A Realistic View of the 2025 Red Sox: Part I

[mvp 78]

 

[moonslav59]

On 2/17/2025 at 7:46 AM, Hugh2 said:

Who is squeezing Ref and Romy out of at bats that makes this team worse? 

Bregman and Campbell are slated to get a lot of at bats where there were 0 last year.  Those two guys are better than Ref and Romy. 

Ref is a top 15 batter vs LHPs. Bregman is not close.

Campbell may get there.

We know what Ref can do.

Romy was one of our best hitters vs lefties, last year, but I'm fine with Bregman or Campbell taking his PAs.

[Larry Cook]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Romy was one of our best hitters vs lefties, last year, but I'm fine with Bregman or Campbell taking his PAs.

I am not sure Campbell is ready for Boston yet!!!!

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, Larry Cook said:

I am not sure Campbell is ready for Boston yet!!!!

Nobody is, but if he's on the big club, it will be because he's done something to deserve it.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

11 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Nobody is, but if he's on the big club, it will be because he's done something to deserve it.

Nobody is? What about Wilson, Stock and Anderson -- haven't they shown they have what it takes to be part of another bullpen that's going to blow championships?

[Larry Cook]

I would like to see Mayer get more at bats at 2nd base! 

[Bellhorn04]

10 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

I would like to see Mayer get more at bats at 2nd base! 

We don't have enough prospective second basemen for you?

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

We don't have enough prospective second basemen for you?

It would seem, to me, that if Mayer makes the big club, without an injury to Story, Trevor would be at 2B.

Then, there is Campbell, DHam, Romy, Grissom and even the Bregman debate to conclude.

Before long, Arias and Romero may join the conversation.

[Larry Cook]

41 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It would seem, to me, that if Mayer makes the big club, without an injury to Story, Trevor would be at 2B.

Then, there is Campbell, DHam, Romy, Grissom and even the Bregman debate to conclude.

Before long, Arias and Romero may join the conversation.

Mayer looks really comfortable and I really like his swing, if he continues to prove that he can hit, he may force his way onto the field. 
A middle infield of  Mayer and noodle arm story is not the worst combination to start the year!!!!!

[moonslav59]

I gotta think injuries are the biggest concern on this team. I know all teams have that concern, but with so many of our players coming off recent injury episodes, or still in recovery, it just jumps out at me.

Devers and Story are the main concerns, but we cannot have too many pitchers out, at the same time, as well. Crawford, Bello and Gio have not been great, but we need 1-2 to eat innings at a decent skill level. Crochet, Houck and Buehler have not been pictures of health over the last 2-3 years, either. 

Our pen has Hendriks coming off a long layoff, and 80 year old Chapman and recently injured guys like Whitlock, Slaten and fellow 80 year old Wilson being counted on to pitch high leverage innings. We can count the durable pitchers on one hand or just a couple fingers: Wink and untested Guerrero.

Back to the everyday players, Casas still has major concerns, and Yoshida will likely start the season on the IL- perhaps even the 60 Day one. Mayer has dealt with injury issues, and he seems to be our best back-up for Story. Grissom is another injury concern, but at least he's not being counted on as a FT'er.

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, Larry Cook said:

Mayer looks really comfortable and I really like his swing, if he continues to prove that he can hit, he may force his way onto the field. 
A middle infield of  Mayer and noodle arm story is not the worst combination to start the year!!!!!

Not at all. Their injury histories makes me wonder how long they both can hold out, but I like the combo. By next year, maybe we see:

1B: Casas

2B: Story

SS: Mayer

3B: Campbell

Maybe in 3 years we see:

1B: Casas

2B: Mayer/Campbell (Romero)

SS: Arias (Mayer)

3B: Campbell/Mayer (Romero)

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

21 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Probably true, but I said near or over, and .775-.790 could be possible and would likely be 100-125 points higher than Rafaela FT and Abreu vs LHPs.

If I were a betting man I would say low .700's at best.

[moonslav59]

55 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

If I were a betting man I would say low .700's at best.

I can see having little faith in DHam and Romy. So much of their 2024 numbers were heavily boosted by just one prolonged hot streak, while the rest of their careers look like .700 tops, at best.

