The greatest team in Sox history had a starting lineup that had 4 BELOW AVERAGE hitters in it (catcher, Moreland, Nunez, JBJ) and they still won a boat load of games.
The Big Three: Mayer, Anthony, Campbell (Red Sox basically trademarked this group with that moniker)
If Bregman hadn't been injured, Mayer would not have been called up when he was. He was pushed too early IMO. He's still carrying high whiff and chase rates (especially against offspeed) with a horrible split against LHP.
It's not the PR and padding of stats, but that promoting of YOUNG prospects to a level higher than normal makes the prospect models go crazy. 🤪
There's a 19 year old in AA? HUBBA HUBBA!
From 15-20, JBJ had a 101 OPS+. I'd rather him have a JBJ/Kiermaier track than a Kevin Pillar track. When he provides defensive value, there will always be a spot for him. Not every player needs to be an All Star to start on this team.
I don't know if I agree with that. Players like Romy, Hamilton, Wong don't have career numbers that are much better than Rafaela. Rafaela succeeds in ways those players can't even though he infuriates me by swinging at very first pitch and can't lay off sliders 3 feet outside. The problem isn't that the players are struggling, but that the Sox have had to rely heavily on parttime players to play fulltime roles. They were lucky to get great performances out of Romy and Rafaela when they were going hot. Just don't expect that to be the norm!
Just to be a little doom and gloom. I like the focus on arms in the org. However, there has been a huge uptick in TJS and other injuries just this season. This is probably due to the pressure of adding velo by the org. We've also seen two of the three highly prized prospects get pushed too quickly to MLB and not have a great first run. The offensive talent behind the big three is really mediocre to poor. Is this really a sustainable model? If not, they better win one in the next 3-4 years.
But why worry about Rafaela hitting at his expected level and not complain about the "many other guys falling off a cliff" instead? I don't think many of us projected Rafaela to be a 100 OPS+ guy. The posters who saw him as a 800 OPS guy when he was running hot pre-ASB and were saying "Mookie who?" were fooling themselves.
I hope he reaches every escalator. It would mean he's one of the best players in the game and taking home MVP's.
• $1M if earns 1st-2nd Place for ROY in 2025
• $2M for each MVP 1st in any previous year
• $1M for each MVP 2nd-3rd in any previous year
• $750K for each MVP 4th-5th in any previous year
• $500K for each MVP 6th-10th in any previous year
• $200K for each All-Star Election/Selection in any previous year
4th in MLB in runs all season. 4th in MLB since July 1. 11th since August 1. The runs have fallen a little bit, but the pitching has held up by being 2nd in ERA since August 1.
This team continues to march on. Not going to nitpick when it looks more and more likely that they are headed for October.
The Pohlads decided they didn't want to sell after all and are keeping the team even though they had a fire sale to make the team easier to sell. 🫠
The noted debt was incurred beginning with Target Field's construction through present with bad real estate investments.