Red Sox (Giolito) vs Giants (Ray): 6/22/25, 4:05pm

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, Hitch said:

The guy running in has to take control over the guy running backwards, for me.  Either way, Eaton should have been screaming if he was that confident. I watched the replays and it looked like neither of them opened their mouths.

Per Middlebrooks: "if the infielder is going back, you’re always listening for the outfielder to takeover verbally… I don’t think that happened." It's on the OFer to call the 3b off then. Duran just stinks out there and doesn't know what he's doing. Your 2025 Red Sox DH, ladies and germs. 

[mvp 78]

45 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Totally agree. 

Mayer doesn't profile as one of those slick-fielding banjo hitters, either. He's a big guy with obvious pop, currently listed as 6-3, 188 at age 22.

I can see Mayer's ceiling maybe like a Matt Chapman: Gold Glover, with relatively high K numbers, but an OPS always hovering around .800. Chapman is listed at 6-1, 225. His annual average through nine seasons is 6 bWAR... I'll take a decade of that.

I want him at SS.

[Hitch]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Per Middlebrooks: "if the infielder is going back, you’re always listening for the outfielder to takeover verbally… I don’t think that happened." It's on the OFer to call the 3b off then. Duran just stinks out there and doesn't know what he's doing. Your 2025 Red Sox DH, ladies and germs. 

That's how I've always understood it, too. There is a LOT of that sort of thing happening with the team. 

I bristle at some of the stuff said about Cora on times, but we have been garbage defensively for at least two years now. Part of that is on him. The players are not even getting fundamentals right. 🫣

[illinoisredsox]

29 minutes ago, Hitch said:

That's how I've always understood it, too. There is a LOT of that sort of thing happening with the team. 

I bristle at some of the stuff said about Cora on times, but we have been garbage defensively for at least two years now. Part of that is on him. The players are not even getting fundamentals right. 🫣

Those fundamentals should have been taught at the amateur level and certainly in the minors.  The one place they should not have to be learned is in the majors.

[mvp 78]

31 minutes ago, Hitch said:

That's how I've always understood it, too. There is a LOT of that sort of thing happening with the team. 

I bristle at some of the stuff said about Cora on times, but we have been garbage defensively for at least two years now. Part of that is on him. The players are not even getting fundamentals right. 🫣

Part of it is on him. Part of it is on roster construction. Part of it is on how the organization is developing these guys. 

C - Narvaez (NYY developed, great fielder), Wong (LAD/BOS developed, bad fielder)

1B - Casas (BOS developed, terrible fielder)

2B - Campbell (BOS developed, terrible fielder), Hamilton (MIL/BOS, ok fielder)

SS - Story (COL developed, good fielder)

3B - Devers (BOS developed, terrible fielder), Bregman (HOU developed, great fielder), Mayer (BOS developed, good fielder)

RF - Abreu (HOU/BOS developed, good fielder)

CF - Rafaela (BOS developed, great fielder)

LF - Duran (BOS developed, high variance fielder), Anthony (BOS developed, passable fielder)

Journeyman players with journeyman fielding abilities: Romy, Eaton, Toro, Refsnyder

 

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, illinoisredsox said:

Those fundamentals should have been taught at the amateur level and certainly in the minors.  The one place they should not have to be learned is in the majors.

I generally agree. I think they should keep working on it and improving, but it shouldn't have to be a "back to basics" approach that some of these guys need. It's embarrassing. I know that working in the cage is the most fun thing they can do, but being out on the field is just as important.

[cp176]

18 minutes ago, illinoisredsox said:

Those fundamentals should have been taught at the amateur level and certainly in the minors.  The one place they should not have to be learned is in the majors.

I agree - priority in both the infield and the outfield is supposed to be taught at a very young age.  That fly ball was all Duran’s.  He says he called for it which got think he did.  It’s a really noisy place to play.  We have an inexperienced third baseman for sure at the ml level playing third base.  Eaton is a great athlete for sure but that was Duran’s.  

[Hitch]

23 minutes ago, illinoisredsox said:

Those fundamentals should have been taught at the amateur level and certainly in the minors.  The one place they should not have to be learned is in the majors.

Yes and no. They need to keep these skills sharp. There is a reason why major league players continue to train fundamentals. We look sloppy. All the time. 

There is whole other discussion to be had whether our players are getting the right training at the lower levels defensively. 

[Maxbialystock]

4 hours ago, cp176 said:

I get all of the righty lefty stuff with respect to hitting but having Mayer on the bench definitely affects the defense.  Pick your poison I guess.  I’ve never liked the way that Cora tends to deal with too many players trying to play too many different positions.  You want better infield defense, Mayer needs to be on the field.

The error was on Duran, not the new guy Eaton.  Do I like Mayer at 3b?  Heck yes.  But Mayer's OPS vs lefties is .200 and Eaton has a hot bat right now and zippo errors (1 game).   

Right now the Sox are without their 2 best hitters this season, Bregman and Devers, so of course Cora wants to get righty bats in against a good lefty starter.   Yesterday he had 7 righty bats against lefty Ray and scored 4 runs off him, 3 earned.  The 2 lefty bats. Duran and Anthony, had 1 hit of 12 Sox hits and scored no runs and drove none in.  Eaton, in for Mayer, was 2/3 and scored a run.  Gonzalez had the solo dinger.  

Hamilton is our best available defensive 2d baseman with a DWAR of +0.8, but he committed an error Saturday that led to 2 unearned runs in a 3-2 game SF won.   

Cora ain't the problem.  He throws no pitches, takes no swings at the plate, and doesn't play defense.  Our pitching, hitting and defense are all inconsistent.

It is no coincidence that those 3 costly errors yesterday and Saturday came from our weakest 3 spots defensively--LF/Duran, 2b/Campbell/Gonzalez/Hamilton, and 1b Casas/Toro/Gonzalez.   

Rafaela in CF, Abreu/Anthony in RF, Bregman/Mayer at 3b, Story at SS, and Narvaez at catcher are all above par defenders and play a lot of innings/games.