{"id":522320,"date":"2026-01-15T21:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/522320\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T21:36:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:36:15","slug":"mlb-expert-says-red-soxs-roster-looks-like-one-that-can-win-the-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/522320\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Expert Says Red Sox&#8217;s Roster &#8216;Looks Like One That Can Win The Division&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After watching Alex Bregman <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2026\/01\/alex-bregman-explains-decision-to-leave-red-sox-join-cubs\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2026\/01\/alex-bregman-explains-decision-to-leave-red-sox-join-cubs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">leave town<\/a> for the Chicago Cubs, the Boston Red Sox made a huge splash with their first move in free agency on Wednesday, reportedly agreeing to a <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2026\/01\/red-sox-sign-ranger-suarez-in-free-agency-contract-details\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2026\/01\/red-sox-sign-ranger-suarez-in-free-agency-contract-details\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">five-year, $130 million contract<\/a> with starting pitcher Ranger Suarez.<\/p>\n<p>The 2024 All-Star joins a loaded starting rotation including AL Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet, three-time All-Star Sonny Gray and 26-year-old Brayan Bello, <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2026\/01\/pair-of-red-sox-players-tabbed-as-rookie-of-the-year-candidates\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2026\/01\/pair-of-red-sox-players-tabbed-as-rookie-of-the-year-candidates\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">among others<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While Boston\u2019s offense may still have <a href=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2026\/01\/insider-lays-out-red-soxs-2026-projected-lineup-following-alex-bregman-news\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/2026\/01\/insider-lays-out-red-soxs-2026-projected-lineup-following-alex-bregman-news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">some question marks<\/a>, the pitching is enough to give the team a chance at winning its first division title since 2018, according to ESPN senior writer David Schoenfield.<\/p>\n<p>The MLB analyst <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/46994593\/2025-26-mlb-offseason-grades-free-agency-trade-analysis\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mlb\/story\/_\/id\/46994593\/2025-26-mlb-offseason-grades-free-agency-trade-analysis\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said on Wednesday<\/a> that while Suarez\u2019s durability is a bit of a concern, his success when healthy could make an already solid rotation even better.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuarez\u2019s history of minor injuries over the past four seasons \u2014 combined with a fastball that averages just 91 mph \u2014 makes his future an interesting bet,\u201d Schoenfield wrote. \u201cRed Sox fans have grumbled for the past year, from the\u00a0Rafael Devers\u00a0trade to not signing Bregman. The roster, however, looks like one that can win the division.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The AL East is, again, expected to be one of the best divisions in baseball in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>The defending pennant-winning Toronto Blue Jays have added star right-hander Dylan Cease to the mix and the Baltimore Orioles signed first baseman Pete Alonso and reliever Ryan Helsley, among others.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays haven\u2019t been as busy as their counterparts this winter but always seem to be in the thick of things no matter how their rosters look.<\/p>\n<p class=\"nesn-in-content-ad__copy\">Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After watching Alex Bregman leave town for the Chicago Cubs, the Boston Red Sox made a huge splash&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,5172,922,4,90,89,2543,1587],"class_list":{"0":"post-522320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-bostonredsox","12":"tag-brayan-bello","13":"tag-garrett-crochet","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-ranger-suarez","16":"tag-red-sox","17":"tag-redsox","18":"tag-sonny-gray"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115901273582134081","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}