Article: Grading The 2025 Boston Red Sox: Infielders

[Nick John]

With the 2025 season officially over, it’s time to look back on the roster and see if players lived up to their expectations, exceeded them, or even failed to live up to them. With that, today we’re going to look back upon the season the Red Sox infielders had in 2025.

The infield itself saw a few rotating parts due to either injury or poor performance. In total, the team ended up using 12 different players in the infield, but those who played mostly in the outfield (Ceddanne Rafaela and Nate Eaton) will have their grades omitted since infield was not their main position. Despite injuries and poor play, the Red Sox managed to find workarounds either through their minor league depth or late season acquisitions to keep the infield from collapsing.

You can see our grades for catchers here, and outfielders here.

Trevor Story: B+

To say Story had his best season in Boston in 2025 would be an understatement. After playing in a total of 163 games in his first three seasons with the Red Sox, Story played 157 this season and was a leader both on and off the field.

Offensively, he led the lineup by example, hitting anywhere between second and fourth as he would go on to hit .263/.308/.433 with a .741 OPS. He also brought home 29 doubles, 25 home runs and 96 RBIs, the latter two figures leading the team. But one of his more historic stats was the fact he stole 31 bases and was only caught once on his final attempt of the season, breaking an American League record for most consecutive stolen bases to start a season.

It wasn’t all positive for Story, as the month of May had fans calling for the shortstop to be benched or even released from his contract as he absolutely struggled. In 25 games that month, Story looked finished as a player, hitting just .158/.200/.232 with just one double, two home runs, seven RBIs and 35 strikeouts. After missing nearly two years of baseball, he looked overmatched at the plate, but eventually found his footing again as he would turn things around in June with a .286/.327/.500 stat line where he had six doubles, five home runs and 23 RBIs.

Defensively, it may have been his worst effort since the shortened 2020 season, as he posted a .970 fielding percentage. That number was thanks to 19 errors, a career high that was inflated by a September that saw him commit six errors in his final nine games.

Story finished the season with 3.0 fWAR.

Alex Bregman: B

Bregman was one of two key offseason acquisitions by Craig Breslow and was expected to be a leader both on and off the field. While a second half that saw him deal with the lingering effects of his previously injured quad led to a decline offensively, Bregman was constantly helping the team out however he could.

While only playing in 114 games, there is no debate that Bregman returned earlier than expected from his quad injury, the team doing its best to manage his workload until he was more comfortable and conditioned to play more than two games in a row. Despite that, his first half alone made his signing look like a genius move, as he hit .298/.380/.546 with 18 doubles, 11 home runs and 35 RBIs in his first 53 games. However, after the quad injury, Bregman hit just .250/.341/.386 with an OPS of .727 in 61 games. Across that same span, he had just 10 doubles, seven home runs and 27 RBIs. September was also his worst month of the season, as he appeared in 22 games but hit just .216/.310/.330 with four doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs.

Despite missing time with his injury, Bregman was a constant voice in the clubhouse with the younger players as he provided advice and support that proved invaluable as the Red Sox made their first postseason since 2021.

Defensively, he committed nine errors across 113 games at third base for a fielding percentage of .969. Bregman finished the season with a fWAR of 3.5.

Kristian Campbell: C-

Campbell was the top prospect who broke camp with the team, and everyone immediately viewed him as the future. Within his first week in the majors, he signed an eight-year extension and had put himself in early talks as a Rookie of the Year favorite as he hit .301/.407/.495 with an OPS of .902 in 29 games between March and April. He also had eight doubles, four home runs, and 12 RBIs as he looked every bit of a future offensive star.

Unfortunately, that was the high point of his season. Pitchers began to adjust to Campbell, and the rookie struggled to make the necessary adjustments at the major league level as he hit just .134/.184/.171 in 22 May games, highlighted by a 27:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He was ultimately optioned on June 20 and remained in Worcester the rest of the season in an attempt to work on the issues that major league pitching had discovered (while also attempting to learn how to play first base).

Defensively, Campbell appeared at second in 59 games and committed seven errors for a fielding percentage of .968, and he was considered one of the worst defenders in all of baseball during his time in the big leagues (-16 DRS).

For the entire season, Campbell appeared in 67 games and hit .223/.319/.345 with an OPS of .664. He also had 10 doubles, six home runs, and 21 RBIs. He finished the season with a fWAR of -0.2.

