Two Young Guns Likely To Start The Season In The Minors And There's Still A Roster Logjam: The Biggest Headlines Of The First Half Of Red Sox Spring Training

This has been my favorite moment of Red Sox spring training so far. 

Wilyer Abreu, so confident that ABS would overturn this called strike into a ball four, starts taking off all his hitting gear and gets a head start on first base. Love this. The whole ABS challenge system has been the best part of MLB's 2026 spring training. Wait til the games matter, and we get these challenges. If you don't think this is a great thing for baseball, you're an idiot. 

Respectfully. 

But I would not call this aggressively confident moment from Abreu one of the major headlines of Sox camp so far. Three weeks into the Ft. Myers preseason, here are the three biggest headlines, according to me. 

Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox. Getty Images.

1. The Two Young Guns Are Not Going To Make The Opening Day Roster

We saw flashes from both Connolly Early and Payton Tolle at the end of 2025. I think most of us expected one, maybe even both, to open the season on the big-league roster. Then the Sox traded for Sonny Gray. And Johan Oviedo. Once they missed out on the power bats in free agency, they pivoted to pitching and spent big money on Ranger Suarez. Then it looked like only one of the two young lefties would make the team. Now it looks like neither one will break camp and head to Cincinnati for Opening Day. 

From Chris Cotillo at Mass Live:

"The organization feels that both, despite flashes of brilliance in the big leagues down the stretch, could use more minor league seasoning, too," Cotillo wrote. "Tolle has just one professional season (and three Triple-A starts) under his belt while Early, despite having been drafted a year earlier, pitched just 28 2/3 innings for Worcester before being called up. That factor, plus the service time considerations at play, make it clear that the preferred path is both pitching out of the WooSox rotation once late March rolls around."

My natural reaction is annoyance that the Red Sox are using service time to keep two talented players off the roster. If either Tolle or Early is lights out, they should be the fifth starter. I want this to be an open competition. Winning games > Service Time Concerns. It looks like the team can gain an extra year of team control if Early spends 35 days and Tolle spends 46 days in the minors this season. 

It makes it an easier decision when the former Pittsburgh Pirate, Oviedo, pitches like he did on Monday, striking out four Blue Jays (mostly major leaguers) over three innings and throwing 25 of 32 pitches for strikes. The big right-hander looks like a moose out there on the mound, and I want to see more - sounds like the Red Sox do, too. 

If Oviedo bombs the rest of spring training and they still keep him over Connolly/Early, I'll be pissed. I 100% reserve the right to change my mind if it plays out that way. But right now, it looks like the right move to start those two at Worcester. A rare Craig Breslow 'W,' at least as of today. 

2. Jarren Duran Is Raking And You Still Have A Logjam On The Roster

Hand up, I thought for sure he was traded in the offseason. 

But Jarren Duran is still here, and he's hitting the cover off the ball. He's played in just five games, good for .583 AVG, 7 Hits, 2 Doubles, 3 HR’s, 5 RBIs. His hot start is a reminder that the Red Sox have too many guys for the outfield and DH. 

Between Duran, Abreu, Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Masataka Yoshida..that's five guys for four spots. Plus, you have one of Wilson Contreras/Triston Casas on the bench on the days they're not playing first base. 

Yoshida and his .762 OPS feel like the odd man out. But he makes $36 million over the next two years. The Sox would have to eat some of his money to move him, or eat the whole $36 million to DFA him. I sure as shit don't see them eating all the money, and Breslow has struggled to make trades in his time here running the Red Sox front office. 

But the way the roster is built now, Alex Cora is going to be sitting Anthony or Durran or Abreu a few times a week, and that sucks. Or sitting Rafaela, after he played some of the best CF defense in all of baseball last season. Alex Cora used 134 (!!!) different lineups last year, and it feels like we're trending towards something like that again in 2026. Not awesome. 

Again, Winning Games > The Red Sox Saving Money. If the move is to cut the 32-year-old Yoshida, here's hoping they'll eat the money…I just don't think they will. 

Breslow had all offseason to try to work this out, but here we are, still with too many pieces. Looks like it on Cora to make them all fit. 

3. The Vibes Are High in Fort Myers 

Admittedly, not a vibes guy. Hate the word. Wildly overused. 

Vibes won't matter if the infield can't make plays for the pitching staff. Or if your lineup can't mash home runs with the rest of the league. 

But yeah, vibes are high at Camp Red Sox. Tolle is a character. Contreras has been a solid addition at first base. Durran is raking. The team is pretty healthy. Cora and his players have been aggressive in using the ABS system. There's no big contract holdout looming. Kinda boring, kinda quiet…not a bad thing, really. 

I've said for months on Dirty Water that this team looks like a Wild Card team, not a team that can contend for the AL East. I still feel that way. I remain unconvinced that the way to build a division winner in the AL East is with pitching and defense. But when the Sox missed on Alonso and Co., that was the pivot. 

Where will the power come from in the lineup? What the hell do you do with the $60 million man, Kristian Campbell? Is Marcelo Mayer a lock for the roster? There are plenty of questions still looming for this team halfway through spring training. 

Anthony and others are headed to the WBC, so we'll see some different faces in the lineup over the next few weeks. We'll have plenty of new headlines between now and Opening Day. And hopefully a lot more ABS challenges.