Monday Morning Brushback: Remember when the Red Sox swept the Yankees and Rafael Devers was still on the team?

So, yeah, just consider this piece a time capsule.

OK, LOOK: I WROTE THIS BEFORE RAFAEL DEVERS WAS TRADED. IT IS CURRENTLY 11:45 PM EST. I AM VERY TIRED, EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY. I DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO REWRITE THE ARTICLE; EVEN THEN, THAT TRADE DOES NOT MAKE ANYTHING I WROTE BEFOREHAND ANY LESS TRUE. I AM VERY SORRY I DON’T HAVE 1,000 WORDS ON THIS DEAL. WE DID DO OVER 90 MINUTES OF DEVERS TRADE TALK ON AN EMERGENCY POD ON LANSDOWNE EPISODE; I ENCOURAGE YOU TO LISTEN/WATCH THAT FOR MORE INSIGHT.

AS FOR THIS PIECE, CONSIDER IT A TIME CAPSULE FROM BACK WHEN THINGS MADE SENSE.

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Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.

This sport’s one funny motherfucker. One week on this blog, I’m coming to terms with the fact that it could be yet another long summer in Boston as the Red Sox play something vaguely resembling baseball. The next, the team is coming off consecutive series victories—including two against their arch rivals who also just so happen to be the defenders of the American League pennant. It feels like just yesterday that we were complaining about the starting pitching staff’s inability to pitch deep into games; over the past week, we’ve been getting quality starts galore.

So dare I ask the question: are we back?

Granted, even after this great run the Sox are on, they still sit just one game above .500. At the end of the day, the old Bill Parcells saying rings true: you are what your record says you are. Still, this group has demonstrated over the past week-and-change that they can hang with some formidable competition as the summer heats up. In the blink of an eye, we’re right back in the Wild Card hunt; that isn’t the goal that this organization should be shooting for, of course, but we’ve still got a chance to see some postseason ball after a start to the season that can only be described as disappointing. Things could be way worse, folks.

It’s Monday Morning Brushback time, y’all.

The Dawn of an Empire

Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

Let’s flashback to last week’s MMBB, where I gazed into my crystal ball to try and guess when the Red Sox would be calling up prospect extraordinaire Roman Anthony.

To me, my guess (based off of nothing) is late June. I think it will continue to get to a point where the noise cannot be ignored. Absolute latest I believe is the All-Star break; I think holding Anthony down there into late July and onward is legitimate malpractice. I’ll be on a cruise June 20 through 27; my luck would have it that I’m unable to watch Anthony’s MLB debut because I’m on a catamaran in Bermuda with a margarita in my hand…oh, the horror.

Fuckin’ nailed it, Fitz.

Luckily for us, my prediction did not come to pass: just a few hours after our fearless leader Dan Secatore hit a jolly, candy-like button on his desk that says “PUBLISH” and released that article into the wild, Boston called Anthony up from AAA to make his MLB debut.

Early exit polls show that while he should’ve been called up sooner, he looks the part. A two-run double on Tuesday was enough to push the Sox over the line for his first victory at the lop level, while he demonstrated his raw power by clobbering a ball (and nearly killing Rays starter Shane Baz) that registered at 111 miles per hour off the bat.

Look, the questions regarding the outfield logjam within the organization will be sorted out in time (the start of Wilyer Abreu’s IL stint this weeks results in that question being kicked down the road just a bit farther). We can doomer-post about the years of team control the club has with Anthony another time. Questions regarding a potential pre-arb extension for Roman (and Marcelo Mayer, for that matter) are probably being raised within the front office as we live and breathe, but it’s not worth spending a ton of time on that at the moment.

Right here and right now, though, take a second to soak in the fact that the club’s three big prospects at the start of the year—one of which being the top prospect in the entire sport—are now all together with the big club.

These are the days you fantasize about when envisioning the next great Red Sox team. Any organization would kill to have a crop of guys like this—Anthony, Mayer, and Kristian Campbell (even with his ups and downs as of late)—coming up through their ranks before making an impact in the majors. We’re here on the ground floor for some promising professional careers, and that’s worth celebrating in the moment.

Plus, Anthony’s debut comes at a key junction for the Red Sox this year. While they’ve been stringing together some wins, they’ve been doing so in spite of the fact that the run totals across multiple games have been meager. Roman can provide some juice when it’s needed: right as the Red Sox look to get back on the saddle and into the Wild Card hunt.

Welcome aboard, Roman. It’s been a long time coming (too long, even), but it’s good to have you with us.

