Cora: "[Ceddanne] Rafaela [Will] Make An Occasional Start At Second Base

[drewski6]

1 minute ago, mvp 78 said:

I think a deal for Keller makes more sense than a deal for Ryan. Keller would provide a lot of value. You'd keep the OFers through the end of the year. I think you can then decide between Abreu and Duran in the offseason when you can really plan out the roster more fully than on the fly. 

If Keller allows us to keep our OF'ers (or at least put it off until after this playoff run) but would have to give one up for Ryan, than Ryan would have to be MUCH better than Keller for it to be worth moving an OF (for me). And I honestly just dont know.  I havent pitched with either enough times in the show.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

If Keller allows us to keep our OF'ers (or at least put it off until after this playoff run) but would have to give one up for Ryan, than Ryan would have to be MUCH better than Keller for it to be worth moving an OF (for me). And I honestly just dont know.  I havent pitched with either enough times in the show.

Twins have stated they don't want to move Ryan as well. It may be a pipe dream.

[drewski6]

43 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Oh 1000%. There's virtually no chance of us getting Skenes I don't think. But I like to dream on these things.

This is why all of you armchair GMs should be playing the show.  Not only can you get Skenes but you can get him for a poo--poo platter of replaceable talent.  And its so fun.  Just dont let it convince you that its that easy to quantity dump for quality in real life just cuz you can do it in the show.  Or youll be setting yourself up for disappointment. 

[Soxlover]

1 hour ago, Hitch said:

Do you think the Twins take Campbell for Ryan? I think there's no chance. 

Campbell and Clarke, maybe

[Soxlover]

These teams that state “We are not trading ___” just mean they need to be blown away to change their minds.

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, Soxlover said:

Campbell and Clarke, maybe

Sounds light, but IDK

[Hitch]

2 hours ago, Soxlover said:

Campbell and Clarke, maybe

Yeah feels light to me too.

Hard to know what sort of value Campbell has at the moment. 

[notin]

41 minutes ago, Hitch said:

Yeah feels light to me too.

Hard to know what sort of value Campbell has at the moment. 

BTV accepts Campbell and Tolle.  Minnesota, on the other hand…

[TedYazPapiMookie]

Trading Campbell would be just as big of a mistake as trading Duran, Rafaela, Anthony, Bregman or Story would be right now.  All are needed for the remainder of 2025.  Abreu provides the most bang for the buck compared to the value he adds.  Perfect sell high scenario.  

With all the SSs in the organization, Mayer is expendable too and carries more value than worth.  Again, a perfect sell high scenario.  The organization has been short-sighted with regard to Duran (3 years ago), Rafaela (last year) and Campbell (this year).  If Campbell is forced to play 1B he will be critical in the second half as the two pretenders (Toro and Gonzalez) regress back to their normal performance level.  You can already see them starting to trend down.

If the current winning streak can reflect the future in 2025 that would be great but it's highly unlikely.  Historically this team wins 5 in a row then loses 5 in a row and have flip-flopped on longer streaks as well.  Let's hope a 10-game losing streak isn't in the cards like in the past.  That would scramble the front office with respect to buying or selling.  Afterall there are 8 teams within five losses of the Red Sox so even a short losing streak will create a lot of mixed emotions on a buy/sell decision.  The rose-colored glasses are on everyone right now, but the typical reverse streak will change things very quickly.

Fixing the SP3 and SP4 spots would be helpful but not at the cost of the above players listed as "don't trade".  Relief help could be very helpful as well.  Dumping Cora would do the most to improve the team.  Any manager who plays the best defensive outfield in the wrong spot then suggests he's going to play 2B as well is a complete idiot and needs to go but that's nothing new, he's been consistently bad since he arrived.

I believe in Breslow and I believe he will find the missing parts if the team comes out of the all-star break and DOES NOT go on an extended losing streak.  He's done a great job so far and I expect the same going forward, especially if he can pick his own manager and significantly improve the organization.

[Kimmi]

On 7/15/2025 at 4:03 PM, Hitch said:

I think you're about o have your heart broken, Kimmi. 

I don't want to see Duran going but I think it's inevitable. 

We badly need a 2nd starter. Crochet is nails. Gio and Bello appear to be locked in and hopefully that's who we have or near enough towards the end of the season, but it's far from a lock. After that, it's a lot of questions and huge ERA's. We need that extra pitcher and we have a lot of outfielders. Padres seem intent on getting Duran, so if we involved a 3rd team, I think it likely happens. 

 

I really dislike this time of the year (trade deadline) and the offseason because of all the speculation and the fear of getting my heart broken.  

I can't really argue with anything you've said about getting another starter.  If only Tanner Houck would revert to his form from the first half of last season. 

