Had a blow up start o 9/25 and lost Game 3 of the WC. I guess his velo is down. Cubs may know more than anybody else, but he was really good for him for the first 95% of the time he was there.
I think the high k offensive approach makes those RISP just look miserable. It wasn't a surprise that they would get tore up by a pitcher throwing heat. The team just can't make contact. It's a roster construction issue.
Cease either wants a very high AAV short term deal or a very long term one. I'm not a fan either.
23-25
6th highest BB rate qualified starters.
304 BABIP
69.3 LOB% 12th worst
Also, staying complacent/not a lot of turnover isn't necessarily a bad thing if you have a lot of younger players that you project to improve. It may not turn out that way, but you can't just rely on FA signings as those don't have a 100% hit rate.
And I'm not saying he'll never develop into an every day hitter, just that right now they have a guy that smokes LHP and you can ease Mayer into MLB as a platoon guy this season.
They chose to platoon Abreu right off the bat. They chose to not let Duran become a platoon player. Both have platoon splits. Hard to say what the right course of action is with Mayer. They have a need for him to start, but his bat isn't fully developed and still needed seasoning in AAA IMO (offspeed/LHP).
O'Hearn doesn't do it for me.
Ozuna had a down year last year and serious off field incidents. Players love him though. Anything more than 2 years would be CRAZY.
Even just Mayer playing fulltime should increase the batting order slot that 2b occupied if Breggie is signed.
Agree that 1b should be an easy upgrade somehow.
Tied for 11th in wRC+. If the top 2 teams are tied in HR's you don't say they are tied at #2. The Sox were 7th in runs.
Refsnyder will be back if they want him.
The 2b position will be more productive this season if Mayer is the Opening Day guy.
Improve what odds? Get to the playoffs? If the Sox have a top 10 pitching staff and a top 10 offense, the only thing left to tweak is the defense and that's not what is being proposed.
Devers and Anthony overlapped for like 10 games. Anthony is Devers's replacement.
Bringing Bregman back is just running the same offense back as last year which was a top 10 offense. Adding Hoskins should improve it.