Triston Casas: D

Coming into 2025, Casas was expected to be a key offensive piece for the team as the everyday first baseman.

Instead, the plane never got off the runway.

Casas only played in 29 games this season before ultimately ending up injured for the fourth consecutive season. Though Casas believes he’ll be ready for the 2026 season, his injury history is ugly. There's a lot of weight on his shoulders to play a full season in 2026.

Offensively, Casas started cold, hitting .059/.111/.059 in his first five games (four starts) while striking out seven times in 17 at-bats. He would go on to open April by going 5-for-14 with a home run, but after April 4 would not have a multi-hit game again until April 29 against Toronto.

For the entire season, Casas would go on to hit .182/.277/.303 with an OPS of .580 in 29 games. He had three doubles, three home runs and 11 RBIs, as his injury history has now made it hard to rely on him as the everyday first baseman for 2026 and beyond.

Defensively he appeared in 28 games at first base and committed just two errors for a fielding percentage of .991.

For the season, Casas ended the year with a fWAR of -0.6.

Romy González: B+

González played in a career-high 96 games in 2025 where he bounced between first, second and third base as the team needed him to play multiple position once more. Unlike in 2024 where he played every position besides pitcher and catcher, González mostly split time between first and second base.

In 2025, he was a key presence in the lineup, hitting .305/.343/.483 with an OPS of .826. Along with that, he also had 23 doubles, three triples, nine home runs, and 53 RBIs as he formed one half of the “Lefty Killers” duo alongside Rob Refsnyder.

Against left-handed pitching was where he really did damage; he posted a .331/.378/.600 slash with an OPS of .978. He also had seven of his nine home runs against left-handers in 130 at-bats. Though, he was still productive against right-handed pitching as he slashed .286/.318/.400 in 185 at-bats.

Defensively, González stepped up when Casas got injured, forming a platoon with Abraham Toro where he ended up appearing at first base in 58 games. In that span, he committed four errors for a .989 fielding percentage. González would play 42 games at second base and have a .978 fielding percentage after committing three errors. He also appeared at third base for just two games, making an error on the only play he had at the position for a fielding percentage of .000.

González finished the season with a fWAR of 1.5.

Abraham Toro: C

Toro was not the first baseman we wanted, but he was the first baseman who stepped up following Casas’ injury. Despite not being the biggest name to replace the slugging first baseman, Toro showed up to Boston and did what was expected of him: give the team innings at first base and not be a black hole on offense.

In the first half of the season, Toro was a key contributor on offense even if his peripherals showed he was getting rather lucky. In 52 first-half games, the infielder would hit .271/.321/.418 with an OPS of .739. He also had 11 doubles, five home runs and 20 RBIs for the team while providing quality defense at first base.

Unfortunately, July bore the brunt of the expected regression for Toro, as he hit just .221/.295/.279 in 21 games with four doubles and six RBIs. Things got worse in 14 August games where he hit .137/.151/.255 with two home runs and five RBIs.

Defensively, he played 68 games at first base and committed three errors for a fielding percentage of .994. Toro also made 16 appearances at third base and made four errors there for a fielding percentage of .902.

Toro would go on to be designated for assignment on August 21 and outrighted to Worcester on August 23, where he would finish the season. On October 10, he elected free agency.

Toro finished the season with a fWAR of -0.7.

Marcelo Mayer: C+

After being drafted fourth overall in 2021 and dealing with a few injuries in the minor leagues, Mayer finally made his debut for Boston after Bregman went on the injured list. Playing much of his professional career at shortstop, Mayer spent time at Worcester getting more comfortable at both third base and second base, something that would work out in his favor with Boston.

His glove was clearly ready for the major leagues, as he appeared at third base in 39 games and committed just a single error for a fielding percentage of .985. His DRS was zero but he earned two OAA and two FRV, generally grading out positively.

He would also play eight games at second where he didn’t commit an error and would finish two games at shortstop but committed one error in two fielding attempts.

Offensively, Mayer showed he still had some work to do, though he also flashed the potential in his bat that made him the fourth overall pick all those years ago. Overall, he hit .228/.272/.402 with an OPS of .674 in 44 games. He also had eight doubles, a triple, four home runs, and 10 RBIs, but struck out 41 times and walked only eight times. He did fare much better against right-handed pitching more than left-handed, hitting .248/.294/.446 with eight doubles, four home runs and nine RBIs compared to a stat line of .154/.185/.231 with a triple and one RBI against southpaws.

