A Realistic View of the 2025 Red Sox: Part II

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

AI calculated it wrong for Google. It's about $4M. You either have to get rid of dead money, guys on the injured list, or include them in the total number of players.  

Thanks, but that doesn't change my point.

[moonslav59]

6 hours ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

One would think that if they seriously considered it that he would have already spent some time with a first baseman's mitt.

I don't think the seriously considered playing Devers at 1B, except in private meetings and discussions. The "assurance" Bloom gave to Devers about playing 3B may have been a big part of never asking him. (I am assuming they never did.)

The Bregman signing and a new GM changed the dynamic, and that was not very long ago on the Bregman addition. The shoulder injury to devers and failure to trade Casas probably made asking him a low priority. Maybe it was brought up when Devers was talking about not wanting to DH. Probably not.

If I was the GM, I'd have at least asked about the idea, and if he didn't like it, I would not push it.

I think Casas will start hitting, soon, but I have no faith in his defense ever improving. The bar is set so low for Devers to match or exceed, I find it hard imagining him being worse than Casas at 1B. Hie quickness and range at 3B were not really the main issue: it was his erratic arm.

 

[moonslav59]

Our OPS leaders jumped up the rankings, tonight.

7. Bregman .971

10. Abreu .963

13. Campbell .935

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

10 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

If I was the GM, I'd have at least asked about the idea, and if he didn't like it, I would not push it.

I disagree. 

That sends a message to the rest of the team that a player and not management is running the show.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

Red Sox Lost Star Doesn’t Sound Anywhere Near Return

[notin]

On 4/28/2025 at 8:42 PM, jdc69 said:

By the time Yoshida gets healthy, which seems like there's no great hurry, if Casas doesn't pick it up, let them trade places and have Devers play first. 

Casas will be fine.  I expect him to take off shortly, now that I’ve officially dropped him from my fantasy team…

[jdc69]

46 minutes ago, notin said:

Casas will be fine.  I expect him to take off shortly, now that I’ve officially dropped him from my fantasy team…

Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the good of the team.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

2 Red Sox Winners and 2 Losers Through April

[Nick]

13 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I don't think the seriously considered playing Devers at 1B, except in private meetings and discussions. The "assurance" Bloom gave to Devers about playing 3B may have been a big part of never asking him. (I am assuming they never did.)

The Bregman signing and a new GM changed the dynamic, and that was not very long ago on the Bregman addition. The shoulder injury to devers and failure to trade Casas probably made asking him a low priority. Maybe it was brought up when Devers was talking about not wanting to DH. Probably not.

If I was the GM, I'd have at least asked about the idea, and if he didn't like it, I would not push it.

I think Casas will start hitting, soon, but I have no faith in his defense ever improving. The bar is set so low for Devers to match or exceed, I find it hard imagining him being worse than Casas at 1B. Hie quickness and range at 3B were not really the main issue: it was his erratic arm.

 

I was checking out the heights of American League 1B. Carlos Santana is the shortest at 5' 10'. 

Devers is 6' tall and he's much more quicker than Casas.

Considering that Devers' errors were mostly throwing, I would be ok with him at 1B. But that would mean we have given up on Casas at a time when his trade value is all time low.

Hell I would be okay with Refsnyder DH'ing.

[mvp 78]

30 minutes ago, Nick said:

I was checking out the heights of American League 1B. Carlos Santana is the shortest at 5' 10'. 

Devers is 6' tall and he's much more quicker than Casas.

Considering that Devers' errors were mostly throwing, I would be ok with him at 1B. But that would mean we have given up on Casas at a time when his trade value is all time low.

Hell I would be okay with Refsnyder DH'ing.

I think a lot of us believe Raffy could be a good 1b as he was relatively athletic over at 3b. I could see him doing a pretty good job at picking bad throws at 1b. 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

14 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think a lot of us believe Raffy could be a good DH as he was relatively athletic over at 3b

Being a DH doesn't really require a lot of athleticism. I mean, papi was a pretty good DH and nobody was ever going to confuse him with Jim Thorpe.

