Brentz is an asset?
I have a hard time believing they are going to replace Mitch Moreland with Matt Adams.
He's cheap, but I kind of doubt he'd move the needle over last year's 1b production.
I will be shocked if DD punts there.
Why would you be shocked?
The Red Sox offense returning to top-tier form is going to rely on at least two of three things happening:
A) A big bounce-back from Hanley. His OPS drop of .126 moved the team from having a very productive 1B (.286/.361/.505, +19.7 oWAR per Fangraphs) to having an immovable contract at DH (.242/.320/.429, -10.0 oWAR). This offensive collapse occurred was generally while hitting in the middle of the Sox lineup, magnifying its effects on the team's run-scoring performance.
B) Getting one big contribution from OF. JBJ went from being a very productive CF (.267/.349/.486, +20.0 oWAR) to being a replacement level hitter (.245/.323/.402, -1.8 oWAR). But since he generally hit at the bottom of the lineup, this offensive collapse didn't effect the team's performance nearly as much. Replacing him with a masher like JD Martinez would very clearly boost the Sox offense, while although it would also very clearly downgrade the team's defense and run prevention. Benintendi doesn't have anywhere near enough innings logged in CF to be able to run a projection, so that downside risk is all about scouting analysis.
C) Getting a big offensive contribution from Hanley's and Beni's complementary pieces. Obviously, there needs to be a 1B if Hanley DH's, and vice versa. Less obviously, Beni was pretty bad against LHP and either needs a RHH platoon partner or to be dropped to 8/9 in the order against LH starters. Moreland was slightly below average as the starting 1B (-3.5 oWAR in 576 PA), but Young was terrible for a bench player given that he got less than half as many PA's as Mitch (-3.9 oWAR in 276 PA) and Travis showed even less than Young (-2.2 oWAR in 83 PA). There's tons of room for improvement here, regardless what changes, if any, are made in the outfield.
And yes, this is where Brentz may actually be an asset. He's not very likely to be a game-changing one, but there was enough to like about his AAA performance (.271/.334/.539 in 450 AB) that he should definitely remain in the picture. He's not the only way to solve this section, but this is where DDski has the most flexibility to piece together above-average production a la 2013's Nava/Gomes/Carp.
JBJ can't be flipped for JD Martinez until Martinez has a contract in hand. Stanton clearly won't waive his no-trade to come to Boston. No other viable OF option is so clearly an upgrade that banking on it -- rather than a JBJ bounce-back -- is a good bet. And while Hanley might recover from his shoulder surgery, there's clearly no way his bloated contract is moveable right now for anyone other than guys with even worse contracts, such as Miguel Cabrera or Albert Pujols.
So for the moment, the one move that makes sense for DDski to act on would be to pick up Adams from the scrap heap for cheap money and 1-2 years, and hope his career split against RHP (.286/.333/.495) holds up in Fenway and allows the Sox to start assembling complementary pieces into a solid whole. There's less than one standard deviation between Adams' and Santana's career offensive numbers.
1B FAs - Career OPS+
121 - Santana
120 - Duda
117 - Napoli
112 - Lind
111 - Adams
111 - Hosmer
109 - Morrison
109 - Alonso
108 - Alvarez
104 - Reynolds
100 - Moreland