jacksonianmarch

Sorry, that’s what I meant. Ultimately, Donaldson has been used as a 3b/DH with Cruz taking the bulk of the duties prior to his trade. I want Donaldson’s bat in the lineup, and part of it will be enabling him to stay healthy. He has recurring calf issues. He’s gonna start every game vs lefties, that’s for sure, either at 3b or 1b. I’d start him at DH for every game Stanton is in the OF. He starts whenever Rizzo needs a breather. Plus, these are the Yankees, someone will get hurt. When they do, he’ll have a set position. Ultimately the Yanks have 10 bats they’ll need to get regular work from and until they have an injury, they can rotate them through to ensure players stay fresh

I’m utterly shocked the Sox haven’t dealt for Manaea yet. He’s the perfect ERod replacement. He’s one year away from Fa, so price shouldn’t be too crazy and the Sox need a reliable arm with Sale down.

Donaldson posted a -19UZR last year. He’s slipped a bit. DJ has gold glove pedigree. I can foresee a time split there

Ribs are an issue. I am sure they will MRI him again before letting him throw and ensure the area has no further uptake

The worst value in baseball comes when you spend big money on pitchers, so I see how their offseason fits into the Bloom model. But even I cannot make heads or tails of this approach. Sale is injury prone at this point. Eovaldi is shedding the label but is only locked in for one more year. Pivetta is a glorified fifth starter. Wacha and Hill are on borrowed time. I do not see how their current pitching can keep pace with the rest of the ALE, especially when they arent the cream of the crop anymore offensively (still good, just not head and shoulders better)

You are likely to lose both, IMO. Bogaerts just got replaced with a better defensive model. Devers cannot play defense at all and may wind up going the Vlad Jr route and moving to 1b. His value takes a hit and someone will be willing to make a major investment in him once he hits the market. You have a GM who thrives on flexibility, so much so that the Yanks are copying the model. When you are talking about one dimensional players and locking them up past prime, I do not think it makes sense via the Bloom model.

Anyone get the sneaking suspicion that Bloom is essentially waiting to hand the DH spot to Dalbec and will likely keep Casas down until JDM moves on?

I did not see that. Then, yeah, no need to put him on the 60 day. He can start throwing mid april. You probably see him back mid may presuming no recurrence.

Here is the issue with the sox rotation... It doesn't give innings and the pen isn't good enough Eovaldi was the best averaging just under 6IP per start Nick Pivetta averaged 5.1IP per start. That is not good. Sale will be coming off a core injury and wasn't a warrior when he returned last year either. I do not expect the sox to let him off a chain until after the ASB Rich Hill is 42 and averaged almost exactly 5IP per start last year Wacha was under 5IP per start and sucked. He had major issues with the HR ball and he moves to Fenway? Then you've got Houck who struggles beyond 2nd time through lineup and probably your best option languishing in the pen in Whitlock. I'd have zero issue with a 5IP starting core if your pen was rock solid, but that pen is as suspect as can be

So predictions for OD lineup 1. Lemahieu 3B 2. Judge RF 3. Rizzo 1B 4. Stanton LF 5. Gallo CF 6. Donaldson DH 7. Torres 2B 8. IKF SS 9. Higgy C Bench Hicks OF Gonzalez UTIL Rorveldt or other backup C 1 other multi-use player, preferably left handed Defense gets a major boost with IKF at SS and Higgy at C. Gallo in CF is also a boost to a degree over an aging and chronically injured Hicks. Stanton is actually a good OFer, but he may have injury woes the more he plays out there. Donaldson will see time at 3b and 1b. Lemahieu will see time at all 4 IF positions. I put Gonzalez on there not because I think he is good, but his positional variability means we may only have to carry 12 position players at times. Hicks in the lineup means we will have 3 lefties, which is a good thing and something we will likely see against tough righties like Eovaldi outside of opening day

The fact he isn't already on the 60 day likely means his injury didnt happen in March or late February.

I’d be surprised if the Sox get either without dipping into their top prospects or someone on the big league roster.

I’m still wondering why the Sox fans think this is a good thing if they love Bogaerts? This essentially guarantees Bloom won’t be the highest bidder when Xander opts out. Also, it will add to the controversy every time Cora is questioned after Bogey makes an error or doesn’t get a ball that Story would.

I will miss him as well. Good for him being dealt to a place where he can have his position back. His real position is DH

Expecting anything from Paxton is a foolish game. He's a mashup of injured parts melded together to look like a massive, sturdy pitcher

Strange not to have any pitching on there.

Who knows. I’ll tell you what, if the Yanks were convinced he was healthy, they wouldn’t dump him like they did

I agree to a point. I said in the lead up to this season that Voit’s knee concerned me. Meniscus surgery then having a “bone bruise” from running makes me worried he’s got an arthritic condition in there. They dumped him for what they could get. I had higher hopes for the return, but a guy with big stuff added to our reasonably good pitching system isn’t a bad thing

Whitlock has three pitches right now which Houck doesn’t. Whitlock unlocking his change up now makes him a weapon multiple times through the lineup

There are two big FAs left on the market. Both play the position Xander does, yet play it better defensively. If they get a good deal on either of those players, they will dump Bogey, making it more of a lateral (Correa) or minus (Story) move. I havent seen the sox in on any pitching at all, which is incredibly strange for a team that lost ERod and now lost Sale for a chunk of the year. How much can you throw on Eovaldi and Pivetta? As it stands right now, the sox opening day rotation is.... Eovaldi Pivetta Hill Wacha Whitlock/Houck That is a rotation that is waiting for injury and is going to suck. Between Wacha, Hill and Eovaldi, they will lose someone early on (likely Hill since he is one of the few big leaguers older than me and he seems to pull his hammy every 5th start). If you assume Houck gets pulled into the rotation as the 6th man/injury replacement for the first 2 months, your pen looks awfully weird Davis Hernandez Diekman Strahm Taylor Barnes Brasier Sawamura 5 lefties, 3 righties. The 3 righties have issues under pressure. The 5 lefties will be facing off against predominantly RH lineups in TB, NYY, and TOR I am absolutely flabbergasted that the sox didn't commit some money to the rotation. They are going to need to hit like mad to keep up in the ALE

I agreed with this premise then and agree with it now. Maximize your team's best attributes.

Yes, but he also said the sox had a plan when they hired Bloom. My guess is the plan was to build up the minors to be a replenishing font of talent with which to make trades or replace free agent veterans. They are not there yet. They are still in the talent accumulation phase. The plan, IMO, was for them to be middling to below average last year and this year, deal off the big contracts of Xander and JDM while they held value, and make moves for younger, controllable players. When the sox contended last year, they couldnt jettison the expensive pieces without telling their fan base they were giving up

Is he ever done with his lunch?

You know what wouldn’t surprise me? A 3 way deal with Voit to SD, SD and NYY prospects to Oak and Montas to NYY

This is what you do. Add the best talent at the time and hope they grow. Yanks have been absolutely nails on the INTL market which makes the prospect of a draft problematic at the very least for prospect building in the Bronx