mvp 78

Either extend Xander OR don't sign Story and sign Dansby Swanson instead.

There was a little hope after '23. He stated he was injured throughout much of '24 and that caused his increase in HR. If that's the case, he's been injured for 28 straight months.

They can also move guys to the pen and build them back up if they need to if there's an injury/opening. It's what they did with Crawford in '23 and that was his best season. I'd keep Wehunt as a starter as I think he has the best chance to stick as a starter (most developed 4 pitch mix). Paez can be a bulk innings guy it the Crawford '23 role. Holobetz seems like his stuff could play up in relief. I'd move him to the pen fulltime. I'd move Houck to a Belloesque '26 role, a guy who gets to face hitters one time through the order and be done.

Not that this thread gets much traction, but MLB is experimenting with player positioning again. Per FanGraphs: The AFL is piloting new rules restricting defender positioning both on the infield (with the bases empty) and, perhaps more notably, in the outfield. Though MLB implemented restrictions on where infielders can play in 2023, this is the first time the league is piloting guard rails around where outfield defenders can be positioned when a pitch is thrown. These restrictions first came to my attention during Monday’s game at Salt River Field, where Brendan Gawlowski and I noticed two things. First, Brendan noticed that the two teams’ corner outfielders were positioned both very close to the foul lines and much shallower than contemporary outfielders typically play. Of course, there are situations where a team might want to strategically align their outfielders like this, but for both teams to be doing so regardless of the hitter or game situation struck us as strange. My sources indicated to me that the league’s motivation is to see if further limiting the locations where defenders are allowed to stand will create more base-hit action and have a positive impact on the game’s aesthetics. Dark green hash marks have been painted on the outfield grass and at points along the arc where the infield dirt meets the outfield grass. Defenders have to stand within a certain distance of these hash marks when a pitch is thrown. Think of it like tape on the floor on the stage at your high school’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, indicating where the actors should stand to be in their best light. These restrictions only apply to infielders when the bases are empty, but they apply to outfielders at all times. In this alignment, infielders are forced to play “straight up,” while the corner outfielders are closer to the foul lines, and the center fielder is more shallow compared to where we see big league outfielders normally play nowadays. If a player is positioned in compliance with the restriction, there is a green “O” visible as their marker. When they’re in danger of leaving the designated location, it shows an orange line, while a red “X” is visible when they’re no longer in compliance. Penalties for non-compliance are enforced by the field umpires, who can see the LED board from their vantage points. For infielders, non-compliance will only result in a violation if the out-of-place defender is the one who fielded the ball in play; where the runner is placed is then a matter of umpire discretion, though first base seems the most likely spot. In the event a play is made by an outfielder who is outside the allowed radius, how many bases a batter is awarded is again a matter of umpire discretion, similar to the way fan interference is assessed. Eliminating infield shifts hasn’t had the desired effect on the rate at which balls in play fall in for hits. Historically, the league-wide batting average on balls in play had hovered around .300, but since 2020, that number has shifted down to about .290 or so (it was .290 in 2026). As Russell Carleton has noted for Baseball Prospectus, the combination of lift-obsessed hitters and teams’ ability to use ball-in-play data to strategically position their outfielders, especially moving them deeper to limit the number of extra-base hits they surrender, has resulted in the BABIP environment we’re currently experiencing.

How many innings pitched since '24?

Because they wouldn't have signed Trevor Story and Xander has been better than Story has been.

You're asking about the opinions on here. I went back and re-read the Sale trade thread. Most people had no clue about Vaughn Grissom. People that are generally negative on the Sox were negative on the trade. People who were down on "Frail Sale" hated the trade. Everyone else had mixed reactions. They ended up NOT figuring out the rotation that offseason and ultimately didn't find a solution at 2b. Terrible trade. Breslow doesn't get enough grief for it. I was hopeful that Grissom would work out at 2b. He didn't. Breslow should get panned for the bad trade. That's just the life of a CBO: take the wins and the losses.

