Red Sox acquire Wilson Contreras From Cardinals

[JoeBrady]

37 minutes ago, Hugh2 said:

I think he moves for half his contract.  

Maybe he's not moving because the Sox view him as their starting 2026 DH. 

I think that's 100% correct.  IMO, the RS would rather keep him than pay someone else $9M to play him.  A couple of interesting notes:

• Yoshida projects to a .767 OPS.  That's better than 18 teams at DH.
• Over 2023-24, with a 1,000 PA minimum,Yoshida ranked #47 in wOBA with a .338.  That's decent hitting.  Alonso, for $155M, is #37 with .343.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Clearly teams use the DH to rotate players in at varying degrees.

Or teams don't have a real DH.  When you have Ohtani, Schwarber and Devers, there is no real rotation.  The teams that do rotate usually don't have a bat worthy of FT play.

[Hugh2]

Honestly, personally, I don't have a preference.  

If my team is loaded with offensive star studded talent in the field, I can see the advantage of using the DH more as a rotation to rest guys and also get some bench guys at bats and play with match ups. 

But If I have a team that really really needs an offensive upgrade and I'm carrying a few guys who are good on defense but not so much with the bat (Rafaela/Narvaez) etc etc. Then I could really be sold on going out and getting a player like Schwarber to fill in that DH spot. 

I think there's more than one way to skin a cat

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Hugh2 said:

Honestly, personally, I don't have a preference.  

If my team is loaded with offensive star studded talent in the field, I can see the advantage of using the DH more as a rotation to rest guys and also get some bench guys at bats and play with match ups. 

But If I have a team that really really needs an offensive upgrade and I'm carrying a few guys who are good on defense but not so much with the bat (Rafaela/Narvaez) etc etc. Then I could really be sold on going out and getting a player like Schwarber to fill in that DH spot. 

I think there's more than one way to skin a cat

Well said.

I'd like to add this: While a .732 OPS is not great, it's pretty damn good for a catcher (Narvaez,) and since he's a rookie, maybe he can improve on that.

Only 6 catchers had more PAs and a higher OPS than Narvaez.

Out of 37 catchers with 250+ PAs, Narvaez ranked 15th in OPS and 10th in Catcher HRs at 15.

I have no idea how well he will hit going forward, but as of now, I do not see him as a liability on offense.

I also have some faith in Ceddanne's continued improvement.

2023+2024 VS 2025 for Rafaela:

2.9 BB%> 4.8%

27.1 K%>19.9%

.275 OBP> .295 OBP

,389 SLG>.414 SLG

His future is highly unpredictable.

[JoeBrady]

4 hours ago, Hugh2 said:

I think there's more than one way to skin a cat

That is a 100% certainty, and one of my favorite philosophies.  I always favored having two sluggers at the corner outfield positions, with a minimum wage sprinter in between them.

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

His future is highly unpredictable.

I like his progression quite a bit.  When you have a platinum glove in CF, you only need slight improvements.  he went from a ridiculous 151/15 K/W to a bad, but decidedly better 117/28.  In addition, his EV went from 85.9 to 87.7.  And at age 25, he should have 2-3 more seasons of steady improvement.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, JoeBrady said:

I like his progression quite a bit.  When you have a platinum glove in CF, you only need slight improvements.  he went from a ridiculous 151/15 K/W to a bad, but decidedly better 117/28.  In addition, his EV went from 85.9 to 87.7.  And at age 25, he should have 2-3 more seasons of steady improvement.

He was such a "raw hitter" when he broke into the bigs.

The thing is, he seems to be able to hit bad pitches just well enough to get by, but surely some discipline helped and may/should continue to do so.

[Behindenemylines]

On 12/30/2025 at 4:34 PM, JoeBrady said:

I think that's 100% correct.  IMO, the RS would rather keep him than pay someone else $9M to play him.  A couple of interesting notes:

• Yoshida projects to a .767 OPS.  That's better than 18 teams at DH.
• Over 2023-24, with a 1,000 PA minimum,Yoshida ranked #47 in wOBA with a .338.  That's decent hitting.  Alonso, for $155M, is #37 with .343.

Yoshida lack of power, but hit tool, is the reason why the Sox have been searching for more power. If they had more power they could plug Yoshida in the 2 hole and be fine,

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, Behindenemylines said:

Yoshida lack of power, but hit tool, is the reason why the Sox have been searching for more power. If they had more power they could plug Yoshida in the 2 hole and be fine,

Yes. With KMarte at 2B, we can handle a .785 low power DH.

We can handle the drop from Bregman to mayer/Romy at 3B.

The gain at 1B with Contreras, who has some power, should even things out enough that hoping for improvement from our younger players is a hope and not an essential need.