{"id":545543,"date":"2026-03-26T02:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/545543\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T02:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T02:42:10","slug":"4-questions-facing-alex-coras-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/545543\/","title":{"rendered":"4 questions facing Alex Cora’s club"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Red Sox\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Red Sox face questions about their lineup, bullpen, and more entering a promising new season.<\/p>\n

\"Boston
\n\tRoman Anthony will be tasked with leading the charge for Boston’s offense. (AP Photo\/Gerald Herbert)\t<\/p>\n

The Boston Red Sox punched their ticket back to the postseason for the first time in four years last October.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But manager Alex Cora couldn\u2019t mask his disappointment after Boston\u2019s impressive 2025 campaign came to an end after just three postseason games at Yankee Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we should feel the way we feel right now \u2014\u00a0 because we had bigger goals,\u201d Cora said after Boston\u2019s season-ending defeat in Game 3 of the Wild Card round.<\/a><\/p>\n

Optimism is abundant once again at Fenway Park this spring as the mounds of snow piled up around the city melt away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 2026 Red Sox should take another step forward this summer, given both an elite starting rotation and a young core of talent \u2014 led by Roman Anthony \u2014 poised to take another step forward.<\/p>\n

Still, there are several hurdles that Cora\u2019s club will need to clear if they want to build off of last season\u2019s breakthrough effort.<\/p>\n

As the Red Sox get ready for their season opener on Thursday in Cincinnati, here are four questions facing the 2026 Red Sox:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will they score enough runs?\u00a0<\/p>\n

After whiffing on free-agent targets like Pete Alonso<\/a> and failing to retain Alex Bregman<\/a> this winter, Craig Breslow and Boston\u2019s top brass shifted their approach to rework an already solid roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boston bolstered its starting rotation behind the AL Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet \u2014 dealing for Sonny Gray and signing Ranger Suarez to a five-year, $130 million contract.<\/p>\n

If Bryan Bello \u2014 who has been dealing this spring \u2014 takes another step forward, Boston might roll out the deepest rotation in baseball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But will Boston\u2019s bats do enough to capitalize on the team\u2019s shift toward being a run-prevention juggernaut?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last season, the Red Sox did rank seventh in the majors in runs scored. But there were some flaws in Boston\u2019s approach at the plate.<\/p>\n

They were largely pedestrian in the power department, ranking 15th in the majors with 186 home runs on the season.<\/p>\n

Boston\u2019s propensity for swatting dingers decreased as the summer carried on, with the Red Sox hitting the third-fewest homers in baseball (49 total) over the final two months of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They weren\u2019t disciplined at the plate, ranking 10th in the majors in strikeout percentage (22.9) and seventh in whiff percentage (26.2).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those concerns weren\u2019t exactly remedied over the offseason, especially after losing out on bats like Alonso, Bregman, Bo Bichette, and others.<\/p>\n

Yes, Willson Contreras should provide value as Boston\u2019s clean-up hitter in 2026 \u2013 with the veteran\u2019s swing seemingly built for Fenway Park. But his career high in home runs is just 24, set in 2019.<\/p>\n

Rafael Devers isn\u2019t walking through that door. And while it\u2019s not out of the question that budding superstar Roman Anthony clubs 30+ home runs in his first full season in the big leagues, that\u2019s still a lot of pressure to put on the shoulders of a 21-year-old.<\/p>\n

FanGraphs\u2019 2026 ZiPs projections<\/a> don\u2019t have any Red Sox hitters slated to surpass 20 home runs on the season. That seems rather pessimistic, but it doesn\u2019t diminish the fact that Boston will need several key cogs in its lineup to take major steps forward and keep this offense rolling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Can the bullpen repeat last year\u2019s success?<\/p>\n

Boston\u2019s relief corps was a pillar of the Red Sox\u2019 success last season \u2014 headlined by the 1-2 punch of Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chapman put together the best season of his career in 2025 with Boston, sporting a 1.17 ERA and recording 32 saves. But can he repeat that production this season at 38 years old, especially with several of his stats due for some regression?<\/p>\n

Even if his blistering fastball hasn\u2019t shown any signs of slowing down, his 6.6 percent walk rate last summer was a stark dip from his career average of 12.2 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whitlock \u2014 who posted a 2.25 ERA and struck out 91 over 82 innings of work last summer \u2014 has all the makings of an elite set-up man. But the 6-foot-5 righty will need to avoid injury, which has derailed several promising seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Boston also needs to identify arms that can bridge the gap from starters to the back end of the bullpen, with relievers like Danny Coulombe, Tommy Kahnle, Justin Slaten, and Greg Weissert all in the mix.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will the infield defense improve?<\/p>\n

The Red Sox should have no worries over the state of their outfield defense \u2014 especially with a pair of Gold Glove winners in Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu patrolling center and right field, respectively.<\/p>\n

The infield, however, stands as a different story.<\/p>\n

Boston\u2019s defensive woes have been a thorn in the side of Alex Cora\u2019s club in recent years, with the Red Sox leading the majors last season with 116 errors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As noted by Alex Speier of <\/a>The Boston Globe<\/a>, Boston has trotted out the worst infield defense in the big leagues since 2020 \u2014 with StatCast data noting that Boston \u201cbeen graded as converting 141 fewer infield outs than an average defensive team over that six-year run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some overhauled personnel in the infield should help fix some of Boston\u2019s defensive deficiencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Willson Contreras ranked in the 90th percentile of first basemen<\/a> last season with six outs above average, while new third baseman Caleb Durbin should be steady at the hot corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marcelo Mayer will need to avoid the injury bug after having multiple seasons cut short in his pro career. But the 23-year-old rookie is a fleet-footed defender who should provide plenty of stability at second base.<\/p>\n

Trevor Story stands as a wild card. Even though he\u2019s been a plus-defender for most of his career, his range and especially his throws over to first took a hit as the 2025 season dragged on. More regression on defense for Story could lead to some uncomfortable discussions about him switching spots with Mayer moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will Boston alleviate its outfield\/DH logjam?<\/p>\n

It felt as though something had to give this past offseason when it came to the abundance of riches Boston had in its outfield.<\/p>\n

The Red Sox entered the winter with four quality outfielders \u2014 Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, and Ceddanne Rafaela \u2014 and only three starting spots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For all the talk of Craig Breslow leveraging a player like Duran or Abreu in a trade to shore up another area of the roster, all four outfielders are still in Boston \u2014 and will be in the lineup on Thursday for the Sox\u2019 season opener in Cincinnati.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For now, Duran will serve as Boston\u2019s DH \u2014 with the 29-year-old looking to bounce back after his OPS dipped from .834 to .774 this past season. How Duran handles that switch and whether he can bounce back to his 2024 level of offensive production will be worth watching.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond Duran and how Alex Cora juggles the rest of his outfield, it remains to be seen how often Boston will cycle other players through that DH spot as the year progresses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For now, it looks as though Masataka Yoshida will be the most-expensive pinch hitter in the big leagues \u2014 especially if Duran remains fixed to that DH role.<\/p>\n

If Triston Casas gets healthy and finds his form after a few lost seasons, that would create another headache for Cora when it comes to allocating at-bats for several impact hitters, with only so many spots in the lineup to go around.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

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