Entering the offseason, the direction seemed clear as day for the Boston Red Sox’s position player group.

Bring back third baseman Alex Bregman, add another middle-of-the-order bat, ideally at first base, and trade away an outfielder. Well, as spring training fast approaches, they’ve kept all their outfielders, didn’t bring back or replace Bregman, but they did at least trade for first baseman Willson Contreras.

In a perfect world, they can trade from the outfield contingent to add another infielder. In the perfect-est world, that outfielder is probably 2024 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Jarren Duran. The 29-year-old is the oldest from the contingent and also has the least amount of team control. However, it may not be a perfect world. The closer it gets to Opening Day, the likelier the Red Sox are of having to make do with the roster they have — for better or worse.

There are several questions they need to answer, both about individual players and overall construction. By the time he got hurt in September, Roman Anthony‘s most-frequented order spot was leadoff. But is that the best way to use him in 2026? Duran took to the heart of the order against righties last season, but are the strikeouts too much to keep him there? Where does he play? How about Ceddanne Rafaela? 

Let’s do our best to answer those questions.

Leading off: DESIGNATED HITTER, Masataka Yoshida

There are a couple of reasons Yoshida makes sense as the team’s leadoff man. For starters, he’s simply a good hitter. While his 2025 numbers suggest otherwise on the whole, he had the team’s second-highest wRC+ in September. In 20 games, he slashed .333/.351/.486 with 13 runs batted in and just a 6.5% strikeout rate.

There’s a great level of dependence on batted ball luck with Yoshida. He’s not a power bat, nor does he strike out with great frequency at his worst. But with the over-reliance on BABIP luck comes a less-than-optimal profile — one conducive to ground balls. He’s a good hitter, but hitting him behind Anthony in a lot of ways leaves them susceptible to rally-killing opportunities. Double plays, glorified sacrifice bunts, etc. Hitting him leadoff opens up the first base line for Yoshida, it also may help him lean back into his 2024 approach which had him crushing the ball despite playing through a torn labrum.

Not to mention, it’s a great way to open up potential pinch-hitting opportunities against left-handed relievers late in close games.

Batting second: LEFT FIELDER, Roman Anthony

The way game the game is trending with lineup construction, you often want your best hitter hitting second. The last few years, that was Rafael Devers. But right now, projection models believe Anthony is comfortably the team’s best hitter. Given how he took over the lineup before his oblique strain last season, it’d be hard to disagree with that idea.

In 2025, he slashed .292/.396/.463 with a 140 wRC+ and eight home runs. His Steamer projection calls for a 124 wRC+ in 2026, but models are often conservative. Really, though, that’s neither here nor there.

Hitting him behind Yoshida could put some training wheels on Anthony in terms of stretching boundaries on base hits, taking extra bases. However, hitting Anthony second gives him RBI opportunities early in the game. Part of the 2025 team’s identity was early offense, ranking second in runs scored in the first inning. Setting the tone first, especially with this group’s pitching staff, is paramount, especially if the offense as a whole is a question mark.

Batting third: FIRST BASEMAN, Willson Contreras

Guaranteeing Contreras a first inning at-bat is critical. Sure, maybe the way he does damage is best served for the cleanup spot. However, he’s the team’s best right-handed hitter.

Grand slams are more fun, but I can already envision the Yoshida single, Anthony walk or double, then Contreras three-run home run sequence. While his career-high for homers is just 24 (and came during the juiced-ball era of 2019) he still hit 20 a season ago in 135 games. 

There’s no real debate he shouldn’t hit in the heart of the order; it’s just a matter of third versus fourth.

Batting fourth: RIGHT FIELDER, Wilyer Abreu

This one’s a little tricky, as Abreu is more of a run-producer than a table-setter. He’s certainly capable of being a table-setter, but his BABIP struggles last year hindered his on-base ability.

The average leadoff hitter in 2025 had a .333 on-base percentage; Abreu’s was .317. Perhaps foolish to compare him to a leadoff hitter while jockeying for him to clean up, but there’s a real chance he’d be counted on in similar first-man-up situations in 2026. He could be leading off the second inning; he could follow up a home run. There’s a value to having both the ability to reach base and hit the ball out of the ballpark. Abreu can do both, he just needs to find a bit more success when he puts the ball in the play.