I've never been thrilled with the idea of a DHam-Romy platoon at 2B, but I do feel like those two offered the best we've seen at 2B since Pedey, except for that period where Story & Kike each played 2B for a half a season.

Their career splits are:

.695 DHam v RHPs (26 SBs in 303 PAs)

.802 Romy vs LHPs in just 214 PAs spread over 4 seasons.

.700 is real possibility and is unacceptable, even if that is neat the league average .711 OPS at 2B in 2024. It is, however not nearly as bad as we've seen in a half decade at 2B. The D from these two is a plus. That, alone, is a major improvement over the EValdez's, Reyes', Arroyo's, Arauz, Peraza's and Chavis' of our recent 2B history.

I'd certainly rather see Campbell, Story or Bregman at 2B over the platoon I have mentioned, and maybe that happens. (I hope not the Bregman choice for reasons I have mentioned several times.)

I do, however, see the potential for .750-.790, and maybe in a perfect world .800. I am pretty sure they'd play plus defense, if that ends up the main choice Cora makes. 

In short, while I don't see a DHam-Romy 2B platoon as something great, I do see it as a vast improvement over this:

2020-2024 Sox 2B (note how nobody had 550+ PAs in 5 years combined)

.739 Arroyo (544 PAs) -2 OAA

.737 Story (396) +10 OAA

.651 Valdez (350) -12 OAA

.901 Kike (304)  -8

511 Marwin (119) +2

.627 Reyes (100) -2

.468 Arauz (91) -6

.553 Peraza (89) +2

.743 Urais (88) -3

.587 Chavis (83) -3

Team: .668 OPS (-16 DRS, -123 OAA and a 0.0 UZR/150)

I'd like nothing more than to fix the 2B problem, once and for all. Even the 2018-2019 2B situation was an issue that forced us to trade for help (Nunez, Kinsler and others.)

I'm a big fan of Bregman at 3B, so I don't want to see him as the 2B fix. He "fixes" 3B more. That leaves Campbell or one of Mayer or Story as a FT solution. I'm fine with any of these chocies over a DHam-Romy platoon.

This whole conversation was based on the supposition that Campbell does not make the roster on opening day. It's a hypothetical scenario that I hope does not occur. I'm not for DHam-Romy over Campbell. My only point was what do we do, if Campbell does not win the job (or Mayer & Story are the opening day keystone combo.)

The chocies I laid out were ONLY within this context:

2B: DHam-Romy platoon, 3B: Bregman, DH: Devers and maybe forcing Yoshida & Ref to put a squeez on the OF (namely Rafaela as Duran plays some CF) by playing some LF'

vs

2B: Bregman, 3B: Devers, DH: Yoshida-Ref platoon and the OF freed from Ref and Yoshida's playing time squeeze. (More PAs from Rafaela improves the D but is likely worse O than DHam-Romy.)

This has never been about DHam-Romy vs Bregman or Campbell. It is basically boiled down to

DHam-Romy at 2B (We'd maybe see a Rafaela-Abreu platoon in RF, too)

vs

Rafaela in CF FT and maybe Abreu playing RF vs LHPs, unless we stick Ref out there w Yoshida as the FT DH.

[moonslav59]

Right now, soxprospects,com projects NRI Campbell to be the starting 2Bman on the roster. They have Crawford, Penrod and Yoshida starting the season on the IL.

Rotation: Crochet, Buehler, Houck, Gio, Bello

Pen: Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock, Wilson, Guerrero, Wink & Weissert

C: Wong & Narvaez

1B: Casas

2B: Campbell

SS: Story

3B: Bregman

LF: Duran

CF: Rafaela

RF: Abreu

DH: Devers

Bench: DHam, Refsnyder, Romy

Others on the 40: Fitts, Priester, Criswell, Dobbins, Kelly, Grissom, Sogard, Sabol & Jh Garcia (AA)

[Bellhorn04]

56 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I can see having little faith in DHam and Romy. So much of their 2024 numbers were heavily boosted by just one prolonged hot streak, while the rest of their careers look like .700 tops, at best.

I've never been thrilled with the idea of a DHam-Romy platoon at 2B, but I do feel like those two offered the best we've seen at 2B since Pedey, except for that period where Story & Kike each played 2B for a half a season.

