mvp 78

They are going to piggyback two of the starters somehow. Whitlock and Paxton? Most likely, one of the guys has an injury by the time Paxton or Whitlock is ready to take on fulltime innings.

Well, every offseason there is more and more turnover. A good chunk of the core left this offseason.

I thought that last year.

The 2021 Sox had a lot of same players from a team that won 108 games and the WS in 2018.

To get under the CBT, they only needed to dump JD at the deadline for a low A guy.

Luis Robert: Injury held him out of most of the past two years Eloy Jimenez: Injury held him out of most of the past two years Yoan Moncada: Is blaming last years struggles on an injury Grandal: Won't play over 100 games at his age going forward Giolito: Needs to get his walk rate back down, but is likely to rebound With Robert and Jimenez, it will be about staying healthy for a full season. They are great players WHEN HEALTHY. I think the ChiSox caught fire in 2021 and everything came together for them. I don't see it happening again this year. Last year was a mess and they should be a bit better though. Maybe 84ish wins like the Red Sox.

Barrel % 19 5.7 20 6.4 21 7.3 22 6.0 EV 19 89.4 20 87 21 90 22 89.1 Launch Angle 19 9.0 20 5.4 21 7.7 22 8.4 After bulking up (against Red Sox orders), he still was only in the 50th percentile in Exit Velo in 2022. If he wants to get to 20 HR's, he may have to switch home ballparks.

A unique ranking of the Sox Prospects. Has a good breakdown for 30+ guys above DSL. If you want to read more about Philip Sikes than you have before, give it a shot. https://samfederman.medium.com/2023-boston-red-sox-top-30-prospects-245637cce08d Also of note, I do not rank players who have only appeared in the Dominican Summer League, as there’s simply too little information. Freili Encarnacion would likely find his way into the top 15 if he were being ranked. Ages are listed as of July 1st, 2023.

Ignoring 2020, which we all like to do anyway. He's a 2 fWAR guy. Why aren't the Sox treating Alex Verdugo similarly? Help me understand it!

I think they'll end up in 4th place, but be close enough to the WC that viewers are interested in mid-September. I don't think they will be a boring 4th place team, just a weird one full of guys that we'll look back on and say "remember when HE was a Red Sox that one year? Weird!"

Kiké was a good player before he came to the Sox. Refsnyder plays horrible defense and people shouldn't expect a 146 wRC+ this season (394 BABIP). Strahm was fine, but he was just an adequate middle reliever. He wasn't some godsend. What did Hill do that was unexpected? Why did he dump Renfroe? It doesn't make sense. Wacha was a 1.5 fWAR guy last year. What was so great about it? I don't understand.

Most likely to happen, the importance of, or what their actual expectations are? They aren't going to be 1st in tickets or tv viewers, just because of the stadium size and market. It's close to an impossibility, but they can be towards the top. I'll try to order based on their expectation for the season I guess? 4th Place > Wild Card > Sales Top 3 > TV Top 3 > 2 wins from WS > Ring > #1 Draft Pick

That doesn't even make sense. C'mon man. Chang would be the 2B if Arroyo was injured. The other 2B on the 40 man: Hamilton Valdez I honestly would have moved Duran back to 2B last Spring Training because of how bad his defense was progressing. I don't think it's going to happen at this point though. Turner has played 2B, but that's basically ancient history at this point, but about as ancient history as the 1B innings as we are also banking on. The idea of Connor Wong fielding 2B has a little merit, but Sox also may just want him to just strictly focus on receiving. He has played 2B in the minors. I'm not saying Bloom's plan is great for 2B. I think he's trying to make a bridge to either Story getting healthy or Rafaela getting promoted. I don't think this sets up the Sox for success in the short term. Relying on oft injured Arroyo and Mondesi seems like a bad bet. Why not just pair Iggy and Chang rather than Arroyo and Mondesi? There is less upside, but at least you'll be able to field the position and the floor will not be as low. Bloom seems to get stuck on waiting for a player's upside. It's a fools errand IMO.

C - McGuire/Wong - ok 1B - Casas - ok 2B - Arroyo - ok SS - Kiké - ? 3B - Devers - ok RF - Verdugo - ? CF - Duvall - should be corner OF LF - Yoshida - ? The only guy really out of position is Duvall. I definitely don't count 5 guys out of position even if you question Kiké at SS (who plays a decent SS), Verdugo in RF (was the Opening Day RFer in 2020) and Yoshida is a LFer. Yoshida DH'd in Japan because their defensive standards are much higher than ours. He'll be better than some of the defensive scrubs we've thrown out there (Manny, Schwarber, et al). He won't be terrible, he'll be ok.

