mvp 78

I'd sign Sugano too.

TBF, Charboneau had a lot of back issues and wasn't the type of guy to take care of himself (except for combining whisky and pliers when he wanted to do at home surgery). He wasn't long for the baseball world.

I prefer Cookies N Kim.

Makes no sense to platoon Chavis since he's actually worse at hitting lefties.

Devers gets another shot at 3b under Cora. He was decent there in 2019. I think this weird year really messed up his defense. He's athletic enough to be an above average 3b. If he throws the ball all over the place again this year, he gets moved to 1b/LF.

My problem with ZIPS is that it seems very light on his power potential. Dalbec has such easy power that if he's making contact, his slugging and ISO should be higher than what they forecast.

If they re-sign Moreland, it's to platoon with Dalbec. Not sure they need to platoon Dalbec, but that's what it would be for.

He's been pretty vocal about PED users. He said his "career was stepped on" because of them. However, he would allow Bonds and Clemens in the HOF. He's always been a big boy, but a cloud of suspicion lies over that entire generation of players 86-06.

Fangraphs article on Renfroe: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/red-sox-add-hunter-renfroe-to-their-outfield/ Earlier this offseason, Renfroe was cut loose by the Tampa Bay Rays after they balked at the raise he was scheduled to receive in his first year of arbitration. (MLB Trade Rumors projected his arbitration salary to fall between $3.6 million and $4.3 million.) His escalating salary combined with a significant step back in performance on the field made the decision easy for the penny-pinching Rays. After establishing himself as a legitimate power threat in San Diego, Renfroe was shipped off to the Rays in the Tommy Pham deal prior to the 2020 season. During his first four seasons in Southern California, he launched 89 home runs for the Padres, backed by a .259 ISO, an 11.0% barrel rate, and a 39.2% hard hit rate. Despite a propensity to strikeout a little too often, he was five percent better than league average at the plate as a Padre. In his lone season in Tampa, his wRC+ fell to a career-low 76, though his power seemed mostly intact. His barrel rate dipped a couple points to 9.3% leading to a corresponding dip in his ISO to .238, but his hard hit rate stayed stable. A ghastly .141 BABIP seems to be the source of most of his struggles in 2020. Even though his hard hit rate saw a dip, his batted ball distribution had some subtle changes that likely led to the dire results when he put the ball in play. Renfroe has always run high fly ball rates throughout his career, so it’s no surprise that his career BABIP is well below league average. His fly ball rate didn’t really budge in 2020 while his groundball rate jumped four points. But not all fly balls are created equal. At launch angles higher than 32 degrees, fly balls quickly become catchable, no matter how hard they’re hit. This season, Renfroe hit 34.9% of his batted balls with a launch angle higher than 32 degrees, a huge increase over his previous norms. All those extra lofty fly balls, pop ups, and grounders sabotaged any success he hoped to have when putting the ball in play. It wasn’t a completely wasted season however. Renfroe managed to drop his strikeout rate by 4.6 points to 26.6% and raise his walk rate to a career high 10.1%. Those improvements to his plate discipline had their origin in a more passive approach at the plate. His overall swing rate dropped 4.4 points, which brought his chase rate down as well. And despite swinging less often, he was able to maintain his contact rate. Fewer swings while making contact at the same rate is an easy formula to improve a batter’s plate discipline. Renfroe’s Joey Gallo-esque offensive profile is highly volatile. Slight changes to his batted ball profile can have massive effects on his results at the plate. And the high strikeout rate makes the margins between being a productive bat and an offensive drain that much slimmer. One thing that can be counted on, thought, is his production against left-handed pitchers. Over his career, he’s posted a .375 wOBA against southpaws, a nearly 75 point handedness split. With Verdugo and Andrew Benintendi the only other two outfielders on the Red Sox roster right now, Renfroe could make for a solid platoon partner for either of them, but the Red Sox believe he has the upside to be an everyday player. Defensively, Renfroe is a bit difficult to pin down. In 2019, the advanced metrics saw a huge improvement in his fielding ability. DRS thought he was the second best outfielder in baseball with 23 runs saved. UZR saw him as only the fifth best outfielder with 10.1 runs saved. Statcast’s Outs Above Average was a little more bearish, but saw a significant improvement in the field nonetheless. But that performance now seems like an outlier after his defensive metrics came crashing back down in 2020. He was able to improve his route running this year so it’s unclear if his positioning in 2019 was what allowed him to be such a strong defender. He also receives a ton of defensive value from his strong throwing arm. While Renfroe likely won’t match the heights of Betts or even the two-headed Verdugo-Pillar right fielder of 2020, he’s likely much better than his ugly line from this year indicates. If he can fix his batted ball issues and maintain his improved plate discipline and recapture his fielding prowess, he could be a nice bargain for Boston. That’s a lot of ifs, but the investment is low enough that the potential that he figures it all out is worth it. Still, adding a reclamation project like Renfroe on an affordable contract shouldn’t preclude the Red Sox from adding another outfielder if the opportunity presents itself. Bringing back Bradley to give them a true center fielder is a possibility, giving them three left-handed hitting outfielders for Renfroe to spell. Renfroe has some upside and is a likely bounce-back candidate, but he’s not the key piece the Red Sox need to push themselves back into the competitive window.

