Red Sox (Crochet) vs White Sox (Smith): 4/13/25, 2:10pm

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I realize offense matters, and some do not value WAR, but Rafaela is 5th on the team in WAR at +0.3. He's on pace for over 3.5.

Is he 5th in WAR because of his offense? With how bad the team's offense has been, is it a badge of honor to be 5th (aka tied with Romy)? 

Players ahead of him that play similar positions (OF, MIF): Abreu, Campbell, Story. If you are calling up Anthony, he's going to start ahead of Rafaela. He's just a better player. So who would you rather in your everyday lineup: Duran or Rafaela? That's what it comes down to.

Duran! His barrel% is up. His hard hit % is up. His EV is up. His BABIP is down. He'll get locked in and he'll be better than even the best version of Rafaela we've seen. 

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, Old Red said:

I know everyone rags on RAF Man, because he doesn’t walk enough, strikes out to much, or doesn’t hit enough, but the Red Sox season isn’t going to come down to what the RAF Man does, or doesn’t do with the bat. RAF Man is way down the list of importance IMO.  Would it be great if he hit more? No doubt.

Wouldn't it be great if we had a CFer that could hit and field like Duran did in '24. Too bad that guy isn't on the roster anymore! 

[Old Red]

13 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Wouldn't it be great if we had a CFer that could hit and field like Duran did in '24. Too bad that guy isn't on the roster anymore! 

Agree, but I don’t think Brez gave the Raf Man the contract they did to a a platoon, or utility guy either.

[mvp 78]

28 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Agree, but I don’t think Brez gave the Raf Man the contract they did to a a platoon, or utility guy either.

He makes 6M a year (CBT). If you go by cash, he's making only 1M. Eiher way, that's platoon money. That's defensive replacement money. 

[moonslav59]

RAF has saved 5-6 hits, already.... some maybe 2Bs.

Add those to his offense, and he looks fine.

[Hitch]

2 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Who's panicking? All the teams in MLB history that promoted top prospects to inject energy into lethargic big league line-ups?

The fact is Roman Anthony is baseball's #1 position player prospect, and that he plays outfield. If the Sox want to make him a first baseman, such an experiment probably won't happen until next offseason.

When he is promoted to the big leagues soon, he has to play every day, which means someone else gets replaced. Fans and posters have been speculating different possible outfield alignments since Spring Training.

The obvious guy to get benched is Rafaela. If not, the corner outfielders are too good to sit, which may necessitate trading someone of value. It certainly won't be Anthony, because he has more potential than Duran, Ceddanne, Abreu, Refsnyder and Yoshida to solve one of Boston's biggest deficits: consistent power.

You've talked yourself into us needing to trade Duran to bring up two kids (how you get to the point of trading him out of that list you've mentioned above is beyond me but there we go). And you seem to be basing a lot of this on the fact 'we looked better with the kids in the team in Spring Training'. Spring Training! Sorry that is just panicked, bordering on insane, thinking, 

We're in mid April. 17 games in. 1.5 behind in the standings despite the world ending apparently. Just take a breath and let a bit of time play out. Anthony will likely come up when they'll no longer have a problem service time wise . Mayer might, too, though he doesn't have an open spot to play right now and is hitting 567 OPS in his first dozen games in AAA.

This idea that they will inject everything this team needs and suddenly everyone will hit with RISP, lower strikeouts, and give better-at-bats is so counter-productive. The minute they struggle (and God forbid if they struggle out the gate as a great deal of prospects do), they'll get hammered and the complaints will start about us needing to have traded them, and prospects hardly ever work out, and Will Middlebrooks/Yoán Moncada/yada yada yada. 

Let's not build the pressure up too much on these kids in which a fanbase exists that is already utterly lacking in patience (and I don't blame them to a degree after the last few years - but Jesus!)

[mvp 78]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

RAF has saved 5-6 hits, already.... some maybe 2Bs.

Add those to his offense, and he looks fine.

No.

[moonslav59]

9 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

No.

No, he hasn't saved 5-6 hits?

[vegasbob]

I think Jarren Duran's contribution , or lack thereof,  is more critical than solving Cedanne's issues.  Anthony will solve the Rafaela dilemma by show of hitting force soon enough.

Duran as leadoff has got to have an above average OBP to go with his speed and disruptive baserunning.   A .286 OBP with only 3 doubles and no HR after 17 games ( 70 ABs/5 BBs but 19 K's)  is not going to keep him there.   He is the oldest of the OF regulars , and is not likely to be  given a big money extension by Boston . A weak 2025 will cement that  reality.

Going on a limb here,   Duran's mental makeup as displayed on Clubhouse shows his self defeating lack of true confidence.   It may motivate himself but the internal raging of self deprecation will eat him up.  Sort of reminds me of the Jimmy Piersall story  from the '50s .  The Never Good Enough Son of the Father syndrome.

Conclusion:   You may see Jarren on the trade block come July before any of the others .  He needs to get on base for his stuff to work.

[mvp 78]

51 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

No, he hasn't saved 5-6 hits?

He hasn't saved 5-6 more hits than Duran and you don't add it to his offensive numbers and count them all doubles. 

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

I think Jarren Duran's contribution , or lack thereof,  is more critical than solving Cedanne's issues.  Anthony will solve the Rafaela dilemma by show of hitting force soon enough.