Their career splits are:

.695 DHam v RHPs (26 SBs in 303 PAs)

.802 Romy vs LHPs in just 214 PAs spread over 4 seasons.

.700 is real possibility and is unacceptable, even if that is neat the league average .711 OPS at 2B in 2024. It is, however not nearly as bad as we've seen in a half decade at 2B. The D from these two is a plus. That, alone, is a major improvement over the EValdez's, Reyes', Arroyo's, Arauz, Peraza's and Chavis' of our recent 2B history.

I'd certainly rather see Campbell, Story or Bregman at 2B over the platoon I have mentioned, and maybe that happens. (I hope not the Bregman choice for reasons I have mentioned several times.)

I do, however, see the potential for .750-.790, and maybe in a perfect world .800. I am pretty sure they'd play plus defense, if that ends up the main choice Cora makes. 

In short, while I don't see a DHam-Romy 2B platoon as something great, I do see it as a vast improvement over this:

2020-2024 Sox 2B (note how nobody had 550+ PAs in 5 years combined)

.739 Arroyo (544 PAs) -2 OAA

.737 Story (396) +10 OAA

.651 Valdez (350) -12 OAA

.901 Kike (304)  -8

511 Marwin (119) +2

.627 Reyes (100) -2

.468 Arauz (91) -6

.553 Peraza (89) +2

.743 Urais (88) -3

.587 Chavis (83) -3

Team: .668 OPS (-16 DRS, -123 OAA and a 0.0 UZR/150)

I'd like nothing more than to fix the 2B problem, once and for all. Even the 2018-2019 2B situation was an issue that forced us to trade for help (Nunez, Kinsler and others.)

I'm a big fan of Bregman at 3B, so I don't want to see him as the 2B fix. He "fixes" 3B more. That leaves Campbell or one of Mayer or Story as a FT solution. I'm fine with any of these chocies over a DHam-Romy platoon.

This whole conversation was based on the supposition that Campbell does not make the roster on opening day. It's a hypothetical scenario that I hope does not occur. I'm not for DHam-Romy over Campbell. My only point was what do we do, if Campbell does not win the job (or Mayer & Story are the opening day keystone combo.)

The chocies I laid out were ONLY within this context:

2B: DHam-Romy platoon, 3B: Bregman, DH: Devers and maybe forcing Yoshida & Ref to put a squeez on the OF (namely Rafaela as Duran plays some CF) by playing some LF'

vs

2B: Bregman, 3B: Devers, DH: Yoshida-Ref platoon and the OF freed from Ref and Yoshida's playing time squeeze. (More PAs from Rafaela improves the D but is likely worse O than DHam-Romy.)

This has never been about DHam-Romy vs Bregman or Campbell. It is basically boiled down to

DHam-Romy at 2B (We'd maybe see a Rafaela-Abreu platoon in RF, too)

vs

Rafaela in CF FT and maybe Abreu playing RF vs LHPs, unless we stick Ref out there w Yoshida as the FT DH.

Except he was talking about Yoshida. 🙂

[Larry Cook]

18 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Right now, soxprospects,com projects NRI Campbell to be the starting 2Bman on the roster. They have Crawford, Penrod and Yoshida starting the season on the IL.

Rotation: Crochet, Buehler, Houck, Gio, Bello

Pen: Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock, Wilson, Guerrero, Wink & Weissert

C: Wong & Narvaez

1B: Casas

2B: Campbell

SS: Story

3B: Bregman

LF: Duran

CF: Rafaela

RF: Abreu

DH: Devers

Bench: DHam, Refsnyder, Romy

Others on the 40: Fitts, Priester, Criswell, Dobbins, Kelly, Grissom, Sogard, Sabol & Jh Garcia (AA)

I do not see Campbell starting the season in Boston, and can Bernardino best out Wilson???

[moonslav59]

48 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Except he was talking about Yoshida. 🙂

Ahhh. I'm not sure why that should be his projection.

Yes, he's coming off a serious injury and is not getting any younger, but he hit .794 after AUG 5th in 2024, while the rest of the team slumped. Okay, it was .633 in SEP after going around .900 from July to the end of August.

.783 in 2023

.765 in 2024

.700 "at best" in '25?

It's the "at best" that seems hyper-pessimistic.

