Article: Rafael Devers May Actually Play First Base, Eventually

[moonslav59]

22 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Moon is always so worried about how something is perceived. 

You perceived wrongly, again.

LOL!

[moonslav59]

24 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Bottom line Masa could be the DH in Boston right now, but he is not. Masa could have been the DH in Boston on opening day, but he was not. Masa could be the DH in Woo, or anywhere else right now, but he is not. You can call the why, and why not anything you want, but it still comes out to the same thing that Masa is in exile collecting his $18M.

Nobody disputes this.

It's worse than the Rusney situation, because Rusney was allowed to keep playing. I still wonder why he was never traded to a team who was $50M below the lux tax.

This whole situation is bizarre. 

(Notice how Yoshida is not talking, as far as I know.)

 

[moonslav59]

14 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Shades of rusney castillo.

I read this after I mentioned R Castillo.

At least there was an obvious reason to keep RC in AAA.

[Old Red]

35 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

Shades of rusney castillo.

Yes, but at least Rusney was actually playing Minor League ball.

[Maxbialystock]

14 hours ago, Old Red said:

What would you call it? To say he can’t play, because he can’t throw in the outfield is completely BS. 

He can't play because Devers is a vastly better DH and because, as moonslav says, the Sox are knee deep in competent, competitive outfielders.

I believe Breslow and folks above him have decided it's better to smear Devers--and they've done a good job of that--than to admit they have no idea what to do with Yoshida.  

All that said, I think Devers does have a modicum of fielding ability and could be a nice fit at 1b.  What pisses me off is that this has nothing to do with the Casas injury.  As I've said too many times, he was having a bad season (OPS .580) before the injury.   Gonzalez's OPS is .785, so he should be a more than adequate replacement once he gets off the IL.

Since Breslow caused all this and just might try to dump Devers, whom he's already branded as a malcontent and lingerer,  If he does, he's giving up a huge bat, probably with very little in return.  

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

3 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

I believe Breslow and folks above him have decided it's better to smear Devers--

whom he's already branded as a malcontent and lingerer, 

Any links to where they smeared him or called him a malcontent?

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

AI? It was Bob Nightengale? Is he a robot?

His mama was a bot. (No link available.)

[mvp 78]

15 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

 

Since Breslow caused all this and just might try to dump Devers, whom he's already branded as a malcontent and lingerer,  If he does, he's giving up a huge bat, probably with very little in return.  

I don't see this happening. If he trades Devers and the Sox miss the playoffs, Breslow is fired almost immediately. 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

I don't see this happening. If he trades Devers and the Sox miss the playoffs, Breslow is fired almost immediately. 

But he retains his job if he keeps the diva and doesn't make the playoffs?

[Hitch]

33 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Nobody disputes this.

It's worse than the Rusney situation, because Rusney was allowed to keep playing. I still wonder why he was never traded to a team who was $50M below the lux tax.

This whole situation is bizarre. 

(Notice how Yoshida is not talking, as far as I know.)

 

I posted this on the previous page. These were his comments 6 days ago. 

 

"When I stretch out to 120 feet, that’s when I kind of feel the pain,” Yoshida said. “I’m going to have to let it sit and see how I feel...That’s something that I kind of have to be dealing with throughout the year. At least this year I will have to deal with the pain...

"As far as the hitting, no problem...“But I’m not recovering or making the progress at the pace that I wanted to. Let’s put it that way.”

[moonslav59]

35 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I don't see this happening. If he trades Devers and the Sox miss the playoffs, Breslow is fired almost immediately. 

He won't/can't trade Devers w/o upper brass buy-in.

[moonslav59]

31 minutes ago, Hitch said:

I posted this on the previous page. These were his comments 6 days ago. 

 

"When I stretch out to 120 feet, that’s when I kind of feel the pain,” Yoshida said. “I’m going to have to let it sit and see how I feel...That’s something that I kind of have to be dealing with throughout the year. At least this year I will have to deal with the pain...

"As far as the hitting, no problem...“But I’m not recovering or making the progress at the pace that I wanted to. Let’s put it that way.”