Mayer’s season would end on July 25 when he was placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right wrist sprain.

Mayer ended the season with a fWAR of 0.4.

David Hamilton: D

Coming off of a surprisingly good 2024, there were high expectations for Hamilton in being the team’s utility infielder entering 2025, to the point there were discussions of even having him take reps in the outfield to get more at-bats as well. That never came to be, but 2025 was not the season anyone expected for Hamilton.

Appearing in 91 games, Hamilton would see his time in Boston broken up by stints with the Worcester Red Sox, as he was optioned on July 11 and then again on August 11. Overall, Hamilton would go on to hit .198/.257/.333 with four doubles, a triple, six home runs, 19 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. All of that was a decline from his 2024 numbers of .248/.303/.395 with 17 doubles, a triple, eight home runs, 28 RBIs and 33 stolen bases in just seven more games.  

The only real positive offensively is that in 29 second-half games, he started to perform better by hitting .241/.317/.463 with an OPS of .780. Hamilton also had a double, a triple, three home runs, seven RBIs and seven stolen bases in that span as he received more consistent playing time.

Defensively, he appeared at second base in 68 games and committed six errors for a fielding percentage of .973. He also played 12 games at shortstop where he committed one error for a fielding percentage of .972.

Hamilton finished the season with a fWAR of 0.1.

Nathaniel Lowe: B-

Lowe didn’t spend much time with Boston, but did he make it count. He immediately made quite a few fans within his first week with the team when he hit a game-tying, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth of his first start. While the Red Sox would lose that game, Lowe continued to stay hot and opened his stint with Boston on a five-game hitting streak.

In 34 games with Boston, the left-handed hitter would slash .280/.370/.420 with an OPS of .790 at a time when the lineup was scuffling due to injuries and poor performances. Lowe would also hit six doubles, a triple, two home runs, and have 16 RBIs in that same span

Defensively, Lowe made 31 appearances at first base for Boston and made no errors. On the season, Lowe finished with a fWAR of 0.4 with the Red Sox.

Nick Sogard: C+

Sogard didn’t spend much time in the big leagues, as he was mostly in Worcester for 2025, but he was a key contributor in his short stints on Alex Cora's bench. His final stint proved to be his best, as in his final 15 games, Sogard hit .295/.354/.409 with seven RBIs.

Overall, Sogard hit .260/.317/.344 with eight doubles and nine RBIs. He was much more effective against left-handed pitching, hitting .371/.371/.486 with four doubles and two RBIs compared to .197/.290/.262 with four doubles and seven RBIs against right-handed pitching.

Defensively, Sogard played all over the field for the Red Sox, making appearances at first base, second base, third base, shortstop and right field. He only made a single error at first base.

And while postseason performances don’t add into consideration for the grades, there is no denying just how important Sogard was in the Game 1 victory against the Yankees, with a big hustle double that set up the game-winning hit for Masataka Yoshida.

On the season, Sogard finished with a fWAR of -0.1.

 

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[JoeBrady]

I still think Hamilton can be at least a solid strong-side platoon player.  Fair grades on everyone else.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

This is a perfect example of the prejudice that has existed in Boston for years.  Cora, the GM's since Dombrowski, the owners, the coaches and the media.  

Campbell hit .300 for the first month and finished with the following stats

67 games, 263 PA, 239 at bats, 24 runs, 51 hits, 10 doubles, 0 triples, 6 HRs, 21 RBIs, 2 SBs, 1 CS, 29 BBs, 72 Ks, .223 BA, .096 walk rate, .122 Isolated Power, .664 OPS

The often-injured Mayer shortened his season with yet another injury 

44 games, 136 PA, 127 at bats, 20 runs, 29 hits, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 4 HRs, 10 RBIs, 0 SBs, 2 CS, 8 BBs, 41 Ks, .228 BA, .044 walk rate, .174 Isolated Power, .674 OPS

The first player got a grade of C- after he produced 39 runs in 67 games

The second player got a grade of C+ after he produced 26 runs in 44 games

The other numbers align fairly closely with BA almost identical, walk rate for Campbell was double Mayer's walk rate, Mayer's Isolated power was 52 points higher, Campbell stole 2 of 3 bases while walking 29 times and Mayer stole 0 for 2 while walking just 8 times.

