Anthony leading off

[Sox 42]

When he first came up I wished for immediate triple crown talent,  Now I see him as the perfect lead off hitter for the current Sox.  He works walks, guys on base.  His On Base Percentage is super.  However, his ceiling is much higher.  Sooner or later he has to hit third and be a long ball threat by lifting the ball and selecting any pitch he can drive instead of working the count.

[moonslav59]

Anthony is all we hoped and dreamed he'd be.

He can even get better! (I expect his power numbers will rise as he reached his mid 20's.)

He looks like a 10 year vet, now.

[Larry Cook]

Anthony has far exceeded all my expectations!!  He makes this team so much fun to watch!!! 
so glad we signed him to an extension!!!

Narveaz has also exceeded my expectations, but Cora rode the kid until he was exhausted 

[Sox 42]

36 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Anthony has far exceeded all my expectations!!  He makes this team so much fun to watch!!! 
so glad we signed him to an extension!!!

Narveaz has also exceeded my expectations, but Cora rode the kid until he was exhausted 

When you have only one real horse your options are limited

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Anthony has far exceeded all my expectations!!  He makes this team so much fun to watch!!! 
so glad we signed him to an extension!!!

Narveaz has also exceeded my expectations, but Cora rode the kid until he was exhausted 

He kinda had to. Wong is hitting .441 and was hurt for a bit. We have 3 catchers for a while, so Cora/Brez are addressing the Narvaez rest issue, somewhat.

I like what I saw from Mayer, too, but these injury issues are a major concern with him.

Dobbins is the forgotten rookie in 2025.

[cp176]

Mayor’s injury history is a concern.  I hope we get a chance to see what he can do over a long stretch of staying healthy.  His glove for sure is and has been major league ready for sometime.  I think that his bat will come along as well but it’s tougth when he can’t stay on the field.  Outside of Anthony, Dobbins was next up for me.  He looked so good when he first came up.  He’s got a real live arm and just looked like a mature young pitcher.  We won’t see him for awhile now.  I hope he comes back strong.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

It's not just Roman 1st, but the combo with Breggy 2nd that wear out pitchers and make them more susceptible to mistake pitches to free swingers like Duran and Story -- who have not coincidentally been the Sox two big RBI men lately. Following them with a better contact guy like Yoshida has also been keeping the line moving...

[Maxbialystock]

16 hours ago, Sox 42 said:

When he first came up I wished for immediate triple crown talent,  Now I see him as the perfect lead off hitter for the current Sox.  He works walks, guys on base.  His On Base Percentage is super.  However, his ceiling is much higher.  Sooner or later he has to hit third and be a long ball threat by lifting the ball and selecting any pitch he can drive instead of working the count.

Let Anthony be Anthony and not who you think he should be.  He has played in just 55 games, 1/3 of a season.  

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

It's not just Roman 1st, but the combo with Breggy 2nd that wear out pitchers and make them more susceptible to mistake pitches to free swingers like Duran and Story -- who have not coincidentally been the Sox two big RBI men lately. Following them with a better contact guy like Yoshida has also been keeping the line moving...

In 10 games in August Yoshida has an OPS of .820, 9 rbi's, 3 BB's, and 5 K's.  

 

[Maxbialystock]

14 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

He kinda had to. Wong is hitting .441 and was hurt for a bit. We have 3 catchers for a while, so Cora/Brez are addressing the Narvaez rest issue, somewhat.

I like what I saw from Mayer, too, but these injury issues are a major concern with him.

Dobbins is the forgotten rookie in 2025.

The third catcher is a tad expensive--he never plays but is 1 of just 13 lineup players.  So basically Cora manages with 9 in the lineup and 3 spares, 1 of whom is a catcher.  

I think Mayer is in fact missed because he is a good fielder and a decent lefty bat with a .739 OPS against righties.  

[cp176]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

Let Anthony be Anthony and not who you think he should be.  He has played in just 55 games, 1/3 of a season.  

I hope the Sox hitting instructors will do just that.  Hit the pitch where it is thrown.  Doesn’t need to try to lift and pull everything.  The power will come.  Line drives all over the ballpark.  Some in and some out works just fine.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

The third catcher is a tad expensive--he never plays but is 1 of just 13 lineup players.  So basically Cora manages with 9 in the lineup and 3 spares, 1 of whom is a catcher.  

I think Mayer is in fact missed because he is a good fielder and a decent lefty bat with a .739 OPS against righties.  

We have 4 OF'ers we are struggling to find places to play. Rafaela plays 2B sucks, but we kinda have to, until Mayer returns. We need no more OF depth on the 26. Bregman, Story and Rafaela are FT IF'ers who just need a day of rest every couple/three weeks. One utility IF'er can cover that, of just use Romy with fill-in-the-blank at 1B (Toro for now)

This bench is fine until Mayer returns, and at that point, dump Sanchez:

Refsnyder (RF/DH platoon)

Wong & Sanchez

Romy (1B/2B/SS/3B/DH)

We don't need to PH for anybody but Wong.

