Spring Training game thread: Week of Feb 21

[moonslav59]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Should have just tried to have a conversation with Devers last offseason about moving to 1b rather than all the smokescreen about Breggie being a 2b. I think Devers will be a fine 1b. 🫠

I have been calling for Devers moving to 1B for over 3-4 years. I've thought his quickness and glove at 3B were not bad and would translate well to 1B, but I guess we'll find out watching him play 1B w SFG.

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, Old Red said:

I said the result was all the same thing, but HAD, and still might is not the same thing.

I just figured if Can and will mean the same thing to you, maybe had and has might too.

😉

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I have been calling for Devers moving to 1B for over 3-4 years. I've thought his quickness and glove at 3B were not bad and would translate well to 1B, but I guess we'll find out watching him play 1B w SFG.

Yes we’ve heard it 100 if not 1000 times over. Of course you suggest many things, and would make 9 moves when only 1 was really needed. Vaz wasn’t got enough to catch, Bogey wasn’t good enough to play SS, Casas isn’t good enough to play 1B, and on, and on. I can’t believe after all this time that Cora doesn’t listen to one of his bench coaches like yourself.🤔

[notin]

9 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Should have just tried to have a conversation with Devers last offseason about moving to 1b rather than all the smokescreen about Breggie being a 2b. I think Devers will be a fine 1b. 🫠

When Devers signed his extension, he wanted some sort of guarantee he would always play third.   Asking him to move earlier would have just started his tantrum earlier…

[moonslav59]

53 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Yes we’ve heard it 100 if not 1000 times over. Of course you suggest many things, and would make 9 moves when only 1 was really needed. Vaz wasn’t got enough to catch, Bogey wasn’t good enough to play SS, Casas isn’t good enough to play 1B, and on, and on. I can’t believe after all this time that Cora doesn’t listen to one of his bench coaches like yourself.🤔

You never cease to mess it up.

When I suggest 9 moves, I don't expect all 9 to be made, and when 7 of them involves Duran, it sould be kinda hard for all 9 to happen.

I may believe those guys weren't good enough to play their positions, and yea, I give my opinions. Whoop-de-freakin-doo. LMAO.

I doubt I said it 100 times, but we've certainly heard you say Bloom was not good enough 100's of times.

I guess it's only okay for you to repeat yourself.

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

You never cease to mess it up.

When I suggest 9 moves, I don't expect all 9 to be made, and when 7 of them involves Duran, it sould be kinda hard for all 9 to happen.

I may believe those guys weren't good enough to play their positions, and yea, I give my opinions. Whoop-de-freakin-doo. LMAO.

I doubt I said it 100 times, but we've certainly heard you say Bloom was not good enough 100's of times.

I guess it's only okay for you to repeat yourself.

You said yourself you’ve been calling for Devers moving to 1B for over 3-4 years. Have you introduced yourself to Cora yet? Does he not recognize you as one of his bench coaches?🤔😃

[moonslav59]

43 minutes ago, Old Red said:

You said yourself you’ve been calling for Devers moving to 1B for over 3-4 years. Have you introduced yourself to Cora yet? Does he not recognize you as one of his bench coaches?🤔😃

You were calling for Bloom's firing for longer. Have you introduced yourself to JH?
See how silly you sound?

🤪

[UtahSox]

16 hours ago, notin said:

When Devers signed his extension, he wanted some sort of guarantee he would always play third.   Asking him to move earlier would have just started his tantrum earlier…

Devers was and is a B**Ch… contrast that to WC-40 getting here and saying “I’ll do whatever I can to help the team, I brought my catcher gear in case.” Catcher to 1B has to be the hardest transition in baseball. Another reminder I’m glad Devers is gone. 

[vegasbob]

With the benefit of hindsight and letting some time pass, it should be apparent that Chaim Bloom was not ready to be a MLB CBO.   Maybe he is now, over in St. Louis.   

I think he was given orders from ownership to break the mold, reorient towards building the minor system and choke off the spending.   Not sure how a neophyte could have done a lot else.

The relevant question now is whether Craig Breslow is the right guy to have a long run of competitive teams. The Devers situation had many fathers , including Raffy,  and at the time showed the immaturity or communication inability of a Yale STEM grad dealing with a spoiled Dominican of lesser education.

