Sure, you could trade for a guy who missed half of a season with a forearm strain. You could also get him and then wind up paying for his time spent rehabbing TJS and not getting anything of value.
Shota's HR/9 went up, K/BB went down, his xSLG increased almost 100 points, his 4 seamer went from 4 RV to -10 RV and he lost about 1 mph on all his pitches.
9.8% (league av is 8.2%) so not an absurdly high amount. It's lower than Devers, Anthony, Lowe, Refsnyder, Campbell and Bregman. About the same as Abreu. He's a guy who thinks he knows the k zone better than he actually does.
He had to because of the injuries at 1b and 3b causing a lack of IF bodies. If they re-sign Breggie for 3b and sign Hoskins for 1b, Mayer will definitely slow roll it out of ST in a platoon with Romy.
I don't mind a walk too much, but he's definitely too passive at the plate. If there's a pitch in the zone, he needs to look to hammer it early. If it's borderline with 2 strikes, he needs to completely change his approach. The whole idea of protecting the plate with 2 strikes and fouling a pitch off has been removed from the game.
I think there's a big difference if he's set to be on the roster as a 2b or a 3b. If he's 3b, it's to be fulltime. If he's 2b, I bet he platoons with Romy.
I think Merloni is just wrong about Cease's profile. Probably just adding his spin to what he's heard about Ryan and the Sox. Cease has a good whiff rate, but he just doesn't keep the ball in the zone and it leads to additional runners. He's not for me.
I used to take my lunch break down in Oakland Beach when I worked in Warwick. Too long of a commute for me now though.
Hendricken is right by the duckpin bowling alley in Warwick. We had a few fundraisers there.