Campbell stayed healthy the whole year while Mayer missed a major portion of the year and had no hot streak during his limited at bats.  Campbell spent an entire month looking like the ROY until the book caught up with him and he was sentenced to AAA by Cora so we'll never know if the hitting coaches could have eventually corrected his problem like they did Anthony who had by far the worst start of any rookie.  

Most folks would prefer the guy that had a hot streak and ended up at the same number of the other player who never had a hot streak.  Most folks would prefer an OBP 47 points higher.  

Bottomline, to give Mayer a C+ when Campbell gets a C- when he outperformed him in total production by staying healthy reflects the privilege that has been granted Mayer his whole life!!  Campbell didn't grow up with privilege that carried over to his pro career, yet he has completely outperformed Mayer over the last two seasons.

I completely disagree with your assessment.  I think Mayer deserves a D and Campbell a C.  You can't help your team if you aren't on the field.  Campbell could have been on the field for 162 games without Cora whereas Mayer has consistently missed many games.  He's never had more than 350 at bats in any of his first 5 seasons with Boston.  Campbell was drafted in 2023 and had 378 at bats prior to being drafted and another 68 at bat at ROK and Hi-A hitting .309 and another 430 at bats in 2024 at Hi-A, AA and AAA hitting .330.  In 2025 he had 500 at bats between AAA and the MLB.

So, in the last two seasons he's had 930 at bats and played in 255 games while Mayer has played in 77 games in 2024 and 87 games in 2025 for a total of 164 games or 90 less than the durable Campbell.  Mayer has made 18 errors in 90 less games and Campbell 20 errors, thus producing a higher fielding percentage and better hitting.

Funny how often opinions on this site don't align with the factual data.  I say Mayer in 2024 gets a B+ since he missed nearly two months and a D in 2025 for missing even more than that and Campbell gets an A+ in 2024 when he won Minor League Player of the Year and a C in 2025 since he carried the team for a month before he fell off dramatically.  Some think he played through injuries that he had never experienced before.  We'll see in 2026.

 

[mvp 78]

Nice writeup. The only grade I'd change is Casas to F. He was awful when he was on the field and then got injured. It was a completely wasted season. 

[Nick John]

14 minutes ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

This is a perfect example of the prejudice that has existed in Boston for years.  Cora, the GM's since Dombrowski, the owners, the coaches and the media.  

Campbell hit .300 for the first month and finished with the following stats

67 games, 263 PA, 239 at bats, 24 runs, 51 hits, 10 doubles, 0 triples, 6 HRs, 21 RBIs, 2 SBs, 1 CS, 29 BBs, 72 Ks, .223 BA, .096 walk rate, .122 Isolated Power, .664 OPS

The often-injured Mayer shortened his season with yet another injury 

44 games, 136 PA, 127 at bats, 20 runs, 29 hits, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 4 HRs, 10 RBIs, 0 SBs, 2 CS, 8 BBs, 41 Ks, .228 BA, .044 walk rate, .174 Isolated Power, .674 OPS

The first player got a grade of C- after he produced 39 runs in 67 games

The second player got a grade of C+ after he produced 26 runs in 44 games

The other numbers align fairly closely with BA almost identical, walk rate for Campbell was double Mayer's walk rate, Mayer's Isolated power was 52 points higher, Campbell stole 2 of 3 bases while walking 29 times and Mayer stole 0 for 2 while walking just 8 times.

Campbell stayed healthy the whole year while Mayer missed a major portion of the year and had no hot streak during his limited at bats.  Campbell spent an entire month looking like the ROY until the book caught up with him and he was sentenced to AAA by Cora so we'll never know if the hitting coaches could have eventually corrected his problem like they did Anthony who had by far the worst start of any rookie.  

Most folks would prefer the guy that had a hot streak and ended up at the same number of the other player who never had a hot streak.  Most folks would prefer an OBP 47 points higher.  

Bottomline, to give Mayer a C+ when Campbell gets a C- when he outperformed him in total production by staying healthy reflects the privilege that has been granted Mayer his whole life!!  Campbell didn't grow up with privilege that carried over to his pro career, yet he has completely outperformed Mayer over the last two seasons.

