moonslav59

I think the moving Devers to 1B is a better hill to climb, notin. Story is an excellent defensive SS, and we have Mayer in the wings. If Story blows out his arm, you can blast us all away, but hopefully he can play SS, until Mayer is ready. Unless we trade Mayer, Adames is a pipedream. BTW, BTV accepted: Mayer for Burnes, Adames & $8M

No. That one just showed your bias. I was talking about your Marlins-Red Sox comp, and you know it.

JH said yes to a QO to Nate. I assume he said yes to the initial offer to Nate, last winter, which was reportedly worth more than he got with Texas. I think Bloom was the one who decided to pull the Nate offer and spend the money elsewhere.

There has been a lot of movement in the Marlins FO, too.

I thought he was joking.

He did not mean it wasn't a wish but a "daydream." He's just pointing out the new GM or CBO may have a different idea on where Story plays. He's not saying it will happen; it will likely happen; or he wants it to happen. I don't think anyone wants Story at 2B, since we have no other capable SS, right now. Maybe the next GM gets one, and enacts a change. Probably not, but possible.

I'd agree the odds are low. Although he beat out the injured Duvall for more innings in CF, and Duvall may not be back, I see Duran as our LF'er not CF'er in 2024. We could see some major changes in our OF innings allotments, even if we don't trade Dugo or Duran. 1. Yoshida will likely be a near FT DH. 2. Rafaela and or Abreu could eran some serious innings in the OF. 3. Refsnyders role as a straight platoon may be eliminated, if we try to keep Rafaela and Abreu on the 26 (unless no Dugo, Duran and no Duvall return.) Here were the 2023 innings in LF, CF, RF: CF 557 Duran 478 Duvall 117 Rafaela (was on farm for much of '23) 87 Kike 85 Abreu (on farm, too) 68 Refsnyder (68, too many) 38 Tapia RF 1170 Dugo 180 Duvall (Could he be the FT RF'er in '24?) 52 Tapia 20 Refsnyder 7 Abreu 1 Duran LF 713 Yoshida (to DH?) 347 Refsnyder 173 Duran (more here in '24) 86 Tapia 76 Abreu 35 Duvall Assuming no additions, could this be the 2024 totals? No injuries LF 1000 Duran 300 Refsnyder 100 Yoshida 50 Abreu CF 1000 Rafaela 450 Abreu RF 1000 Dugo 450 Abreu

But, we don't know. Some may have to hold off until after the WS.

We don't know how many people have turned down an offer for an interview, and any number Kennedy gives us could easily be a lie. Do we even know, if anyone has been interviewed or scheduled for one?

Henry is the top dog. Kennedy is President and CEO. O'Halleran was promoted from GM to Vice-President of Baseball Operations. He was the GM under Bloom, who was technically the CBO, right? Apparently, he will still be below the new CBO, despite the promotion. Is that the pecking order, right now? Principal Owner: Henry Chairman: Werner President & CEO: Kennedy ______ Exec. VP of Baseball Operations: O'Halloran Assistant GMs: Eddie Romero (may be promoted), Raquel Ferreira, and Michael Groopman Am I missing someone or have the order wrong?

He's going to SS? From where?

Does it matter? Nobody believes him, anyway.

How did I "dramatically short-change Urias as a hitter"?

I think I need a refresher course on job titles and their pecking order.

Devers getting a B+ must be based on expectations.

No major disagreements on any of the 3 report cards listed for 2023.

Are we looking for a GM or CBO or both? I thought we are just looking for a GM.

It's my understanding that the "front office" staff kept are all higher-ranked than the GM. The GM does not pick them. Only Cora might create an issue.

You think saying "Could he hit .250 27 90" is short-changing him? I thought you said, at one time, he might not even be offered arb.

