on the other hand, has a ton to prove as a backup in 2026. His 2025 season was abysmal and he offered very little of value either behind the dish or with a bat in his hands. The team could stand to upgrade at backup catcher, but Wong’s value is the lowest it can be and there’s not much out there that would prove to be much better in a backup role. The team could shock everyone and bring in someone like JT Realmuto, but that’s likely not going to happen.

Infielders (6)

I’ve been stumping for the team to sign Bichette for a while now, so on this projection, I’m pretending they did. I’m not going to predict his contract or anything like that, but bringing him on means the team has moved on from Alex Bregman and trusts Mayer to man the hot corner until he can take over at shortstop after Story leaves in free agency in a couple of years.

Contreras will see the lion’s share of time at first base to begin the season, but that conversation could get interesting if Triston Casas is tearing the cover off the ball with Worcester early on. Story remains the starting shortstop until his contract in Boston is over, or until he gets hurt again — whichever comes first. Obviously, super-infield utility man and lefty masher Gonzalez stays on the bench to get into games when his knack for getting on base is needed, or just to spell Contreras at first from time to time. I struggled with the last bench spot between Eaton and Nick Sogard but opted for Eaton since he plays more positions and likely will be the platoon partner for Wilyer Abreu in the outfield when necessary.

Outfielders (5)

This was by far the hardest group to determine, solely because there’s still such a logjam in the outfield right now. As long as either Duran or Yoshida is on the roster, there’s no perfect answer for the outfield. Anthony is obviously going to be a day one starter with Rafaela, but then what does the team do with Duran?

Abreu is a two-time Gold Glove winner in right field while in a platoon role. Alex Cora and Craig Breslow have both given him a huge vote of confidence to play more against left-handed pitchers, so he’s also locked into his position. Rafaela is a Gold Glove center fielder who should never move off that spot until he’s ready to retire, and Anthony is a superstar in the making right now. Yoshida is a DH-only at his point, and he’s not great there either unless you want a slap-hitting DH. Duran isn’t good enough against left-handed pitchers to warrant being used as a DH on a regular basis.

There’s just such a logjam here that it’s hard to figure out exactly what the plan is. Ideally, someone will be moved in a trade for a number two starter, but that’s just a step too far for me to predict out right now. Is it the correct path forward? Probably, but I’m just not confident that’s going to happen right now.

There’s still a ton of offseason left, and I fully expect the Red Sox to make at least one more major addition to the roster. How they navigate the bullpen additions and the outfield logjam is going to be something watch as we get closer to the start of spring training. Some national writers think the team has a big trade and a big free-agent signing left in them. If that’s true, this roster could look drastically different at any moment.