White Sox (Martin) vs Red Sox (Sandoval): 8/4/26, 7:10pm

[mvp 78]

14 minutes ago, notin said:

Monasterio is probably only playing because he’s hitting, and Tracy should ride that wave to shore.

But he really is an awful shortstop.  I’d be more than happy with him at 2b, however.

Cheng is a better fielder who I think is underrated as a hitter, but that doesn’t mean I think he’s a good hitter; just that he’s a better grade of mediocre than you think…

I think we're closer to agreeing than not. 

I think they are going to ride out the Monasterio wave until Story is back. At least it's been fine enough. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

The notion that players will eventually hit like the numbers on the back of their baseball cards can be true, but if young guys post career high numbers, what's that say about them next year when their cards look even better?

... and do Mona, Sigs and Cheng even have MLB cards yet?

As for Campbell getting released: who's delivering the most production this summer, him or Anthony, Mayer and Teel of the Big Three MASH unit?

[mvp 78]

14 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

... and do Mona, Sigs and Cheng even have MLB cards yet?

Yes to all three.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Yes to all three.

In Red Sox unis? or do they have to wait for update sets?

[mvp 78]

11 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

In Red Sox unis? or do they have to wait for update sets?

Monasterio is in a Sox uni in Topps '26 Series 2. I don't believe the others have Sox cards. The update series isn't released until October. 

[notin]

48 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

The notion that players will eventually hit like the numbers on the back of their baseball cards can be true, but if young guys post career high numbers, what's that say about them next year when their cards look even better?

... and do Mona, Sigs and Cheng even have MLB cards yet?

As for Campbell getting released: who's delivering the most production this summer, him or Anthony, Mayer and Teel of the Big Three MASH unit?

Getting DFAd is not necessarily getting released.  It’s just about removing him from the 40 man roster.  If he clears waivers, he doesn’t have enough service time to declare free agency and has no choice but to accept assignment to Worcester, where he already is.  So unless he gets claimed (along with his entire contract), the only effect is he wouldn’t be eligible for a call up to Boston.

The risk is that some team might claim him.  I don’t think it’s likely, but it could happen.

It’s just one option to explore once players start coming off the 60 day IL.  But they have others in front of him that will be DFAd first, notable Harris and La Sorsa.  And if Anthony gets activated, pribably Jones…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

Getting DFAd is not necessarily getting released.  It’s just about removing him from the 40 man roster.  If he clears waivers, he doesn’t have enough service time to declare free agency and has no choice but to accept assignment to Worcester, where he already is.  So unless he gets claimed (along with his entire contract), the only effect is he wouldn’t be eligible for a call up to Boston.

The risk is that some team might claim him.  I don’t think it’s likely, but it could happen.

It’s just one option to explore once players start coming off the 60 day IL.  But they have others in front of him that will be DFAd first, notable Harris and La Sorsa.  And if Anthony gets activated, pribably Jones…

Ya, i guess if somebody claimed him, we'd then have the option to pull him back or trade him for somebody else's budget albatross?

[notin]

Just now, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Ya, i guess if somebody claimed him, we'd then have the option to pull him back or trade him for somebody else's budget albatross?

I think MLB got rid of the revocable waiver ststem…

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

Getting DFAd is not necessarily getting released.  It’s just about removing him from the 40 man roster.  If he clears waivers, he doesn’t have enough service time to declare free agency and has no choice but to accept assignment to Worcester, where he already is.  So unless he gets claimed (along with his entire contract), the only effect is he wouldn’t be eligible for a call up to Boston.

The risk is that some team might claim him.  I don’t think it’s likely, but it could happen.

It’s just one option to explore once players start coming off the 60 day IL.  But they have others in front of him that will be DFAd first, notable Harris and La Sorsa.  And if Anthony gets activated, pribably Jones…

Pitchers: La Sorsa, Gamboa, Crawford, Kelly

Hitters: Rogers, Gasper, Harris, Eaton, Cheng, Casas

A few of these guys are on the 60 day IL, but you can't put them on the IL during the offseason and they take up a 40 man spot again. Rostering guys who are permanently injured reduces the amounts of moves you can make in the offseason. 

[notin]

14 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Pitchers: La Sorsa, Gamboa, Crawford, Kelly

Hitters: Rogers, Gasper, Harris, Eaton, Cheng, Casas

A few of these guys are on the 60 day IL, but you can't put them on the IL during the offseason and they take up a 40 man spot again. Rostering guys who are permanently injured reduces the amounts of moves you can make in the offseason. 

