Red Sox (Early) vs Orioles (Bradish): 4/26/26, 1:35pm

[Old Red]

4 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Not every vet needs to be "the leader."

I don't think trading him would be about not being a leader: it would be about his declining skillsets that seemed about average at best to begin with, once he joined the Sox, ot at least after year one.

I'd start by moving him to 2B. One grumble and I'd trade him.

Yes I’m sure all the clubs in MLB are blowing up Brez’s phone to get Story.🤔

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

I don't trust the Red Sox front office on just about anything, but can't fault any org from promoting a guy who was named Minor League Player of the Year.

The list of previous winners from just the past 14 years alone boasts multiple MLB All-Stars, MVPs and Cy Youngs: Trout, Buxton, Bryant, Snell, Acuna, Vlad Jr, Witt Jr, Gunnar. That's over 50% studs; the rest at least became starting position players: Myers, Moncada, Lux, Holliday, Konnor Griffin.

None of those guys looked rushed now. The Campbell dilemma -- besides his unique swing that big league analytics quickly exploited -- is that he rose so fast because of his bat that he didn't have enough time to develop into a professional infielder. 

He's still a pro athlete and will be a major league outfielder someday, but probably not another Barry Bonds, as his more-hyped teammates Anthony, Mayer and Teel were calling him.

[moonslav59]

21 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Yes I’m sure all the clubs in MLB are blowing up Brez’s phone to get Story.🤔

Most have Brez's phone number blocked.

[mvp 78]

42 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Most have Brez's phone number blocked.

Who's the Red Sox hater now? 

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I don't trust the Red Sox front office on just about anything, but can't fault any org from promoting a guy who was named Minor League Player of the Year.

The list of previous winners from just the past 14 years alone boasts multiple MLB All-Stars, MVPs and Cy Youngs: Trout, Buxton, Bryant, Snell, Acuna, Vlad Jr, Witt Jr, Gunnar. That's over 50% studs; the rest at least became starting position players: Myers, Moncada, Lux, Holliday, Konnor Griffin.

None of those guys looked rushed now. The Campbell dilemma -- besides his unique swing that big league analytics quickly exploited -- is that he rose so fast because of his bat that he didn't have enough time to develop into a professional infielder. 

He's still a pro athlete and will be a major league outfielder someday, but probably not another Barry Bonds, as his more-hyped teammates Anthony, Mayer and Teel were calling him.

I would just say that they moved KC around too much in MiLB. I wished they had just given him a position and stuck with it. I think he didn't look great in the IF so they tried it out in the OF too. They were just surprised at how quickly his bat moved him up and they weren't able get his glove ready. 

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Who's the Red Sox hater now? 

LOL.

Brez is not the Red Sox.

Humor is often not recognized.

I'm hopelessly a Sox lover.

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I would just say that they moved KC around too much in MiLB. I wished they had just given him a position and stuck with it. I think he didn't look great in the IF so they tried it out in the OF too. They were just surprised at how quickly his bat moved him up and they weren't able get his glove ready. 

I don't disagree, but when a player sucks at a position, moving him is commonplace.

[JoeBrady]

12 hours ago, illinoisredsox said:

One notable difference today.  In the 6th, Mayer was left in to face a lefty and promptly delivered an RBI single.  He later made an outstanding catch of a foul pop.

Cora would have pinch hit for him with who knows what results and I doubt Durbin or Monastario makes that catch to steal an out.

I agree.  I don't mind platooning him against the really tough lefties, but a prospect this highly rated has to learn to hit lefties, and there is only one way to do that.

That said, the lefty platooning could've come from the FO.

And having said that, if we are taking the training wheels off, it might be time flip Story and Mayer.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

He's not getting called up in April. He's not getting called up in May. He's not getting called up in June. Just ignore his numbers for a few months and see what happens after they call him up to AAA. 

Story was a 3.8 bWAR player last year.  I wonder if there are Met fans out there suggesting that Bichette get demoted?

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, Old Red said:

Story voiced what was probably the overwhelming sentiment in that clubhouse

I've seen upper management make changes.  I've sometimes questioned their logic, but most times I've said 'what do you expect?  The situation sucks'.  He seems to want a personal discussion with Breslow.  If I were Breslow, I'd tell him 'give me a call when your OPS is .700'.

We've had this situation before when players complained about not getting help at the deadline.  If I were the GM I'd tell them 'It's because you FRACKING SUCK!'.  Do your freaking job, and THEN come back to me.

/end of rant/

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

but can't fault any org from promoting a guy who was named Minor League Player of the Year.

It was a difficult situation.  Our 2B situation was pretty bad.  They probably knew he needed more development work, but he also projected to be better than the current alternatives.

[mvp 78]

38 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I don't disagree, but when a player sucks at a position, moving him is commonplace.

He played 3 positions the last part of '23 after being drafted. He wasn't even given time to see how bad he was before being moved around. He played 4 positions in '24. He played 5 in '25. How would they know where he's good at if he's struggling defensively? 

[mvp 78]

19 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Story was a 3.8 bWAR player last year.  I wonder if there are Met fans out there suggesting that Bichette get demoted?

101 wRC+ and now his defense is awful. The last time he had a plus bat was 6 years ago. It's over. 

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Most have Brez's phone number blocked.

Not Bloom.

[Old Red]

26 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He played 3 positions the last part of '23 after being drafted. He wasn't even given time to see how bad he was before being moved around. He played 4 positions in '24. He played 5 in '25. How would they know where he's good at if he's struggling defensively? 