Rationally speaking, I know we could use another starting pitcher, and I know that our area of strength to deal from is our outfielders.  Emotionally speaking, I'd rather keep our outfield intact and take our chances with the starters that we have.  Perhaps Breslow will surprise me and do both.  

[Kimmi]

7 hours ago, drewski6 said:

Fair, Im not against some major pitching acquisitions.  Im just against moving Duran OR Abreu to do it, when I want both on my postseason roster and there are guys who I dont think will be on our postseason roster who can be moved.

This is quickly looking like a team worth keeping together.

You said this so well.

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, Kimmi said:

I really dislike this time of the year (trade deadline) and the offseason because of all the speculation and the fear of getting my heart broken.  

I can't really argue with anything you've said about getting another starter.  If only Tanner Houck would revert to his form from the first half of last season. 

Rationally speaking, I know we could use another starting pitcher, and I know that our area of strength to deal from is our outfielders.  Emotionally speaking, I'd rather keep our outfield intact and take our chances with the starters that we have.  Perhaps Breslow will surprise me and do both.  

One solution would be to get an OF'er to play 1B or bench/trade Yoshida and have an OF'er DH. Toro is in a steep decline even against RHPs. Keep the OF'ers and trade some of our second level prospects to upgrade at a few slots. Decide what pitching prospects don't fit with Brez & Bailey and make room for all these college pitchers we just drafted.

Pick up a decent SP and or RP, but don't go overboard.

Maybe Sandoval comes through. Let's just cross our fingers and hope.

NOT!!!

The window is open, now. We've spent 6 years building up a solid young core of mostly everyday players and a pretty decent farm, despite all the graduations and upcoming ones. For years we've been saying and hearing that we draft SSs so we can trade for pitching when the time is right.

That time is NOW!

Could it backfire? Yes.

Is trading several young players for a pitcher a huge risk? YES!

Is trying to walk the thin line at the deadline really what some here want?

I'm not for blowing up the farm for rentals. This window can stay open for many years. Make a couple moderate rental deals with second tier prospects and one big deal from our OF depth and a non top 5-6 prospect for a controlled pitcher. Call it a day, and let's make a serious push for a 2025 ring.

We don't have to make 4 big trades. Keep the farm looking good, but let's fix a couple weak areas and stop counting on returning pitchers from the IL.

 

[Hitch]

12 hours ago, Kimmi said:

I really dislike this time of the year (trade deadline) and the offseason because of all the speculation and the fear of getting my heart broken.  

I can't really argue with anything you've said about getting another starter.  If only Tanner Houck would revert to his form from the first half of last season. 

Rationally speaking, I know we could use another starting pitcher, and I know that our area of strength to deal from is our outfielders.  Emotionally speaking, I'd rather keep our outfield intact and take our chances with the starters that we have.  Perhaps Breslow will surprise me and do both.  

I hear you, I go back and forth all the time on what we should do ourselves. I certainly won't be unhappy to keep Duran (and Abreu), but I can also see the benefit of moving one for a great pitcher. 

[Hitch]

15 hours ago, notin said:

BTV accepts Campbell and Tolle.  Minnesota, on the other hand…

I think you have to do that if the Twins blinked first. 

[mvp 78]

16 hours ago, notin said:

BTV accepts Campbell and Tolle.  Minnesota, on the other hand…

Nope

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, Hitch said:

I hear you, I go back and forth all the time on what we should do ourselves. I certainly won't be unhappy to keep Duran (and Abreu), but I can also see the benefit of moving one for a great pitcher. 

...add with team control beyond 2025.

Agree!

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, Hitch said:

I think you have to do that if the Twins blinked first. 

That's a steep price. I'm more worried about Tolle than KC.

[Kimmi]

15 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

One solution would be to get an OF'er to play 1B or bench/trade Yoshida and have an OF'er DH. Toro is in a steep decline even against RHPs. Keep the OF'ers and trade some of our second level prospects to upgrade at a few slots. Decide what pitching prospects don't fit with Brez & Bailey and make room for all these college pitchers we just drafted.

Pick up a decent SP and or RP, but don't go overboard.

Maybe Sandoval comes through. Let's just cross our fingers and hope.

NOT!!!

The window is open, now. We've spent 6 years building up a solid young core of mostly everyday players and a pretty decent farm, despite all the graduations and upcoming ones. For years we've been saying and hearing that we draft SSs so we can trade for pitching when the time is right.

That time is NOW!

Could it backfire? Yes.

Is trading several young players for a pitcher a huge risk? YES!

Is trying to walk the thin line at the deadline really what some here want?