Those puppies were some bad hombres. It wasn't safe for the neighborhood.

The only surprising turn of events for me recently is that Tom Werner is no longer on my list of Red Sox villains. I'm glad to know that he's constantly pushing for a higher payroll and wants to win the WS every year.

Red Sox only need a few weeks of distractions. Bill O'Brien may make a few teams surprised early on. The offense was pretty good the last time he was around.

@SmittyOnMLB Red Sox’s Sam Kennedy on 2023 projected standings: ‘They’re usually wrong’ They were right in 2020 and 2022. So I guess Sam Kennedy is usually wrong?

As for individual MLB jersey sales, Mookie Betts topped Lids’ rankings. Also making the top-10 was a Jackie Robinson throwback jersey at No. 5, and Cody Bellinger checked in at seventh. Not sure Dodgers fans are really paying attention... Top 10 player jerseys: Betts Jeter Griffey JR Tatis JR Jackie Robinson Altuve Bellinger? Clemente Acuna Ryan - TEX In terms team sales: NYY LAD CHW ATL TOR BOS HOU SDP PIT SFG

@jaketodonnell BA is releasing updated org Top 30s. Red Sox list is out now. Notable: Perales up to 17 on their list. Wong is still a prospect by their criteria at 20th. They're high on Cespedes, he's already 24th. 2022 draftees Brannon, Meidroth and Rogers are 25th, 27th and 29th respectively BA pre-season top 30: 1. Mayer SP1 2. Casas SP2 3. Rafaela SP4 4. Yoshida SPUNRANKED 5. Bleis SP3 6. Romero SP7 7. Yorke SP5 8. Mata SP6 9. Anthony SP9 10. Walter SP8 11. Paulino SP11 12. Gonzalez SP12 13. Murphy SP13 14. Jordan SP15 15. Hickey SP18 16. Bonaci SP16 17. Perales SP10 18. Lugo SP14 19. Valdez SP17 20. Wong SPGRADUATED 21. Coffey SP21 22. Abreu SP24 23. Kavadas SP20 24. Cespedes SP49 25. Brannon SP25 26. Rodriguez-Cruz SP19 27. Meidroth SP36 28. Kelly SP23 29. Rogers SP53 30. Ravelo SP45 The Cespedes ranking is high, but he was the big bonus paid out this year. Really don't know much about him TBH. I remember Ravelo being a pretty slick defensive player, but his bat hasn't really played at all in DSL, FCL or low A. Rogers is just a left handed relief profile and far away. Not sure I'd put him in the top 30 at this point. On the other hand, Meidroth hit very well after being drafted. I'm interested in seeing if he can continue it this year. He'll start at Salem, but should finish the year in Greenville. Good OBP guy, but low power potential for now. Probably 2B only profile. He's not the most athletic guy you can dream on, but that hit tool is something that the Sox are really looking at and it could fly through the minors if he keeps the k's down and bb's up.

"The advanced metrics say we are going to be in 4th place, Chaim..." "Yes, but if we can just keep the fans happy until football starts!" "Brilliant..."

If Chaim is building a team to compete, how can he justify this to Henry as being good enough unless this is what they are all expecting?

Injuries are a risk for EVERY player and EVERY contract, but I don't think it prevents you from making moves to improving your franchise unless there is a real known medical issue. Don't trade for Pedro in 1998 because of his body type. It's not worth the risk!

The power bats I noted as being taken away were Schwarber and Renfroe. Schwarber wasn't replaced. Renfroe was replaced with JBJ. Xander really isn't a power bat, maybe a gap to gap guy. Take away JD's April in '21 and his power has been gone for a while now. Other guys that should have produced: Story (injury bug, but showed flashes), Verdugo (will his bat ever kick in?), Kiké (dropped from 20 to 6), Raffy (injury zapped his 2nd half).

I don't think the plan is to finish last, but they haven't had a good plan in place to finish in 3rd... In recent memory when they haven't tried to "go for it": 2012 (post 2011, hired Bobby V to teach players a lesson and then gutted the team) 2014 (they just won a title, let them have their gruel) 2015 (Maybe Hanley and Pablo will make fans happy?) 2020 (time to tear it down and start by getting rid of the best player we have) 2022 (let's run last year back but take away the power bats and add more mediocrity)