Even when they decided he was going to be the opening day 2B last year they kept playing him also in the OF. KC was mishandled at the very, which has set him backwards for who knows how long. 

[moonslav59]

12 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He played 3 positions the last part of '23 after being drafted. He wasn't even given time to see how bad he was before being moved around. He played 4 positions in '24. He played 5 in '25. How would they know where he's good at if he's struggling defensively? 

He never played any positions before joining the Sox?

Look, I'm not defending so many positional shifting, but it can become very obvious in a short time, that someone sucks at a position and would need a very long time to bring to near normal.

Maybe they felt his best chance at cracking the majors was to be a utility guy.

When you say 4 and 5 positions, it's kinda misleading when one year he played 1 games at 3B and another year 2 games in CF. That being said, there is merit saying he never really got a long look at any one position, and I think they wanted his bat so badly in the bigs that they figured his athleticism would help him improve enough to be passable. They were grossly wrong, and their prepping of him was misguided and scattered, fo sure.

IMO, I'm not sure he can be good at any position except DH. 

Inning in the minors:

511 2B

440 OF

299 SS

263 1B

44 3B

That is very scattered. I'm sure it didn't help him learn one position better, but which one do you think he could be pretty good at, if he'd have been given 1800 innings at?

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

He never played any positions before joining the Sox?

Look, I'm not defending so many positional shifting, but it can become very obvious in a short time, that someone sucks at a position and would need a very long time to bring to near normal.

Maybe they felt his best chance at cracking the majors was to be a utility guy.

When you say 4 and 5 positions, it's kinda misleading when one year he played 1 games at 3B and another year 2 games in CF. That being said, there is merit saying he never really got a long look at any one position, and I think they wanted his bat so badly in the bigs that they figured his athleticism would help him improve enough to be passable. They were grossly wrong, and their prepping of him was misguided and scattered, fo sure.

IMO, I'm not sure he can be good at any position except DH. 

Inning in the minors:

511 2B

440 OF

299 SS

263 1B

44 3B

That is very scattered. I'm sure it didn't help him learn one position better, but which one do you think he could be pretty good at, if he'd have been given 1800 innings at?

Not everyone can become a utility guy., nor should they.

[moonslav59]

8 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Not everyone can become a utility guy., nor should they.

Of course not, and not everyone can become passable at any one position, too.

I'm not arguing against the idea that picking one position early on and sticking with him there was a bad idea- just that it may not have worked either. The guy seems to really suck on defense.

That happens, even with playing just one position and with a lot of good coaching.

What position should they have picked? One guy here tried to claim he should have stayed at SS, and to me that is the worst idea of all. Where would you have stuck him, year one?

[mvp 78]

16 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

That is very scattered. I'm sure it didn't help him learn one position better, but which one do you think he could be pretty good at, if he'd have been given 1800 innings at?

How would they ever know which one he'd be good at playing him like that when he's struggling defensively????

[mvp 78]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Of course not, and not everyone can become passable at any one position, too.

So play him everywhere? That doesn't make sense. 

[Old Red]

2 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

So play him everywhere? That doesn't make sense. 

Throwing spaghetti against a wall to see where it would stick.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Maybe the plan all along in the '25 preseason was to move Campbell to full-time DH, once they salary dumped Devers...

... because the smartest guys in the conference room already knew that KC was poor on D and that Raffy would publicly freak about being replaced by Bregman so loudly that Brez could justify trading him...

... which any CBO thin-skinned enough to fire an employee for calling him a stiff surely wanted to do since Devers implored him publicly at the previous summer trade deadline to recruit pitching help.

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

So play him everywhere? That doesn't make sense. 

Again, I'm not arguing it made sense, but the guy sucks on D.

I've been saying he should be the DH, but someone as athletic as KC always brings out the hope that he can "learn a position." 

I'm not sure that is true for everybody.

He should have been moved off SS earlier: do you agree?

Should they have given him 1500+ innings at 2B, and how long do you stick with this, if he still sucks after 800-100 innings? (Not that I'm sure he would have.)

[moonslav59]

11 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Throwing spaghetti against a wall to see where it would stick.

That's a much better strategy than utilityman.

[moonslav59]

5 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Maybe the plan all along in the '25 preseason was to move Campbell to full-time DH, once they salary dumped Devers...

If he had hit .775+, he very well might have been the DH.

He may have been the DH, if Cora woulda talked devers into 1B.

[JoeBrady]

50 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

So play him everywhere? That doesn't make sense. 

I think everyone is over-analyzing it.  He got brought up to play 2B because we needed a 2B.  He figured to be below-average at 2B, but not awful.

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

I think everyone is over-analyzing it.  He got brought up to play 2B because we needed a 2B.  He figured to be below-average at 2B, but not awful.

If they kept him at 2b for the entirety of his MiLB stay, maybe he would simply have been below average? 

[moonslav59]

25 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If they kept him at 2b for the entirety of his MiLB stay, maybe he would simply have been below average? 

It's hard to argue that more practice would not have helped, but the guy lacks even the basic fundamentals, so I just can't believe they thought he would not be awful, as Joe suggested.

Hell, EValdez might have been better, and they knew he sucked, too. (Note: he got a longer look.)

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

It's hard to argue that more practice would not have helped, but the guy lacks even the basic fundamentals, so I just can't believe they thought he would not be awful, as Joe suggested.

Hell, EValdez might have been better, and they knew he sucked, too. (Note: he got a longer look.)

Romy was every bit as bad in 2024, and became passable in 2025.

Boggs led the league in errors in 1983 and 1984, and went on to win a GG.