I'm not for blowing up the farm for rentals. This window can stay open for many years. Make a couple moderate rental deals with second tier prospects and one big deal from our OF depth and a non top 5-6 prospect for a controlled pitcher. Call it a day, and let's make a serious push for a 2025 ring.

We don't have to make 4 big trades. Keep the farm looking good, but let's fix a couple weak areas and stop counting on returning pitchers from the IL.

 

I  pretty much agree with this.  I'm less inclined to trade an outfielder than you are, but beyond that, I'm in agreement, especially with keeping the farm strong.  Because of the Devers trade and the new found flexibility that came along with it, I think the Red Sox will make a pretty big push for 2025.  Unless the Sox come out of the All-Star break floundering.

[Kimmi]

8 hours ago, Hitch said:

I hear you, I go back and forth all the time on what we should do ourselves. I certainly won't be unhappy to keep Duran (and Abreu), but I can also see the benefit of moving one for a great pitcher. 

Absolutely, there is benefit of moving an outfielder for a great pitcher.  Just don't sell low because we have a surplus.

[moonslav59]

10 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

I  pretty much agree with this.  I'm less inclined to trade an outfielder than you are, but beyond that, I'm in agreement, especially with keeping the farm strong.  Because of the Devers trade and the new found flexibility that came along with it, I think the Red Sox will make a pretty big push for 2025.  Unless the Sox come out of the All-Star break floundering.

We think alike on many things, including having a strong and balanced farm.

I know injuries are always something we have to plan for and expect, but I feel like sometimes you get to a point where some things get too unbalanced and there is a need to add a key piece. When this happens, I look to the area(s) where we look strongest and deepest, and to be honest, I think our OF is about as deep as one could ever hope for, and it seems obvious that someone will be blocked. One could argue that time is right now with the surging Anthony deserving a FT slot.

I get the fear: we trade Duran and someone gets hurt, but what if Gio, Bello or Fitts gets hurt? What if Buehler never comes around? Those issues seem more worthy of attention, to me, than keeping our 4th and 5th OF'ers the strongest in MLB.

Not only this, but I also see Campbell as not being an IF'er and a waste of his athleticism to think of him as a DH. We also have the untradable Yoshida inked in at DH for 2 more years. I don't want him in CF, since we have the almighty Rafaela there for many years to come, and I'd like to see KC in LF for the rest of the 2025 WOO season. So, I seem him as depth, but fully recognize he's not proven. The same with Jh Garcia, but he is a plus OF'er on D, already. Yoshida could be an emergency 5th or 6th OF'er, too.

I guess I'm just not overly worried about our OF depth, after we trade one. We'll still have better OF depth than we currently have at C, 1B, 3B and pitching. One could argue better than MI, too, since who is there after Story and Mayer? Romy is okay, but needed at 1B and really only a plus vs LHPs. Grissom? DHam? Romero? Arias is too far away and is slumping.

I think we have to swallow hard and hope Brez picks the right one to trade and the right pitcher to trade for. I am confident he will not waste an OF'er on a pitching rental. We can't afford another Sale type trade: that's for sure.

[Kimmi]

10 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

We think alike on many things, including having a strong and balanced farm.

I know injuries are always something we have to plan for and expect, but I feel like sometimes you get to a point where some things get too unbalanced and there is a need to add a key piece. When this happens, I look to the area(s) where we look strongest and deepest, and to be honest, I think our OF is about as deep as one could ever hope for, and it seems obvious that someone will be blocked. One could argue that time is right now with the surging Anthony deserving a FT slot.

I get the fear: we trade Duran and someone gets hurt, but what if Gio, Bello or Fitts gets hurt? What if Buehler never comes around? Those issues seem more worthy of attention, to me, than keeping our 4th and 5th OF'ers the strongest in MLB.

Not only this, but I also see Campbell as not being an IF'er and a waste of his athleticism to think of him as a DH. We also have the untradable Yoshida inked in at DH for 2 more years. I don't want him in CF, since we have the almighty Rafaela there for many years to come, and I'd like to see KC in LF for the rest of the 2025 WOO season. So, I seem him as depth, but fully recognize he's not proven. The same with Jh Garcia, but he is a plus OF'er on D, already. Yoshida could be an emergency 5th or 6th OF'er, too.

I guess I'm just not overly worried about our OF depth, after we trade one. We'll still have better OF depth than we currently have at C, 1B, 3B and pitching. One could argue better than MI, too, since who is there after Story and Mayer? Romy is okay, but needed at 1B and really only a plus vs LHPs. Grissom? DHam? Romero? Arias is too far away and is slumping.

I think we have to swallow hard and hope Brez picks the right one to trade and the right pitcher to trade for. I am confident he will not waste an OF'er on a pitching rental. We can't afford another Sale type trade: that's for sure.

