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Over the Monster

https://www.overthemonster.com/ | 355 entries published

But Can He Pitch?

Latest Entries

OTM Open Thread 1/8: Fenway Fest is Saturday

The Red Sox are set to host another edition of Fenway Fest this weekend, which looks to be heavily focused on players, autograph sessions, and stories of the 1986 team. It doesn’t appear there will be any sessions with ownership or the front office, which is unfortunate because those have provided some of the most […]

2 months ago | 1 read

Red Sox News & Links: Sox reach arbitration agreement with Kutter Crawford

It’s the most exciting time of the offseason: free-agency arbitration agreement time! Tomorrow is the deadline for clubs and players eligible for arbitration to agree to new contract terms or duke it out in front of an arbitration panel. The Sox have five eligible players: Triston Casas, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Romy Gonzalez, and Johan […]

2 months ago | 1 read

Red Sox sign minor league free agent Matt Fraizer

Who is he and where did he come from? He’s Matt Clyde Joe Teran Fraizer, and he comes to us from Clovis, California via the University of Arizona and the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system. The Red Sox signed him as a minor league free agent last week after he was released by the Pirates. […]

2 months ago | 6 reads

Red Sox sign minor league free agent Matt Frazier

Who is he and where did he come from? He’s Matt Clyde Joe Teran Frazier, and he comes to us from Clovis, California via the University of Arizona and the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system. The Red Sox signed him as a minor league free agent last week after he was released by the Pirates. […]

2 months ago | 0 reads

Red Sox truck day, spring training dates set

Good morning! Truck Day — as overexposed as it has become in the FSG era — is often likened to Groundhog Day as a harbinger of spring. So it’s kind of wonderful that, thanks to the World Baseball Classic, Truck Day is coming early this year and will land on actual Groundhog Day, February 2. […]

2 months ago | 1 read

Phillies, Yankees enter the Bo Bichette market

Good morning! The holidays are over, it was 14 degrees in Boston this morning, and everyone is back to work. Thus begins the worst, most depressing stretch of the entire year. Can we at least get some interesting Red Sox news to hold us over? No, we can’t. But we can get unsourced rumors about […]

2 months ago | 5 reads

Six reasons to look forward to the 2026 Red Sox

The Red Sox are stepping into the 2026 season in a way they haven’t since 2022: off a (short) playoff run. That’s not nothing. While the offseason hasn’t seen any free agent signings — big or small — there have been notable trades. 1. On a recent episode of Effectively Wild both guests, Craig Goldstein […]

2 months ago | 3 reads

Sox rumored to make “aggressive” Alex Bregman offer

Good morning! The internet is ablaze with reports that the Red Sox have “made an aggressive offer” to Alex Bregman. Something to keep in mind here, though: As you can hear in the above clip (start at 7:15), this chatter originated from an offhand remark made by ESPN’s Buster Olney — while he was on […]

2 months ago | 3 reads

OTM Open Thread 1/1: Happy New Year!

2025 may be gone, but the holes in this Red Sox roster are not. With virtually the entire MLB offseason on hold over the last week for the holidays, we enter 2026 with both a Red Sox team that hasn’t participated in free agency yet this winter, and a free agent class that still has […]

2 months ago | 3 reads

Our Red Sox-themed New Years resolutions

For Craig Breslow: Make a decisive long-term decision that may or may not come back to haunt you I want to see Craig Breslow plant a flag somewhere in 2026. Nearly every move that he has made in his two-year tenure has been risk-averse, as seen in the short duration contracts he chases: Trade for […]

2 months ago | 1 read

Red Sox News & Links: Tigers reportedly lukewarm on Alex Bregman

Is there a chance that, at age-34, Willson Contreras gets even better next year? As a right-handed hitter who pulls the ball in the air in left field, he’s going to the perfect ballpark. And there is very recent history of a righty coming from St. Louis to Boston and immediately improving in a statistical […]

2 months ago | 8 reads

OTM Open Thread 12/30: Kazuma Okamoto is stateside

Good morning. Japanese third baseman/first baseman Kazuma Okamoto has traveled to the US to meet in-person with teams in advance of his fast-approaching signing deadline. Regardless of whether the Sox are meaningful players in this pursuit, this should speed up their offseason by clarifying the third base picture around the league. Talk about what you […]

2 months ago | 2 reads

The Red Sox bullpen needs a lefty. Who are the best options?

After a series of decisions at the end of the 2025 season, the Red Sox quickly went from a plethora to a dearth of left-handed pitchers, almost overnight. Justin Wilson, who spent a year in Boston, and Steven Matz, who was acquired at the trade deadline, were both free agents at season’s end. Then, at […]

2 months ago | 4 reads

Should the Red Sox sign free agent pitcher Justin Verlander?

Welcome back to the 2025-26 edition of Smash or Pass, in which we examine potential free agent and trade targets to determine whether the Red Sox should pursue them and what it would take to land them. Next up, a future Hall of Famer who is still hanging on. There are Top 50 free agent lists complied […]

2 months ago | 4 reads

Should the Red Sox trade for Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm?

Welcome back to the 2025-26 edition of Smash or Pass, in which we examine potential free agent and trade targets to determine whether the Red Sox should pursue them and what it would take to land them. Next up, a third baseman who may or may not be on the trading block. Who is he and […]

2 months ago | 4 reads

OTM Open Thread 12/27: The return of hairy Casas

Good morning! Earlier this week, Maura asked what would be next for Triston Casas in the wake of the Willson Contreras trade. Now, we have part of our answer: hair: Looking good, TC! Now maybe we can see some videos of him actually taking a full swing…

2 months ago | 1 read