Copyright bostonherald
What would I do if I ran the Red Sox for a day? This week my editor asked my Herald colleague Gabrielle Starr and I what we’d do if we were put in charge. Would we swing a certain trade? Would we try and bring in a particular player? Would we shake things up in the front office or force through some fan-friendly changes? Let me tell you, I have some thoughts. For the sake of this exercise, we’ll assume that I’ve been granted dictatorial powers by the baseball gods. So if I want something done, it’s getting done without the weeks or months of planning, interdepartmental meetings and other business logistics such things may typically require. Same goes for baseball moves. Yes, trades and free agent signings don’t usually come together at the snap of a finger, but for our purposes we’ll assume an imaginary transaction deadline of 6 p.m., since nothing spurs action in baseball like a good old fashioned deadline. So, let’s get to it. Have Henry spill the tea When I walk into Fenway Park the first thing I do is schedule a meeting with principal owner John Henry. If I’m going to be making decisions that are going to affect the franchise for potentially years to come, I need to know what he really wants. Plus, maybe it’s the journalist in me, but I’d be fascinated to hear his unvarnished thoughts. Why did the club trade Mookie Betts, really? Why have the Red Sox gone through so many heads of baseball operations, even several who won World Series titles? Why didn’t the club make a stronger push for Shohei Ohtani or some of the game’s other top stars in recent years? How much could I raise payroll or lower ticket/concession prices without legitimately damaging the business? With a clear picture, some helpful data and knowledge of where all the skeletons are buried, I head to my office and get to work. 6:45 p.m. nighttime starts One great thing the Red Sox have done recently is adopt earlier 6:45 p.m. start times for weeknight games in April and September, when it gets dark earlier and the temperatures are colder. If I were in charge, I’d have the Red Sox go with earlier start times all season long. For parents with younger kids, staying out late at the ballpark can be a tall order, especially on a school night. The pitch clock has already gone a long way towards helping make baseball more accessible, but moving the first pitch back 25 minutes would still make a huge difference. Instead of most games ending between 9:45 and 10 p.m., now they’ll typically wrap up before 9:30. Obviously you don’t want to start games too early, that’ll cause problems for people trying to make it to the park in time, but 6:45 p.m. has threaded the needle perfectly and should be the standard evening start time. Dollar Dog Night The Toronto Blue Jays have a popular promotion at Rogers Centre called “Loonie Dog Night,” when every Tuesday home game hot dogs are sold for one Canadian dollar, or one Loonie. In 2024 the Blue Jays claim to have sold 727,819 Loonie Dogs, and given how much better the team was in 2025 it’s a good bet they’ve sold a lot more this season. The Red Sox should do something like this too. Concessions are overpriced at every big league ballpark, but Fenway Park is particularly expensive. Between tickets, parking and food, taking a family of four to see the Red Sox can be cost-prohibitive, especially for lower income families. A weekly Dollar Dog Night would be a great way to help make the Red Sox more accessible to their fans. Plus, doing it on a Tuesday would be a great way to get more butts in seats on a night when attendance typically isn’t as strong. Clear outfield logjam Two of the biggest priorities for the Red Sox this offseason will be bringing back Alex Bregman and adding a power bat. For our purposes I’m going to let Gabrielle get those squared away during her reign as boss for the day. So assuming those things are already set, how else would I address the Red Sox roster? I’d start by making it actually make sense. At full health the Red Sox have more outfielders than they have spots for in the lineup. Injuries helped keep this from being too big an issue in 2025, but the Red Sox should never be in a spot where the only way to field their best lineup is by playing the best defensive center fielder in baseball at second base. One way or another, the Red Sox have to trade an outfielder this winter. Roman Anthony isn’t going anywhere, and I wouldn’t want to move on from Ceddanne Rafaela either. That leaves Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu. Both are talented players who have produced at a high level, and both would conceivably fetch a great return on the trade market. I’d deal one, keep the other and re-sign Rob Refsnyder to another one-year deal to round out next year’s outfield. This might be harder to pull off given his injury track record and contract, but I would also look to move on from Masataka Yoshida. He was arguably the club’s best hitter down the stretch, but he’s struggled to stay healthy and even at his best has largely been a contact hitter who doesn’t hit for power or provide value on defense. Trade for No. 2 starter If the Red Sox re-sign Bregman and add a power bat in free agency, then they’re going to spend a ton of money getting those deals done. But bringing in a No. 2 starter might be just as important, so if there were one trade I’d spend my afternoon trying to hammer out, this would be it. The Red Sox were reportedly in on Minnesota Twins ace Joe Ryan at the trade deadline, so my first call would be to Twins boss Derek Falvey to see if he’d be amenable to resuming talks. If the Red Sox got Ryan — or another All-Star caliber arm like him — their rotation would feature Garrett Crochet, the new pitcher, Brayan Bello and two others from the group of Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval, Connelly Early, Payton Tolle, Kyle Harrison, Hunter Dobbins, Richard Fitts and Cooper Criswell. That’s a ton of depth, so as a starting point I would offer up one of the arms from that group. I would also see if Falvey would be interested in either Duran or Abreu to help fortify the Twins outfield, and to cap things off I would offer up one of the club’s top recent draft picks and a high-upside lottery ticket from the lower minors. One possible package could feature Duran, Harrison, 2024 fifth-round pick Brandon Clarke and 19-year-old flamethrower Juan Valera. Would the Twins take a deal like that in real life? Maybe, maybe not, but in this alternate reality the baseball gods shine on me and the trade goes through just before my tenure wraps up at 6 p.m.
