{"id":535835,"date":"2026-01-24T08:03:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T08:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/535835\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T08:03:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T08:03:20","slug":"veteran-insider-predicts-red-sox-arent-done-adding-to-the-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/535835\/","title":{"rendered":"Veteran Insider Predicts Red Sox Aren\u2019t Done Adding to the Lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buster Olney had this to say<\/a> in his latest for ESPN.com<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause to not do so would be wild, right? The Red Sox devoted a lot of resources this winter to bolstering their pitching quality and depth, from the trade of Sonny Gray to the $130 million signing of Ranger Su\u00e1rez. But they’ve been stuck in place with their every-day lineup, adding Willson Contreras before being surprised by the Cubs’ deal with Alex Bregman.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter Roman Anthony got hurt at the end of 2025, the Red Sox looked two bats short \u2014 their series against the Yankees was like a middleweight boxer facing a heavyweight \u2014 and if Boston’s lineup isn’t upgraded, they will be incredibly reliant on Anthony and Contreras, in a division that includes Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Aaron Judge, Junior Caminero, Pete Alonso and Gunnar Henderson.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that reads like a giant blinking arrow pointing somewhere, that\u2019s because it probably is.<\/p>\n

Olney isn\u2019t breaking news here as much as he\u2019s articulating the obvious tension hanging over the Red Sox\u2019 offseason. Craig Breslow has spent the winter aggressively stabilizing<\/a> the pitching side of the organization – sometimes loudly<\/a>, sometimes surgically – and yet the everyday lineup remains oddly unfinished.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not bad. It\u2019s just incomplete. And in the AL East, incomplete tends to get exposed quickly.<\/p>\n

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This is where the Nico Hoerner breadcrumbs start to matter.<\/p>\n

Earlier today<\/a>, we talked through why Hoerner makes an uncomfortable amount of sense for Boston:<\/p>\n

Elite defense at second base, contact-first offense, postseason experience, and a skill set that fits neatly with what Breslow has said he wants the roster to look like.<\/p>\n

Olney\u2019s framing – two bats short, overly reliant on Anthony and Contreras – doesn\u2019t contradict that idea at all. It reinforces it.<\/p>\n

Because here\u2019s the thing:<\/p>\n

Upgrading the lineup doesn\u2019t necessarily mean chasing star power for star power\u2019s sake. The Red Sox aren\u2019t one Vladimir Guerrero Jr. away from contention. They\u2019re one functional, stabilizing, high-floor bat away from not asking too much of everyone else.<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s been the throughline of Breslow\u2019s team-building approach since day one. It\u2019s why the rotation is suddenly deep instead of fragile. It\u2019s why Marcelo Mayer\u2019s positional flexibility<\/a> has been treated as a feature, not a problem. And it\u2019s why the front office keeps circling back to defense when talking about the infield.<\/p>\n

Hoerner fits that philosophy almost too cleanly.<\/p>\n

\"Oct<\/p>\n

Oct 6, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner (2) looks on before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers during game two of the NLDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at American Family Field. (Michael McLoone\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t block Mayer long-term. He doesn\u2019t force Boston into awkward alignments. He doesn\u2019t need to be \u201cthe guy\u201d in the lineup. What he does is lengthen it – something Olney is explicitly warning Boston hasn\u2019t done yet. Slide Hoerner into the second base spot, let Mayer grow into third, and suddenly the Red Sox aren\u2019t asking Anthony to be a savior in his first full season or Contreras to carry the offense on his back<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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That matters when you\u2019re staring down a division that, as Olney notes, is overflowing with MVP-caliber hitters. You don\u2019t beat that by hoping. You beat it by narrowing the talent gap and raising your baseline.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a timing element here that\u2019s easy to overlook.<\/p>\n

Olney\u2019s point about Anthony\u2019s late-2025 injury isn\u2019t just about health, it\u2019s about fragility. The Red Sox learned, painfully, how thin the margin can be when the lineup lacks redundancy. Adding a player like Hoerner isn\u2019t just about 2026 production; it\u2019s about insulating the roster against the inevitable bumps.<\/p>\n

And yes, the cost would sting.<\/p>\n

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Giving up pitching depth or a real prospect is uncomfortable. But Breslow has already shown a willingness<\/a> to make those kinds of bets when he believes they align with a bigger structural goal.<\/p>\n

This wouldn\u2019t be a splash move. It would be a coherence move.<\/p>\n

Olney ends his assessment with a warning, but it reads more like an invitation. The Red Sox have done the hard part – building a rotation that can survive October. Now comes the part that requires decisiveness.<\/p>\n

If this lineup stays exactly as it is, the imbalance he describes will only grow louder.<\/p>\n

If it changes?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be surprised if Hoerner\u2019s name is the one that eventually makes all of this click into place.<\/p>\n

\"Sep<\/p>\n

Sep 30, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner (2) hits a single sacrifice fly in the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres during game one of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Wrigley Field. (David Banks\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

JOIN THE CONVERSATION:<\/p>\n

Remember to join our RED SOX on ROUNDTABLE community, which is FREE! You can post your own thoughts, in text or video form, and you can engage with our Roundtable staff, as well as other Red Sox fans. If prompted to download the Roundtable APP, that’s free too!<\/p>\n

Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He’s a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com<\/a>, and a native of Lincoln, RI.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Buster Olney had this to say in his latest for ESPN.com: \u201cBecause to not do so would be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,6453,24,6930,1248,59,4,33,89,2543,18,70942,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-535835","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-buster-olney","13":"tag-chicago-cubs","14":"tag-craig-breslow","15":"tag-marcelo-mayer","16":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","17":"tag-mlb","18":"tag-nico-hoerner","19":"tag-red-sox","20":"tag-redsox","21":"tag-san-diego-padres","22":"tag-slide-hoerner","23":"tag-vladimir-guerrero-jr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115949038137774068","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535835","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=535835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}