 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, UtahSox said:

Devers was and is a B**Ch… contrast that to WC-40 getting here and saying “I’ll do whatever I can to help the team, I brought my catcher gear in case.” Catcher to 1B has to be the hardest transition in baseball. Another reminder I’m glad Devers is gone. 

It would have helped if we actually made a decent attempt at replacing his bat.

I think Contreras can fill Breggie's bat, but we left the Devers loss unfilled.

Durbin and IKF improve the defense over Devers, but not really over Breggie, so that counts for very little.

After all that went down, I agree that Devers had to go, but we left his line-up slot vacant. On top of that, they all but promised they'd fill the big bat need.

I do realize teams can win in many different ways, but all our ring teams and near ring teams had not one but two or more big bats. My mind is biased.

[UtahSox]

39 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

It would have helped if we actually made a decent attempt at replacing his bat.

I think Contreras can fill Breggie's bat, but we left the Devers loss unfilled.

Durbin and IKF improve the defense over Devers, but not really over Breggie, so that counts for very little.

After all that went down, I agree that Devers had to go, but we left his line-up slot vacant. On top of that, they all but promised they'd fill the big bat need.

I do realize teams can win in many different ways, but all our ring teams and near ring teams had not one but two or more big bats. My mind is biased.

Agree……… but another way of looking at it is Contereras replaces RD, maybe with less raw talent hitting but is a RHB +better defense +vibes and clubhouse gains. Then full circle back to my previous post on different thread.  Breslow chose Durbin and Suarez long term over Bregman. And as of NOW I don’t think I love that. Time will tell, But as of today I’d rather have Breggy + traded for SP2 vs Durbin + Suarez.
 

in my mind: AB2+ WC-40+ RA19+ step forward with youngsters = big bat equivalency. 

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, UtahSox said:

Agree……… but another way of looking at it is Contereras replaces RD, maybe with less raw talent hitting but is a RHB +better defense +vibes and clubhouse gains. Then full circle back to my previous post on different thread.  Breslow chose Durbin and Suarez long term over Bregman. And as of NOW I don’t think I love that. Time will tell, But as of today I’d rather have Breggy + traded for SP2 vs Durbin + Suarez.
 

in my mind: AB2+ WC-40+ RA19+ step forward with youngsters = big bat equivalency. 

That is a valid way to look at the changes, but I'd prefer Suarez to Breggie and Durbin & IKF were the bonuses.

Breggie cost $45M more than Suarez. While money was differed, it's still $9M more a year. That basically paid for IKF with $3M left over and then $9M more a year for 4 more years.

To me, a more realistic contract swap would be Gray for KMarte & IKF, which is almost even.

We'd have traded Mayer & Tolle for KMarte and maybe we add what we gave for Gray to what we gave to Durbin and get Neto or Paredes, instead of Durbin. (Or, we still have Fitts or Clarke as depth, since we no longer have Gray.)

[Nick]

22 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

It would have helped if we actually made a decent attempt at replacing his bat.

I think Contreras can fill Breggie's bat, but we left the Devers loss unfilled.

Durbin and IKF improve the defense over Devers, but not really over Breggie, so that counts for very little.

After all that went down, I agree that Devers had to go, but we left his line-up slot vacant. On top of that, they all but promised they'd fill the big bat need.

I do realize teams can win in many different ways, but all our ring teams and near ring teams had not one but two or more big bats. My mind is biased.

If I'm the owner, I'd tell everyone except for Bres to shut up about the off season.  Of course it was Bres that said something to the effect, successful playoff teams all had power bats and maybe we needed some. 

I don't ever want to hear from Kennedy.

 

[moonslav59]

I call Contreras and Bregman a push on offense. The down turn was Devers to Durbin.

On defense, we may have improved some: Bregman to Durbin, Toro/Lowe/Casa/Romy to Contreras and an awful 2B mix to Mayer.

The pitching got way better on paper.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

3 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I call Contreras and Bregman a push on offense. The down turn was Devers to Durbin.

On defense, we may have improved some: Bregman to Durbin, Toro/Lowe/Casa/Romy to Contreras and an awful 2B mix to Mayer.

The pitching got way better on paper.

I haven't seen Durbin or Contreras enough on D to see how competent they are. But I still think the underrated reason the Sox made the playoffs last year was how much Bregman solidified third base, especially in big moments.

Mayer is now the best infielder on the team and absolutely needs to make the roster if Brez is truly committed to pitching and defense.

