The Boston Red Sox definitely made upgrades this offseason, though those moves mostly came in the starting rotation with additions in Sonny Gray, Johan Oviedo and Ranger Suarez.
Deserved or not, that’s left plenty of underwhelming feelings and question marks about the state of the Red Sox lineup.
Boston never replaced Rafael Devers after the four-alarm disaster his trade to the San Francisco Giants turned out to be last June. The Red Sox only took another uppercut when Alex Bregman called their bluff in free agency and signed a five-year deal with the Chicago Cubs.
The Red Sox will call upon sustained success from internal candidates and improved production from others. There’s no true thumper in the middle of the order to intimidate opponents, though the panic button does not need to sit right next to this lineup card to start this season.
Are shorter expectations understandable for these bats? Sure.
Is there still reason to believe that the lineup can do enough to support one of the league’s best rotations and send Boston back to October?
Here are three reasons why.
Willson Contreras swings it
Alex Cora has begged for years for right-handed pop for the home team to maximize offensive production at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox saw spurts of that ask from Tyler O’Neill in 2024 and Bregman in 2025. While Pete Alonso chose the Baltimore Orioles among other free-agent misses, Craig Breslow made another deal with old friend Chaim Bloom and acquired Willson Contreras from the St. Louis Cardinals. Now Contreras gives Cora has stability at first base, a veteran presence, and an offensive profile that deserves more attention.
Contreras finally gets to play home games in a hitter-friendly park for the first time. His first decade in the show came with the Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. Busch Stadium and Wrigley Field both respectively rank in the bottom half of the sport in park factor.
The 33-year old posted 20 home runs in 2025, the third time in four seasons he’s hit that mark. He should take advantage of the Green Monster this summer. He rocks a .941 OPS to start spring training with wall shots at JetBlue Park.
The Red Sox unintentionally put plenty on Contreras’ shoulders given his value to the lineup. With that said, if there’s ever a hitter-friendly situation for a mid-30s resurgence, this is it.
More at-bats for quality hitters
Remember what we referenced about how many hitters missed time for the Red Sox a season ago. Beyond Bregman and Devers, Triston Casas struggled then went down for the year in early April. Marcelo Mayer didn’t finish the season. Anthony played in just 71 games, albeit as one of the more productive hitters in the sport.
This time around, Anthony is healthy and brings All-Star expectations into his first full campaign.
Alex Cora will go down swinging (see what we did there?) in pushing more at-bats to Wilyer Abreu against lefties. The outfielder has 25-homer pop. That’s pop Boston needs. To maximize his bat, Boston needs him to get better against southpaws (.205 AVG, .589 OPS career vs. LHP). Cora seems intent on giving him every opportunity to do just that.
Injuries are inevitable, but Boston feels stable with key hitters ready for 500 to 600 at-bats in 2026.
History favors Alex Cora’s lineup
Big expectations or not, the Red Sox just seem to get it done at the plate consistently with Alex Cora in the dugout.
The Boston skipper makes the most of platoons and pushes the right button with pinch-hitters more often than not.
The Red Sox finished with the ninth-best OPS (.745) in baseball in 2025. That’s with swirling uncertainty in who stepped into the box all season long: just two and a half months of Rafael Devers, two months without Rafael Devers and three months without Roman Anthony on either side of his call-up and his season-ending oblique injury.
That trend stands the test of time in recent Boston baseball memory.
Boston finished top-10 in team OPS in every season dating back to 2018. That’s Alex Cora’s entire managerial tenure, plus the always-forgetful 2020 COVID season. (Cheers to you, Ron Roenicke and Top-10 MVP finalist Alex Verdugo!)
Time takes care of worries.
