mvp 78

He was terrible early on last year too. Maybe he can turn it around?

The Delmarva Shorebirds camerawork is just brutal. All the video was from behind the plate like it was 1955, but filmed in row 10 at McCoy Stadium.

I wasn't all that interested in Salem's lineup to start the year, but here are some of my early season thoughts: 1. Bleis is far too passive of a hitter. He's not even patient IMO. He does a similar thing to Casas where he'll take a count 3-2 and strike out looking all without taking his bat off his shoulders for 6 pitches. I know the SoxProspects guys are high on him and maybe the low A umps are bad, but he's pretty boring to watch in game right now. Maybe this is similar to what we saw out of Anthony last season? The pitchers are just so bad that he doesn't want to swing? 2. Jhostynxon Garcia has an underrated bat. This dude really makes a lot of good contact. He's been a little overshadowed by his younger brother, but he also has a little bit of pop now that he's filled out. He's no longer the listed 160-165 lbs, there's no way. Scouting reports mention pull side power, but I've seen him hit the other way too. Ranked about 10 spots too low on SoxProspects IMO. 3. Johanfran Garcia really filled out and not in a good way like his older brother. Garcia now has a "catcher's build" in not a good way. He can still hit, but if he'll need to remain a competent catcher if he's going to make it to the bigs looking like this. He's currently ranked 18th, but I think he'll start trending down unless he's absolutely murdering the ball. 4. Nelly Taylor just looks like a ballplayer. He's an athletic lefty that all arms and legs. Seems like a very good all around player whose floor is AAA. Swing is great. Looks like he knows what he's doing in the box moreso than most other low A guys. I wouldn't be surprised if he's called up to GRE before Bleis. Should be a riser in the prospect rankings. 5. Antonio Anderson is not a SS. He's also kinda slow? Maybe he's like Benintendi where he looks athletic, but then the metrics just show he's a tick too slow? IDK. He's young and has a long way to go with the bat. Just the newest version of Cutter Coffey. Not seeing it right now.

After Martin blew up, I switched to the Salem game.

I would have just said "Devers is no Mike Lowell." Lowell was probably the best 3b the Sox have had in the modern era, ignoring Adrian Beltre.

You said the game wasn't a sellout.

In 3 starts, 5.1 innings was still his longest start. He needs to really start to pick it up.

Duran will be 28 this year. O'Neill will be 29. Realistically, how much better could they get?

A sham poster.

And for many, opening day at Fenway is a ceremony itself, not to be missed. This game, at least, was a sellout — and team staff report they've sold nearly 1.7 million tickets so far, on pace with last year. https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/04/09/baseball-red-sox-home-opener-boston-fenway

He surely is no Frank MalzonE. MalzonE averaged 23 errors per year his first 5 full years. Devers averaged 20 errors per year his first 5 full years.

If he's that injured, he should be sitting out.

Ortiz was a 932 lifetime OPS. I don't think he was ever the highest earner on his team and was frequently a year to year guy. To move Devers to DH a year into his new deal makes no sense IMO. If you pair him with a decent SS (like Story) he's passable. If you pair him with a below average SS (like Reyes/Hamilton) it's a trainwreck.

Remembering the 2013 ALCS, no!

They are great. You can pick and chose which metric works to fit your argument!

Paging Dojji.

2021 -22 DRS 2022 -4 DRS Now that he's even older, there IS a chance he's worse than Hamilton at playing SS.

Conditioned on the fact that all the other options are dog s***.

AAA stats don't corelate to MLB very well. Iggy's defense has dropped off considerably per the metrics.

Would take him in a second.

He hasn't proven it yet, but he's a better option than Reyes/Valdez. That's how dire the situation is at 2B.

I don't really have high hopes for Wikelman. I'm glad they put Yorke back in AA this year. He needs to earn the promotion to AAA.

They'd still need to find a SS though.

6 of those unearned runs came after Story was injured, buster!

Great guy. Bad contract.