 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I can see having little faith in DHam and Romy. So much of their 2024 numbers were heavily boosted by just one prolonged hot streak, while the rest of their careers look like .700 tops, at best.

I've never been thrilled with the idea of a DHam-Romy platoon at 2B, but I do feel like those two offered the best we've seen at 2B since Pedey, except for that period where Story & Kike each played 2B for a half a season.

Their career splits are:

.695 DHam v RHPs (26 SBs in 303 PAs)

.802 Romy vs LHPs in just 214 PAs spread over 4 seasons.

.700 is real possibility and is unacceptable, even if that is neat the league average .711 OPS at 2B in 2024. It is, however not nearly as bad as we've seen in a half decade at 2B. The D from these two is a plus. That, alone, is a major improvement over the EValdez's, Reyes', Arroyo's, Arauz, Peraza's and Chavis' of our recent 2B history.

I'd certainly rather see Campbell, Story or Bregman at 2B over the platoon I have mentioned, and maybe that happens. (I hope not the Bregman choice for reasons I have mentioned several times.)

I do, however, see the potential for .750-.790, and maybe in a perfect world .800. I am pretty sure they'd play plus defense, if that ends up the main choice Cora makes. 

In short, while I don't see a DHam-Romy 2B platoon as something great, I do see it as a vast improvement over this:

2020-2024 Sox 2B (note how nobody had 550+ PAs in 5 years combined)

.739 Arroyo (544 PAs) -2 OAA

.737 Story (396) +10 OAA

.651 Valdez (350) -12 OAA

.901 Kike (304)  -8

511 Marwin (119) +2

.627 Reyes (100) -2

.468 Arauz (91) -6

.553 Peraza (89) +2

.743 Urais (88) -3

.587 Chavis (83) -3

Team: .668 OPS (-16 DRS, -123 OAA and a 0.0 UZR/150)

I'd like nothing more than to fix the 2B problem, once and for all. Even the 2018-2019 2B situation was an issue that forced us to trade for help (Nunez, Kinsler and others.)

I'm a big fan of Bregman at 3B, so I don't want to see him as the 2B fix. He "fixes" 3B more. That leaves Campbell or one of Mayer or Story as a FT solution. I'm fine with any of these chocies over a DHam-Romy platoon.

This whole conversation was based on the supposition that Campbell does not make the roster on opening day. It's a hypothetical scenario that I hope does not occur. I'm not for DHam-Romy over Campbell. My only point was what do we do, if Campbell does not win the job (or Mayer & Story are the opening day keystone combo.)

The chocies I laid out were ONLY within this context:

2B: DHam-Romy platoon, 3B: Bregman, DH: Devers and maybe forcing Yoshida & Ref to put a squeez on the OF (namely Rafaela as Duran plays some CF) by playing some LF'

vs

2B: Bregman, 3B: Devers, DH: Yoshida-Ref platoon and the OF freed from Ref and Yoshida's playing time squeeze. (More PAs from Rafaela improves the D but is likely worse O than DHam-Romy.)

This has never been about DHam-Romy vs Bregman or Campbell. It is basically boiled down to

DHam-Romy at 2B (We'd maybe see a Rafaela-Abreu platoon in RF, too)

vs

Rafaela in CF FT and maybe Abreu playing RF vs LHPs, unless we stick Ref out there w Yoshida as the FT DH.

I was referring to yoshi

[moonslav59]

9 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

I was referring to yoshi

Yes, I see that, now. I just responded to that point.

[moonslav59]

It looks like Devers will start off at DH, while his should issue is figured out. (He may even miss a few early games, for all we know.) If Yoshida begins the season on the IL, Cora's choices are almost made for him.

The biggest calls will be on the big 3 prospects. As long as Story is playing, I seriously doubt Campbell and Mayer make the roster. Anthony may be held down, but more and more I'm feeling these guys should given their shot on day one. With all three on the roster, Cora will have some major choices to make, since it makes little sense to have the 3 top prospects playing only FT or very near it. If all are healthy, what would that look like?

DH: Devers

C: Wong & Narvaez

1B: Casas

2B: Story

SS: Mayer

3B: Bregman

LF: Campbell

CF: Duran

RF: Anthony

Hard to bench Abreu vs RHPs and Ref vs LHPs, and Rafaela would make a great super utility guy, but these are all OF'ers. Only Rafaela offers IF support. Someone would have to be demoted or traded.

