mvp 78

From FanGraphs, Sox ranked 13th in LF. Does this ranking seem too low? Based on what Jarren Duran did last season, the answer almost has to be yes. Playing in all but two games — both were missed while he served a suspension suspension — the 28-year-old finished with 21 home runs, 34 stolen bases, and 6.7 WAR. An asset on both sides of the ball, Durran is an offensive catalyst and a center-field-capable fly chaser stationed in left. ZiPS anticipates a less-impactful season — his WAR projection is a comparably humble 3.9 — but that is arguably far too conservative. Players with Duran’s hard-nosed hustle and power/speed combination don’t grow on trees. Duran is expected to get more rest this season, which will open up more opportunities for Rob Refsnyder, whose forte is raking against lefties. It could also mean outfield reps for Masataka Yoshida, who was limited to DH duty last year and now finds his positional status in limbo thanks to Rafael Devers’ pending transition to the bat-only role. And then there’s the game’s top position player prospect. How soon 20-year-old Roman Anthony makes his much-anticipated debut remains to be seen, but whenever it happens, it will be a welcome “problem” for a team that is well-stocked with outfielders. Some of Anthony’s time could come in left once he reaches the majors.

Grissom is so far behind in the depth chart, they might need to just look for a new position for him. It's not like his defense is a selling point to begin with.

2024: Out Aug 1 - end of season 2023: Out Aug 3 - end of season (though his shoulder had been already bothering him for weeks) That's about 3 months of development time at least.

He'll have all year in WOO to get it together.

I'd be surprised if they went that route. Maybe they want to see what it looks like and then decide if it's worth it to have him play 2b in WOO? IDK. It'd be wild for them to have Mayer completely skip AAA. A guy who has missed time each season due to injury. Yes, he's still a great prospect, but there's stuff to work on.

Overlooked the prep of Mayer? How many friggin' guys can they get to play one position? Grissom Hamilton Campbell Mayer Toro Romy At some point, you just have to narrow down the focus anyway. It's not like Mayer was sitting on the sidelines. He was still getting a lot of reps, just at a different IF position. They weren't throwing him out in LF like they did with Campbell.

Bogey had 60 total games at AAA though. Mayer would be taking a huge leap if he's skipping through AAA. vs AA LHP Mayer 674 OPS Anthony 893 OPS I fully agree that his defense is ready and that he can probably hit RHP.

He wore enough of it that he got his butt fired.

IDK, a decrease of 1.5% in k rate is just statistical noise.

Easy to blame Bloom, but there are scouts still in the org today who really wanted to sign the guy.

He's still a good prospect, but has spent virtually no time at 2b. If they want him at 2b, I'd almost want him to go to WOO for two weeks and play there fulltime to get his feet really wet and then get called up if they believe he's ready. I still think he needs more time in AAA for his offense to truly develop, but I'm also not around him 24/7 the way Cora and others are.

To me, it would depend on when he goes down. If it's after Memorial Day, I'm just calling Mayer up.

Hard to tell sometimes and not all of the games are Statcast enabled. 🫣 He has both a cutter and a splitter (thrown rarely).

Most of the org pitching was still high A/AA and now it's shifting towards AA/AAA. There had been a talent level gap at the higher MiLB levels of the org for a few years. We just had to be patient.

I hope he can carry it forward, but I wouldn't expect a huge turnaround. Even if he can drop his k% to 20% and increase his bb% to 5%, it's a really huge swing that I'd be happy about.

Arias is a much more patient hitter than Rafaela was at his age. His BB's are double what Rafaela's were. His OBP was also 150 points higher in the complex league than Rafaela's was. Rafaela didn't even pop as a real prospect until he was a 21 year old in 2022. Arias was already making a name for himself as a teenager.

Justin Gonzales with a stance like a MIFer not a 6'5" 1B/LF/RFer.

He also would have been good enough from 06-11 that you wouldn't have had to sign Lugo.

Absolutely raking for the Phillies this Spring: 934 OPS and might make the Opening Day roster off of a MiLB contract.

Maybe the Sox think outside of the box and ring up A700's guy Jonathan Arauz to reprise his role?

I'd consider holding off on trading Arias for now. He's apparently made some gains this offseason. Let's see what he can do this year. If Breslow wanted a good closer, he could have signed one in FA.

That's ruining the return for Casas. Why not just trade Casas and open up the 1B spot for Devers? The DH spot is there for Masa. Sign Bregman for 3B and the Sox make more sense. I don't understand this team sometimes.

I think Ottavino, Moore and Adams are probably gone. Not sure Ottavino showed anything and Adams was already sent to MiLB camp. Fulmer and Toro probably start in AAA and see some action in BOS this year.

It does not! If I was Masa's agent, I'd be sending him to the MLBPA.

Someone needed to be traded this offseason even if for pennies on the dollar.