Team chemistry, the most underrated player, the new challenge system: Red Sox reporter Alex Speier spills on the season.
Out of the new signings and promotions to the big-league roster, who do you think will have the biggest impact? What is your prediction for the team’s record this year?
Speier: I’d go with both Willson Contreras and Marcelo Mayer as having the biggest impacts, given the woeful 2025 production for the Red Sox at first and second base last year. There is considerable value in the reliability they can bring — Mayer defensively, Contreras in his all-around game — that was a major drag on the team’s performance for long stretches in 2025.
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I’ll steer clear of wins predictions — just not my thing. The delight of Opening Day is standing on the precipice of the unknown.
Is Roman Anthony winning his first MVP this year, or does he have to wait until next year?
AS: Have expectations ever escalated so quickly for a player? Mookie Betts was an MVP runner-up in his second full season, but no one projected him to do so that year. The idea that there’s MVP buzz around Anthony after 71 big-league games is mind-blowing. I’m not saying it’s wrong-headed, and I appreciate your tongue-in-cheek question, but it’s insane to think that someone with so little big experience is relied upon for elite production.
Will the automated ball-strike challenge system be as warmly received as the pitch clock was?
AS: As warmly as the pitch clock? That might be an exaggeration, because the pitch clock positively impacted every pitch of the game! The challenge system will be a bit buggier — whether it’s frustration about the two-challenge limit, ongoing conversation about whether full ABS is preferable, or when games are decided by the fact that a team ran out of challenges. That said, there’s no question it’ll be seen as an improvement over the status quo, and it worked terrifically in Triple A.
Does it really feel like the outfield is just waiting for an injury to work itself out? Will Masataka Yoshida be put on another ghost injured list stint?
AS: For now, I’d guess we’ll see Yoshida in the lineup two to three times a week and getting a good number of pinch-hitting appearances, with Cora using one of his lefthanded bench bats for the catchers quite a bit. The Sox don’t have very good position player depth right now, so keeping Yoshida ultimately makes sense. If Triston Casas gets healthy and looks like the hitter he was in 2023 and stretches of 2024, or if Kristian Campbell (who struggled quite a bit this spring) finds a groove, perhaps the Sox will revisit then.
I’m curious about the team chemistry now that all the World Baseball Classic players are returning to the club. Does it seem like they’re ready to ride the momentum of their hot performances?
AS: I’m not a huge believer in momentum in general. And in this specific case, there was such an extreme shift from the tournament to 8 a.m. report times in the clubhouse for 1 p.m. games in spring-training parks (and/or on minor league backfield games) that the week and half since the end of the WBC seems pretty long ago. The question is less momentum than whether those performances served as a signal of talent, especially with Anthony and Wilyer Abreu potentially being ready for power-hitting primetime.
How come the Sox didn’t pursue an “real” designated hitter in the offseason?
AS: Well, it’s a slight exaggeration to say they didn’t “pursue” one, but their offer to Pete Alonso wasn’t close to where the Orioles went. The Sox were leery of long-term, five-year bets on DHs, so Alonso and Kyle Schwarber went elsewhere. They went with a very good, likely underrated hitter in Contreras — who required just a two-year commitment.
Do the Red Sox have an outfielder problem? If so, to what extent? Yoshida played representable left field for Team Japan [in the WBC]. I feel like the plan is to wait for an injury to allow everyone to get their at-bats. Do you see it differently? Are all five of these outfielders on the roster in October: I mean Abreu, Anthony, Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Yoshida.
Meanwhile, does Campbell even sniff the major-league roster this year? It seems like he’s a clear sixth, unless manager Alex Cora would prefer that Yoshida stay a DH even if there are enough injuries to warrant playing him in the outfield.
AS: For now, it’s a challenge rather than a problem — Alex Cora was meeting one-on-one with different members of the outfield group during the waning days of spring training to explain how the division of labor might work with the playing time. For October, the idea of an outstanding bench bat would be an asset rather than a problem.
I don’t think the Sox will ever feel like their best defensive team includes Yoshida on the field. If there’s an injury to one of the other four, or a trade, I think we’d see a healthy dose of Nate Eaton in the outfield over Yoshida.
As for Campbell … hopefully I’ve given some sense of that above. His offense will determine if he re-emerges as a big-league option in 2026.
Which of the Red Sox’ new group of minor-league arms (Juan Valera, Kyson Witherspoon, Anthony Eyanson, Marcus Phillips) are you most excited about in terms of prospect potential? Is this the best group of minor-league arms the Red Sox system has ever had?
AS: The 2005 Portland Sea Dogs had an Opening Day rotation of Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, Aníbal Sánchez, and Manny Delcarmen. I’d go with that group as more loaded until proven otherwise. But that Greenville group should have incredibly electric stuff, and would be high on the list of highest-ceiling minor-league rotations the Sox have featured.
Who’s the most underrated player on the Sox this season and why is it Masataka Yoshida?
AS: Ha! I do think the dismissiveness about Yoshida’s potential impact merits re-examination. I also think Duran’s incredible ceiling is too easily forgotten. His 2024 season was extraordinary, and his 2025 follow-up had flashes of great, albeit without the consistency of the prior year. Duran is one of just 13 position players to be worth 10-plus fWAR since the start of 2024. When he’s at his most dynamic, there are few game-changers in baseball like him. Meanwhile, he looked explosive at the plate in spring training — in a way that offered reminders of his extraordinary talent. He might never have a season like 2024 again, and likely will have some meaningful peaks and valleys, but Duran and Anthony are the two position players most capable of carrying the Sox for sustained stretches.
What would you consider a successful 2026 season for this team?
AS: Ultimately, I think the standard is whether they can take a progressive step forward on their developmental arc, which can be met in one of two ways: 1) Winning the AL East 2) Advancing past the wild-card round.
To read the full AMA click here.
Adria Watson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @adriarwatson. Alex Speier can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @alexspeier.