[notin]

On 3/1/2025 at 7:49 AM, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Nobody is? What about Wilson, Stock and Anderson -- haven't they shown they have what it takes to be part of another bullpen that's going to blow championships?

Wilson is the only one with a chance to see Boston without the season already being derailed by far too many numerous pitching injuries…

[notin]

20 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It looks like Devers will start off at DH, while his should issue is figured out. (He may even miss a few early games, for all we know.) If Yoshida begins the season on the IL, Cora's choices are almost made for him.

The biggest calls will be on the big 3 prospects. As long as Story is playing, I seriously doubt Campbell and Mayer make the roster. Anthony may be held down, but more and more I'm feeling these guys should given their shot on day one. With all three on the roster, Cora will have some major choices to make, since it makes little sense to have the 3 top prospects playing only FT or very near it. If all are healthy, what would that look like?

DH: Devers

C: Wong & Narvaez

1B: Casas

2B: Story

SS: Mayer

3B: Bregman

LF: Campbell

CF: Duran

RF: Anthony

Hard to bench Abreu vs RHPs and Ref vs LHPs, and Rafaela would make a great super utility guy, but these are all OF'ers. Only Rafaela offers IF support. Someone would have to be demoted or traded.

I don’t put much faith in ST stats, but benching Rafaela (1.358 OPS) to play Campbell (0 for 9 with 7 Ks) doesn’t seem right.  And adding Anthony and Mayer into the lineup is prioritizing getting an additional draft pick over winning games.

If Yoshida starts the year on the IL and Devers is at DH, the Sox are NOT going to DFA three players to crowd up the 40 man roster with prospects.

 

More likely, if Devers is DH and Yoshida is on the IL (which does make him less tradable), then you get 

GRISSOM at 2b.  Forgotten man, but the Sox (and Braves) saw something in him and aren’t basing their judgments off him on one bad year.

Bregman at 3b.

Done.

OF will be the same one that ended the season last year, assuming Abreu gets ready on time.  If not, maybe Anthony has a shot.  But also maybe it won’t be long enough to give him a shot…

[moonslav59]

Wilson is a near lock for the opening day pen.

To me, there are 1-2 pen slots still open, barring new injuries:

Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock (if not on IL) and Winckowski look like locks. Wilson is a near lock.

Guerrero seems like he'd need to bomb out the rest of March to not make it.

The last slot might go to Weissert, Adams,Ottavino, Fulmer, Bernardino (IL?) or Criswell/Fitts. Kinda wide open, here.

I doubt it's Kelly, Moore or I Campbell.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

I keep telling people Rafaela isn't going to ride the bench or get traded. His defense is just too valuable, especially for all the new pitching recruits who will hopefully be successful enough (because of gloves like Ceddanne's backing them) that they'll want to stick around Boston for some sustained contending.

[moonslav59]

18 minutes ago, notin said:

I don’t put much faith in ST stats, but benching Rafaela (1.358 OPS) to play Campbell (0 for 9 with 7 Ks) doesn’t seem right.  And adding Anthony and Mayer into the lineup is prioritizing getting an additional draft pick over winning games.

If Yoshida starts the year on the IL and Devers is at DH, the Sox are NOT going to DFA three players to crowd up the 40 man roster with prospects.

 

More likely, if Devers is DH and Yoshida is on the IL (which does make him less tradable), then you get 

GRISSOM at 2b.  Forgotten man, but the Sox (and Braves) saw something in him and aren’t basing their judgments off him on one bad year.

Bregman at 3b.

Done.

OF will be the same one that ended the season last year, assuming Abreu gets ready on time.  If not, maybe Anthony has a shot.  But also maybe it won’t be long enough to give him a shot…

There is a long way to go to the end of ST'ing and the Campbell vs Rafaela numbers could easily flip. I agree that all 3 kids starting on opening day is far-fetched, unless we have 1-3 injuries (1-2 with 60 Day ILs.)

As for DFA'ing 3 players to make room, we only have 60 Day'd Sandoval. We still have Murphy, Penrod and maybe Yoshida as possible 60 Day guys. I'd also have no issues DFA'ing Sabol, but an injuy to a catcher would need an immediate DFA to add a catcher back onto the 40. That could be risky, but what about DFA'ing Sogard? I know our 40 man is overlaoded with pitchers, right now, but adding Mayer, Campbell and Anthony severely lessens the need for Sogard.

