Chad Tracy Gets 3-Year Deal

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

If you lose your leading scorer who is a power forward to free agency, you are first and foremost worried about who is going to pick up the scoring, not who is going to occupy the PF position.

Striving to be adequate and covered at all positions - you will continue to be above average but struggle against the teams that have the elite hitters.

It is not feasible that we will have 8 aces, lose a bunch to attrition, and still have enough to give 4 2/3  inning shutouts , get pulled and replaced by middle relief guys, who will also need to be excellent (against playoff lineups) because we strive to win games 2-1.  Its just not feasible. 

Starting pitching is 1/3 of half the game, relief pitching is 1/3 of half the game, and defense is 1/3 of half the game.  Offense is half the game.

Right now, I dont think we have those superstar bats.  Contreras maybe , but hes running his mouth, and hes so crazy.  And he will be 35.  So I dont think a position by position lens is the right approach.  Sure, if you want to continue to be like 11th in hitting, 1st in defense, adn top 5 in pitching.....But that team just got absolutely embarassed by our chief rival - who had the hitting to sustain 2 huge injuries to their batters and still lap you again and again in runs.

Building a team , trying to be adequate at each position, is just building a team that is going to win 60% , make the playoffs, but then look overmatched.  Like weve done last 2 years.

Yes, we can and should upgrade Durbin.  And hping the 5'11 Arias is going to save you or that Roman will figure it out  - dont be surprised if again you are reporting live from groundhog day.

Have we forgotten the goal is championships.  You dont beat Jordans Bulls by being defensively sound at all 5 positions.  When you need a star, you try to get a star....You dont worry about what position they play.

We need a Jordan Walker or a James Wood or a Corbin Carroll or an Elly De La Cruz.  When I say we put too much faith in Roman , Im talking to the people who told me Roman would be this guy.  Hes not and neither is a 35 yr old Contreras.  We need to go get real stars.  Because they tend to rack up the championships.  

And if you say, well because our holes are 2b and dh, we need to only look at those positions , you are getting in your own way of going and getting what we need.  Which is dangerous bats, up and down the lineup.

Because you need 8 good bats for the same reason you need 8 good starting pitchers, because it turns into 4-5 by the end.  You need Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger, and their rookie star SS to compliment Judge and Stanton so you can lose 2 and still compete.

From that lens, Durban is great as a next man up role.  A super sub.  But you dont marry that, and if you can package him with 3 more glove first guys to get like a real difference maker - you do it.  The results speak for themselves.  The stars are stacking the championships.  And its too much to ask to do it through the runs prevented side, even though, of course, MVP is right that you need to be good there too.

I think the bench can be Durban, Sogard, Gasper, Duran/White.  Hopefully Gasper can work on his arm in the offseason.  And I do think that its 80% chance that Durban will be starting by the playoffs.  Mead at 2b/3b, Anthony at DH (most likely).  So get 2 big bats one for LF and one for 2b/3b, whichever one Mead doesnt play. Im not saying Durbin is bad or cant start on a decent team.  Im saying we need to add a lot of firepower to keep up with how top heavy the league has become.  The Yankees are going to keep adding.  And clearly, they are pretty far in front of us.   

I agree that LF/DH is one slot we can upgrade to high quality. With Arias, Mead & Story plus a bunch of decent depth at middle infield, I doubt we add there. Mead can be a stud. Story is paid a lot, and Arias is the #1 prospect and at or near ML ready.

I get your point about upgrading Durbin, but we won't. I don't think being 5-11 precludes him from improving. He showed much improvement over his second season in MLB.

If we can trade Story, yes. Maybe we could trade Arias and Duran for a stud LF'er and then trade Durbin anad ____ for a better 3Bman. I doubt it.

[mvp 78]

10 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

But even if Arias blasts 30 HRs per in the majors, you're right.

He won't. 

[drewski6]

13 minutes ago, notin said:

Did Contreras retire?

I didnt mean Sogard starting.

[moonslav59]

48 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

I think that SD would prefer Durbin and Arias, and I think you may have to do that. Then sign Suzuki.

