Brock Beauchamp

Chris Cotillo of MassLive recently reported that there was friction between the Red Sox and Masataka Yoshida earlier this season over an injured left thumb. The Red Sox put Yoshida on the injured list but after an evaluation, decided surgery was not necessary. Yoshida then proceeded to pursue a second and then third opinion on the matter, which apparently rubbed team officials the wrong way. Yoshida has been a capable hitter in the majors, though with very little power. He has a career 111 OPS+ (11% above league average with the stick) but hits left-handed while the Red Sox believe they need to become more right-handed this offseason. Additionally, Yoshida has not shown to be a capable outfielder with Boston slotting him into permanent designated hitter duties in 2024. Yoshida is owed $55.8 million over the next three seasons. View full rumor

Jeff Passan of ESPN reported today that 34-year-old Japanese right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano will enter MLB free agency this offseason. Sugano will turn 35 in a week and it's hard to predict what kind of results he can expect against MLB hitters. Once a relatively hard-thrower, the righty now sits around 92 mph and controls six pitches. He's the epitome of a crafty veteran, striking out only six batters per nine innings in NPB. Unlike most other Japanese baseball imports, Sugano is an unrestricted free agent. There will be no posting period and all teams can vie for his services as if he was a typical MLB free agent. View full rumor

Normally we wouldn't hold two voting periods this close together but we've brought in a bunch of new people and I want them to get a chance to vote before we build out our prospect section of the site. Here's the rundown how to participate: 1. You must have an account and be logged in to vote. If you don't have an account, click here. It literally requires 60 seconds to create an account. 2. Review our current top 20 prospect list, catch up on stats, rankings, etc. (you can do so from the voting page link below) 3. Have your prospect list in your dirty little paws? Then flip on over to the new prospect voting page (after reading the rest of this, please). https://talksox.com/prospect-voting 4. Voting is super simple, you drag and drop players in the order you wish them to be. After you move a prospect, the list automatically renumbers so you don't lose track of the order. This works on mobile devices but it's a *vastly* better experience on desktop. Sorry, that's just how this kind of thing works. There's no great way to make something like this be as awesome on a phone screen. 5. Each prospect has a comment section where you can add any commentary you have on that player. At the bottom of the list, there is a general comment section to explain over-arching things you wish to mention. 6. Don't see a prospect you want to put on the list? Just pop back here and give me a mention (in a comment, start typing @Brock Beauchamp or @Seth Stohs as they appear). Mention the prospect you want added and I will do that asap. 7. Once you're done with all of it, click Save. You've now voted! 8. When the voting closes, a new thread will automatically generate in this forum with all of your rankings and comments for everyone to read and talk about. 9. You can only vote once. If you have voted in error, pop back here and tag Brock, asking to have your vote deleted. It will be removed and you can vote again. Voting will close at end of day Tuesday, October 8th!

Rob Bradford of WEEI tweeted that right-handed slugger Tyler O'Neill talked to Red Sox CBO Craig Breslow and that there is "definitely mutual interest" in returning for the 2025 season and beyond. The 29-year-old Canadian outfielder earned $5.85 million playing with the Sox in 2024, slugged 31 home runs, and had his best offensive season since 2021 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He also filled an important niche for the left-hand-dominant Red Sox, posting a 1.180 OPS against left-handed pitching. Any contract to O'Neill will require 3+ years at a rather high annual rate. What would you pay to retain the not-yet-30 outfielder? View full rumor

This offseason, I'm debating whether to launch a Red Sox version of this: The Minnesota Twins Players Project - Twins Daily TWINSDAILY.COM It's kind of like a wiki but geared solely toward Sox fans. Like if you take a player such as Jacoby Ellsbury, we might mention he went to the Yankees but the focus of the bio would be on his Red Sox tenure. It's an attempt to create a repository of information on Sox players that is useful while also being fun for amateur historians. It's a joy to dive into a secondary player of a team from 35 years ago that you cheered on as a kid. If you're into Sox history and want to try your hand at writing, we'll also be rolling out player retrospectives like this one, hopefully 1-2 a weekend over the offseason. Given the insanely deep and rich history of the Sox, going a million directions with this stuff is a real possibility. If this sort of thing interests you, shoot me a PM.

Pretty sure that has something to do with the career 184,000 stolen bases*. *only slightly exaggerated

Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow met with journalists (including The Boston Globe's Alex Speier) in Toronto and mentioned some goals for the Red Sox this winter. The key takeaways were an interest in bringing back outfielder Tyler O'Neill for 2025 and beyond. O'Neill, a bounceback candidate coming out of St Louis, bounced back in the biggest way possible this season. He smacked 31 home runs and posted a 131 OPS+. The righty should be in demand this offseason. Additionally, Breslow had this to say about the offseason: This is an interesting statement in that it's rare to see baseball executives openly suggest they're going to trade away players before the season has even ended. It makes a lot of sense given Boston's left-handedness and trading from positions to strength to fill team weaknesses. But who do you think might be dangled as trade bait this winter? View full rumor

I kinda assumed the majority of people hated these uniforms.

I'm pretty sure Davy understands that Ks are pretty much *always* better for pitchers, which is why he spent so much time pointing out how far down Houck is in various metrics. Personally, I read this piece as "well, this guy is succeeding in a really interesting way... will it continue?"

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I found this interesting. What are your thoughts on the yellow and blue jerseys? Because the Sox are keeping them around in 2025 as an official variant and they're getting new city connects. https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2024/09/red-sox-making-major-change-to-uniform-rotation-but-keeping-yellows-for-25.html

Did you think this article was full of hype? I didn't read it that way at all, I thought it was tempered optimism for a guy who is succeeding in a way most pitchers can't in this day and age.

Huh. Never even occurred to me that blocking a bag could be implemented in this way. And Cora is gone...

"Next year, we won't be hit by the injury bug so badly!" *next year's injury bug*

Thanks! Would you like help retrieving your old account? Just shoot me a PM and we can do that.