Thanks. I missed your earlier post.

No talk about not playing in games.

[notin]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I read this after I mentioned R Castillo.

At least there was an obvious reason to keep RC in AAA.

Was there? Rusney had a bad contract and rules at the time allowed the Sox to bury it by removing him from the 40 man roster.  But he was far from untalented.  His defensive metrics were off the chart among MLB outfielders, especially his DRS, which trends towards being cumulative.

He had skills.  But not ones DD wanted to pay for…

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

Was there? Rusney had a bad contract and rules at the time allowed the Sox to bury it by removing him from the 40 man roster.  But he was far from untalented.  His defensive metrics were off the chart among MLB outfielders, especially his DRS, which trends towards being cumulative.

He had skills.  But not ones DD wanted to pay for…

The problem was that after the Sox took advantage of the luxury tax loophole by moving him off the 40, MLB closed the loophole, which essentially trapped him in AAA.  If DD had promoted him for 2 games he would have been back on the lux tax payroll for good.  They just didn't think it was worth promoting him to incur that extra tax cost.   

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, notin said:

Was there? Rusney had a bad contract and rules at the time allowed the Sox to bury it by removing him from the 40 man roster.  But he was far from untalented.  His defensive metrics were off the chart among MLB outfielders, especially his DRS, which trends towards being cumulative.

He had skills.  But not ones DD wanted to pay for…

I thought his contract would count against the lux tax, if they promoted him. (They since changed the rules.)

[Bellhorn04]

8 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I thought his contract would count against the lux tax, if they promoted him. (They since changed the rules.)

Rusney was the reason for the change!

[mvp 78]

15 minutes ago, notin said:

Was there? Rusney had a bad contract and rules at the time allowed the Sox to bury it by removing him from the 40 man roster.  But he was far from untalented.  His defensive metrics were off the chart among MLB outfielders, especially his DRS, which trends towards being cumulative.

He had skills.  But not ones DD wanted to pay for…

MLB closed the loophole where if Rusney was promoted he'd count against the lux tax after he was in AAA. He was stuck in purgatory. I'm sure he could have been a decent 5th OFer somewhere if he didn't have that contract. 

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Rusney was the reason for the change!

Yes. That's what I remembered.

There was a reason for keeping Rusney down.

There is a reason to keep Yoshida down, too, but not for having him not even play.

Has anyone asked Cora or Brez to follow up on their answer that he's "working on building up his arm strength for throwing."

Can't he play in a farm game to keep his batting eye sharp and work on the arm during his off time?

(Maybe they did answer, but I missed it.)

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

MLB closed the loophole where if Rusney was promoted he'd count against the lux tax after he was in AAA. He was stuck in purgatory. I'm sure he could have been a decent 5th OFer somewhere if he didn't have that contract. 

He might have been a 3rd or 4th OF'er for some bad team.

[mvp 78]

Just now, moonslav59 said:

He might have been a 3rd or 4th OF'er for some bad team.

He was! For the PawSox! 

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

48 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He won't/can't trade Devers w/o upper brass buy-in.

That can be said about all trades.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, TheSplinteredSplendor said:

That can be said about all trades.

This isn't really true. History of this team is that Henry allows the GM/CBO to make decisions that he doesn't agree with. Case in point, they signed Carl Crawford to a deal that Henry didn't want Theo to sign. I think more often than not, Henry is an absentee owner and doesn't get in to the day to day. For a move regarding the franchise player, it would have to be run by the owner. 

[notin]

30 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

The problem was that after the Sox took advantage of the luxury tax loophole by moving him off the 40, MLB closed the loophole, which essentially trapped him in AAA.  If DD had promoted him for 2 games he would have been back on the lux tax payroll for good.  They just didn't think it was worth promoting him to incur that extra tax cost.   

While true, the real problem for Castillo was the DD was not a fan.  After Rusney did his showcase for MLB teams,  DD (then still with Detroit) reportedly left calling Castillo “a fourth outfielder.”

