Red Sox receive stamp of approval for quick pivot, transactions in 2026 offseason campaign originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Boston Red Sox had one of the more chaotic offseasons this year, highlighted by their blunder of calling Alex Bregman’s bluff when he said he had another offer. When Bregman walked, they were in a very bad place.
Since then though, they’ve really picked it up. Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer gave his stamp of approval, stating the focus on pitching and defense was a good move.
“Trust them, the whole 'pitching and defense' thing is going to work. The Red Sox purportedly wanted to add power to their lineup during the winter, but basically chucked that plan as soon as they lost Alex Bregman. They instead went all-in on pitching (i.e., Ranger Suárez) and defense (i.e., Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Caleb Durbin) as their new identity. It's an interesting decision for a team that plays home games at Fenway Park. The hope in Boston now is that this won't prove to be a case of chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, himself a former pitcher, having blinders on.” Rymer wrote.
This offseason, the Red Sox did lose a Silver Slugger bat in Alex Bregman, and whiffed on bringing in sluggers in Pete Alonso, Bo Bichette, and Kyle Tucker. However, like Rymer noted, they really went in on pitching and defense. They got a Gold Glove in Kiner-Falefa, a ROTY finalist with good offense in Caleb Durbin, and an All-Star starting pitcher to form a 1-2 punch with Garrett Crochet in Ranger Suárez.
All in all, they did massively upgrade their team. They brought in infield defense, which was a massive problem, replaced Bregman’s bat, and got a true No. 2 pitcher for their rotation. They even got depth in Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo to fill out their rotation depth.
Hopefully, the Sox show what they’re capable of in Spring Training, so their fans can at least be a little excited for the 2026 season.
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