We don't need late inning defense for anybody but maybe Ref in RF, and we can use our GG OF'er, Abreu, for that.

It's not ideal to carry 3 catchers, but I think this is just until Mayer returns. He may stay, if we reach Sept 1st call up day. Having a PH chance for Wong has real value.

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, cp176 said:

Mayor’s injury history is a concern.  I hope we get a chance to see what he can do over a long stretch of staying healthy.  His glove for sure is and has been major league ready for sometime.  I think that his bat will come along as well but it’s tougth when he can’t stay on the field.  Outside of Anthony, Dobbins was next up for me.  He looked so good when he first came up.  He’s got a real live arm and just looked like a mature young pitcher.  We won’t see him for awhile now.  I hope he comes back strong.

Are you ranking our rookies?

How about Narvaez?

[Maxbialystock]

2 hours ago, Maxbialystock said:

The third catcher is a tad expensive--he never plays but is 1 of just 13 lineup players.  So basically Cora manages with 9 in the lineup and 3 spares, 1 of whom is a catcher.  

I think Mayer is in fact missed because he is a good fielder and a decent lefty bat with a .739 OPS against righties.  

Just announced:  Mayer surgery on his wrist ends this season.  This was not unexpected.  

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

Just announced:  Mayer surgery on his wrist ends this season.  This was not unexpected.  

What does this have to do with Anthony?

[Maxbialystock]

41 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

We have 4 OF'ers we are struggling to find places to play. Rafaela plays 2B sucks, but we kinda have to, until Mayer returns. We need no more OF depth on the 26. Bregman, Story and Rafaela are FT IF'ers who just need a day of rest every couple/three weeks. One utility IF'er can cover that, of just use Romy with fill-in-the-blank at 1B (Toro for now)

This bench is fine until Mayer returns, and at that point, dump Sanchez:

Refsnyder (RF/DH platoon)

Wong & Sanchez

Romy (1B/2B/SS/3B/DH)

We don't need to PH for anybody but Wong.

We don't need late inning defense for anybody but maybe Ref in RF, and we can use our GG OF'er, Abreu, for that.

It's not ideal to carry 3 catchers, but I think this is just until Mayer returns. He may stay, if we reach Sept 1st call up day. Having a PH chance for Wong has real value.

See below.  Mayer is out for the season for surgery to right wrist--which is no surprise.

Three catchers still make no sense to me. 

[moonslav59]

13 minutes ago, Maxbialystock said:

See below.  Mayer is out for the season for surgery to right wrist--which is no surprise.

Three catchers still make no sense to me. 

I'm not thrilled about 3 catchers, but being able to PH for Wong makes some or a little sense, right?

Also, every position is full and has a capable back-up, even 1B. We don't need DHam on the 26, right now. We certainly don't need an 8th OF'er on the 26. We could use a 1Bman, but we'd just swap out Toro and not add one to the 26. We have Romy as the 1Bman with Toro, N Lowe of K Campbell.

If we had a great need for Dham, then I'd agree that this is an issue.

[Maxbialystock]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

What does this have to do with Anthony?

Very little, but you were the one saying the 4 outfielders hardly get into games.  I just checked that.  The Sox have played 14 games in August, and Abreu has played in 13 of them, Mayer in 12 because he sat out 2 games with the back issue, Duran played in 13 games, and Rafaela in all 14.  

Against righty starters Cora wants to get lefty bats in the lineup, and three of the best are Anthony, Abreu, and Duran.  So he can play all three with Rafaela in CF and one of the three as DH.  However, he also wants to get Yoshida in as the DH, which is why Rafaela moves to 2b for those games.  You have declared that to be a disaster because no really good defensive outfielder who can also hit should ever be forced to play in the infield.  Have you checked who's playing SS for the Dodgers lately?  How about Kike Hernandez whose best season ever was 2021 when he bounced back and forth between the outfield and infield all season long.  

The only better defensive 2d baseman on the Sox than Rafaela is Hamilton, whose currently in Worcester.  

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

Very little, but you were the one saying the 4 outfielders hardly get into games.  I just checked that.  The Sox have played 14 games in August, and Abreu has played in 13 of them, Mayer in 12 because he sat out 2 games with the back issue, Duran played in 13 games, and Rafaela in all 14.  

