Article: The First Base Rental Market is Weak, but the Red Sox Can Still Swing a Trade

[moonslav59]

4 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

You can assume whatever you want.  Anything goes in hypothetical land. 😀

I guess. I'm not sure anyone assumes the CWS demanded Meidroth or no deal. My guess is they wanted someone like DHam and we talked them into Meidroth. They'd probably loved to get Grissom, but no way we would have given him, since we saw him as out FT 2Bman for the next 3+ yrs.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, notin said:

Casas is a non- tender candidate.  If the Sox do drop him, hopefully that action doesn’t injure him further…

I'm not so sure we non tender him. He won't make a lot via his first arb, and we currently have a slumping Toro at 1B and nobody else but Romy as a shortside platoon.

I trust Casas over Jordan.

Unless we make a big deal or signing, I'm thinking they view Casas as our 2026 1Bman, but may want to plan better for his back-up.

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I guess. I'm not sure anyone assumes the CWS demanded Meidroth or no deal. My guess is they wanted someone like DHam and we talked them into Meidroth. They'd probably loved to get Grissom, but no way we would have given him, since we saw him as out FT 2Bman for the next 3+ yrs.

Who saw Grissom as that?

[mvp 78]

25 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I'm not so sure we non tender him. He won't make a lot via his first arb, and we currently have a slumping Toro at 1B and nobody else but Romy as a shortside platoon.

I trust Casas over Jordan.

Unless we make a big deal or signing, I'm thinking they view Casas as our 2026 1Bman, but may want to plan better for his back-up.

I don't know how anyone could trust Jordan to produce in MLB. It'd be interesting to give him a shot down the stretch if they don't acquire anyone and Toro continues to struggle. 

[moonslav59]

20 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Who saw Grissom as that?

You don't think Sox brass viewed Grissom as our 2Bman? We traded Sale for the guy. He was highly regarded, despite a down tick from the previous season. His D was never good at SS, but the expectation was he might be okay at 2B.

I thought he was the fix.

[mvp 78]

22 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Who saw Grissom as that?

moon.

[Bellhorn04]

26 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

You don't think Sox brass viewed Grissom as our 2Bman? We traded Sale for the guy. He was highly regarded, despite a down tick from the previous season. His D was never good at SS, but the expectation was he might be okay at 2B.

I thought he was the fix.

At the time the trade was made, I'd say the Sox viewed Campbell as the 2B man.   

[mvp 78]

19 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

At the time the trade was made, I'd say the Sox viewed Campbell as the 2B man.   

The time of the Sale trade? No. Campbell hadn't popped by then. 

[notin]

33 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

At the time the trade was made, I'd say the Sox viewed Campbell as the 2B man.   

At the time of the trade, Campbell had played 14 games at Greenville (A+)…

[mvp 78]

13 minutes ago, notin said:

At the time of the trade, Campbell had played 14 games at Greenville (A+)…

Looking for that Sox 2b of the future. 🧐

 

[Bellhorn04]

37 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

The time of the Sale trade? No. Campbell hadn't popped by then. 

? I thought we were talking about trading Meidroth here.

[Bellhorn04]

28 minutes ago, notin said:

At the time of the trade, Campbell had played 14 games at Greenville (A+)…

What we've been talking about is including Meidroth in the Crochet trade.

[Bellhorn04]

15 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Looking for that Sox 2b of the future. 🧐

 

What a bunch of Mister Magoos. 

[Maxbialystock]

21 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Agreed. 

I think they just put all their plan on Casas being healthy. I do think Casas would have had a decent year at the plate, but he showed no signs of ever being better than any other 1Bman on D. Maybe they just accepted that as the cost of having a good hitter at 1B.

Trading Meidroth was something that hurt more than any of us thought, at the time.

Toro was always just a 4A addition. Romy has been a godsend, but only vs LHPs.

Devers should have been the plan the second we signed Bregman. I still am sure he'll be a better 1Bman than Casas. We should have had Devers at 1B and Casas at DH, opening day. (Casas as a back-up 1Bman would be fine.)

Interesting about Devers at 1b on opening day.  Your previous argument that he would be a lot better at 1b than 3b makes sense to me. 

However, if Casas becomes DH, then what happens to Yoshida, also a lefty bat?  

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

? I thought we were talking about trading Meidroth here.

The talk about the Sale trade above tripped me up on the timing! 😩

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

At the time the trade was made, I'd say the Sox viewed Campbell as the 2B man.   

Maybe into the extended future. They acquired Grissom in DEC 2023.

I'm not sure they viewed KC as the 2Bman in DEC of 2024. More like Mayer.

I wasn't 100% sold on Grissom being a plus 2Bman, but the bar was set low over the past 5-6 years, and I felt he was a good solution, despite being pretty much unproven at the ML level. Unlike Jeter Downs, he had some success at the ML level, when we got him.

I was way off, but at least I admit it.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

 

... if Casas becomes DH, then what happens to Yoshida, also a lefty bat?  

The same thing that happened when we put Devers at DH. (maybe trade Casas?)

[vegasbob]

Interesting how K Campbell goes from making the 26, playing like a ROY for a month and is now almost an afterthought between 1B , 2B and utility  player. 

