Red Sox believe they are ready to win in 2025

The Boston Red Sox will never say they are rebuilding. Not in that market and not with that fan base.

However, in essence, that is what the Red Sox were doing the last three seasons while finishing last in the American League East in 2022 and 2023 before moving up to third last year. They integrated young players into the lineup and rotation, taking a step back in the win-loss column in the process.

Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and Manager Alex Cora say things are different in 2025, though. They believe it is time for the Red Sox to start winning again and to reach the postseason for the first time since 2021 when Boston lost to the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series.

Yet the Red Sox also have highly regarded prospects in their farm system. The Red Sox are so deep in young talent that they shipped a package of four prospects to the Chicago White Sox last month for left-hander Garrett Crochet, the most-coveted pitcher in the offseason trade market.

So, the Red Sox are seemingly set up to win for years to come.

“The conversations with the players are a lot different than the last two years. I can guarantee you that,” Cora said. “It’s more about what we are trying to accomplish at the big-league level, understanding where we’re at as far as player development. It’s not only four good players (in the minor leagues), by the way. There’s more. I think people forget about that. You cannot sell player development and a great organization only with four players, right? There’s more.

“I think we’re in a better place going into next year as far as like the comfort level. I think certain guys stepped up last year, and they’re actually ready to contribute, and there’s others that as far as developing they’re getting close to being big leaguers.”

The players who have yet to make their major-league debuts are as interesting as the ones who have already reached the big leagues. Three players ranked among the top 24 prospects in the game by Baseball America – outfielder Roman Anthony (No. 1), shortstop Marcelo Mayer (No. 10) and second baseman Kristian Campbell (No. 24) – will likely begin the upcoming season at Triple-A Worcester.

Anthony, 20, was the Red Sox’s second-round draft pick in 2022 from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and has hit .284/.398/.474 with 32 home runs and 38 stolen bases in 245 minor-league games over three seasons.

The left-handed hitter rose to the top of prospects lists last season when he batted .291/.396/.498 combined in 119 games with Worcester and Double-A Portland while hitting 18 home runs and stealing 21 bases.

“It’s really easy to identify with brevity to the fact that he hits the ball really, really hard,” Breslow told Draft Nation.

However, what really excites the Red Sox are Anthony’s intangible qualities.

“I think some things off the field that get overlooked about him are like the maturity he shows, the fact that he’s 20 years old and the way he carries himself,” Breslow said. He’s a leader on a team of significantly older and experienced players. We’re super excited about what we feel is a very bright future. He does a remarkable job of staying present and focused on the development initiatives in front of him.

“Boston is a tough market, and we try to forecast players’ ability to handle that and we don’t always get it right, but we feel really good about Roman in that regard, too.”

The Red Sox included two top 100 prospects, catcher Kyle Teel (No. 25) and outfielder Braden Montgomery (No. 59), to land Crochet, who led the AL in strikeouts last season with 209 in just 146 innings.

Crochet becomes the ace of a rotation that includes Tanner Houck, Brayn Bello and Kutter Crawford and should include another newcomer in Walker Buehler. The Red Sox signed Buehler for one year and $21.05 million last month as a free agent after he spent the first seven seasons of his major-league career with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Lucas Giolito and Garrett Whitlock and left-hander Patrick Sandoval – who signed a two-year, $18.25-million contract as a free agent in December – are all recovering from elbow surgeries. Giolito and Whitlock could be activated from the injured list by the All-Star break.

Red Sox’ starters had the seventh-best ERA in the major leagues last year.

“I think it gave us a chance to take a really good rotation and potentially catapult it into an elite level,” Breslow said of the offseason additions. “We feel like we’ve got not just five or six starters, but eight or 10. We’ve got to feel pretty good about where we are now.”

Seven of the nine projected players in the starting lineup are 28 or younger and six have less than three years of major-league service time: catcher Connor Wong, first baseman Triston Casas, second baseman David Hamilton, left fielder Jarren Duran, center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela and right fielder Wilyer Abreu.

Those players helped the Red Sox finish ninth in MLB in runs scored in 2024. However, Boston would like to add one more proven hitter and have been linked to third baseman Alex Bregman, a two-time All-Star who is a free agent after playing his first nine seasons with the Astros.

Cora and Bregman have history together. Cora was the Astros’ bench coach in 2017 when they won the first World Series title in franchise history.

“Alex is a good player, man. He’s a complete player. He’s a player that's been on winning teams, right, his whole career,” Cora said. “Good defender. Offensively he’s really good. He's a guy that a lot of people are talking about, and I do believe he can impact a big-league team, a championship-caliber team. He’s that type of player.”

Fitting Bregman into the lineup would be the tricky part.

Third baseman Rafael Devers is entering the third season of a 10-year, $313.5-million contract and is said to not want to change positions. Bregman’s agent, Scott Boras, has said his client would be willing to play second base. Bregman has played just nine games at third base in the majors and none since 2018.

“We actually had that conversation in ‘17 when I was with the Astros,” Cora said of Bregman playing second. “We made some adjustments at third base, kind of like where he was playing, he was feeling uncomfortable. At the end it paid off for him. He’s a Gold Glove defender at third.

“I always envisioned him playing in the middle of the diamond, and those were conversations in '17. He can adjust, and he has a baseball IQ to do that. People might think the double play might be an issue. I don’t believe so, but I think he can do whatever.”