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I haven't seen Durbin or Contreras enough on D to see how competent they are. But I still think the underrated reason the Sox made the playoffs last year was how much Bregman solidified third base, especially in big moments.

Mayer is now the best infielder on the team and absolutely needs to make the roster if Brez is truly committed to pitching and defense.

Good points, but Bregman only played 2/3 of the season and kinda sucked near the end of 2025.

Durbin is a very good defensive player.

Contreras is new at 1B, but he looked pretty good, last season.

Mayer should be a big defensive upgrade at 2B, if he sticks and stays healthy.

Story may continue his decline on defense.

IKF was a major upgrade to our infield bench defense and versatility.

Overall, I think our infield defense improved. Our OF defense remains the best in MLB, if not top 2-3. Our catcher defense looks solid (top 10ish?)

[Deja Doh]

Suarez of last year with the homers, yes.  Pre injury Bregman was really good.  He never fully recovered after missing 40 plus games.  I don't think a Durbin/IKF mix is even a comparison.

On 3/7/2026 at 10:52 AM, moonslav59 said:

That is a valid way to look at the changes, but I'd prefer Suarez to Breggie and Durbin & IKF were the bonuses.

Breggie cost $45M more than Suarez. While money was differed, it's still $9M more a year. That basically paid for IKF with $3M left over and then $9M more a year for 4 more years.

To me, a more realistic contract swap would be Gray for KMarte & IKF, which is almost even.

We'd have traded Mayer & Tolle for KMarte and maybe we add what we gave for Gray to what we gave to Durbin and get Neto or Paredes, instead of Durbin. (Or, we still have Fitts or Clarke as depth, since we no longer have Gray.)

 

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, Deja Doh said:

Suarez of last year with the homers, yes.  Pre injury Bregman was really good.  He never fully recovered after missing 40 plus games.  I don't think a Durbin/IKF mix is even a comparison.

 

BOS 2B 0.7 fWAR '25

BOS 3B 3.7 fWAR '25

Can this year's 2B/3B crew average 2.2 fWAR at each position and match what they did last year? Durbin should probably get to 2.2 or slightly higher. Mayer and a platoon over at 2B? Maybe if Mayer can stay healthy and keep IKF off the field as much as possible? 

[JoeBrady]

37 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

BOS 2B 0.7 fWAR '25

BOS 3B 3.7 fWAR '25

Can this year's 2B/3B crew average 2.2 fWAR at each position and match what they did last year? Durbin should probably get to 2.2 or slightly higher. Mayer and a platoon over at 2B? Maybe if Mayer can stay healthy and keep IKF off the field as much as possible? 

I think that the right approach.  Too many people try to see how we will replace Bregman & Casas, without considering how how much we will pick up at 1st & 2nd.

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I think that the right approach.  Too many people try to see how we will replace Bregman & Casas, without considering how how much we will pick up at 1st & 2nd.

They were so dreadful at 2b and 1b (0 fWAR combined), it isn't hard to see them taking a step back at 3b, but overall being better as an IF unit. 

[moonslav59]

6 hours ago, Deja Doh said:

Suarez of last year with the homers, yes.  Pre injury Bregman was really good.  He never fully recovered after missing 40 plus games.  I don't think a Durbin/IKF mix is even a comparison.

I was comparing the Contreras bat w Bregman and the Durbin/IKF glove to Bregman's 3/4 season (+Toro 1/4).

To me, the missing piece was replacing the Devers bat. 

[Kimmi]

On 3/7/2026 at 11:17 AM, UtahSox said:

Devers was and is a B**Ch… contrast that to WC-40 getting here and saying “I’ll do whatever I can to help the team, I brought my catcher gear in case.” Catcher to 1B has to be the hardest transition in baseball. Another reminder I’m glad Devers is gone. 

That should be the mindset of every player on any team in any sport.  I'll do whatever you need me to do to help the team.

[Kimmi]

6 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

BOS 2B 0.7 fWAR '25

BOS 3B 3.7 fWAR '25

Can this year's 2B/3B crew average 2.2 fWAR at each position and match what they did last year? Durbin should probably get to 2.2 or slightly higher. Mayer and a platoon over at 2B? Maybe if Mayer can stay healthy and keep IKF off the field as much as possible? 

Not to mention what should be a big improvement at 1B over last year.