 If this kid's head is not messed up by now, he will make a resurgence in 2026, but positions are at a premium, pending Bregman's option outcome.    Mayer's role on the team while seemingly 2B isn't a lock yet either. 

If Bregman goes, Mayer goes to 3rd, opening up 2B yet again.    

Also don't lose sight of the fact that before Casas was injured , he couldn't hit  anything . Yeah, he is a slow starter like that's an excuse.  Triston i will be at ST, if healed, but I would say he is on thin ice depending on Campbell's progression at 1B or an acquisition.  

Overall the positioning and permanence of the infield crowd is in flux.  

[notin]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Looking for that Sox 2b of the future. 🧐

 

Nick Yorke!!

[moonslav59]

55 minutes ago, vegasbob said:

Interesting how K Campbell goes from making the 26, playing like a ROY for a month and is now almost an afterthought between 1B , 2B and utility  player. 

 If this kid's head is not messed up by now, he will make a resurgence in 2026, but positions are at a premium, pending Bregman's option outcome.    Mayer's role on the team while seemingly 2B isn't a lock yet either. 

If Bregman goes, Mayer goes to 3rd, opening up 2B yet again.    

Also don't lose sight of the fact that before Casas was injured , he couldn't hit  anything . Yeah, he is a slow starter like that's an excuse.  Triston i will be at ST, if healed, but I would say he is on thin ice depending on Campbell's progression at 1B or an acquisition.  

Overall the positioning and permanence of the infield crowd is in flux.  

Bregman holds the key for several players/prospects chances at winning a significant slot on the 26 man roster for 2026. Casas might be right up there, next.

Campbell may have a shot at 1B, 2B or both.

[Maxbialystock]

4 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

The same thing that happened when we put Devers at DH. (maybe trade Casas?)

It sure did.  And I would have been fine with keeping Devers as DH, which meant no slot for Yoshida, which is why Breslow wanted Devers at 1b.   

Right now I'm not so sure Yoshida has a real role.  Today once again we saw Anthony, a better hitter than Yoshida, as the DH so that Duran, Rafaela, and Rafaela could all start in the outfield.  Yoshida was 3/4 in his first game and 1-10 in his next three starts. Plus he K'd today pinch-hitting for Narvaez.  

 

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

It sure did.  And I would have been fine with keeping Devers as DH, which meant no slot for Yoshida, which is why Breslow wanted Devers at 1b.   

Right now I'm not so sure Yoshida has a real role.  Today once again we saw Anthony, a better hitter than Yoshida, as the DH so that Duran, Rafaela, and Rafaela could all start in the outfield.  Yoshida was 3/4 in his first game and 1-10 in his next three starts. Plus he K'd today pinch-hitting for Narvaez.  

Devers would always play over Yoshida, but maybe not Casas.

The should have moved Devers to 1B and Casas to DH on opening day. (I said it then, too, and over the past couple years, too.)

We messed it all up: it's over now. Move on.

If Casas comes back, he can DH and play 1B, and we can live with his awful D, if he can hit like he used to do.

If not, Campbell might be our best 1B option. Maybe Romy plays 1B v L and Campbell can DH those games, as Yoshida sits.

Who knows what their plan. We do have more flexibility, especially on defense, without Devers on teh 26.

[Bellhorn04]

15 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Maybe into the extended future. They acquired Grissom in DEC 2023.

I'm not sure they viewed KC as the 2Bman in DEC of 2024. More like Mayer.

Well, let's see, they named KC the starting day 2B even though he didn't have a great spring.  And they signed him to an 8 year extension at the start of the season.

I think you can make a pretty good case that in December 24 KC was at the top of their depth chart and Grissom's future with the team was in serious doubt. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Well, let's see, they named KC the starting day 2B even though he didn't have a great spring.  And they signed him to an 8 year extension at the start of the season.

I think you can make a pretty good case that in December 24 KC was at the top of their depth chart and Grissom's future with the team was in serious doubt. 

No doubt.

I was talking about the time of the Sale trade: DEC 2023.

DEC 24, I'm not sure KC had the job sewn up with Mayer still in the picture, but it does look like they liked him more, as Mayer had a better spring and was still passed over.

I also remember the choice to put KC on the 26 was in doubt to near the last choice date, as DHam was still a possibility, too. Afterall, DHam had some decent WAR numbers in 2023, after a real bad start.

Do you agree with my point about DEC 2023's outlook?

[Hitch]

I definitely had hopes Grissom was going to be our 2nd baseman.

[notin]

On 7/18/2025 at 12:56 PM, Bellhorn04 said:

What a bunch of Mister Magoos. 

You clearly mentioned Campbell.  (See below.) If you meant Meidroth, don’t blame us.

On 7/18/2025 at 11:52 AM, Bellhorn04 said:

At the time the trade was made, I'd say the Sox viewed Campbell as the 2B man.   

 

[notin]

6 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Well, let's see, they named KC the starting day 2B even though he didn't have a great spring.  And they signed him to an 8 year extension at the start of the season.

I think you can make a pretty good case that in December 24 KC was at the top of their depth chart and Grissom's future with the team was in serious doubt. 

You’re all over the place…