I completely disagree with your assessment.  I think Mayer deserves a D and Campbell a C.  You can't help your team if you aren't on the field.  Campbell could have been on the field for 162 games without Cora whereas Mayer has consistently missed many games.  He's never had more than 350 at bats in any of his first 5 seasons with Boston.  Campbell was drafted in 2023 and had 378 at bats prior to being drafted and another 68 at bat at ROK and Hi-A hitting .309 and another 430 at bats in 2024 at Hi-A, AA and AAA hitting .330.  In 2025 he had 500 at bats between AAA and the MLB.

So, in the last two seasons he's had 930 at bats and played in 255 games while Mayer has played in 77 games in 2024 and 87 games in 2025 for a total of 164 games or 90 less than the durable Campbell.  Mayer has made 18 errors in 90 less games and Campbell 20 errors, thus producing a higher fielding percentage and better hitting.

Funny how often opinions on this site don't align with the factual data.  I say Mayer in 2024 gets a B+ since he missed nearly two months and a D in 2025 for missing even more than that and Campbell gets an A+ in 2024 when he won Minor League Player of the Year and a C in 2025 since he carried the team for a month before he fell off dramatically.  Some think he played through injuries that he had never experienced before.  We'll see in 2026.

 

Defensive value also plays a role in their grades and Campbell was statistically the worst defensive second baseman in baseball during his time in the majors. Mayer was viewed as a good to even great defender.

Also, Campbell’s struggles went on for a longer span than his hot streak to open the season. Mayer filled his role better than Campbell since one was expected to be a starter from day 1 while the other was brought up due to an injury and was needed to play at least league average defense at a seemingly new position for him. Anything they got offensively from Mayer was a bonus. 

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, Nick John said:

Defensive value also plays a role in their grades and Campbell was statistically the worst defensive second baseman in baseball during his time in the majors. Mayer was viewed as a good to even great defender.

Also, Campbell’s struggles went on for a longer span than his hot streak to open the season. Mayer filled his role better than Campbell since one was expected to be a starter from day 1 while the other was brought up due to an injury and was needed to play at least league average defense at a seemingly new position for him. Anything they got offensively from Mayer was a bonus. 

TBF, I believe he had the worst DRS from APR - MAY in all of MLB for any position. It was really ugly out there. 

Was it due to bad management/bad development and them moving him around too much or him just being a bad fielder? That's a different question.

[drewski6]

These are all slightly too generous to me, but reasonable.  Completely agree that Casas should get an F. Second big injury in a row, really struggled when out there.  SOme of this may not be his fault, but Im parking that aside and purely assessing his season, how it started vs how it landed. And his stock took a huge hit.

Ditto with Campbell.  Especially because he didnt look great in AAA with the bat.  

Theo use to say you want to be part of the MLB teams future, prove you dont belong in AAA.  Campbell did not do that last year.  So his stock also takes a hit.

And yes, Mayers does as well.  These injuries are piling up, and hes a fluid defender, and I think the bat will continue to improve - but Mayer hit barely over .800 OPS in AAA, and then well under .700 in MLB. And when you put that together, you are looking at what a low .700s OPS hitter in MLB with B+ defense? This is a good player, but not a future star.  So the expected durability and hitting take a hit.

Im sorry but I give Casas an F, Mayer a C- and Campbell a D.  All three stocks took a hit last year.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

31 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

TBF, I believe he had the worst DRS from APR - MAY in all of MLB for any position. It was really ugly out there. 

Was it due to bad management/bad development and them moving him around too much or him just being a bad fielder? That's a different question.

Nothing against Campbell, but his spontaneous combustion as a second baseman is mind-boggling to this fan. 

It's really hard to fathom because there was nary a mention in scouting reports or 2024 Minor League awards of the possibility of the defensive disaster we witnessed. 

Most perplexing is that not one voice from the entire Red Sox org cautioned against giving him the starting job at 2B in the big leagues.

Of course, most of the administration was too busy falling all over themselves congratulating each other on persuading KC to sign that team-friendly extension.

But what about all his managers and coaches from the various levels he shot through in '24? Did reporters forget to interview any of them when Campbell struggled last Spring? Or did the complete silence just reflect fears of being primaried, like the scout from the doomed Zoom call with Brez?

[drewski6]

4 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Nothing against Campbell, but his spontaneous combustion as a second baseman is mind-boggling to this fan. 

It's really hard to fathom because there was nary a mention in scouting reports or 2024 Minor League awards of the possibility of the defensive disaster we witnessed. 

Most perplexing is that not one voice from the entire Red Sox org cautioned against giving him the starting job at 2B in the big leagues.