Anthony - DH
Suzuki - 2b
Tatis - LF

Contreras - 1b

Abreu - RF
Mead - 3b

Adley - C
Cedanne - CF
Story - SS

Remmber when I was talking about how we need to be dangerous 1 though 9 - there it is.  That team can even lose one to three of these bats and still not be overmatched vs Fried.

You make some good points about positions being secondary, but secondary does not mean putting an OF'er at 2B.

[drewski6]

3 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He really doesn't like him.

I meant Sogard as backup/rotation.

[drewski6]

5 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

I agree that LF/DH is one slot we can upgrade to high quality. With Arias, Mead & Story plus a bunch of decent depth at middle infield, I doubt we add there. Mead can be a stud. Story is paid a lot, and Arias is the #1 prospect and at or near ML ready.

I get your point about upgrading Durbin, but we won't. I don't think being 5-11 precludes him from improving. He showed much improvement over his second season in MLB.

If we can trade Story, yes. Maybe we could trade Arias and Duran for a stud LF'er and then trade Durbin anad ____ for a better 3Bman. I doubt it.

He's not 5'11. ARias is 5'11.  Durbin is 5'6

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

You make some good points about positions being secondary, but secondary does not mean putting an OF'er at 2B.

Fair

[notin]

6 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

He really doesn't like him.

Who does? He seems kind of grumpy, to be kind

[drewski6]

2 minutes ago, notin said:

Who does? He seems kind of grumpy, to be kind

We'll all cross our fingers and hope that he gives us something similar next year to what he gave us this year, but hes 35 and he has next years ketel marte written all over him.  I would advise trading for his brother, maybe that would keep him invested in the team if we didnt have Adley.

I dont think we can count on either "Roman" or "Contreras " to be "that guy" next year, but I think they should start at 1b and DH.  And tbh , Im not sure which one should play 1b.

[drewski6]

I did like Contreras slow trot around the base paths.  I dont mind being an instigator, pest.  Getting in their heads.  But it doesnt seem like Contreras is a guy who picks/chooses spots well.  He seems out of control.  And hes super quick to run his mouth.  Dont mind it when its directed at the other team (chirping).  

I think hes significantly more out of control than Duran, who is borderline.

[NHNative]

Not much talk about Gasper. He fills a few roles and can get his bat worked out during the off season. Catcher, 1b and DH.

[notin]

10 minutes ago, NHNative said:

Not much talk about Gasper. He fills a few roles and can get his bat worked out during the off season. Catcher, 1b and DH.

I have little to no faith in the journeyman Gasper, who strikes me as another Darnell McDonald type. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Boston held on to him in case he is an older second coming of Brent Rooker. 
 

He does have options left, which helps his cause…

[NHNative]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

I have little to no faith in the journeyman Gasper, who strikes me as another Darnell McDonald type. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Boston held on to him in case he is an older second coming of Brent Rooker. 
 

He does have options left, which helps his cause…

Every team member can't be a super star. He is only 30.

;-)

[moonslav59]

29 minutes ago, notin said:

I have little to no faith in the journeyman Gasper, who strikes me as another Darnell McDonald type. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Boston held on to him in case he is an older second coming of Brent Rooker. 
 

He does have options left, which helps his cause…

He's good enough to be on the 40, but if we add a big LH'd bat. his actual value would fall and rely on injuries. Being able to catch in a pinch is a plus, in terms of being the 39th or 40th player on the 40.

[moonslav59]

26 minutes ago, NHNative said:

Every team member can't be a super star. He is only 30.

;-)

Brez did a great job building up the roster depth, and it's true about not getting to 40 stars. Hell, even 26 is near impossible on this budget. There is room for Gasper, Sogard, Seigler and White/Jones, but maybe not Cheng and Monasterio. Maybe not Jones and White. Do we add Brannon or Jo Garcia?

[NHNative]

7 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Do we add Brannon or Jo Garcia?

Hmmmm? Both have potential, but a likely superior replacement?

Dunno.

Wait isn't Garcia gone to the Pirates?

Edited 14 hours ago by NHNative
add

[moonslav59]

2 minutes ago, NHNative said:

Hmmmm? Both have potential, but a likely superior replacement?

Dunno.

Wait isn't Garcia gone to the Pirates?

