{"id":4700,"date":"2026-07-10T12:04:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4700"},"modified":"2026-07-10T12:04:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T12:04:33","slug":"unexpected-turnaround-from-a-lost-season-is-a-welcome-sight-and-other-thoughts-on-the-red-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4700","title":{"rendered":"Unexpected turnaround from a lost season is a welcome sight, and other thoughts on the Red Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>Playing nine innings while starting to forget what Triston Casas looks like \u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>1. The Red Sox\u2019 recent excellent play, which includes six wins in a row and 11 in their last 13 games after Thursday\u2019s win over the White Sox, was as welcome as it was unexpected. With the World Cup winding down and the relentless, Jaylen Brown trade drama having reached an unsatisfying conclusion for most, New England sports fans are going to need something to keep them entertained until Drake Maye and friends arrive for Patriots training camp later this month. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4698\">Can anyone stop France? After another dominant World Cup win, it doesn\u2019t seem likely.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>For the first few months of the season, a watchable Sox team seemed too much to ask. In the heart of summer, they\u2019ve turned into \u2026 well, what? At least a decent one? I suppose that counts as progress.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><span>2. But their improved play doesn\u2019t mean we should set aside our skepticism about the construction of this team, especially when it comes to making sure they don\u2019t go 37-47 again next season from the season opener through the last day of June.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>Sure, they are on the fringe of the playoff race, just 2\u00bd games back of the third wild-card spot entering Friday, but have the Twins, Astros, and Blue Jays ahead of them for that final spot. It\u2019s a confirmation of the massive hole they dug that they\u2019re still six games under .500, and a smelly 10 under at Fenway Park (17-27) even with their recent and somewhat extended hot stretch. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>I hope I\u2019m proven wrong, but this feels like the embodiment of the illusion of contention that colleague Dan Shaughnessy often cites.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>3. It\u2019s going to require something close to this high level of play to seize a wild card \u2026 and even then, the highly likely end result? A heartache, a fool\u2019s game, and a rapid elimination. This team, with a lineup that features at least three utility players on a daily basis (welcome aboard, Brett Harris), isn\u2019t going to hit enough to achieve anything memorable. The starting rotation has been downright superb over the last few weeks, but with Ranger Suarez placed on the injured list Thursday and Connelly Early dealing with a sore left elbow that counts as the latest of suspicious injury diagnoses, attrition is suddenly a concern.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>MLB reduces Willson Contreras\u2019s suspension, and All-Star first baseman begins five-game ban<\/div>\n<p><span>4. I\u2019m not totally sure of the power dynamics in the Red Sox front office at the moment. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow appears to have a relatively small circle of trust, which may include more souped-up Commodore 64s than actual human beings for all I know. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But I do find myself wishing that he\u2019d hire a general manager focused almost exclusively on identifying hitters to possibly acquire. Breslow, at worst, has done a good job finding quality pitching, but he\u2019s done little to earn any trust as a evaluator of offense beyond acquiring Willson Contreras.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4696\">What went well, and what didn\u2019t work over the course of seven World Cup games in Boston?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>5. I won\u2019t go so far as to suggest Breslow should be hollering \u201cSell! Sell! Sell!\u201d like (timely reference coming up) Randolph and Mortimer Duke in \u201cTrading Places (timely reference completed to many chuckles). But as trade season perks up, at the least he should conclude, \u201cSell? Yes, sell, if this price is right.\u201d Even with their recent excellent play, the mission needs to be to make sure they have a better-constructed \u2014 and just plain better \u2014 team next season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>6. There should be a robust market for Aroldis Chapman, and as delightful as it has been to watch him lock down ninth inning after ninth inning during his two seasons with the Red Sox, he\u2019s 38 years old, enduring a nagging hamstring injury that threatened to become worse \u2026 and did I mention the robust market? Breslow should be seeing what\u2019s out there for him, and the asking price should be steep. Contreras, however, should go nowhere. This is his baseball home now.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>Guide to the 2026 MLB Draft: When the Red Sox pick, local players to watch, and first-round order<\/div>\n<p><span>7. It was very nice of Chaim Bloom to aid his former employer by sending Contreras and Sonny Gray from the Cardinals to the Red Sox in the offseason. I imagine Breslow will look to thread the needle again at the deadline, so perhaps he should reach out to Bloom and see if there are any other fine players he might want to offload for a few names found in Baseball America\u2019s small type.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>8. Raise your hand if you thought Gray was going to be a flop here after he got hit around by the Twins for five earned runs in four innings in his third start. Get those hands up, I heard what you said, pal. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Welp. In 12 starts since, he\u2019s gone 8-0 with a 2.08 ERA and absolutely should have made the All-Star team. He\u2019s someone the Sox should probably shop, too, but it\u2019s been awfully fun to watch him pitch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>9. Sending a person to Florida for any reason is alarming, and I don\u2019t get why that is the best place for Roman Anthony to be right now. It\u2019s not like the Red Sox have earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to best handling his hand\/wrist injury. Their greatest priority, above <i>everything <\/i>else, should be making sure he\u2019s right physically and mentally for 2027.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4694\">For Legacy FC\u2019s Lilly Reale, the best place to get better is right in her Boston backyard<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>Are the Red Sox putting too much pressure on Roman Anthony?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><figcaption><span>All eyes are on the Red Sox\u2019 younger players this season, but is it too much too fast? Chad Finn and Ben Volin discuss.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the first few months of the season, a watchable Red Sox team seemed too much to ask. In the heart of summer, the Red Sox have turned into \u2026 well, what? At least a decent one?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Unexpected turnaround from a lost season is a welcome sight, and other thoughts on the Red Sox - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4700\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Unexpected turnaround from a lost season is a welcome sight, and other thoughts on the Red Sox - Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the first few months of the season, a watchable Red Sox team seemed too much to ask. 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