Red Sox starters with a higher OBP since 2023:
Bregman
Refsnyder (210 G)
Devers
Narvaez
Toro
Casas
Turner
Yoshida
OBP is more important than batting average for a leadoff guy. That Duran had a similar OBP to Tyler O'Neill, isn't quite a ringing endorsement.
Perales will pitch this year, but not in the BoSox rotation. If anything, it would be a turnaround from Bello and Dobbins and Fitts continuing and upward trajectory. I don't think Sandlin, Early, Monegro or other internal starters really have a shot until '26. Uberstine, Murphy and Penrod could all be called up to help the pen as they start to struggle.
I don't know about the Strawberry thing. In his AS years, he averaged 32 HR, 95 RBI, 86 R, 23 SB, 4.7 bWAR each year. He was really good in his 20's. His age 30 season just saw him fall off a cliff, but he never saw an All Star Game at that age.
Right, but they weren't buying and selling at the deadline. They sold at the deadline, got hot afterwards and made the postseason.
It proof that the Sox could deal Chapman, Duran and someone else, but still get hot enough to make the playoffs anyway. So why not just sell?
I could see pinch hitting against a tougher lefty matchup, but I don't think it should be an automatic switch they way Cora treats some of these other LHBs.
If I got a vote:
Carlos Narvaez
Kristian Campbell (stuffing the box so that the Sox get a PIP)
Jacob Wilson
Shane Smith
Mayer (I think he could make a run at it actually)
Is O'Neill Cruz a classic leadoff hitter? Ian Happ? There are lots of guys hitting leadoff that aren't your classic leadoff type guys. I think that was my point, not that I was ranking the leadoff hitters better than Duran.