[drewski6]

26 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Being a DH doesn't really require a lot of athleticism. I mean, papi was a pretty good DH and nobody was ever going to confuse him with Jim Thorpe.

Assumed he meant 1b instead of DH

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

I disagree. 

That sends a message to the rest of the team that a player and not management is running the show.

The team doesn't have to know.

I get your point, though. If the team believes Devers could/would defense 1B better than Casas (not hard to do,) they should tell not ask him to pick up a glove.

I wonder, if they worry about increasing the chances of a new injury or extending the shoulder issue.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The team doesn't have to know.

Pretty naive to think the clubhouse wouldn't find out.

[mvp 78]

29 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The team doesn't have to know.

I get your point, though. If the team believes Devers could/would defense 1B better than Casas (not hard to do,) they should tell not ask him to pick up a glove.

I wonder, if they worry about increasing the chances of a new injury or extending the shoulder issue.

It's his non-throwing shoulder that he originally hurt while fielding. If there are still lingering concerns about the shoulder, putting him in the field doesn't make sense at any position.

[vegasbob]

On 4/29/2025 at 10:22 AM, moonslav59 said:

I'm a long way from benching Casas, but the leash ends somewhere.

Given the run Bobby Dalbec was given  , I'm sure the Sox will let Casas  have a good stretch of time ( June?)  to see if he can get his bat going consistently and upgrade the D.   But if Grissom/Romy continue, but Triston doesn't,  they will start fitting him for a WooSox suit and get the extra  option year back.   

Casas brings to mind the tolerance for so called slow starters  as if early season results really don't matter.  This is a fallacy .  Every win matters , no offense to Shedeur Sanders

[vegasbob]

5 hours ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Red Sox Lost Star Doesn’t Sound Anywhere Near Return

A lost Star ?  Sounds like a rogue planet without a sun drifting in the vast expanses of open space.   Kind of like Yoshi's future barring some major change in Red Sox DH slot.

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

11 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Given the run Bobby Dalbec was given  , I'm sure the Sox will let Casas  have a good stretch of time ( June?)  to see if he can get his bat going consistently and upgrade the D.   But if Grissom/Romy continue, but Triston doesn't,  they will start fitting him for a WooSox suit and get the extra  option year back.   

Casas brings to mind the tolerance for so called slow starters  as if early season results really don't matter.  This is a fallacy .  Every win matters , no offense to Shedeur Sanders

I doubt the D improves much from here. It is who he is.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Pretty naive to think the clubhouse wouldn't find out.

You can just ask him how he feels about playing 1B.

Doing that is not going to shake the clubhouse foundation, if he says no, and the club chooses to not try hi at 1B.

[moonslav59]

25 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Given the run Bobby Dalbec was given  , I'm sure the Sox will let Casas  have a good stretch of time ( June?)  to see if he can get his bat going consistently and upgrade the D.   But if Grissom/Romy continue, but Triston doesn't,  they will start fitting him for a WooSox suit and get the extra  option year back.   

Casas brings to mind the tolerance for so called slow starters  as if early season results really don't matter.  This is a fallacy .  Every win matters , no offense to Shedeur Sanders

The thing about slow starts to a season, if that his OPS his shown on the screen every AB. If a player has a stretch like this in July, his OPS might show at .725, whan maybe it was at .850 the month before. Hardly anybody gets all worried and starts calling for a benching.

Plus, some batter are just more streaky than others.

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The thing about slow starts to a season, if that his OPS his shown on the screen every AB. If a player has a stretch like this in July, his OPS might show at .725, whan maybe it was at .850 the month before. Hardly anybody gets all worried and starts calling for a benching.

Plus, some batter are just more streaky than others.

It took him until 7/22/23 to break 800 OPS, but he never dropped under again. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Some guys are definitely slow starters, but are any notoriously slow enders? Healthy players, that is...