Jh Garcia went to PIT. His brother Johanfran Garcia is a DH/C type who maybe can play 1B someday. 

I think both are better than Eaton, Duran, and a few pitchers on the bubble.

[NHNative]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Jh Garcia went to PIT. His brother Johanfran Garcia is a DH/C type who maybe can play 1B someday. 

I think both are better than Eaton, Duran, and a few pitchers on the bubble.

OK--thanks for that. From what I have read, Brannon has a good chance of helping us out.

It always a crap shoot. Unknown/untested for a known.

[notin]

1 hour ago, Old Red said:

What other PITCHER hadn’t pitched in anything since April?

Joe Musgrove pitched game 1 against the Cubs this year but hadn’t pitched since September, 2024, except for a couple minor league rehab starts…

[Old Red]

7 minutes ago, notin said:

Joe Musgrove pitched game 1 against the Cubs this year but hadn’t pitched since September, 2024, except for a couple minor league rehab starts…

That’s the difference. He had minor league starts which was 4 to be exact, and 15.2 innings. NOchet had NOTHING, which makes it unprecedented.

[notin]

53 minutes ago, NHNative said:

Every team member can't be a super star. He is only 30.

;-)

As I said, he does have options so they likely keep him.  But players breaking out at 30 (31 next week) with as little MLB time as Gasper? I’m guessing it’s a very small list.  

[moonslav59]

7 minutes ago, NHNative said:

OK--thanks for that. From what I have read, Brannon has a good chance of helping us out.

It always a crap shoot. Unknown/untested for a known.

Jo. Garcia had an .803 OPS this year with POR. 18 Hrs looks nice but "the ball is juiced," I'm told. Only 13 dbls hurts his power profile, but these days a .284 BA is rare. He had 320 ABs, so 31 XBHs is not bad. He defense at C is highly suspect, so maybe they risk losing him to Rule 5 (assuming there is one.) 

Brannon was second in Sox HRs on the farm with 22, and he had 30 2B+3B, making it 53 XBHs in 350 ABs. Better than Johanfran. His .280 BA is about like JGs, but his .355 OBP is better.

With both, it's the Ks that work against them:

115 in 350 Brannon

103 in 320 for Garcia

Both were at POR all year.

[notin]

4 minutes ago, Old Red said:

That’s the difference. He had minor league starts which was 4 to be exact, and 15.2 innings. NOchet had NOTHING, which makes it unprecedented.

I would think those 15 extremely ineffective innings Musgrove threw between A ball and AAA didn’t go far towards a TWO YEAR hiatus.  
 

If Crochet gave up 8 ER in 13 innings in Worcester, would anyone have thought “yup, ready to go”?

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Who does? He seems kind of grumpy, to be kind

I like him. He doesn't get along with Duran, reportedly.

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, notin said:

I have little to no faith in the journeyman Gasper, who strikes me as another Darnell McDonald type. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Boston held on to him in case he is an older second coming of Brent Rooker. 
 

He does have options left, which helps his cause…

I'd be happier with Gasper if I felt he could play a little 2b and LF too. 

[mvp 78]

28 minutes ago, NHNative said:

OK--thanks for that. From what I have read, Brannon has a good chance of helping us out.

It always a crap shoot. Unknown/untested for a known.

You'll like Brannon if you believe Bobby Dalbec still deserves a shot. 

[NHNative]

https://www.wmur.com/article/red-sox-gasper-surgery-repair-biceps-tendon-100226/73995638?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email - Local Breaking News&utm_source=6abfd494bcb985271cbbf9e861f80443&brzu=fbee28c19b7baf1e97b9f1f6ba6c9c35829ecb3cd46b2d75bb14855c22494927&lctg=69839f13feda3100615050bd

[mvp 78]

9 minutes ago, notin said:

If Crochet gave up 8 ER in 13 innings in Worcester, would anyone have thought “yup, ready to go”?

Better than 0 innings. 

[notin]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

I'd be happier with Gasper if I felt he could play a little 2b and LF too. 

Didn’t the Sox give him so limited 2b time over the last two seasons?

[notin]

Just now, mvp 78 said:

Better than 0 innings. 

Well, he wasn’t out for 24 months…