Red Sox: Off Season 2024-2025

[Randy Red Sox]

20 hours ago, notin said:

Pivetta would shock me.   
 

O’Neill.  Nearly every media outlet - including the ones that are usually right - is predicting Boston gives him one.  Breslow has talked about an extension as well, and if so, a QO might make sense as a way of keeping other teams out of the talks…

wrong on both accounts

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

wrong on both accounts

Easy to play the hindsight game. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

10 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Easy to play the hindsight game. 

Hindsight my hindhalves.

[moonslav59]

48 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Shows how overrated the all-or-nothing offense was.

While a .333 OBP is not great, these days it is significantly plus. The league OBP was .312.

As for the SLG% of .511, that has always been a very good number. The league average was .399, this year. Only 14 players in MLB had more PAs and a higher SLG than .511

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

While a .333 OBP is not great, these days it is significantly plus. The league OBP was .312.

As for the SLG% of .511, that has always been a very good number. The league average was .399, this year. Only 14 players in MLB had more PAs and a higher SLG than .511

Here are some more O'Neill stats per baseball-ref: his K-rate was worse than all American League batters who had enough plate appearances to qualify (Zach Gelof led with 34.4%).

O'Neill's Productive Outs Percentage was 13.3% -- worst on the Red Sox (except for Trevor Story and Mickey Gaspar in SSS). Yoshida was the best regular at 42.9%.

O'Neill's BRS Percentage (scoring baserunners, not necessarily with an RBI) was also Boston's worst among regulars at 11.8%. Yoshida led again at 18.6%.

O'Neill's Percentage of Plate Appearances with less than two outs, and a runner on third -- who scored -- was also worst among Sox' regulars at 38.8%. The league average was 50.8%. Devers was at 57.1%. Yoshida again led the club at 72.2%.

[Bellhorn04]

Tyler O'Neill is a guy who's great to have around at 6 million, but not so much at 3.5 times that.

[Old Red]

10 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Tyler O'Neill is a guy who's great to have around at 6 million, but not so much at 3.5 times that.

Agree, and those type of RHH OF like Renfroe, Duvall, and O’Neil have been easy to get anyway.

[mvp 78]

25 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Agree, and those type of RHH OF like Renfroe, Duvall, and O’Neil have been easy to get anyway.

Seems like we've been able to find a few of them throughout the years! Why spend a lot of money when there's a Cody Ross in someone's couch cushions? 

[Hugh2]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Easy to play the hindsight game. 

At an early date I noted Pivetta as a potential Q.O. and it was not received well. 

My logic then was teams value on pitching exceeds that of us fans......and it still does. 

[Hugh2]

30 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Agree, and those type of RHH OF like Renfroe, Duvall, and O’Neil have been easy to get anyway.

I think that's why those guys move around a lot too, they're easy to find and replace. 

I suppose that makes the Yoshida deal even more of a head scratcher. 

[mvp 78]

18 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

At an early date I noted Pivetta as a potential Q.O. and it was not received well. 

My logic then was teams value on pitching exceeds that of us fans......and it still does. 

Nope, sorry. Only Bellhorn cast his vote appropriately. You can't swoop in later and claim victory on this. 

[Old Red]

17 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

I think that's why those guys move around a lot too, they're easy to find and replace. 

I suppose that makes the Yoshida deal even more of a head scratcher. 

The zRed Sox did need OF help at the time, but Yoshida was a bad choice, and not money well spent.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Here are some more O'Neill stats per baseball-ref: his K-rate was worse than all American League batters who had enough plate appearances to qualify (Zach Gelof led with 34.4%).

O'Neill's Productive Outs Percentage was 13.3% -- worst on the Red Sox (except for Trevor Story and Mickey Gaspar in SSS). Yoshida was the best regular at 42.9%.

O'Neill's BRS Percentage (scoring baserunners, not necessarily with an RBI) was also Boston's worst among regulars at 11.8%. Yoshida led again at 18.6%.

O'Neill's Percentage of Plate Appearances with less than two outs, and a runner on third -- who scored -- was also worst among Sox' regulars at 38.8%. The league average was 50.8%. Devers was at 57.1%. Yoshida again led the club at 72.2%.

Certainly, the high K rate hurts anyone's production, and it seemed to hurt his, this year, more than the norm, but the guy had a good O and S, despite the high Ks.

Here are some more numbers:

The team had a .746 OPS with Men on Base: O'Neil was second on the team at .820 (4th if you lower the PAs to include Yoshi & Ref.) He was 5th in PAs with Men on Base and 5th in RBI w Men on Base.

The team was .744 w RISP, and O'Neill was first at .866 (50 points ahead of #2 Yoshida.) He was 7th in PAs w RISP and 7th in RBI w RISP. 

He should have had more RBIs. The K's were part of the reason.