While playing for even a day left Castillo on the payroll counting towards the luxury tax, I think we can both agree DD never let those finances inhibit the way he operated.  He simply didn’t like Castillo’s game…

[notin]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

This isn't really true. History of this team is that Henry allows the GM/CBO to make decisions that he doesn't agree with. Case in point, they signed Carl Crawford to a deal that Henry didn't want Theo to sign. I think more often than not, Henry is an absentee owner and doesn't get in to the day to day. For a move regarding the franchise player, it would have to be run by the owner. 

Even with owner approval, Breslow has the responsibility of making the team better.  He doesn’t get to shirk that responsibility by saying “but you said I could!!” 

[mvp 78]

Just now, notin said:

While true, the real problem for Castillo was the DD was not a fan.  After Rusney did his showcase for MLB teams,  DD (then still with Detroit) reportedly left calling Castillo “a fourth outfielder.”

While playing for even a day left Castillo on the payroll counting towards the luxury tax, I think we can both agree DD never let those finances inhibit the way he operated.  He simply didn’t like Castillo’s game…

And no other GM in MLB was a fan either as he never appeared in another MLB game. In fact, no team even wanted him on an MiLB deal as a 32 year old...

[notin]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

And no other GM in MLB was a fan either as he never appeared in another MLB game. In fact, no team even wanted him on an MiLB deal as a 32 year old...

As a younger player, they might have.  But not for that contract.  Fangraphs used to do an annual series of articles on minor leaguers that deserve a shot in MLB, and one year they profiled Castillo.  The article included a quote from a rivscout asking “why is this guy still here?”, referring to AAA.

No one wanted his overpriced contract, and (,correct me if I’m wrong)  including money to pay for him to play for an MLB team would have made that money count towards the Sox luxury tax.

Idont think Castillo was ever destined to be a star, but I do think he was good enough for MLB.  Doubtful he ever justified that contract…

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, notin said:

As a younger player, they might have.  But not for that contract.  Fangraphs used to do an annual series of articles on minor leaguers that deserve a shot in MLB, and one year they profiled Castillo.  The article included a quote from a rivscout asking “why is this guy still here?”, referring to AAA.

No one wanted his overpriced contract, and (,correct me if I’m wrong)  including money to pay for him to play for an MLB team would have made that money count towards the Sox luxury tax.

Idont think Castillo was ever destined to be a star, but I do think he was good enough for MLB.  Doubtful he ever justified that contract…

Why didn't anyone want him AFTER the contract,  notin? He was only 32! They could have had him for league minimum! 

[notin]

5 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Why didn't anyone want him AFTER the contract,  notin? He was only 32! They could have had him for league minimum! 

Just because he was 32 doesn’t mean he retained his skills over the years.  How many 32 year old players with minimal MLB experience get MLB contracts?  Not counting Japanese/Korean league vets

Just because I said he was good enough for MLB doesn’t mean I (or anyone else, like the author of the Fangraphs article) thought he was an above average starter, let alone a star.  When you get to be 32 in MLB, you’re old.

[Bellhorn04]

28 minutes ago, notin said:

While true, the real problem for Castillo was the DD was not a fan.  After Rusney did his showcase for MLB teams,  DD (then still with Detroit) reportedly left calling Castillo “a fourth outfielder.”

While playing for even a day left Castillo on the payroll counting towards the luxury tax, I think we can both agree DD never let those finances inhibit the way he operated.  He simply didn’t like Castillo’s game…

I think in this case it was a combo of the two factors.  DD cared about the finances to the extent that JH did.  And Zack Scott confirmed that Sox ownership cared deeply about lux tax.  He cited it as the main reason they didn't offer Devers an extension early in his career.   

[TheSplinteredSplendor]

38 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

This isn't really true. History of this team is that Henry allows the GM/CBO to make decisions that he doesn't agree with. Case in point, they signed Carl Crawford to a deal that Henry didn't want Theo to sign. I think more often than not, Henry is an absentee owner and doesn't get in to the day to day. For a move regarding the franchise player, it would have to be run by the owner. 

He may disagree with the move, but that doesn't mean it isn't run past him first for his approval.