If the Sox get lucky and Anthony, Crochet, Houck, and Oviedo all need to be activated this year, they would need to open 4 slots on the 40 man.

To me, Harris and La Sorsa are no brainers.  Gasper is certainly a possibility.  Ditto Jones, which would clear a 40 man and a 26 man if Anthony was activated, since his activation would also mean the Sox likely don’t need Jones anymore anyway. 
 

Kelly doesn’t open anything.  Ditto Casas and Crawford, as none of them are on the 40 man..  Eaton and Cheng both do open spots.  Rogers is likely DFAd when Rutschman gets activated since he has no options (which does open a 40 man spot since Rutschman is already on it).  Gasper might be saved by representing the only remaining catcher depth.

That leaves possibly one spot shy.   But if they DFA Harris, La Sorsa, Jones and Rogers, they can add 4 players.

Now do they have enough optionable players to get everyone on the active 26 man roster…

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, drewski6 said:

IKF, Story, Arias, Meade, Monasterio, Sogard, Siegler = wait and see.  We dont know how these guys are going to rehab, look in a rehab, swing timing, like notin said some shine from the current guys might wear off, we dont know if meade is coming back.....Lot in the air, dont think it needs to be figured out today. Also roster expands to 28 in september and options dont matter for postseason rosters.....this is like going to be a "problem" for like 1-2 weeks in august.

Just like with our over-abundance of pitching, baseball karma typically addresses these problems herself.  As someone else said, if everyone keeps playing like they are, then who to cut/demote is a good problem.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Kelly doesn’t open anything.  Ditto Casas and Crawford, as none of them are on the 40 man..

They need to be rostered in the offseason. You DFA them so that you don't have to do that and have them take up space then. 

[moonslav59]

4 hours ago, notin said:

Believe it or not, this all falls under the “good problem to have” blanket.  Too many options is always better than too few.

 

That almost always is true, but we could make a change that backfires.

[JoeBrady]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

That almost always is true, but we could make a change that backfires.

Any time you are dealing with near-coinflip decisions, you will be dealt near random outcomes.

[moonslav59]

26 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

They need to be rostered in the offseason. You DFA them so that you don't have to do that and have them take up space then. 

Despite having 8 players on the 60 Day IL I'd want protected going into 2027, I don't really see a 40 man roster/Rule 5 crunch coming up. (Okay, Story, Casas and Kelly could go, and I wouldn't blink, but I think there is room for all 8 plus maybe Brannon or Paez added for Rule 5. That's maybe 9 guys to add.

Say good bye to 4: Gray, Sandoval, IKF and Rogers to free agency

Not so hard to DFA or trade 4-5: La Sorsa, Brett Harris, Gamboa, Gasper & Jones or White.

One could also trade or DFA Kelly, Story, Casas or Yoshida or Duran.

Are Eaton and  Samaniego untouchable?

As deep as I've bragged about our roster, many are not hard to replace or clear out some bottle necks.

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Any time you are dealing with near-coinflip decisions, you will be dealt near random outcomes.

I do feel more confident with Tracy than Cora on not so easily defaulting to Story at SS and IKF at 2B, if the mix is still doing well when they get healthy. 

Maybe they took Mayer out of the mix to make the choices easier.

[JoeBrady]

18 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Maybe they took Mayer out of the mix to make the choices easier.

It could be almost anything, but our 2027 infield is accounted for, without including Story, Monasterio, Seigler, Romy, Cheng or Sogard.  By my reckoning, that's three starters, 2 UIF, and three minor leaguers.  It's not just a 26-man problem, but a 40-man problem.

[mvp 78]

22 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Despite having 8 players on the 60 Day IL I'd want protected going into 2027, I don't really see a 40 man roster/Rule 5 crunch coming up. (Okay, Story, Casas and Kelly could go, and I wouldn't blink, but I think there is room for all 8 plus maybe Brannon or Paez added for Rule 5. That's maybe 9 guys to add.

Say good bye to 4: Gray, Sandoval, IKF and Rogers to free agency

Not so hard to DFA or trade 4-5: La Sorsa, Brett Harris, Gamboa, Gasper & Jones or White.

One could also trade or DFA Kelly, Story, Casas or Yoshida or Duran.

Are Eaton and  Samaniego untouchable?

As deep as I've bragged about our roster, many are not hard to replace or clear out some bottle necks.

I'm not necessarily worried about a Rule 5 crunch (since a Rule 5 draft is not likely to happen this year due to a lockout), but any moves would mean another person needs to be taken off the 40 man. It's not a big deal. There are a ton of guys that could go at this point. I just think it'd be smart to be a little more proactive this time around and get rid of some of the trainer's room fixtures. This is probably a better discussion for later in the year anyway. 