 

[notin]

15 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I keep telling people Rafaela isn't going to ride the bench or get traded. His defense is just too valuable, especially for all the new pitching recruits who will hopefully be successful enough (because of gloves like Ceddanne's backing them) that they'll want to stick around Boston for some sustained contending.

Agreed.  Rafaela will be in CF “as much as possible.”

The Sox logjam of 1b/DH types is massively overblown as greater minds struggle to solve a problem that will easily work itself out.  I mean, the season hasn’t even started yet and two of the three candidates are already questionable health wise…

[notin]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

There is a long way to go to the end of ST'ing and the Campbell vs Rafaela numbers could easily flip. I agree that all 3 kids starting on opening day is far-fetched, unless we have 1-3 injuries (1-2 with 60 Day ILs.)

As for DFA'ing 3 players to make room, we only have 60 Day'd Sandoval. We still have Murphy, Penrod and maybe Yoshida as possible 60 Day guys. I'd also have no issues DFA'ing Sabol, but an injuy to a catcher would need an immediate DFA to add a catcher back onto the 40. That could be risky, but what about DFA'ing Sogard? I know our 40 man is overlaoded with pitchers, right now, but adding Mayer, Campbell and Anthony severely lessens the need for Sogard.

 

The Sox current 40 man roster only has 3 position players who won’t be on the opening day 26 man roster.  And one of them (Grissom?) might make it due to injury.

The only other two are Sabol and Sogard.  They might not be so readily expendable.  Before June was out last year, Heineman found his way to MLB and even into a game simply because there was no one else left eligible to call up…

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I keep telling people Rafaela isn't going to ride the bench or get traded. His defense is just too valuable, especially for all the new pitching recruits who will hopefully be successful enough (because of gloves like Ceddanne's backing them) that they'll want to stick around Boston for some sustained contending.

Rafaela could play 150 games without having a set position of his own, but I like the idea of him in CF FT, or maybe playing CF vs RHPs and RF vs LHPs, as Abreu sits.

The scenario I presented was about finding room for all 3 kids AND everyone healthy, including Story. Play along: who sits, if all 3 play?

Assuming Bregman at 3B, casas at 1B, Devers at DH and Duran, Story, Campbell, Mayer and Anthony playing FT or very near FT, someone sits from Abreu, Rafaela, Yoshida and Ref. In fact, someone cant even be on the 26, since we need 2 catchers on it. To me, the 9th slot goes to an Abreu-Ref platoon- not Rafaela, and since Rafaela can play any OF position and middle IF, he could still get a lot of time on the field, inclduing late inning defensive play.

I've been higher on Rafaela than most posters, here, I think, but under this scenario, I'd prefer Abreu-Ref in the line-up. It's not like Abreu is a slouch on D, and we can hide Ref's D in LF.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

The Sox current 40 man roster only has 3 position players who won’t be on the opening day 26 man roster.  And one of them (Grissom?) might make it due to injury.

The only other two are Sabol and Sogard.  They might not be do readily expendable.  Before June was out last year, Heineman found his way to MLB and even into a game simply because there was no one else left eligible to call up…

This whole scenario was based on adding 3 everyday players (Campbell, Anthony & mayer) to the 40 (and 26.) DFA'ing Sogard and 60 Day IL'ing Murphy and Penrod is a net gain of 2 everyday players.

Sogard would not be needed, but we could also 60 Day Yoshida, whether he likes it or not. I don't see Sogard as the type of guy we have to hold onto. If a need arises, there are dozens of Sogards out there for the taking, on any given day.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

Agreed.  Rafaela will be in CF “as much as possible.”

The Sox logjam of 1b/DH types is massively overblown as greater minds struggle to solve a problem that will easily work itself out.  I mean, the season hasn’t even started yet and Tweet l two of the three candidates are already questionable health wise…

There's a reason Duran, a much-improved outfielder, and Abreu, the Gold Glove rookie, patrol the corners; it's the same reason why Anthony, a centerfielder while becoming baseball's top prospect, has mostly played LF so far.