If/When those on IL return, who goes down/released?

[moonslav59]

We've been talking about how much Brez has turned over the 26, 40 and full farm system in less than 3 years. I went back and looked and found these numbers and some names on pitching only:

Pitchers added:

44 Draftees/Undrafted FAs: 16/22 in 2024,  15/24 in '25 & 13/22 in '26 (including Tolle, Eyanson, Witherspoon, Phillips, Futrell, LaFavor.)

65 IFA 3 fall of '23, 11 in '24, 33 in '25 & 18 in '26 (including Delzine, Zink, Mambel, D Reyes, B Ortiz, Ja. Gamboa, Pereira)

Of course some of these guys never made the cut, but it's almost 100 pitchers taken in just these two categories!

MiLFA/MiLRule 5: T Guerrero, S Newcomb, Burdi, Erik Rivera, H Harris, J Benitez, H Olivares, J Alexander, Luetge, Moore, Ottavino, O Berrios, Al Gamboa, Sweet & others

Waivers: Maz Castillo

FA: Suarez, Chapman, Sandoval, Ju Wilson, Giolito, Buehler, Criswell, Hendriks, 

Trade: Crochet, Gray, Bennett, Priester, Harrison, E Miller, Zeihl, Moran, Slaten, Fitts, Weissert, Oviedo, Samaniego, R Watson, Hicks, Sandlin, Matz, D May, Judice, Fajardo, Holobetz, Luis Garcia, Lucas Sims, J Paxton, I Campbell, B Horn, Alcala, Jose Bello,  Uwasawa, Vogatsky. McShane

Traded Away: Sale, Priester, Harrison, Drohan, Dobbins, Early, Perales, Bernardino, Luis Guerrero, Wikelman, Hicks, Schreiber, Sandlin, Fitts, Clarke, Galle, Dobbins, Travieso, Fajardo, Aita, Newcomb, Hoppe, Booser, Zeferjahn, O Portes, VSantos, N Robertson, Ammons, Van Belle, Penrod

[Randy Red Sox]

On 8/8/2026 at 8:03 PM, moonslav59 said:

About to start hitting from a machine. That's not AUG 31st ready,

i would be surprised if he played again this season. Getting sick and damn tired of Duran. I'd play Yoshida over him and use Duran as a pinch runner. 

[moonslav59]

3 minutes ago, Randy Red Sox said:

i would be surprised if he played again this season. Getting sick and damn tired of Duran. I'd play Yoshida over him and use Duran as a pinch runner. 

I've been saying play Yoshida LF platoon with Jone for a month.

DH anyone else but Duran and it's a big plus.

 

[JoeBrady]

15 hours ago, moonslav59 said:

65 IFA 3 fall of '23, 11 in '24, 33 in '25 & 18 in '26

It's astonishing the change in philosophy from 2023 (3) to 33 & 18 in 25/26.  It can't be normal variance.  They have to be intentional favoring pitchers.  Good question for the press.

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

It's astonishing the change in philosophy from 2023 (3) to 33 & 18 in 25/26.  It can't be normal variance.  They have to be intentional favoring pitchers.  Good question for the press.

Per SoxProspects, they signed 34 pitchers in the 2023 signing period.

https://soxprospects.com/international.htm#2023

[mvp 78]

If this was just to get "Breslow's guys" well most of the IFA's are agreed to long before they are actually signed, some years in advance. It's hard to split the IFA signings between Breslow vs Bloom that specifically. 

[jad]

On 8/8/2026 at 4:10 PM, JoeBrady said:

If Anthony returns, do we need White?  Duran should suffice as the #4, with Yoshida as the #5.

Why is Duran (hitting .200) preferable to Yoshida (hitting .270)?

[notin]

10 minutes ago, jad said:

Why is Duran (hitting .200) preferable to Yoshida (hitting .270)?

Yoshida isn’t much of an outfielder, but he is likely to be starting DH, at least against RHP…

[JoeBrady]

10 minutes ago, jad said:

Why is Duran (hitting .200) preferable to Yoshida (hitting .270)?

Again, it isn't a matter of either/or.  I could be wrong, but I'd have NP with Yoshida being a FT DH and Duran/JJ splitting LF.

[mvp 78]

40 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

Again, it isn't a matter of either/or.  I could be wrong, but I'd have NP with Yoshida being a FT DH and Duran/JJ splitting LF.

Sox don't seem interested in sitting Duran for anybody for any reason. 🤷‍♂️

[jad]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Yoshida isn’t much of an outfielder, but he is likely to be starting DH, at least against RHP…

He's hitting ,296 against LHP.   Duran at .200.   Duran should be a defensive replacement ... if that.

[moonslav59]

How many errors does Yoshida need to make to make up for the differential in hits from .270 to .200?

It's 35 hits per 500 ABs.

I doubt Yoshida makes even 10 errors or makes 15 less catches than Duran would have.

[jad]

3 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

How many errors does Yoshida need to make to make up for the differential in hits from .270 to .200?

It's 35 hits per 500 ABs.

I doubt Yoshida makes even 10 errors or makes 15 less catches than Duran would have.

This was the kind of math problem I toyed with all the time that JBJ was in the field!   But Duran is no JBJ in the field.  At the plate, yes.

[JoeBrady]

38 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

How many errors does Yoshida need to make to make up for the differential in hits from .270 to .200?

It's 35 hits per 500 ABs.

I doubt Yoshida makes even 10 errors or makes 15 less catches than Duran would have.

Based strictly on RF/9, it is 45 chances per year, but the range difference doesn't calculate extra-base hits.

And you can't use 35 hits if one player has more power.  A straight extrapolation of the HRs/AB would give Duran an extra 22 bases.

