mvp 78

If Whitlock was able to stay healthy, he's a better starter than Houck. Houck would be the one sent to the pen if Criswell is put into the rotation.

@alexspeier Garrett Whitlock is throwing a minor league (AAA) game at JetBlue Park. Just had a 13-pitch, 12-strike inning with 3 Ks and 5 swings/misses. Nasty back-to-back sliders to finish the inning. @tylermilliken_ Garrett Whitlock made his next scheduled start in a minor league spring training game today and was dominant once again (via @alexspeier ). 5.2 IP - 73 Pitches/57 Strikes 3 Hits 0 ER/R 10 K 0 BB 14 Whiffs Pretty hard to imagine him not being in the rotation to start the season. Please just let him stay healthy. @tylermilliken_ Fantastic outing by Garrett Whitlock against the Twins. 4.1 IP - 62 Pitches 2 Hits 0 ER/R 5 K 1 BB Best we’ve seen of him this spring. Efficient. Went right after guys. Retired the last 9 guys he faced. @alexspeier In a minor league spring training game, Garrett Whitlock struck out 10 of 20 batters he faced, threw 78% strikes, got a ton of swings/misses, and introduced a new pitch. Did he look like a big league starter? Andrew Bailey: “100 percent.” I'm trying really hard not to get sucked back in..................

Depends on what we determine "enough" means. If Abreu is just the 4th OFer and gets 200 AB's, it's fine. More likely, Abreu is the 4th OFer and takes over once O'Neilll goes to the IL repeatedly.

Nah, we'll stop talking about guys like Contreras and Kolsvary after the next few weeks when the games start. It will all be posts about Anthony hitting bombs and updates on Mayer's health.

Meidroth seems like he'll have a chance to stick around for a while. His glove has been really sharp whenever I've seen him. He's got an early 00's A's body though. Not a jeans guy. I could see them trading Yorke at some point. It really depends on the development of his bat. If he's really not able to hit above 800 in AAA, what's the use in keeping him around. He's still young though being a HS draft pick. There may be meat left on the bone. Contreras is a journeyman OFer that will stick around for the year and is good to have in case of emergency. It's more likely that they keep guys like Kolzsvary around than Stephen Scott. I'd rather have good fielding Catchers with no upside than bad fielding Catchers with a little upside. All the relief pitchers are whatever. Just the normal churn.

@IanMBrowne Though Ceddanne Rafaels is starting at second bsae tonight, Alex Cora's stance hasn't changed, and won't change. If Rafaela makes the team, Cora guarantees most of his playing time will be in center field.

@GlobeChadFinn NESN has added former Red Sox infielder Deven Marrero as a studio analyst.

Jansen and Martin are supposedly going to pitch in tonight's game.

This year. They deferred the adjustment a year out to 2024.

28 is the correct amount.

Roster Resource is also projecting 44 players in AAA.

Not sure why FanGraphs keeps putting Duran in RF. I hope we don't see that in the regular season.

Most of us qualify.

44 hits and 25 BB's over the first two ugly games.

I've heard that they've made additional cuts this year because of the reduction and Van Belle/Shugart seem to be two guys they can probably move on from if they want to add additional pitchers.

There's a smaller amount of MiLB guys you can carry effective this season (165). If they are going to bring in a veteran for innings security, they will need to drop somebody. Van Belle is a guy that is already 27 and has no chance of ever pitching for the Sox. Time to move on.

And changed it to "Ohtani knew nothing about it" probably after some lawyer told Ohtani that he'd get into a s*** ton of trouble for knowingly wiring a bookie money even if it wasn't his debt.

FanGraphs projects Sox to have 17th best 2B: This is the ranking I disagree with the most. Grissom has the kind of game that feels tailor-made for Fenway, and I also think that having a consistent position and playing time will help with his defensive shortcomings. He showed plus power in the minors and makes a lot of aerial contact, two skills that will combine to produce a ton of wall-ball doubles and lofted homers. It’s not just a Fenway skill, either; Tropicana Field suits his swing well, though hopefully he’ll get some days off when the Sox visit Baltimore and its left field power trap. I think that the biggest legit question with Grissom is whether he can actually play second, but ZiPS’s defensive forecast thinks he’ll do passably well there, which is good enough for me. Or maybe I’m being a little unfair to our projections, because there’s one more important question: how soon he’ll be healthy. He’s going to miss Opening Day, which is why we have Valdez getting a substantial amount of run. Valdez is a solid utility infielder, but he’s not a first-division starter in the same way that I think Grissom is. The options behind him are break-glass-in-case-of-emergency, nothing more. This is the Grissom show, for better or worse.

FanGraphs projects Sox to have 8th best LF. Tyler O’Neill is coming off a second straight mediocre season at the plate, but the projections remain convinced he’s a talented hitter, with good on-base skills and impact power. Presumably, the Red Sox were similarly convinced when they dealt for him this winter. If O’Neill meets his projected 113 wRC+, he could be the best right-handed hitter in Boston’s lefty-heavy lineup. As Ceddanne Rafaela continues to make his case to be the Opening Day center fielder, Alex Cora is facing a decision as to how to best divide playing time in the outfield corners. O’Neill can cover all three outfield positions, but he’s a good bet to be Cora’s primary left fielder. That’s where he has most of his big league experience, and it makes more sense for the speedier Jarred Duran to cover the right field expanse at Fenway Park. That doesn’t leave much playing time for Wilyer Abreu, but too much depth is always a good problem to have. A regular outfield alignment of O’Neill, Rafaela, and Duran will make for a strong defensive unit. Even better, it means Masataka Yoshida can make most of his starts at DH. However, on days when Cora wants to prioritize offense, Yoshida can handle left field instead. His glove may be a problem, but his offensive projections look a lot closer to his strong numbers from the first four months of the 2023 season than his terrible fall-off in August and September.

Bonnin was the Reds' 3rd round pick in 2020, not the Cubs.

@SoxProspects Two new RHPs in #RedSox ML camp: Bryce Bonnin & Conor Steinbaugh. Bonnin was a 3rd rd pick by the Cubs in 2020. Missed 2023 w/ a shoulder impingement. Has reportedly topped out at 99 mph in the past. Steinbaugh is an Akron alum, got his velo up to 94 mph in Feb workouts.

They did bring back Heinz ketchup tho!

Hendriks is less cash in '24, but higher CBT hit. I think they are hoping that he can come back after the trade deadline this year.

Greinke Boyd Hill Syndergaard Cueto Rucinski Plutko Nobody that is really better than what you have. Arms that may be sitting at home when an injury happens. I'd try to see if you could get someone on an MiLB deal and dump Van Belle.

Every time a pitcher throws a pitch, they get one pitch closer to getting TJS. His medicals may have been perfectly fine at the time of signing.