No stats referenced here, but isn't just about every position player in baseball a better hitter in warmer weather? 

Put it this way: can anyone remember a guy at any level who'd rather bat on cold rainy April nights instead of hot sunny July afternoons? 

(talking about athletes in shape who don't get dawged in the dog days)

 

 

[moonslav59]

32 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Some guys are definitely slow starters, but are any notoriously slow enders? Healthy players, that is...

No stats referenced here, but isn't just about every position player in baseball a better hitter in warmer weather? 

Put it this way: can anyone remember a guy at any level who'd rather bat on cold rainy April nights instead of hot sunny July afternoons? 

(talking about athletes in shape who don't get dawged in the dog days)

 

 

Career for Judge:

.986 MAR/APR

.985 July

.980 AUG

(Those are his only months below 1.000. He is doesn't like cold or hot- just warm.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Career for Judge:

.986 MAR/APR

.985 July

.980 AUG

(Those are his only months below 1.000. He is doesn't like cold or hot- just warm.

March is such a SSS for games that count in MLB -- even the size of oranges and grapefruits still growing in  ST FLA. The only LSS are the baseballs to Japanese pitchers pitching in the majors for the first time.

In the other ST league in AZ, cactus are normal size. But the snails that hit the streets at night? XLSS!!!!

[drewski6]

11 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

March is such a SSS for games that count in MLB -- even the size of oranges and grapefruits still growing in  ST FLA. The only LSS are the baseballs to Japanese pitchers pitching in the majors for the first time.

In the other ST league in AZ, cactus are normal size. But the snails that hit the streets at night? XLSS!!!!

Which is why he combined March and April, as everyone does. 6 month (regular) season April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept. Any March games are considered April and any October (reg season) games count as Sept.

[vjcsmoke]

17 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Our OPS leaders jumped up the rankings, tonight.

7. Bregman .971

10. Abreu .963

13. Campbell .935

Campbell and Abreu have been really nice pleasant surprises. Campbell is the biggest surprise to do that as a rookie. Abreu was not hitting this well last year so he has grown into a really good every day outfielder, arguably our best one right now.

Bregman is kind of expected because of the big money we spent on him and how his swing is tailored for Fenway park but it is a big relief that he is meeting expectations and doing well. We definitely did not want to swing and miss with the big contract we paid him in the offseason.

Very importantly, Devers is back to being Devers and his numbers are returning to normal. It's so important to have your big bat in the middle of the lineup be a real threat.

My main concern is that Casas still doesn't look great. I was expecting more for him. Also our catchers are just bad offensively, like, really really poor. Connor Wong in particular has crashed. Narvaez has won the job by default of not being as sucky as our other catchers who hit for sub .400 OPS.

I'm glad the team is over .500 now and getting that big 10-2 revenge win against the Blue Jays was a nice way to show we can compete against the division.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

19 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Which is why he combined March and April, as everyone does. 6 month (regular) season April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept. Any March games are considered April and any October (reg season) games count as Sept.

As far as SSSS (spectator small sample size), I prefer the flights at a taproom over the appetizers.

Of course, after a few small glasses of beer, all the rest automatically taste good.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

March is such a SSS for games that count in MLB 

It's March + April.

[moonslav59]

Injury updates by MLB.com:

May 1st Wong

??? Fitts is throwing 120 ft but not off the mound yet. Cora says he's "feeling better."

??? Yoshida will visit Boston's training staff on May 2nd to discuss trouble  progressing with his throwing program.

??? Crawford may start facing live hitters, soon.

Sandoval & Murphy on 60 day.  Sandoval is throwing 105 ft and Murphy off the mound.

 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

5 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

You can just ask him how he feels about playing 1B.

Doing that is not going to shake the clubhouse foundation, if he says no, and the club chooses to not try hi at 1B.

Again, if the club asks him to play 1B and he refuses, then it could be a problem.