Red Sox's 'One Big Question' Will Determine Direction Of Boston

The Boston Red Sox are in an envious position talent-wise but not where they thought they would be in the standings right now.

Boston entered the 2025 season riding the wave of a great offseason with expectations higher than they have been in years. This was in large part due to the additions of Alex Bregman, Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler and Aroldis Chapman along with the fact that three of the best prospects in the game were either knocking on the big league door or already on the roster in Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, and Roman Anthony.

Now, all three of the "Big 3" are in Boston and Crochet and Chapman look like All-Stars. Buehler has shown flashes but hasn't been able to maintain so far this season. Bregman was off to the best start of his career, but is currently on the Injured List.

Boston is 33-36 and in fourth place in the American League East as a result.

There's a lot of excitement with the team -- especially with Anthony now in the majors -- but one signficant question mark hanging over the team that will impact the rest of the season. How is Boston going to handle this roster when healthy? Wilyer Abreu was placed on the Injured List, which opened the door for Anthony. Bregman's injury opened the door for Mayer.

Abreu should be back as soon as next week and Bregman has made progress, although there hasn't been a reported timetable for his return.

Boston's spot in the standings as well as individual performances surely will dictate the answer to this question, but what will Boston do? It's going to be tough to decide, which is why The Athletic's Tim Britton called it Boston's "one big question" right now.

"One big question: How should all the pieces fit? Years ago when reading David Halberstam’s 'The Breaks of the Game,' I was struck by how rigid NBA teams of the 1970s viewed positional fit," Britton said. "If a team had two good players at one position, inevitably, one needed to be traded to fill a need somewhere else. This doesn’t really happen in the NBA anymore, and in baseball, it’s been a while since the Phillies needed to trade Jim Thome to make room for Ryan Howard. The collection of talent the Red Sox have amassed — with Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony now in the bigs — is enviable, and figuring out how it should all fit together is what executives and managers will doubtlessly tell you is 'a good problem to have.'

"It is still a problem, which encompasses good and bad solutions, and Boston’s approach to similar problems this year has not engendered optimism it will nail the landing in finding time for all of its young, left-handed-hitting potential stars. For now, Anthony replaces the injured Wilyer Abreu and Mayer has been filling in for Alex Bregman. But what happens when Abreu and Bregman return?"