A Realistic View of the 2025 Red Sox: Part II

[mvp 78]

18 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not sure SEA got much better, but everyone else got worse in their division and in much of the AL.

They just made a MAJOR move...

 

[Bellhorn04]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Hendriks to 15 day IL

Ugh.

Could be toasty.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Ugh.

Could be toasty.

His stuff never came back after surgery. If he's not bouncing back and his velo is down, he should call it. 

[Hitch]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

 

Well, s***.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Only 11 of these guys were on last year's Opening Day roster. 

 

Only 11 from the season ending roster, too.

[Larry Cook]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Only 11 from the season ending roster, too.

 Bres-slow improved the rotation and the Infield defense and the depth. I think we are a better team now than last year!!! 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

 Bres-slow improved the rotation and the Infield defense and the depth. I think we are a better team now than last year!!! 

For sure, and 2024's team was better than 2023.

The farm improved, especially pitchers.

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

 Bres-slow improved the rotation and the Infield defense and the depth. I think we are a better team now than last year!!! 

What a difference between Brez and Bloom. Once can point to getting a better budget, but it goes way beyond that.

So much of the roster from top to bottom and into the farm has been turned over in such a very short time. We still saw the short term pitcher signings and rolling the dice with pitchers coming off injuries, but the upgrade looks pretty damn good, on paper.

While we need to see the results on the field, there is no doubt, he has made a great effort to improve this club- the offense, the defense, the pitching, the depth and the farm. It will take a while to see if the changes in player and prospect development are for the good, but everything from this guy screams competence.

Sure, I'm looking through pink glasses, right now, and I know we could end up being disappointed again, but I'm buying and chugging the Kool Aid. Brez hasn't even been here for 18 months, yet, and here are the plus guys and a few pending possible plus guys he has added:

Crochet, Bregman & Buehler

Slaten, Fitts, Newcomb, Criswell, Priester, Giolito, Sandoval

Chapman, Hendriks, Weissert, Wilson, Fulmer, I Campbell, Sandlin

Narvaez, Romy, Thompson, Eaton, Toro, Sabol, Zavala, Fajardo, Ju Gonzales, Tolle, S Soto, Cason, Reyes, Wehunt, Neely, Tygart, S Delzine, H Rivas, H Ramos, Ehrhard, Clarke

Departed helpfuls:  O'Neall, Danny Jansen and Dom Smith

I probably forgot someone.

 

[Larry Cook]

Stock starting for Worcester tonight!!!! 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Stock starting for Worcester tonight!!!! 

He pitched well: 4 IP 0 ER 2 Hits 1 BB 6 Ks

Wink and I Campbell let up 4 ERs on 9 hits in 4 IP, combined.

Toro hit a dinger.

Mayer and Anthony went 0-7, but Anthony drew a BB.

 

[moonslav59]

The ALE is the only division with no losing record team.

[Bellhorn04]

10 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

The ALE is the only division with no losing record team.

OK, this is the silliest stat nugget ever.  You win. 😁

[Old Red]

19 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

OK, this is the silliest stat nugget ever.  You win. 😁

Just paddling his stats. Most importantly it was left out that the White Sox are underfeated.👍

[moonslav59]

53 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

OK, this is the silliest stat nugget ever.  You win. 😁

I thought you'd like that one!

Hey, we're 1/81st of the way through the season. The sample size is huge!

[Bellhorn04]

11 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I thought you'd like that one!

Hey, we're 1/81st of the way through the season. The sample size is huge!

2 of the teams are only 1/162 through!

[Hitch]

Way, way too early to worry at all about this, but my only concern about Devers moving to DH was that as a professional athlete who very much wants to be on the field at all times, he might find it hard to adjust to only taking at bats (I'm no professional athlete, so take this for what it's worth, but I'd hate only be having at bats) and so I wonder if they have a back up in mind should it develop into an issue. If they do, I imagine it has to be getting him reps at 1st. 

[Hitch]

Along the lines above - sounds like Devers' head is in the right place to try and embrace it -

 

“Right now, we’re in the season,” Devers told reporters, per The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. “I’m a DH, and I feel like you guys need to change the subject because that is over and I’m the DH.”

In his new role, Devers has begun the 2025 campaign 0-for-8 with seven strikeouts and has looked slow to react to fastballs, an issue that plagued Devers during the final phase of last season.

“I know that I haven’t done my job and I haven’t done what I’m supposed to do,” Devers said through interpreter Carlos Villoria-Benítez (per McCaffrey). “But I know that everything will change. I have my routine. I try to stay warm and go warm to the plate. But like I said before, it’s only been two games, and tomorrow I’ll come back here and I’ll try to hit the ball.”