It all makes sense, Moon.  There is going to be some risk in whatever moves we make or don't make.  I always have this fear of trading a player only to have that player be the player we should have kept.  I must admit, that fear is usually unwarranted.

[moonslav59]

I know this thread is about MLB trades and has morphed into a trade deadline thread, but how are farm looks for 2026 is a factor in who might get traded and where we lack in system depth that is ML or near ML ready:

Here are players listed by sox prospects.com as being on the AA or AAA next year. (They have Duran as a trade candidate and Jh Garica in MLB, but I'm going to list him as farm depth.)

C Jo Garcia in AA but he's not really close to ML ready. We need depth, here. (Brannon 1B)

1B: Casas (KC in MLB at 1B) Jordan (Toro?) Brannon

2B: DHam, Grissom

SS: Sogard, Arias AA

3B: Romero

LF: Eaton, Tibbs

CF: Castro, Taylor

RF: Jh Garcia, Bleis

DH: Hickey, Ehrhard

SP: AAA-Tolle, Harrison, Early, Uberstine, Sandlin, Perales, Wehunt, Drohan/ AA-Clarke, Rivera, Paez, Valera, Holobetz, Rogers

Pen: Murphy, Wink, Criswell, Guerrero, Kelly, Burdi, Mullins, Song, Hoppe/ AA- Moran, McShane, Ingrassia, Carlson, Dean, Sansone

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

It all makes sense, Moon.  There is going to be some risk in whatever moves we make or don't make.  I always have this fear of trading a player only to have that player be the player we should have kept.  I must admit, that fear is usually unwarranted.

I'm the world's worst second-guesser, more so with choices I make.

I keep coming back to the thought that some desperate team will have to value Duran or Abreu much higher than we do and higher than what they are likely to be worth, going forward.

Of course, they could go off an become an MVP or pull a Sale on us.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

The topic of the article was whether Rafaela should be playing 2B occasionally because an unqualified manager has had yet another brain cramp.  The obvious answer is that it's one his dumbest ideas yet and that says a lot because you could fill the library of congress with his dumb ideas.

Rafaela should start in RF the rest of his career since he and Duran are nearly comparable on defense and Rafaela has the far superior arm.  The funny thing is that fans are so short-sighted with their viewpoints I can remember when some called for trading Rafaela and others supported batting him 9th.  This kid is so good he will grow as a player and resemble Mookie Betts in that he'll hit for some power, he'll hit for average, he'll steal bases and could play SS full time given the chance to work at it prior to being moved to the new position. Very glad he didn't get traded!! 

Likewise on Duran who got made fun of initially when he had some mistakes learning CF in Fenway then provided elite defense in CF in 2024. 

The latest victim, Campbell, has maybe the highest upside potential of all three players and he's wasting his time in AAA learning 1B which he should never end up playing and 2B his second position so Mayer can be the SS after Story is gone.  He deserves better so I hope for his sake he does get traded because it will probably take too long before Cora will be fired because Breslow is doing such a great job providing talent upgrades for Cora.

[Bellhorn04]

On 7/16/2025 at 7:49 PM, Kimmi said:

I really dislike this time of the year (trade deadline) and the offseason because of all the speculation and the fear of getting my heart broken. 

I find it amazing how much time and effort fans put into presenting and arguing about transactions that will never happen.

It's hard to think of many deadline acquisitions over the years that everyone saw coming.  

[mvp 78]

20 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

I find it amazing how much time and effort fans put into presenting and arguing about transactions that will never happen.

It's hard to think of many deadline acquisitions over the years that everyone saw coming.  

Much easier to forecast FA signings. 

It's fun to talk about even if it's just pretend. We all love baseball and could probably talk endlessly about everything from the uniforms to soft serve ice cream. 

[Duran Is The Man]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Much easier to forecast FA signings. 

It's fun to talk about even if it's just pretend. We all love baseball and could probably talk endlessly about everything from the uniforms to soft serve ice cream. 

since you mentioned it, i hate the yellow jerseys but love the fenway green jerseys.

[mvp 78]

43 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

since you mentioned it, i hate the yellow jerseys but love the fenway green jerseys.

My only problem with the yellow is that the hats look like UCLA's. Big time thumbs down.

✌️

I like the green ones. The colors are great. I wish they were a little more daring with the styling of them, but they are pretty good overall. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, mvp 78 said:

Much easier to forecast FA signings. 

It's fun to talk about even if it's just pretend. We all love baseball and could probably talk endlessly about everything from the uniforms to soft serve ice cream. 

Since I was a preteen, I was always fascinated by trades and signings and what ifs...

I still am.

[moonslav59]

I kinda like the yellow jerseys.

(Did I say that outloud?)