Renfroe's is .912. Seems like I'd rather have him in LF against LHP.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, MLB owners and executives would like the season delayed until May, "even if it means shortening the season to 140 or fewer games." Here we go again. The stated reasoning is the desire for players and team personnel to be vaccinated for COVID-19, which is a reasonable goal. The thought is that the general population could have access to the vaccine at some point in the spring. However, it's also convenient that by delaying and shortening the season, owners would also be paying the players less money. It's hard to see the players taking much interest in another pay-cut after making just one-third of their salaries this past season. One compromise could be pushing the end of the regular season back along with an increase in scheduled seven-inning doubleheaders, thus ensuring the players their full salaries, but that would also mean pushing the playoffs back to November. There should be more clarity in the weeks ahead, but right now it appears unlikely that spring training will start on time.

Also, I was on the Monster when Frank Thomas took bp. I'll never forget that. I felt like a duck and Thomas was a duck hunter.

1998, which was about 8 years too late for the switch. (Chi Sox were rotating through Bell, Franco and Kruk at DH during the mid 90's until Thomas was moved there after the baseball strike)

I don't think they have better longevity, but I'm not sure if it is worse.

Beni has spent more time in CF than Rosario has it. I'm sure they both can play the position, just probably not at a high level. I think Verdugo showed that he's a perfect fit for RF in Fenway. I'd leave him there.

Started 20 games at 1b. Not sure his bat is good enough for that position.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/cubs-phillies-interested-in-jackie-bradley-jr.html Jackie Bradley Jr.’s market continues to percolate, as MLB.com’s Jon Paul Morosi tweets that the Cubs and Phillies are the latest teams to be linked to the free agent outfielder. Beyond Philadelphia and Chicago, four other clubs (the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Astros, and an unknown AL Central team) have also reportedly shown interest in Bradley’s services at various points in the offseason.

The next decade of Betts discourse will be very enjoyable.

I stay away from large contracts for catchers.

To be fair, his number since ASB 2019 aren't very good. 597 OPS WRC+ 61 937 the first half of 2019, 136 WRC+.

I have zero problem with them signing platoon guys as long as they are meant to stay that way. I believe that a platoon with Beni could make the LF position very productive. Keeping those tough lefties off of Beni's plate could really turn him around.

Also had a ridiculously low 141 BABIP. I think 3M is worth the upside.

Meant to say intentionally walked.

When the Sox were scouting him in HS, the scout saw Renfroe get walked with the bases loaded 3 times.

Gomes was fun as hell to watch. I don't think they open up the wallets for Springer. Verdugo should stay in RF 100%.