[mvp 78]

24 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I do feel more confident with Tracy than Cora on not so easily defaulting to Story at SS and IKF at 2B, if the mix is still doing well when they get healthy. 

Maybe they took Mayer out of the mix to make the choices easier.

I think the whole org was down on Mayer (health and effort). 

[moonslav59]

1 minute ago, JoeBrady said:

It could be almost anything, but our 2027 infield is accounted for, without including Story, Monasterio, Seigler, Romy, Cheng or Sogard.  By my reckoning, that's three starters, 2 UIF, and three minor leaguers.  It's not just a 26-man problem, but a 40-man problem.

6 middle infielders on the 40 is not really excessive, but trading Story would help.

[Old Red]

4 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

I think the whole org was down on Mayer (health and effort). 

Health, effort, and results.

[notin]

3 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

They need to be rostered in the offseason. You DFA them so that you don't have to do that and have them take up space then. 

I’m only thinking regular season.  Other spots will open up (Sonny Gray, IKF,  for example) in the off-season…

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

I think the whole org was down on Mayer (health and effort). 

I get why they did it. I just don't think they did it to save a spot for La Sorsa or the like.

[notin]

2 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

6 middle infielders on the 40 is not really excessive, but trading Story would help.

Story is more likely to be released than traded.  Unless an even uglier contract comes back…

[notin]

15 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I get why they did it. I just don't think they did it to save a spot for La Sorsa or the like.

If La Sorsa manages to survive the season, he likely gets DFAd in the off-season…

[moonslav59]

10 minutes ago, notin said:

Story is more likely to be released than traded.  Unless an even uglier contract comes back…

I'm not saying I agree with the BTV value, but they say Story is worth $4.7 over 1.3 years, so maybe $3.5 for 2027 alone. He's owed about $30M for 2027 and the buyout on 2028.

In theory, we could trade him and pay $26 of the $30M owed and save $4M, maybe, or like you said, take back an equally ugly contract.

At those numbers, it's pretty close to DFA material, but the guy did hit over .800 for the last 82 games of 2024. He can steal bases, still. Maybe somebody takes him with $22-25M paid by us. Worth a try. If not, cut him loose or let him come to ST'ing to try out for 2B only.

I don't see a roster crunch, but if Brez adds some players, and one arises, fine- DFA him.

 

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, notin said:

I’m only thinking regular season.  Other spots will open up (Sonny Gray, IKF,  for example) in the off-season…

Yup, way too early for off-season conjecture.

[drewski6]

22 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Just like with our over-abundance of pitching, baseball karma typically addresses these problems herself.  As someone else said, if everyone keeps playing like they are, then who to cut/demote is a good problem.

I agree, some fans want to solve all inefficiencies....like we have 2 shortstops , we have to trade one!  But depth/redundancy/coverage are a good thing.  This year, with a plethora of serviceable options, I dont think the bottom 1/2 of our lineup will be AAAA players in the playoffs like it was last year.

Eli vs Duran vs Jones vs yoshida vs anthony (maybe) for 1-2 spots (LF, DH)

Mona vs story vs arias vs siegler vs meade vS sogard for 1-2 spots (2b,ss)

My vote is whoever is healthy and hot.  

You just dont know. By the playoffs Duran could be red hot.

[drewski6]

23 hours ago, notin said:

I think MLB got rid of the revocable waiver ststem…

They did.  Think it was axed alongside the trade deadline exception for players who cleared waivers.

[drewski6]

21 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

Despite having 8 players on the 60 Day IL I'd want protected going into 2027, I don't really see a 40 man roster/Rule 5 crunch coming up. (Okay, Story, Casas and Kelly could go, and I wouldn't blink, but I think there is room for all 8 plus maybe Brannon or Paez added for Rule 5. That's maybe 9 guys to add.

Say good bye to 4: Gray, Sandoval, IKF and Rogers to free agency

Not so hard to DFA or trade 4-5: La Sorsa, Brett Harris, Gamboa, Gasper & Jones or White.

One could also trade or DFA Kelly, Story, Casas or Yoshida or Duran.

Are Eaton and  Samaniego untouchable?

As deep as I've bragged about our roster, many are not hard to replace or clear out some bottle necks.

Well Im certainly not goint to let Eaton and Samaniego get in the way of me resigning Gray and IKF , who both should be brought back next year.  But like Joe said, this stuff will work itself out.