“I’m just saying, you trim fat, pigs squeal,” Papelbon repeated. “That’s what you’re looking for, your pigs to squeal. And hit home runs."
"Who said that gaining 10lbs would make Raffy not hit the ball?"
YOU by agreeing with Paplebon!
He could have taken the guy he wanted to begin with: Jordan Lawlar. Lawlar is ranked higher than Mayer on some rankings.
DD took the guy that fell and that didn't work out: Jay Groome.
He struggled with an injury last season, but is rocking a 824 OPS right now. He's also best friends with Raffy and would be instrumental in pulling Raffy out of his current slump.
Nice article. I read that some people in the know believe that if the power trend continues with the bat that it will be made illegal.
FWIW, Bregman just got a torpedo bat.
FWIW2, the Brewers pitching is atrocious and the Yankees numbers may reflect that more than the bats.
I can't be worried about another team's spending when our ownership has enough money to do the same. Per Forbes, the Sox had more net income last season than any other team in MLB. They just aren't spending enough. Dodgers have a window and are maximizing it. That's great for their fanbase. Also, MLB needs a team that everyone can be mad about (see the Yankees in the Jeter years).
He certainly gets credit for '21, but largely whiffed on '22 and '23. It was clear the team wasn't set up for success in '24 either and needed to be handed over. I'll give him a pass on '20.
He did a lot of great things for the organization, but wasn’t able to manage a competitive MLB team from year to year. He wasn’t meeting expectations laid out by ownership on an annual basis to the media. Going over the CBT was a big mistake. Fumbling multiple deadlines to the point where other GMs no longer wanted to pick up your phone call doesn’t work either. He was a mixed bag. SoxProspects guys said as much in his postmortem.
League Average k% 2024: 22.6
Returning 2024 Red Sox players with k% above League Average:
Casas - starting slow
Story - starting slow
Sogard (not currently on the active roster)
Abreu
Romy
Rafaela - starting slow
Refsnyder
Hamilton
Devers - starting slow
Wong - starting slow
Returning 2024 Red Sox players with k% below League Average:
Duran
Masa - not on the active roster
It comes down to roster construction. Bregman should help a little. Campbell will probably be below League Average. Getting the oft hated Masataka Yoshida back would greatly help this offense. Swapping Story for Mayer and Rafaela for Anthony would help the offensive, but may not bring down the k rate.