Gave him a C. Some positives, some negatives:
Good
Won 19 games more than last season
Miguel Vargas somehow put up a 100 wRC+ after looking like he had no clue at the plate last year
Teel and Montgomery look like above average regulars
Quero and Meidroth were up and down, and I have concerns about either of them being regulars, but they have potential
Robert bounced back from a rough first half and was looking good before his injury
Slater and Tauchman were solid signings
Found a solid starter (Smith) and really good reliever (Vasil) in the rule 5 draft. This doesn't happen often
Venable made some puzzling mistakes, but the team played hard for him until the end. Overall seems like a good hire
They hired guys from good outside organizations (Rangers, Brewers and Orioles) to help with player development
Grant Taylor got BABIP'd to death for a couple weeks but otherwise looked like a solid closer
The Crochet trade looks like it will provide a lot of value
Braden Montgomery had a really nice first season in the minors
Already talked about Teel and Meidroth
Wikelman Gonzalez was nasty and looks like he can be a really good reliever
Drafting and development seems to be better than before, with potential value coming from all rounds of the draft
Bonemer, Fauske, McDougal, Oppor, Lodise, Wolkow, Antonacci, Adams, Pallette all later round picks in the top 15 of the Sox top 30 on MLB, and all have a chance to contribute at the MLB level
The LatAm revamp is underway, and the Sox are currently in the drivers seat for top Dominican prospect Braston Basker, which NEVER would have happened before
Bad
They still lost 102 games because they were abysmal in the first half of the season, couldn't win one run games and had long losing streaks. Need to fix those problems to take the next step
Regression from Smith and Schultz. Hopefully its growing pains and not signs of permanent regression. Need at least one of those guys to be a good starter to keep the arrow pointing up on the major league team
The Cease trade looked terrible this year - Thorpe is hurt, Zavala showed some life but was overall not very good, Iriarte has fallen off the prospect list, and Wilson is a mediocre reliever. Need Thorpe to show something next year to get some value from this trade
I'd rather young guys put up <80 wRC+ instead of guys like Rojas, Amaya, etc.
Robert had a rough first half and got hurt yet again
Minor league system ranking fell 10+ spots after graduating Montgomery, Teel and Quero. Need to keep a solid pipeline going constantly for this team to have any future success - we'll see how the system rebounds in 2026
Taylor should be given every opportunity to start. I'm nervous they brought him up to the bullpen. Hopefully he takes the Crochet route (without the TJ surgery)
They're not gonna spend money on free agents until Jerry is gone, so the job is much harder than it needs to be