Get Him to Atlanta

David Butler II-Imagn Images

Carlos Narváez has been nothing short of a revelation this season. In a year that’s had its fair share of downs thus far, he has been a resounding high en route to winning the full-time starting catcher job.

The 26-year-old has been doing more than his fair share in the box, as he’s gotten on base at a clip above .350 and slugging about .4565. That work has earned him a higher slot in the lineup on a consistent basis, and so far he’s rewarded Alex Cora’s faith in doing so.

While some numbers under the hood (lower expected xBA, xSLG, and xWOBA than the average bear) don’t scream “OPS+ of around 125,” unlike his Baseball Reference page, there’s still a good amount of his profile to get excited about going forward. Even as a bit more of a free swinger, Narváez demonstrates an ability to command the zone thanks to his walk rate of 11.5%. Mix that in with the fact that his average exit velocity is within the top 20% in MLB and the fact that he barrels the ball damn near 80% of the time, and you’ve got yourself quite the contributor.

Narváez’s walk-off knock against the Jankees on Friday was another highlight in a fantastic start to his tenure in Boston.

Even if Narv/Narvi/The Narwhal/The Narv (I’m still not calling him that fourth one) wasn’t getting it done at the dish, he’d still be providing a ton of value based off of what he’s been doing behind it. According to Baseball Savant (put a dollar in the Savant jar!), he ranks in the top 6% in blocks above average, called strikes above average, and framing. That’s culminated in him registering 0.9 dWAR as of the time of publication, which is good for first among all catchers while putting him in a tie for ninth across all of baseball.

All of that is not just to say that Narváez’s season hasn’t just been good. It’s not just to say that his season hasn’t been any adjective beyond just good—great, grand, wonderful, no yelling on the bus, whatever you want to use. All of that’s true, of course, but there’s something greater at play here.

Carlos Narváez could very well be an All-Star, and he’s making a case to be firmly entrenched in the Rookie of the Year race.

Seattle’s Cal Raleigh has the starting catcher spot for the American League just about wrapped up; you’d be nuts to put anyone else behind the plate other than the guy who’s gonna have nearly 30 homers by the time the Midsummer Classic rolls around.

That second catcher slot for the Junior Circuit, in my opinion, boils down to either Narváez or Alejandro Kirk of the Blue Jays. Kirk’s had a similar year to Narváez—stellar defensive play to match with an OPS over .800—but this is a Red Sox blog so my vote goes to the Red Sox player. Narv’s slugging more; there’s your tiebreaker.

We just might have something with Carlos Narváez. What’s even better: we got that something from the Yankees. Well played, Mr. Breslow.

Dobby Has No Master

Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

What a wild stretch for Hunter Dobbins, eh?

The hurler has been in the headlines for (awesome) comments about the New York Yankees, tall tales from his father, and—most importantly—some great performances against that aforementioned team from the Bronx, especially on Saturday. In his last two starts against New York, he only gave up three earned runs across 11 frames while coughing up just six hits and a lone walk. Not bad for a guy who’s been asked to slot into the rotation amid plenty of question marks within the pitching staff in recent weeks.

One thing I like about Dobbins’ approach (and I’m not the first to point this out; I believe Will Flemming did so the other day on the WEEI broadcast): the dude is not afraid to go right after guys and challenge them, regardless of how dangerous they might be. He’s fearless going inside hitters like Aaron Judge at Fenway Park, a strategy that could make even grizzled veterans chills.

You don’t want to pepper the zone too much, of course, but whatever Dobbins is doing is working; he’s walking guys at just a 4.8% rate, which puts him in the 92nd percentile in MLB. He doesn’t get barreled up a ton and initiates his fair share of groundballs. Put that all together and you’ve got a guy who can give you five or six innings of solid pitching on a fairly consistent basis (he’s gone at least five frames in three straight outings and had also done so in his first five appearances of the year).

A five-and-dive guy might not sound incredibly appealing in a vacuum, but given the Red Sox’s struggles with finding enough volume from the starting pitching staff thus far in 2025, Hunter Dobbins’ work load should be welcomed with open arms. You could do far worse in the latter half of your rotation than what Dobby’s been giving us.

I’ll raise a glass of Dr. Pepper to that.

Song of the Week: “Sh-Boom” by The Chords

I’m a big fan of this song (shout out to Cars [2006]). I’m also a big fan of the video of the pub vibin’ to this song. I’m also a big fan of the video of all the chimps vibin’ to this song. It’s a very easy song to vibe to, clearly.

No Brushback next week—I’m gonna be on a big ass boat en route to Bermuda for the week—but don’t worry: we’ve got something else planned in the meantime. In the meantime, go Sox.