Of course, most of the administration was too busy falling all over themselves congratulating each other on persuading KC to sign that team-friendly extension.

But what about all his managers and coaches from the various levels he shot through in '24? Did reporters forget to interview any of them when Campbell struggled last Spring? Or did the complete silence just reflect fears of being primaried, like the scout from the doomed Zoom call with Brez?

We need that scout back, I wont stop banging that drum.

But yes, no room for dissent or anything other than playing to Breslow's ego in that room.

They couldnt wait to pay, promote, and parade this guy.  Did his college have anything to do with it?

I dont limit it to Campbell.  Im questioning every single one of these young player extensions. We now have the seventh payroll in MLB right now, thats after Bregman opted out and very little guarantees on this roster.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Kristian Conundrum: Cora and Brez no longer discuss him extensively, and immediately change the subject with the same stock "Working on some things..."

KC's minor league manager at the end of the season recently had just one word: "Outfielder."

[notin]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

These are all slightly too generous to me, but reasonable.  Completely agree that Casas should get an F. Second big injury in a row, really struggled when out there.  SOme of this may not be his fault, but Im parking that aside and purely assessing his season, how it started vs how it landed. And his stock took a huge hit.

Ditto with Campbell.  Especially because he didnt look great in AAA with the bat.  

Theo use to say you want to be part of the MLB teams future, prove you dont belong in AAA.  Campbell did not do that last year.  So his stock also takes a hit.

And yes, Mayers does as well.  These injuries are piling up, and hes a fluid defender, and I think the bat will continue to improve - but Mayer hit barely over .800 OPS in AAA, and then well under .700 in MLB. And when you put that together, you are looking at what a low .700s OPS hitter in MLB with B+ defense? This is a good player, but not a future star.  So the expected durability and hitting take a hit.

Im sorry but I give Casas an F, Mayer a C- and Campbell a D.  All three stocks took a hit last year.

Campbell’s AAA numbers could be meaningless.  Players don’t get sent back to AAA just to post flattering stats and boost their confidence.  They get sent back to improve, which often involves changing something.

If Campbell was making changes to some part of his hitting approach, it’s very likely his BA is going to take a hit. Very few changes can be implemented immediately and show results right away…

[notin]

33 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Kristian Conundrum: Cora and Brez no longer discuss him extensively, and immediately change the subject with the same stock "Working on some things..."

KC's minor league manager at the end of the season recently had just one word: "Outfielder."

If he’s an outfielder, so be it.  That a player zipped through the minors only for his defensive shortcomings to become apparent at MLB is hardly a trail never blazed before.  Players change positions for this reason all the time, and it’s not solely done to appease administrative egos. 
 

If Campbell moves to LF, fine.  I’m all for an outfield of Campbell’s-Rafaela-Anthony.  And Campbell will come around offensively.  His slump was about 140 PAs of a .450 OPS.  But he had a .935 OPS before that.  He might wind up somewhere in the middle, and a .750 OPS left fielder might not be the superstar many envisioned here, but it hardly makes him AAAA fodder..

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

I still think Hamilton can be at least a solid strong-side platoon player.  Fair grades on everyone else.

He may not have time to prove this with the Sox after batting .618 v R, this season. Very short leash, if he gets a chance. His glove is a plus at 2B ONLY, so his utility value is minimized by that. It could force shuffling around infielders so he's at 2B. His baserunning is top 5%, and he has some PR value.

[moonslav59]

It's hard not to tie grades with expectations. Here are my grades:

B+ Story (His D kept him from an A-)

B+ Romy (He did well enough vs RHPs to warrant this grade.)

B Bregman (The missed time and slump near the end kept him from an A-

B Lowe (He did what we needed and fixed the 1B position for the end of 2025.)

C Mayer & Sogard (Both showed some promise, but .... meh.)

D- Campbell (He sucked on D and but for about 10 days out of the gate, sucked on O, too.)

F DHam, Toro & Casas (These three did ZERO to help the team win. Anything they did okay was more than made up for by their extreme faults.)

 

 

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He may not have time to prove this with the Sox after batting .618 v R, this season. Very short leash, if he gets a chance. His glove is a plus at 2B ONLY, so his utility value is minimized by that. It could force shuffling around infielders so he's at 2B. His baserunning is top 5%, and he has some PR value.

