Boston Red Sox "Cautiously Quite Optimistic" Trevor Story Opts In

We are only "better off if he leaves," if JH allows the money be added to the winter budget and Brez spends it wisely.

Those are two big ifs, with the JH one being the more significant one.

31 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Imagine this headline being written 12 months ago. Everyone would have been very confused. 

We'd have called it click bait.

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

1B Okamoto

2B Rojas

SS Mayer

3B Bregman

Use savings to sign Cease to short term deal? 

1b: Harper

2b: Rengifo

SS: Mayer

3b: Bohm

Im combining threads.

25 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

1B Okamoto

2B Rojas

SS Mayer

3B Bregman

Use savings to sign Cease to short term deal? 

Miguel Rojas?

Isn't he retiring?

That's for certain!

If Story opts out, too, it means Mayer is the longest tenured infielder…

12 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Hes better than Romy?

I feel like I'm higher on Romy than most, but I'm not even sure I feel comfy with him in a platoon role at 2B or 1B, next year, let alone FT. I do think he has a significant chance at doing "well enough," but we need to greatly improve at minimum 2 of these 3 positions: 1B, 2B, 3B, and I think the plan is Mayer takes care of 2B or 3B, so that leaves Romy out in the cold or as a platoon DH with Masa.

I guess the actual plan should be to significantly improve at 3 of 4 everyday positions: 1B, 2B, 3B and DH plus a SP2, but we know hoping for just 2 position players and a pitcher is asking for too much.

Hey, you know how "Hank" is the nickname for Henry? We should call John Henry "Mr. Hanky." They guy is a big turd, afterall.

5 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Miguel Rojas?

Isn't he retiring?

If Miguel retires, find yourself another Rojas.  There’s like 4 Rojas’s in MLB and they all play 2b (except for Johan)…

4 minutes ago, notin said:

If Story opts out, too, it means Mayer is the longest tenured infielder…

You know what still blows my mind?

All but 3 players on the 40 man roster were added to it after the start of the 2021 season. (Houck Sept '20) Wong (Nov '20) and Whitlock (Dec '20)

Nobody on the 40 was on the 40 to start 2020. What a massive turnover for a team that continually and emphatically denied they were ever in a rebuild mode. It may have been drawn out, but it was a complete overhaul and teardown reconstruction.

The 10th most senior 40 man roster player is Zack Kelly- added late AUG '22. #20 is Slaten, who was added DEC '23!

8 hours ago, Hitch said:

He would spend the money, whether it is used to the best possible advantage is another thing, however. A big part of me still wants Story to opt out (I don't believe he will), just to get away from the contract as I don't believe this year's form (and health) will continue, but it would require A LOT of work, leaving us with only (an often hurt) Mayer in the infield and Romy who should be platooning and not playing full time.

Everyone else has huge question marks. And there's not a lot on the free agency list to get exited about

 

Yes, the way the money is spent is crucial, and our FA signing record under Brez has been significantly less than stellar, but I do agree the Story's 2026 outlook is as risky or more so than any random FA signing at near his salary cost (AAV.)

If he opts out, our infield would have 4 open slots with Mayer, Romy, maybe Lowe, Casas, DHam, Sogard and Eaton as the in-house possibilities. That scares the beJesus out of me, when you need to count on JH to fork over significant money to sign 3-4 solid infielders.

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Romy's problem is that he can't backup SS and the Sox have two injury prone-ish SS's. 

Do you feel comfortable with Romy at 3B?

Cora only played him at 3B in 2 games (12 innings) and we really needed help there. Of course, we needed him at 2B and 1B, too, so maybe that's why he did not play much 3B.

I can see Romy being counted on to fill or be part of the mix at...

2B platoon with Mayer or DHam

1B platoon with Lowe (Casas would not need a platoon.)

DH platoon with Yoshida

Possibly as a 3B platoon with Mayer, if we add a 2Bman, somehow.

I'd be okay getting Bichette, but I'm not sure if he's better than Story at SS defense. I'd rather have Mayer at SS, too, but he can't seem to be able to play 150 games.

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Romy's problem is that he can't backup SS and the Sox have two injury prone-ish SS's. 

For an in-game replacement, Romy is fine at SS.   But if you need someone to start 4 or 5 games, he’s not ideal.