 

My point was that 4 OF'ers could not all play, without Rafaela at 2B, so there is no need for calling up a 2Bman (DHam) otherwise an OF'er would sit, or DHam would never play, except as a late inning D guy at 2B (Rafaela moving to CF to improve the OF D.) That does have value but not all that much.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

Against righty starters Cora wants to get lefty bats in the lineup, and three of the best are Anthony, Abreu, and Duran.  So he can play all three with Rafaela in CF and one of the three as DH.  However, he also wants to get Yoshida in as the DH, which is why Rafaela moves to 2b for those games.  You have declared that to be a disaster because no really good defensive outfielder who can also hit should ever be forced to play in the infield.  Have you checked who's playing SS for the Dodgers lately?  How about Kike Hernandez whose best season ever was 2021 when he bounced back and forth between the outfield and infield all season long.  

I never came close to calling Rafaela at 2B a disaster. I actually think it is our best 2B solution with Mayer out of the equation. It is just not ideal. My point is, we do not need DHam, until the SEP call-ups, and having 3 catchers adds about as much value as adding DHam.

There is value to having DHam as a late inning D guy or PR'er. It would allow Rafaela to move to CF, late in games, and improve the OF D, too. Is this worth more than having a 3rd catcher and allowing us to PH for Womg or the slumping Narvaez without worrying about the back-up catcher getting hurt, or PH'ing for the 2nd C, later on?

Maybe- maybe not.

Both ideas make some sense. I was just responding to your comment that 3 catchers make "NO sense."

Adding Campbell would demote Toro, so that is a separate issue.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Maxbialystock said:

The only better defensive 2d baseman on the Sox than Rafaela is Hamilton, whose currently in Worcester.  

Romy is better on D at 2B than Rafaela, and he is a back-up option on the 26 man roster now, hence the reduced need for DHam.

[Kimmi]

On 8/17/2025 at 10:38 AM, Maxbialystock said:

In 10 games in August Yoshida has an OPS of .820, 9 rbi's, 3 BB's, and 5 K's.  

 

For some reason, Yoshida does not get the love that he deserves.

[Kimmi]

I love Anthony in the lead off position.  It's all about getting on base, which he does very well.  The fact that he has handled that role so well at 21, in the midst of a playoff chase, is beyond impressive

[Deja Doh]

Roman has shown great plate discipline and a great eye.  The 17 doubles in 200 ABs is very telling.

[mvp 78]

27 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

For some reason, Yoshida does not get the love that he deserves.

He's fine, but a platoon DH should OPS higher than 733 in the month of August when you're only facing RHP. He's a below average offensive player on this team. 

[moonslav59]

17 hours ago, Kimmi said:

For some reason, Yoshida does not get the love that he deserves.

I think Cora loves him more than he should. The 10 game streak is nice and promising, but he basically sucked for how many games before that, and Cora kept batting him 5th. That is true love.

[moonslav59]

Someday, Anthony will start hitting more homers. We can move him from the one slot, then.

I could see trying him at the 2 slot and move Bregman to the RBI 4 slot.

[Bellhorn04]

18 hours ago, Kimmi said:

For some reason, Yoshida does not get the love that he deserves.

Although I wish the best whenever he plays, I don't think he has earned much love, Kimmi.  Here are his fWARs to date:

2023 +0.7

2024 +0.9

2025 -0.2

Total +1.4 !!!

Now it looks like they've even decided they have to platoon him.

 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Although I wish the best whenever he plays, I don't think he has earned much love, Kimmi.  Here are his fWARs to date:

2023 +0.7

2024 +0.9

2025 -0.2

Total +1.4 !!!

Now it looks like they've even decided they have to platoon him.

 

Agreed, and while I think it's okay to have a few mediocre players on the roster, a mediocre hitting, platoon, slow and DH-only player's days should be numbered, if we are to continue improving our 26 and 40 man roster.

While I have applauded the vast improvement of our roster depth and quality, we still have some major concerns:

1. The lack of top quality players. (I see Crochet, Chapman, Bregman and Anthony, right now.)

2. Some real duds on the 26 (Toro, Eaton, Yoshida, Buehler, Hicks, ICampbell and maybe Wong) and 40 (Grissom, DHam and maybe Sogard.) That's 8-10 guys out of 40.

We'll be adding some Rule 5 guys, this winter- some with great promise, and likely 3-4+ free agents or trade addtitions, but we simply have to reduce the amount of mediocrity FT'ers. I'm not sure how we rid ourselves of Yoshida. With one less year of high pay left, maybe it will be a little easier, but we may just have to cut ties or trade him for an equal paid salary dump pitcher or 1B/2Bman.

[drewski6]

Yeah, not enough room for everybody.  People are going to get squeezed on an improving team.  For too long, my opinion, the sox were the opposite.  Just content to run the same sub-par players out there again and again like Verdugo because of lack of aggression and will to win.

I dont like the complacency.  This team has been much too complacent over the last 5 years.  But I understand many sox fans are fine with how they operate.  "I just want a team that I enjoy and can stick in games" "I dont think they did bad at the deadline" "we made a trade? Oh no!! Who did we give up?"

This kind of thinking glues you in place.