He had 22 SB and 6 CS last season. I want that success rate to be closer to 85% if I'm keeping him on the bench as a PR. 

[mvp 78]

6 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It's hard not to tie grades with expectations. Here are my grades:

B+ Story (His D kept him from an A-)

B+ Romy (He did well enough vs RHPs to warrant this grade.)

B Bregman (The missed time and slump near the end kept him from an A-

B Lowe (He did what we needed and fixed the 1B position for the end of 2025.)

C Mayer & Sogard (Both showed some promise, but .... meh.)

D- Campbell (He sucked on D and but for about 10 days out of the gate, sucked on O, too.)

F DHam, Toro & Casas (These three did ZERO to help the team win. Anything they did okay was more than made up for by their extreme faults.)

For a player like Sogard or Toro, do you also just grade them a little bit on the curve. Both of them have low ceilings so what is an A season for them? They are never going to be MVP players. Is the best Sogard going to do a C+ season? I'd personally pass on grading the lower end guys that aren't expected to be key contributors. 

[moonslav59]

14 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

For a player like Sogard or Toro, do you also just grade them a little bit on the curve. Both of them have low ceilings so what is an A season for them? They are never going to be MVP players. Is the best Sogard going to do a C+ season? I'd personally pass on grading the lower end guys that aren't expected to be key contributors. 

I get that and pointed it out in my first sentence. I think Sogard can get better than C+. I'd try and find someone better than Toro for corner IF depth. I could see Casas being the 1B/DH and Eaton for 3B, but if we sign Suarez, he could be the 3B depth and starting 1Bman. If Casas gets healthy, we could shuffle things around, easy enough.

Toro sucked- expected or not. D- max.

[mvp 78]

40 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I get that and pointed it out in my first sentence. I think Sogard can get better than C+. I'd try and find someone better than Toro for corner IF depth. I could see Casas being the 1B/DH and Eaton for 3B, but if we sign Suarez, he could be the 3B depth and starting 1Bman. If Casas gets healthy, we could shuffle things around, easy enough.

Toro sucked- expected or not. D- max.

Toro gave them a few good weeks. Once it turned south, they should have replaced him quickly. Brezzz was too slow to make a move and it left us more annoyed at Toro than we should have been. Not Toro's fault IMO.

[notin]

17 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Toro gave them a few good weeks. Once it turned south, they should have replaced him quickly. Brezzz was too slow to make a move and it left us more annoyed at Toro than we should have been. Not Toro's fault IMO.

Replace him with who?  Start streaming AAAA first basemen and hope for hot streaks?  Or place an order at Amazon? Maybe get Mo Vaughn out of retirement?

The bigger issue was not addressing that position at the deadline, but that was weeks away…

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, notin said:

Replace him with who?  Start streaming AAAA first basemen and hope for hot streaks?  Or place an order at Amazon? Maybe get Mo Vaughn out of retirement?

The bigger issue was not addressing that position at the deadline, but that was weeks away…

You don't have to wait until the deadline to make a trade for a 0.0 fWAR player like Lowe. We talked about a ton of names at the time. It also didn't help that everyone messed up the Raffy situation so bad that they sent the guy out of town who we all figured would inherit 1b at some point anyway. 

[notin]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

You don't have to wait until the deadline to make a trade for a 0.0 fWAR player like Lowe. We talked about a ton of names at the time. It also didn't help that everyone messed up the Raffy situation so bad that they sent the guy out of town who we all figured would inherit 1b at some point anyway. 

You do have to wait if the other team isnt willing.  There were stories about Breslow calling around for some corner infielders (Otto Kemp and Tim Elko were mentioned), but other teams simply were not ready to deal…

[moonslav59]

33 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Toro gave them a few good weeks. Once it turned south, they should have replaced him quickly. Brezzz was too slow to make a move and it left us more annoyed at Toro than we should have been. Not Toro's fault IMO.

While I agree, the guy deserved an F or D-. A manager playing him is no excuse for sucking, badly.

He was great from game 9 to game 27, so maybe that's enough to get him to a D or D+.  (1.073 OPS in 73 PAs)

Had he not been replaced by Lowe, we'd have almost certainly missed the playoffs.

.509 OPS in his last 185 PAs. That's like Wong & DHam suckiness.

