mvp 78

@alexspeier Yoshida just arrived. “I am tired,” he said in English. Casas should point him to where the best napping spots are.

Yu Chang may be the Pedro Ciriaco/Jeff Bailey of 2023, but because of the WBC rather than Spring Training.

Maybe? He played well at the WBC, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's in the long term plans for the Sox. They did drop him at the end of last season before bringing him back well into this offseason. A whole bunch of other teams passed on signing him for several months.

Not signing a SS forced Kiké to SS.

He hit leadoff 10 times in 2021 and 4 times in 2022. I'd rather it be a guy with a higher OBP, which is why I'd prefer Verdugo, but it makes a weird LLRL at the top of the order.

You can throw Refsnyder in there when considering bad defenders. If his PT goes up, the defense in the OF will get worse. Duran's can only get better, right?

If Plan B is a constantly injured Mondesi, is Plan C Enmanuel Valdez?

@MacCerullo Today's #RedSox lineup vs. MIN: Arroyo 2B, Devers 3B, Turner DH, Duvall CF, Tapia LF, K. Hernández SS, McGuire C, Refsnyder RF, Dalbec 1B, Houck P Has Arroyo been batting leadoff this spring?

I think they had thrown the season out the window when they moved Verdugo. They originally signed Yoshida thinking that Kiké/Rafaela could make up for the deficiencies in LF and RF. Turning his back on defense would be a weird move for sure. I don't want the BOS front office to punt RF defense while they are still playing 81 in Fenway.

The metrics don't necessarily paint that picture, but he's going to be given the opportunity to win a fulltime job there. We'll see if he can hold it down. I feel like it's going to be another year where he fights off nagging injuries and only gets about 300 AB's.

For Catching: Vaz: +5 Blocking, +1 Framing, pop ranked 21st, arm ranked 51st McGuire: -3 Blocking, +3 Framing, pop ranked 36th, arm ranked 56th Alfaro: -7 Blocking, -2 Framing, pop ranked 3rd, arm ranked 2nd Wong: -3 Blocking, 0 Framing, pop ranked 9th, arm ranked 13th

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/visuals/statcast-infield-defense?type=Fielder&playerId=596115&startYear=2022&endYear=2022&result=&direction=&normalize=undefined&roles=&esrGT=0&esrLT=1&evGT=0&evLT=125&distGT=0&distLT=200&batside=&viz=intercept_fielder_starting_position_ The majority of Story's defensive value came when he had his feet touching the dirt.

That and wRC+ would have hurt my argument so I didn't use them. Duh!

FanGraphs did their positional power rankings for SS. Padres: 6th, 5.1 fWAR Sox: 13th, 3.6 fWAR Boy, this would look better with Trevor Story. Hernández pulled off a neat trick by turning into an excellent defensive center fielder in his first two seasons in Boston, but he’ll have to do it again at another up-the-middle position this year in the wake of Story’s potentially season-ending surgery. He’ll also need to get right offensively; a severe power outage led to a miserable 75 wRC+. It seems to be more pitch selection and consistency related than a loss of ability to drive the ball, which explains why our projections expect a return to normalcy, but that’ll be something to keep an eye on as the Sox try to cobble together a solid shortstop out of two part-timers. Mondesi is that second part-timer. While Hernández will split his time between short and center, Mondesi will split his between short and the injured list if history is any guide. He’ll miss the start of the season rehabbing the ACL he tore last year, and even when he’s back in action, he’ll be a mystery box: he’s hardly played in the last two years, so projecting his output is wildly speculative. He’s always been a brilliant defender, but his offense has never quite come together. Boston is hoping he’ll fulfill the promise he showed early in his career. Even if he doesn’t, though, 280 plate appearances of competent defense would do quite nicely.

I'd take any journeyman SS that can field the position, Kiké at CF and Story at 2B. That would be the ideal defense, especially with Story coming off surgery.

I've seen Duvall's upside over a full season in 2021. Verdugo's upside? Since 2019, Duvall has more RBI than Verdugo in 600 fewer PA's. Maybe Verdugo gets a boost without the shift? We'll see.

Per Lou Merloni, they don't like to talk about the Sox on sports radio unless they are just slagging on them. Sports radio only wants to talk about the Patriots and maybe Bruins and Celtics. Nobody on air at either radio station has any interest or in a legitimate conversation about baseball or the Red Sox.

Sure, but that's not where we're at right now. If Story comes back healthy this year, it's another weapon to add to the offense. I was hoping that Rafaela would be able to adjust his offensive game to fast track to BOS, but his approach in ST has mirrored what he did in 2022. He's going to have a great glove, but the questions on his bat remain. It's just a bad approach.

Maybe some second guessing at least? Maybe at least an eye roll on that early report?

They look like an 84 win team on paper. I think the vibes get them to 88. Just my opinion though.

Blue Jays.

Kluber should pitch a whole season and be solid. Sale has a good attitude. I think Bello can be a good middle of the rotation guy. If Whitlock can stay in the rotation for most of the season, it just leaves Pivetta to figure out the 5th spot. I'm not really counting on Paxton for many innings at all. I'm not a believer in the Blue Jays.

@jaketodonnell Anonymous quotes in ESPN on Yoshida deal in Dec.: "Overpay for me ... too rich imo" "I have no idea." "We thought he was worth less than half [that]." "I have no words." I wonder if they still don't have any words.

Got lucky with that bang bang replay call too. Weird that the WBC was using 2022 MLB rules.

I'm going out on a limb and saying 3rd place. I think the good vibes will carry into the season and get them to 88 wins.