Overview
- On Sunday Willson Contreras told The Boston Globe that “we need some more offense,” placing the responsibility for finding run producers squarely with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.
- Boston finished the season 26th in homers (163), 23rd in runs (689), and 22nd in RBI (658), a shortfall that plainly showed up in the 18-2 Wild Card Series loss to the Yankees.
- Contreras carried the lineup in 2026 with a .275 average, .386 on-base percentage, .516 slugging mark, 27 home runs and 81 RBI, leading the team in homers, RBI, OBP and slugging.
- Contreras’s post-elimination remarks about analytics prompted a season-ending meeting with manager Chad Tracy and Breslow that players and the front office say resolved friction and put everyone on the same page.
- Breslow faces a compressed trade and free-agent window before an expected Dec. 1 lockout, so Boston’s short-term outlook will hinge on whether he adds a power bat or gets breakout health and production from recent acquisitions such as Roman Anthony, Curtis Mead and Adley Rutschman.