Batting fifth: SHORTSTOP, Trevor Story

Story had a great year by his Red Sox standards in 2025, but projection models question his ability to replicate it.

He’s 33 years old, and his whiff, chase, walk, and strikeout numbers all don’t love him. He hits the ball hard when he makes contact, but he doesn’t make a ton of it.

That said, he’s a power source and was the team’s leading RBI man a season ago. Keeping him in a similar role, even if demoting him from third to fifth, is vital for this team’s success. Perhaps at some point during the year, he can fall down to seventh, or re-claim his spot in the upper-third, but on Opening Day, his best slot is smack dab in the middle of the batting order.

Batting sixth: CENTER FIELDER, Jarren Duran

Duran might be polarizing among Red Sox fans, but objectively he’s still a very good player. He didn’t take to being a full-time left fielder last year and historically is a better center fielder. But the very sight of seeing that be his position in 2026 isn’t exciting to fans. 

As for hitting sixth, it’s a good spot for him. Less pressure on him to be the table-setter or the run producer. It gives him a chance to operate freer. It gives him a chance to push the envelope as a baserunner as well, hitting ahead of the perceived weakest part of the order.

There’s some give and take here with Duran. On one hand, you’re giving him back his best defensive position, but you’re taking from him a lot of plate appearances dropping him out of the top half. To me, I think that’s the best way to get the 2024 version of Duran back, or at least closer to that version. Perhaps I’m oversimplifying it, but this lineup will need its 29-year-old speedster to shoulder a lot of responsibility this year. They’ll also need someone in the lower half to do the same.

Why not kill two birds with one stone?

Batting seventh: THIRD BASEMAN, Marcelo Mayer

Speaking of players needing to shoulder a massive burden, Mayer has a lot riding on him in 2026. 

Defensively, he was awesome in his rookie campaign. Offensively, he hit the ball hard but not often enough for it to yield strong results. He was a rookie, so it’s water under the bridge. The main concern with him is his health.

Drafted in 2021, Mayer’s never had a fully healthy campaign as a professional. Sometimes, that’ll course correct itself and he’ll not be a major health risk. But sometimes, a leopard is a leopard.

Replacing Bregman isn’t an easy ask of anyone, much less a second-year player. But Mayer had that task a season ago and, while his offense was pretty touch-and-feel, it wasn’t something people talked about a lot as an issue because he was so great defensively.

Batting eighth: CATCHER, Carlos Narvaez

Narvaez is one of the best defenders in the sport, regardless of position. Offensively, he was overall a fine bat but generally a lucky hitter.

Hitting him eighth softens the blow if his offense over-corrects itself and he’s considered a liability at the dish. But his profile of average bat speed, average barrel rate, and average Pull-Air give him a decent chance of sustaining a roughly league-average output.

He doesn’t have to set the world on fire, because his defense is so potent. But if he can stay above a 90 wRC+, he can cement himself as a top-10 catcher in baseball.

Batting ninth: SECOND BASEMAN, Ceddanne Rafaela

This isn’t optimal for the defensive alignment, but Rafaela at second base gives the Red Sox their best chance at deploying their nine best hitters. 

Offense is secondary when analyzing Rafaela’s game. But if he can maintain his Pull- and Straight-Air approach of last season, he should be able to offset struggles with impact hits.

The argument for Rafaela at second base is a losing one. They’re appeasing Yoshida and Duran while asking the player they signed to an extension in 2024 to make a sacrifice. Not only that, but it’s also a sacrifice that’s not proven to be beneficial. But people treat Rafaela like he’s a bad second baseman. Anything compared to his center field defense is bad, but him being an average second baseman and average bat is the best this team’s got right now.

But this lineup construction is under the presumption a right-hander is pitching. The Red Sox have obvious platoon questions at several positions. Mayer had a 6 wRC+ last year against lefties; Duran’s a career 70 wRC+ hitter against them, with Abreu sitting at a 62 mark. Two outfielders are potentially worthy of sitting against southpaws, meaning Rafaela can play out there against lefties.

Again, there’s give and take. This is about optimizing the 2026 Boston Red Sox. As constructed, Rafaela as the team’s primary second baseman is the best thing for ensuring success early in the season.