While I am okay with Yoshida at DH, and always have been, there might be a reason he was untradeable at almost any price.

[moonslav59]

13 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Based strictly on RF/9, it is 45 chances per year, but the range difference doesn't calculate extra-base hits.

And you can't use 35 hits if one player has more power.  A straight extrapolation of the HRs/AB would give Duran an extra 22 bases.

While I am okay with Yoshida at DH, and always have been, there might be a reason he was untradeable at almost any price.

10+22 is still less than 30.

Plus, we can still DH Yoshida when White or Jones are in LF, which would be 30% of the games (when a lefty starts. ) I was just using over a full season as a comp tool.

LF: Yoshida v R & White vs R &L and  Jones v L 

DH: Yoshida v some R and some L and ____________ (anyone but Duran)

This is one reason I questioned why we traded for a RHB OF'er. I guess they wanted a better platoon with Duran, when they should have looked to keep Jones v L and replace the Duran side of the platoon.

[moonslav59]

This isn't some Fredesque Rafaela-like bashing of a 4+ WAR player.

Duran is the 7th worst fWAR player out of 142 qualifiers. His speed and defense keep him from being 3rd worst in MLB, which is where fangraph's places him on offense (which includes baserunning.)

He's 42nd worst out of 300 players with 200+ PAs, but we play the guy everyday, so we double the negative impact some of the others do.

Can we at least demote him to 9th in the order?

I'd bench him or demote him to AAA, but why bat him even 7th?

[mvp 78]

14 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

Based strictly on RF/9, it is 45 chances per year, but the range difference doesn't calculate extra-base hits.

And you can't use 35 hits if one player has more power.  A straight extrapolation of the HRs/AB would give Duran an extra 22 bases.

While I am okay with Yoshida at DH, and always have been, there might be a reason he was untradeable at almost any price.

Duran: 258 OBP

Masa: 348 OBP

Masa has more doubles than Duran in less PA's. 

[mvp 78]

33 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

This isn't some Fredesque Rafaela-like bashing of a 4+ WAR player.

Duran is the 7th worst fWAR player out of 142 qualifiers. His speed and defense keep him from being 3rd worst in MLB, which is where fangraph's places him on offense (which includes baserunning.)

He's 42nd worst out of 300 players with 200+ PAs, but we play the guy everyday, so we double the negative impact some of the others do.

Can we at least demote him to 9th in the order?

I'd bench him or demote him to AAA, but why bat him even 7th?

Just give him a day off here and there at least. 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

I'm not much for predictions, but the one thing I knew for sure before the season was that neither Duran -- nor the Red Sox -- could handle him as a Designated Hitter.

The best chance Boston has to get the most production out of a guy with such high energy is to have him running around as much as possible: on the bases, out of the batter's box, in left field, and out of the dugout, on and off the field between innings.

Here's a stat that may be a testament to the Sox' outfield unit in general: no AL leftfielder has more assists than Duran (7), no AL centerfielder has more assists than Rafaela (7), and no rightfielder has more assists than Abreu (10). 

Abreu also leads RF in errors (7) and Total Zone Runs (14). Duran has committed one E...

[moonslav59]

44 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Just give him a day off here and there at least. 

Why are we going to great lengths trying to play a guy who has not earned anything more than a bench role?

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Why are we going to great lengths trying to play a guy who has not earned anything more than a bench role?

He's a gamer! He plays so hard! He leaves it all on the field! 

If he was on the bench, he's likely to wander to the trainer's room for some anesthetic and get tattooed again while he's out of it. 

[notin]

51 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He's a gamer! He plays so hard! He leaves it all on the field! 

 

Any chance one of these days he starts bringing some of it with him to the field?

[notin]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

Why are we going to great lengths trying to play a guy who has not earned anything more than a bench role?

Especially with Kristian Campbell just thumping AAA pitching lately.

Also let’s not forget about our Spring Training Ty Cobb Impressionist - Braiden Ward.   I know you won’t forget about him because I’ve done my best to make it impossible…

[notin]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

 

The best chance Boston has to get the most production out of a guy with such high energy is to have him running around as much as possible: on the bases, out of the batter's box, in left field, and out of the dugout, on and off the field between innings.

 

 

So leave him in the clubhouse and let him burn his energy playing Dance Dance Revolution while Kristian Campbell gets a shot at redemption…

[mvp 78]

21 minutes ago, notin said:

Any chance one of these days he starts bringing some of it with him to the field?

The "it" will not be "brains" if that's what you are hoping. 

[mvp 78]

17 minutes ago, notin said:

So leave him in the clubhouse and let him burn his energy playing Dance Dance Revolution while Kristian Campbell gets a shot at redemption…

Campbell has been ok, but let's wait until next year for now.

 

[mvp 78]

When Campbell had a 1059 OPS in July: 2 HR, 4 2B, 16 1B, 13 BB

He's not hitting XBH anymore.

[Old Red]

13 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

When Campbell had a 1059 OPS in July: 2 HR, 4 2B, 16 1B, 13 BB

He's not hitting XBH anymore.

Campbell is fine right where he is in Woo for the rest of the year, and then decide what to do with him next year.

[mvp 78]

5 minutes ago, Old Red said:

Campbell is fine right where he is in Woo for the rest of the year, and then decide what to do with him next year.

A slow singles hitter with a weak glove. Seems like that guy is already on the roster! 

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, notin said:

Especially with Kristian Campbell just thumping AAA pitching lately.

Another RHB, though. Jones and White are fine. We needed a LHB at the deadline for this very reason. Not getting one has led me to advocate doing something that goes against every bone in my body- put Yoshida in LF vs RHPs.