 

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, notin said:

You do have to wait if the other team isnt willing.  There were stories about Breslow calling around for some corner infielders (Otto Kemp and Tim Elko were mentioned), but other teams simply were not ready to deal…

He shouldn't have traded Devers when he knew he didn't have a 1B then. 🫠

He needed to act like a man and work things out. 

[notin]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He shouldn't have traded Devers when he knew he didn't have a 1B then. 🫠

He needed to act like a man and work things out. 

Again that takes both parties to agree.  Devers was very vocal about not wanting to move to 1b, assuming his interpreter was accurate and not contracted from the same place Nelson Mandela got his interpreter.

Devers moving to first wasn’t a new idea.  Bloom suggested it during his contract talks when he based his first offer near what Matt Olson had just signed for.  The fallout there was Bloom’s next offer coming amidst a discussion where Devers would remain at third base.

I don’t think moving Devers to first was going to be so easy to convince merely by “manning up.”  Devers was adamant about playing third for a few years by that time.  And if he wasn’t going to move to help cover for an injured teammate, what was going to motivate him?

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He shouldn't have traded Devers when he knew he didn't have a 1B then. 🫠

He needed to act like a man and work things out. 

Had he gotten Lowe earlier and then traded for a real bat at the deadline, mayb e we go farther, but with the Anthony injury coming afterwards, I doubt we reach the promise land even if we added Suarez, Naylor of whoever on O. We also needed a SP'ers, so I don't throw much blame at Brez for not going overly nutty after the Devers trade.

I do think he needs to be bold, this winter, or I will be throwing blame at him and or JH.

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

Again that takes both parties to agree.  Devers was very vocal about not wanting to move to 1b, assuming his interpreter was accurate and not contracted from the same place Nelson Mandela got his interpreter.

Devers moving to first wasn’t a new idea.  Bloom suggested it during his contract talks when he based his first offer near what Matt Olson had just signed for.  The fallout there was Bloom’s next offer coming amidst a discussion where Devers would remain at third base.

I don’t think moving Devers to first was going to be so easy to convince merely by “manning up.”  Devers was adamant about playing third for a few years by that time.  And if he wasn’t going to move to help cover for an injured teammate, what was going to motivate him?

I still think we should have moved Devers to 1B the minute Breggie signed. (Casas to DH.)

I'm not sure it works out any better, but the second position move ask seemed to trigger the last straw for Devers.

[drewski6]

43 minutes ago, notin said:

Again that takes both parties to agree.  Devers was very vocal about not wanting to move to 1b, assuming his interpreter was accurate and not contracted from the same place Nelson Mandela got his interpreter.

Devers moving to first wasn’t a new idea.  Bloom suggested it during his contract talks when he based his first offer near what Matt Olson had just signed for.  The fallout there was Bloom’s next offer coming amidst a discussion where Devers would remain at third base.

I don’t think moving Devers to first was going to be so easy to convince merely by “manning up.”  Devers was adamant about playing third for a few years by that time.  And if he wasn’t going to move to help cover for an injured teammate, what was going to motivate him?

Fine , dont trade Devers as DH until you can get a 1b who can hit because you simply cannot have a team that has a noodlebat DH and a noodlebat 1b.

they dont need to play the same position to have one compensate for the other.

[drewski6]

This team has an extreme lack of pop.  We traded pop. We never replaced pop. Thats a problem.  That was the problem. That continues to be the problem.

Its not about who plays where. Its about zeee powah (and lack thereof)

we ended last season full of noodlebats. We went into the playoffs and scored like 5 combined runs in 3 games in a hitters park against a team that was decimated with sp injuries.

[Old Red]

39 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I still think we should have moved Devers to 1B the minute Breggie signed. (Casas to DH.)

I'm not sure it works out any better, but the second position move ask seemed to trigger the last straw for Devers.

Yes we’ve heard you say this many times, but Cora didn’t see it that way, and it Never happened, nor do i believe would have if Casas had stayed on the team, and stayed healthy.

[drewski6]

50 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I still think we should have moved Devers to 1B the minute Breggie signed. (Casas to DH.)

I'm not sure it works out any better, but the second position move ask seemed to trigger the last straw for Devers.

Bregman was signed to play 2b and didnt get moved to third base until it was apparent that Devers shoulder wasnt healthy enough to start the season at 3b.  Had Devers been healthy and you move him to 1b, you are playing the same dangerous game.

Your best hitter is a stubborn blockhead, and you risk pissing him off.  And now we have 0 hitters in the top....what?.....50?