Over the holidays, my father told me he was going to send me a Tim Wakefield bobblehead that he found in a junk pile at his house. I didn’t have high hopes for this, given that description of its provenance, but it arrived last week, and it’s beautiful. Truly awesome. Opening it, I felt moved—by […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Who is he and where did he come from? He’s Matt Clyde Joe Teran Fraizer, and he comes to us from Clovis, California via the University of Arizona and the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system. The Red Sox signed him as a minor league free agent last week after he was released by the Pirates. […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
Who is he and where did he come from? He’s Matt Clyde Joe Teran Frazier, and he comes to us from Clovis, California via the University of Arizona and the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system. The Red Sox signed him as a minor league free agent last week after he was released by the Pirates. […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Good morning! Truck Day — as overexposed as it has become in the FSG era — is often likened to Groundhog Day as a harbinger of spring. So it’s kind of wonderful that, thanks to the World Baseball Classic, Truck Day is coming early this year and will land on actual Groundhog Day, February 2. […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Welcome back to the 2025-26 edition of Smash or Pass, in which we examine potential free agent and trade targets to determine whether the Red Sox should pursue them and what it would take to land them. Today we look at a fireballer out of the bullpen. Who is he and where does he come from? […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Good morning! The holidays are over, it was 14 degrees in Boston this morning, and everyone is back to work. Thus begins the worst, most depressing stretch of the entire year. Can we at least get some interesting Red Sox news to hold us over? No, we can’t. But we can get unsourced rumors about […]
about 1 month ago | 3 reads
As of this writing the Boston Red Sox, winners of four World Series championships since 2004 have not signed a single free agent for the 2026 season. They have, of course, made several trades but, but big question marks remain as we enter January, and Spring Training officially begins next month. So what better thing […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Yet another corner infielder comes off the board. This time it’s Kazuma Okamoto, formerly of Bobby Dalbec’s Yomiuri Giants, who reached a four-year/$60 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. I won’t pretend to know how good Okamoto will be stateside — and you should be suspicious of anyone who insists they do. But this […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
The Red Sox are stepping into the 2026 season in a way they haven’t since 2022: off a (short) playoff run. That’s not nothing. While the offseason hasn’t seen any free agent signings — big or small — there have been notable trades. 1. On a recent episode of Effectively Wild both guests, Craig Goldstein […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Good morning! The internet is ablaze with reports that the Red Sox have “made an aggressive offer” to Alex Bregman. Something to keep in mind here, though: As you can hear in the above clip (start at 7:15), this chatter originated from an offhand remark made by ESPN’s Buster Olney — while he was on […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
2025 may be gone, but the holes in this Red Sox roster are not. With virtually the entire MLB offseason on hold over the last week for the holidays, we enter 2026 with both a Red Sox team that hasn’t participated in free agency yet this winter, and a free agent class that still has […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
For Craig Breslow: Make a decisive long-term decision that may or may not come back to haunt you I want to see Craig Breslow plant a flag somewhere in 2026. Nearly every move that he has made in his two-year tenure has been risk-averse, as seen in the short duration contracts he chases: Trade for […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Is there a chance that, at age-34, Willson Contreras gets even better next year? As a right-handed hitter who pulls the ball in the air in left field, he’s going to the perfect ballpark. And there is very recent history of a righty coming from St. Louis to Boston and immediately improving in a statistical […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
Welcome back to the 2025-26 edition of Smash or Pass, in which we examine potential free agent and trade targets to determine whether the Red Sox should pursue them and what it would take to land them. Today we look at a catcher who shows versatility and power at the plate. Who is he and where […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Good morning. Japanese third baseman/first baseman Kazuma Okamoto has traveled to the US to meet in-person with teams in advance of his fast-approaching signing deadline. Regardless of whether the Sox are meaningful players in this pursuit, this should speed up their offseason by clarifying the third base picture around the league. Talk about what you […]
about 1 month ago | 2 reads
After a series of decisions at the end of the 2025 season, the Red Sox quickly went from a plethora to a dearth of left-handed pitchers, almost overnight. Justin Wilson, who spent a year in Boston, and Steven Matz, who was acquired at the trade deadline, were both free agents at season’s end. Then, at […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Good morning! Bobby Dalbec, the Red Sox once and future first baseman, is out of Major League Baseball. After playing in just seven games with the White Sox last year, Dalbec signed a one-year deal with the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants, one of the most successful and famous clubs in the sport. Nippon Professional Baseball is […]
about 1 month ago | 6 reads
Welcome back to the 2025-26 edition of Smash or Pass, in which we examine potential free agent and trade targets to determine whether the Red Sox should pursue them and what it would take to land them. Next up, a future Hall of Famer who is still hanging on. There are Top 50 free agent lists complied […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Good morning! According to Alex Speier, the Red Sox continue to pursue one more infield bat, with the targets of that pursuit remaining consistent throughout the offseason: Alex Bregman, Bo Bichette, Ketel Marte, or Isaac Paredes. Who of those four do you want and who do you think the Sox will snag? Talk about what […]
about 1 month ago | 1 read
Welcome back to the 2025-26 edition of Smash or Pass, in which we examine potential free agent and trade targets to determine whether the Red Sox should pursue them and what it would take to land them. Next up, a third baseman who may or may not be on the trading block. Who is he and […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Good morning! Earlier this week, Maura asked what would be next for Triston Casas in the wake of the Willson Contreras trade. Now, we have part of our answer: hair: Looking good, TC! Now maybe we can see some videos of him actually taking a full swing…
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Only two major league teams have yet to sign a free agent: the Colorado Rockies and the Boston Red Sox. The Rockies are, well, a unique situation. Undergoing possibly the first real management change in team history (though not in ownership), Colorado is mostly building a new team, new ethos from scratch. Assuming Paul DePodesta […]
about 1 month ago | 0 reads
Hitting is hard. I could barely do it when I was 14, playing on the freshman team in Western Massachusetts, where the talent pool isn’t full of future major leaguers. If the pitchers started throwing 97 mph with wipeout sliders and mind-bending changeups, I probably would have started writing about the game about 10 years […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
From all of us here at Over The Monster, we wish you a Merry Christmas, and we hope it’s a wonderful day surrounded by family and friends wherever you are! As we wait for action to resume, let’s hope some Sox free agent gifts are still somewhere at the bottom of Santa’s bag, and that […]
about 2 months ago | 0 reads
Roman Anthony was recently spotted at a Celtics game, which is awesome. It’s always fun to see Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins players show up at Fenway on Opening Day, especially after a World Series. Or David Ortiz at anything. Just seeing Big Papi showing up somewhere makes it that much more interesting. So as this […]
about 2 months ago | 3 reads