I think the prevailing opinion was "who the heck is Vaughn Grissom and he better be a real player for this to work out." I don't think there were many posters overly enthusiastic about the trade.

Paez, Monegro, Phillips, Morgan, Bouchard, Bello, Foutch, Mayers With how the BOS rotation currently looks, I may consider moving Holobetz to the pen in the short term too. I'd add MiLB FA's to fill in the missing rotation spots and move the guys I listed to the pen. I really don't think any of those guys are on track to being MLB rotation pieces. Might as well put them in the pen now and maybe they can shoot up the system.

Xander's contract was terrible when it was signed. Sox should have worked on an extension long before it expired that worked for both sides.

It's just you making an argument to make an argument. You don't have any info to state otherwise, but you feel it's not the truth even though the overwhelming evidence points towards it being true. I don't see the point.

The HR rate in Kutter's 180 IP year was a little outrageous too. I believe he has stated that he was injured during that year. Houck fell off halfway through '24 possibly also due to injury. I was lucky enough to witness this nightmarish start in person: https://www.fangraphs.com/scores/box-score?date=2024-06-29&hometeamid=3&dh=0

Monegro's stuff doesn't seem like it'll work at the MLB level. Morgan hasn't been around long enough for me to know much about TBH. I wasn't able to watch many affiliate games this season so I feel like I'm behind on the 2025 draftees. Noll and SP are both mentioning Morgan, so we'll have to start paying attention to him.

Someone the SP guys never mention is Ryan Fernandez. He was an easy Rule 5 addition a few years ago, but the Sox just decided to let him get drafted instead. He would have been much more valuable as an up and down guy than what we've used the past few years.

Crochet also has an injury history.

Tolle came to ST with an extra pitch and figured out how to throw more strikes. He was a far better pitcher this year than he was last year and completely surpassed Early. It was a conversation in the offseason which was better. Now there is no conversation.

How do they feel about Josh Naylor?

We're talking about the Sox having discussions LAST offseason. They almost traded him in July 2025 for Joe Ryan FWIW.

I'm not getting excited about a DSL guy. Way too many have flopped coming stateside recently. If SP straps a rocket to him, it's the death knell.

Why is Mullins still starting? No way would he ever be in the BOS rotation! They are too slow to identify relief arms on the 5% chance that a guy may become a backend starter. Aside from Tolle and Bello (?), there really isn't anything to crow about right now. They weren't using Wyatt Olds as a shutdown reliever in the playoffs due to his bb rate. They should have like 5-6 Olds!

Early and Mayer for Marte or Early and Mayer for Mead and Miller Which would you prefer?

You said you "questioned the veracity" of the Sox not wanting to trade Marcelo for Marte. You can't have it both ways.

From Jen McCaffery today: With a potential lockout looming when the current collective bargaining agreement ends on Dec. 1, Breslow said he will continue operating as usual until then. “I’ll put whatever CBA situation exists aside,” he said. “I would just say that every offseason is unique, and we’ve seen certain offseasons where free agents sign early, others where it drags out, where there’s a flurry of trade activity early, others where, you know, significant trades take place after the new year. It’s really hard to pinpoint exactly how the kind of natural sequence of the offseason will go this year. I think as teams become more competitive, there are fewer and fewer teams that are willing to move current major league talent because everyone wants to be competitive. And so we’ll have to be creative in figuring out how we improve our roster.” If the FA list is bad and teams are less likely to deal, how will they improve the roster. Do they really think internal options are going to fix their problems?!? Maybe they try looking for players that aren't reaching their potential elsewhere that would be better fits here? Deal guys that seem like part of the solution (i.e. Abreu) to make room for guys that can really impact the lineup?

In this house we liberty biberty...

When you have one rando guy reporting something in real time, it can be wrong. When several reporters all believe the same story and aren't backing down months later, it's most likely legit.