mvp 78

In the FanGraphs positional power rankings for LF: 3. Red Sox It stung when Xander Bogaerts signed a long-term deal with the Padres, but bringing in Masataka Yoshida on a five-year, $90 million deal ought to at least dull the pain somewhat. Players coming over to the United States from Nippon Professional Baseball hasn’t been a novelty for a long time now, so it’s not shocking to see a fairly large deal like this. While not every Japanese star has succeeded in MLB, Yoshida was one of NPB’s absolute elite players, leading the Pacific League in OPS in both 2021 and 2022, and last year finishing behind only Munetaka Murakami across NPB. Yoshida is probably only going to be a medium-power corner outfielder in the majors, but given his superior contact skills, if things work out he could be a fixture in batting average races while still drawing walks. That makes him a better fit for Fenway than most; contrary to conventional wisdom, it hasn’t been a big home run park in 40 years. Indeed, Fenway has always been a lousy homer park for lefties, but a really good one for the other types of hits, so a ball-in-play guy like Yoshida ought to feel at home.

@IanMBrowne Alex Cora specifically asked the player development group to put Nick Yorke on this trip today. He wanted to see him play and see how he has progressed with some of his adjustments coming off a down year in 2022. @jcmccaffrey Interesting note here on Yorke that Cora wanted to see him play. Yorke arrived in Fort Myers in mid January well before most minor leaguers and has been grinding to get the swing adjustments down. Seems like the work is being noticed.

Because it take a long time to turn around a farm system. Chaim's first draft was in 2020. Those guys haven't even played in AA yet. He was even handcuffed in that draft due to missing a 2nd round pick. The best farm systems have players ready to promote. Chaim doesn't have that yet because he hasn't been here long enough. The criticism you can levy is that they prospects he has traded for from other systems to bolster the farm haven't made an adequate impact.

He wanted them to spend the money on Contreras instead. If Contreras was a fulltime Catcher going forward? Sure! Dude is going to be a DH pretty soon. Yoshida will at least be a LFer. -4 Blocking Above Average 0 Framing Runs 12th Arm/Poptime

Agreed. They are probably somewhere between 10 and 15. They are definitely better than where they were prior to 2020 when they were at the bottom of most of the rankings. If the Sox showed that they had a better feel for developing pitching, they'd get a benefit of the doubt and would be ranked even higher as well.

The issue with Law is that he's just a one man show. The other places use several people to make up the list. One person shouldn't be the end all, be all.

This year's Apple TV game that nobody will be able to watch is: Friday, April 14: San Francisco Giants at Detroit Tigers 6:30 p.m. ET; Los Angeles Angels at Boston Red Sox 7 p.m. ET

I'm pretty sure the only group to leave them outside the top 15 is Keith Law.

Seems weird though?

Wow, you really missed the mark with that post. That's why I wrote "like" Iglesias. Duh! He had a really bad defensive season in 2021, but was average last year. His -4 DRS and 3.1 UZR/150 was Xander Bogaerts-esque. Sox fans wouldn't notice a difference. He'd be fine enough.

I think that's a good guess. The only change would be if they wanted to sneak Sheriff on there as he's had a pretty good spring. Yes, that would take another roster move! Yes, I would DFA Ort for Sheriff! I don't see them starting with only 12 pitchers early on. The starters just aren't typically stretched out early on to do something like that. I think Whitlock is back after 10 days. Bello is probably back after 20. Paxton is back after 30? Not sure if they are leaning towards Crawford or Winckowski as the 5th man.

What's the worst that can happen? They're a last DAMN place team? That's not uncharted waters.

@chadjennings22 Short-term injuries are piling up on the Red Sox pitching staff. Reliever Wyatt Mills is being shut down for several days with elbow inflammation. Like Whitlock, Bello, Paxton and Rodriguez, he isn't expected to miss a lot of time, but timing isn't great so close to Opening Day. Mills was a potential AAA guy to me anyway. Joely is the bigger issue for the pen.

No, I think this just started because we were having a conversation about the best defensive alignment for the Sox. I'd prefer: Kiké CF Arroyo 2B Duval RF Other SS (the other can be Mondesi/Iglesias/any capable and cheap SS) Maybe Kiké stays at CF and Rafaela can come up? We'll see.

@tylermilliken_ Today’s lineup for Red Sox @ Pirates: 1. Duran CF 2. Casas 1B 3. Dalbec 3B 4. Palka RF 5. Alfaro C 6. Goodrum SS 7. Allen LF, 8. R. Hernández DH 9. Yorke 2B Josh Winckowski makes the start. If the Sox lose with today's murderer's row, just stick a fork in the season!

I mean, they traded for Mondesi, but the guy can't get through a quarter of a season anymore.

@SPChrisHatfield Dates to keep in mind: 3/25 - Alfaro's (and Goodrum's but whatever there) upward mobility clause date 3/27 - Tapia's opt out No news on that day itself doesn't necessarily mean anything - sometimes it's 48 hours to add the player or something.

Sacré bleu!

I mean, we were told it didn't matter when they were unbeaten, so the current slide must no matter either.

No, they could have signed a cheap SS like Jose Iglesias and left Kiké in CF.

What kind of bad feeling? I think it's really low stakes for those two. I don't expect either to hit all that much. The 13th best Catching team per fWAR only had 1.8 fWAR last season. There were 11 teams that didn't even get to 1 fWAR at the position.

He has the dreaded reverse CERA split with Vazquez??? Unheard of!

@IanMBrowne Verdugo will also play his first game back from the WBC on Friday. Maybe Yoshida this weekend?

Really hard to say. He was a +3 DRS in LF with TBR in 2018, but hasn't had a lot of time there. Last year, he only spent 24 innings since they went out and got Pham at the deadline. He's clearly more suited to fielding LF and maybe RF depending on which field they are playing at (like Yankee3).

And because Arroyo and Mondesi have extensive injury histories.