[moonslav59]

33 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

2 of the teams are only 1/162 through!

Yup. Let's split the difference and say we are about 1/110th of the way.

[moonslav59]

16 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Way, way too early to worry at all about this, but my only concern about Devers moving to DH was that as a professional athlete who very much wants to be on the field at all times, he might find it hard to adjust to only taking at bats (I'm no professional athlete, so take this for what it's worth, but I'd hate only be having at bats) and so I wonder if they have a back up in mind should it develop into an issue. If they do, I imagine it has to be getting him reps at 1st. 

That's been my suggestion for years.

He actually has a pretty good glove and moves quickly for a pudgy guy.

The other factor is that the bar is set very low with casas at 1B, now. He only has to be better than one of the worst defensive 1B in MLB to improve our defense.

[moonslav59]

MLB.com reports that a poll of some MLB execs, showed these teams improved the most:

 Dodgers & Red Sox: 6 votes
Mets: 4 votes
Athletics: 2 votes
Astros: 1 vote

[Hitch]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

That's been my suggestion for years.

He actually has a pretty good glove and moves quickly for a pudgy guy.

The other factor is that the bar is set very low with casas at 1B, now. He only has to be better than one of the worst defensive 1B in MLB to improve our defense.

Yeah, this is my thinking also. Even now, with Casas' sketchy injury record, I'd be doing it. Get Casas some time off his feet DHing, too. 

Also, if Casas slumps, it's a chance to get Yoshi some more DH at bats.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Hitch said:

Yeah, this is my thinking also. Even now, with Casas' sketchy injury record, I'd be doing it. Get Casas some time off his feet DHing, too. 

Also, if Casas slumps, it's a chance to get Yoshi some more DH at bats.

Yes, and while people are worried about injuries to Devers, Casas seems more fragile.

If they both DH'd 80 times a year, maybe both could stay healthier and fresher when they are at bat.

To me, Yoshida has not role on this team, unless Devers, Casas or Refsnyder is injured.

[dgalehouse]

If you want Devers to get work at first base, spring training is the time to do it. Makes no sense to do it now. Anyway, I think Casas is more suited to play first than is Devers. Rafael is being paid to hit. Let him focus on that.

[vjcsmoke]

A good win against the Rangers to start the season. Crochett pitched well enough to win. The bullpen was solid.

Went back down to earth in game 2 with a 4-1 loss.  Offense did not click. But Abreu has been the surprise of the early season. Who would think he would start off the season this hot?

Campbell has also been hitting well. He may well stick if he keeps it up with his bat and plays solid defense.

Hopefully we can bounce back with a win and take the series. Talent seems to be there. We just need our big bats to warm up. We need more from the likes of Devers, Bregman, and Casas.

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, dgalehouse said:

If you want Devers to get work at first base, spring training is the time to do it. Makes no sense to do it now. Anyway, I think Casas is more suited to play first than is Devers. Rafael is being paid to hit. Let him focus on that.

Agreed. Let him learn 1B over the winter.

If he really wants to play in the field, he should be the one asking to try 1B.

[Hitch]

Exciting news that Campbell and the Sox are deep in contract talks. That kid looks like a star in the making.

Not worried about the offence. It'll click and come on just fine. The defence is already so much better! 

Hard not to be a little concerned about Raffy, but again, very early days. 

Getting the split later would be sweet. Fitts will get it done.

[Bellhorn04]

I'm more than a little concerned about Devers.  We've never seen anything like this kind of futility.  He seems to be exactly the same as he was at the end of last season when they shut him down.  

[Old Red]

10 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I'm more than a little concerned about Devers.  We've never seen anything like this kind of futility.  He seems to be exactly the same as he was at the end of last season when they shut him down.  

He most likely picked up some bad habits with his bad shoulders last year, and it’s still a carryover to this year. Hopefully that’s all it is.

[Hitch]

15 minutes ago, Old Red said:

He most likely picked up some bad habits with his bad shoulders last year, and it’s still a carryover to this year. Hopefully that’s all it is.

Definitely a good chance of that. Could also be he's finding it hard to not be as involved. Or he's just not quite clicked yet. Or he's still got underling issues with either or both his shoulders. 

Let's hope it's one of the first three.

Got a feeling he'll have a big game today.

[Bellhorn04]

I'm just afraid that whatever the issue is with his shoulders, it's debilitating in a career-threatening way.