Duran as leadoff has got to have an above average OBP to go with his speed and disruptive baserunning.   A .286 OBP with only 3 doubles and no HR after 17 games ( 70 ABs/5 BBs but 19 K's)  is not going to keep him there.   He is the oldest of the OF regulars , and is not likely to be  given a big money extension by Boston . A weak 2025 will cement that  reality.

Going on a limb here,   Duran's mental makeup as displayed on Clubhouse shows his self defeating lack of true confidence.   It may motivate himself but the internal raging of self deprecation will eat him up.  Sort of reminds me of the Jimmy Piersall story  from the '50s .  The Never Good Enough Son of the Father syndrome.

Conclusion:   You may see Jarren on the trade block come July before any of the others .  He needs to get on base for his stuff to work.

Maybe he's spending too much time working on his Ford Bronco on his days off? 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, Hitch said:

Let's not build the pressure up too much on these kids in which a fanbase exists that is already utterly lacking in patience (and I don't blame them to a degree after the last few years - but Jesus!)

Finally, someone sane to talk us lunatics from jumping off the back wall of the Monster onto Upsidedown Street. The last thing any big league club would ever want to do is put pressure on young men they pay to  play a kid's game.

Don't ever promote a Bogaerts or Devers at age 20 or a Betts at age 21 or even a Kristian Campbell -- who at 22 has only played one full year in the minors and one year at D1.

They might be ruined for life!

[Hitch]

13 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Finally, someone sane to talk us lunatics from jumping off the back wall of the Monster onto Upsidedown Street. The last thing any big league club would ever want to do is put pressure on young men they pay to  play a kid's game.

Don't ever promote a Bogaerts or Devers at age 20 or a Betts at age 21 or even a Kristian Campbell -- who at 22 has only played one full year in the minors and one year at D1.

They might be ruined for life!

Fantastic post. Might read again.

[moonslav59]

38 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He hasn't saved 5-6 more hits than Duran and you don't add it to his offensive numbers and count them all doubles. 

Nobody said count them all as doubles. Not sure where you got that from.

I've seen 5-6 plays that hardly anybody else makes.

You chose to bring up Duran. Currently Rafaela is +2 OAA and Duran is -2, so a difference of 4 is not far from 4-5.

Add 4 hits to Rafaela and he's 15 for 50, not 11 for 50. That's .220 to .300.

All singles.

[Kimmi]

On 4/13/2025 at 3:53 PM, moonslav59 said:

Man, these 1-2-3 innings by our offense are brutal.

It happens far too often.  Outside of a 4-game stretch from April 3 - 6, our offensive futility has been mind numbing.  I'm still trying to come to terms with losing a series to the lowly White Sox, and barely avoiding being swept to boot.

I hope this turns around soon!

[Kimmi]

On 4/13/2025 at 4:03 PM, notin said:

If they lose, it’s on the lack of offense…

Thank goodness the Red Sox held on, but absolutely. 

Same with the previous game.  That was on the offense, IMO.

[Kimmi]

On 4/13/2025 at 4:03 PM, redsoxrules said:

I'm sorry but let crochet finish the 8th. No one was touching him today. 

I completely get this sentiment, but it's a long season.  Pulling Crochet was the right call, IMO.

[Kimmi]

22 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not worried about Devers.

I do see a risk of the contract becoming an issue is 4-6 years, maybe 7-8, but not for a while.

The guy was on pace for his career year, in 2024, but the injury stopped that. He's just entering peak prime years for most players.

I love Devers, I'm glad that he's still a Red Sox, and I'm not worried about him.  That said, I'd have never given him that contract.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Kimmi said:

I love Devers, I'm glad that he's still a Red Sox, and I'm not worried about him.  That said, I'd have never given him that contract.

The contract was absurd, and I'd rather we spent that on Betts, but he seemed like the "last straw."

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Kimmi said:

I completely get this sentiment, but it's a long season.  Pulling Crochet was the right call, IMO.

I agree. It's still early in the season, and his arm has not pitched a lot of innings in a season.... ever.

To have any chance, this year, he has to be healthy, all year.

[Kimmi]

32 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

The contract was absurd, and I'd rather we spent that on Betts, but he seemed like the "last straw."

Maybe Betts over Devers, but I also wouldn't have given that contract to Betts.  Or any player, for that matter.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

4 hours ago, vegasbob said:

He is the oldest of the OF regulars , and is not likely to be  given a big money extension by Boston . A weak 2025 will cement that  reality.

Conclusion:   You may see Jarren on the trade block come July before any of the others .  He needs to get on base for his stuff to work.

Fans hate to admit Duran might be a trade candidate, but you're right: has there ever been any discussion by a beat reporter or NESN voice about a possible extension?

He'll be 29 in September, and Abreu at 26 may be a more attractive deadline target since he makes minimum and has one more year of control. Or the Sox could just keep all their good outfielders and have Cora revolve them in and out of the line-up.

But someone that wants to win this year might covet a primetimer a year removed from an 8.7 WAR and All-Star MVP... and make Breslow an offer he can't refuse. Bonafide starting pitchers like Cole Ragans and Joe Ryan were acquired for much older vets like Chapman and Nelson Cruz.

[mvp 78]

They control him through 2028. Why extend?