Here is an early breakdown of our returning everyday players. I will do the pitching, later. I tried to stay realistic and temper my optimism, and also attempted to give a window of expectation between the good and not so good possible outcomes. I did not do rookies with too few PAs in 2023. Duran: perhaps no player is harder to project than Jarren. He’s been up and down, mostly up in the minors. He’s changed his hitting approach more times than years in the system. His defense was so bad at 2B, they moved him to the OF, where he was horrific, until some sort of miraculous event occurred before 2023, and he actually looked like he was only half bad. That being said, he still has a ways to go on D to be a capable CF’er. I’d prefer he be our LF’er in 2024- perhaps platooning with Refsnyder. Optimistic view: He repeats his 2023 season over 550 PAs and maybe even improves upon it. If he plays FT and leads off, he could get double his PAs of 2023 and end up with this line: .295 16 80 (.828 OPS) with 48 SBs and 4 CS. Perhaps, the best we can expect would be .300 18 90 with 50+ SBs and a .840 OPS. Pessimistic view: He reverts to his old self as a sub .700 hitter who is weak on D. He could add value as a PR, if he does well enough with the bat and D to stay on the 26. Verdugo: might be the easiest to project. He’s been pretty steady with his numbers. His D looked way better in 2023 than any other season, but his OPS has been between .732 and .777 since becoming a FT’er in 2021. (He was .844 in 2020 as a FT’er in a short season.) His splits indicate he may b est be used in a long side platoon. Career: .807 vs RHPs/ .665 v LHPs (.609 in ’23.) Optimistic view: He can hit like he did from 2019-2020: .300 20 65 projected to 650 with an .827 OPS. Realistically, maybe his high end is .800 to .820. Good D. Pessimistic view: He could do worse than his .732 OPS in 2022- maybe somewhere near .700 to .725 with okay D. Refsnyder: has been our top OPS guy vs LHPs since 2022. It’s not really even close. His D is subpar. He has a .604 career OPD vs RHPs, so should probably never start vs one, unless it’s an emergency. Optimistic view: He keeps doing very well vs LHPs as a platoon in LH or possible some as a DH or in RF in some parks. Pessimistic view: He continues struggling, like he did to end the 2023 season, even vs lefties. He may end up traded or DFA’d, even if we don’t add an OF RHB like Duvall. With Rafaela and Abreu pushing for playing time in the OF, Ref could be the odd man out. Devers: has been pretty steady, except on D. He’s been between .851 and .890 over the last 3 years. It’s a bit worrisome he has not come close to his .916 OPS in 2019 at age 22, but his OPS+ has been: 132, 134, 141 and 126 the last 4 full seasons (2020’s 107 left out.) Optimistic view: He is in peak prime years, now. I think it is reasonable to think he can hit over .900, again. Maybe 40 HRs and 120 + RBI. Perhaps he could play D, like he has in stretches shown in previous seasons. Pessimistic view: He hits under .850 and continues his poor defense. Casas: seems to have the most upside of any FT players returning from the 2023 season. His approach is great. He is very patient hitter, who seemed to greatly improve as the season unfolded. As a rookie, I think the umps were tough on him early on, with balls and stikes calls. He ended up at .856, but finished the season at .974 in his last 322 PAs. Optimistic view: He continues at the rate he finished the year, he’d be at .307 36 100. I’m not sure he can do better than that, but that’s pretty damn good. Pessimistic view: Maybe he ends up at .275 25 75 with a .825 OPS. Story: is another tough nut to crack. The injury has taken its toll on his recent numbers and may have even affected his numbers during is last year with COL. He hasn’t lost a thing on D, except maybe some arm strength and a higher risk of re-injury. He turns 31, soon, so an optimistic view should probably not be to expect to repeat what he did with COL, even after park adjustments. Optimistic view: He had a .909 OPS from 2018-2020 and an OPS+ of 123 (which adjusts for park influence.) He’s been at .744, the last 3 seasons, combined and .685 with BOS in 564 PAs. My guess at a high end but reasonable expectation might be .250 25 95 (.825-.850 OPS w 20+ SBs) Pessimistic view: Some might say under his .685 OPS with the Sox, as he is only getting older, but I don’t think so. I’m setting the floor at .240 20 75 (with a .750 OPS and 15+ SBs) Wong: might be close to Duran in predictability for 2024. Of course, catcher defense and how they help or hinder the staff they catch is one of baseball’s most difficult skills to identify and quantify, but it seems he can continue to improve in that area. His offense is hard to know. Optimistic view: He improves on D, especially framing and blocking. He’s already excellent on keeping the opponent’s running game in check. His offense showed some real promise in 2023. He reached his highest OPS of the season in mid September (.721 on 9/11,) but finished the season at a .198 Ops and a final .673 number. I would think his high might be over .725. Pessimistic view: He ends up being a .650 to .675 batter with issues framing and blocking on D. McGuire: has been in the bigs long enough to have an idea of what to expect. Apparently, he was a good defensive catcher, when we got him, but that became a question in 2023. He had a career .687 OPS before Boston and jumped to .740 with the Sox. However, he was at .688 in 2024. Optimistic view: I don’t think over .725 is unreasonable. Good D, but not great. Pessimist view: He hits around .670-.680 and does not improve on decent D. Urias: it’s not even a certainty we allow him to go to arb or sign him pre-arb. He did not really distinguish himself after we acquired him at the deadline, or before hand prior to the trade in 2023. His 2021-2022 numbers do offer some promise. Optimistic view: He repeats his 2021 season with 650 PAs: .249 25 80. Perhaps just repeating his 2021-2022 average over 650 PAs would also be optimistic: .244 24 75. He has a career dWAR of +2.1, which is about +0.7 per 150 games. Could he hit .250 27 90? Pessimist view: He stays like he was in 2023-m about .200 10 40. Yuck! Reyes: did pretty well with us over 64 games, but had never really looked this good since his rookie year in 2018, where he only had 63 PAs. He’s okay on D but nothing great. Optimistic view: He repeats his line with Boston over 650 PAs: .287 6 60 with 21 SBs and a .716 OPS. Pessimistic view: He does worse than his line before Boston: .238 13 30 with a .667 OPS.

True, but that $32M signing bonus was paid, plus I think there was a big "posting fee" we had to pay. $32M is what we paid Jansen for 2 years, and he made the list.

Bell said "qualified people." The skeletons in your closet should be left there.

I'm not so sure his philosophy is as "ever-changing" as it looks. He may view building championship teams as cycles. He hires people good at building up a foundation by building up the farm (and not trading top prospects,( like Ben & Bloom,) then he hires guys that are good at putting a solid foundation team over the top, with precise spending and trades (DD.) Theo was the one guy who seemed to be pretty good at both tasks at hand, and lasted the longest, but he, too, had some cycle years- ups and downs. He did spend a lot, pretty evenly, but there were a few dipd and splurges, here and there. He also seemed to spread out his mega prospect trades and had a more balanced appoach.

We tried to warn you he was a big injury risk, and you downplayed it and deflected that Paxton was more of an injury risk.

And, the mighty Martin Perez, twice.