[notin]

5 hours ago, Randy Red Sox said:

wrong on both accounts

No.  I was correct in saying Pivetta getting a QO would shock me.  I was most definitely shocked.

 

Also I said repeatedly O’Neill was 50/50 to receive one…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

He should have had more RBIs. The K's were part of the reason.

The correlation has been one of the bummers of Red Sox fans' summers in this decade.

Clutch may not exist to some, but not making contact can definitely make a batter unclutch.

 

[Hugh2]

3 hours ago, Old Red said:

The zRed Sox did need OF help at the time, but Yoshida was a bad choice, and not money well spent.

My personal choice was the year prior where I thought the Sox should go hard after Seiya Suzuki. 

The only reason I was ok with bringing back JBJ and letting go of Renfroe was because I thought JBJ would be a 4th outfielder defensive specialist and the Sox would go hard after Suzuki who cost $85 million over 5 years. $5 million less than Yoshida and to date a much better player.

[Tedballgame]

On 9/26/2024 at 9:40 AM, notin said:

I am all for not trading Mayer.   
 

If the Sox have to trade one of the Big Four, I would move Kristian Campbell first, due to his lack of a position.  I can see an argument for moving Teel first as well.

 

My preference would be to move Braden Montgomery and/or Franklin Arias over any of the top 4…

Montgomery put up huge power numbers in college and, because of injury, hasn't even played for the Red Sox yet. They aren't going to trade him without seeing him in action.

 

[mvp 78]

Committed to being active in the FA market! The interest kings are back. 👑

[Bellhorn04]

6 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Committed to being active in the FA market! The interest kings are back. 👑

Yeah, it's gonna be a shame when they fail to line up with anyone again.

[moonslav59]

"Active" making losing bids.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

17 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

"Active" making losing bids.

Actively lowering chins, shaking heads, holding palms up, shrugging shoulders... grimacing grimly.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Actively lowering chins, shaking heads, holding palms up, shrugging shoulders... grimacing grimly.

Actively continuing the sham.

[mvp 78]

 

[Hugh2]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

 

The Red Sox did say they were going to spend money.  I guess paying Pivetta and O'Neill is spending money. 

[mvp 78]

2 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

The Red Sox did say they were going to spend money.  I guess paying Pivetta and O'Neill is spending money. 

"We really liked how the 2024 team looked in Spring Training. What if we ran it back with Giolito and the boys again?" 🧛‍♂️

[Hugh2]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

"We really liked how the 2024 team looked in Spring Training. What if we ran it back with Giolito and the boys again?" 🧛‍♂️

It's perfectly plausible that Giolito comes back strong, pitches like a #2 Story is healhty and we have a healthy step forward from many of our young guys and this team is a playoff caliber team. 

Perfectly plausible.  If they actually added a few premium arms I think they can guarantee that and if they spend the money AND get improved performance they could be WS caliber. 

[MADSTORK]

You pink hats miss me?

Free Agent is a life long Sox fan, will give Boston first opportunity to open up the checkbook, meeting was to be scheduled soon to include a former GM with 3 rings, Eastern Connecticut is preferred 

This would open up the trade market with Duran, Abreu for SP

Chance for JH and Werner to make up for Mookie

Those are the facts and the facts are undisputed 

 

 

 

[mvp 78]

17 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

It's perfectly plausible that Giolito comes back strong, pitches like a #2 Story is healhty and we have a healthy step forward from many of our young guys and this team is a playoff caliber team. 

Perfectly plausible.  If they actually added a few premium arms I think they can guarantee that and if they spend the money AND get improved performance they could be WS caliber. 

There's a little bit of flukiness to some of Story's issues, but the arm problem was already known and should have been handled early on. I hope he can have at least one good year and get some fans behind him, but it's been a real rough go for him. 

No idea what to expect out of Gio coming off surgery. 

[Hugh2]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

There's a little bit of flukiness to some of Story's issues, but the arm problem was already known and should have been handled early on. I hope he can have at least one good year and get some fans behind him, but it's been a real rough go for him. 

No idea what to expect out of Gio coming off surgery. 

I firmly believe Gio's problems were mental.  You can almost draw an exact line from where he fell off vs. his struggles. 

However, he wasn't elite before then but he was good enough to be valuable in this rotation.  If true, he could be a good #3#4 starter.  If the Sox can get him back to where he was then they have a solid #1 #2 starter. 

The injury adds another monkey wrench into the equation.  Today, more than ever guys come back fine from surgery, but surgery is still surgery and you just never know. 

Even if we witness best case scenario with Giolito, could we count on him down the stretch when his innings are getting high?

[Bellhorn04]

3 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

I firmly believe Gio's problems were mental.  You can almost draw an exact line from where he fell off vs. his struggles.

I don't want to underplay the significance of a divorce on a player's performance, but Giolito is not exactly the first guy to have personal issues going on during a season, methinks.  Now he seems to be the purported poster boy for such issues turning you from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde.