moonslav59

That very well could be the reason. It could have just been a bad slump that he was one game away from breaking out of.

Variety is the spice of life. (Hope the cliche police are off duty.)

I've said the same thing about myself several times. I often say Cora knows way more than I do. Note: My suggestion is not a projection. Note: I do think Cora has a loyalty issue that is not necessarily a bad thing. His players will march through Hell for him. I think, and yes, it's just my opinion, he sometimes plays players over others, or chooses the positions based on loyalty to his vets rather than what is the better option. Even saying this, it does not mean he's wrong, and when I say that, it sets Ole Red off like a smoke alarm. IMO, when we got Story, he should have played SS and Bogey 2B (or 3B with devers at 1B) but Cora chose not to rock the boat. Story had no issues playing 2B, so I'm not claiming Cora was wrong. I just think I'd have chose otherwise. IMO, Cora resisted talking to devers about playing 1B out of loyalty or "keeping the peace" and it kinda back-fired. Again, just my opinion, and I have no idea if it was the right or wrong thing to do. It's just what I would not have done (or not- not done in this case.) I'm a huge Cora fan. I don't agree with anyone 100%, although I'm on a long streak with Joe, recently.

YUP, Double L

The 2026 projections might be a better stat to use than something an older guy did in 2024 mixed with 2025. Either way, I see Duran, Contreras and Anthony as 2nd tier guys with Abreu a possibility of joining in for 2026. We need a #1 tier bat, and Paredes is pretty close to one and might be the best we can hope for. E Suarez would help the line-up but not the D. Keeping Duran, no matter who we add helps the offense. Creating a DH logjam is a secondary issue that is way down the list of issues/priorities to work on.

Ooops, I said the "C" word.

There is a chance Cora's loyalty quirk will force him to DH Anthony as much as Duran. I'm giving my opinion. Anthony is better on defense, and he will play some RF, when Abreu sits. I'd DH Duran more than Anthony and Masa combined.

Agreed, but because he will be traded.

Nobody is disagreeing that things can and will go wrong. Injuries will happen. Someone might drop off a cliff and be benched. My point is that you go into a season with an idea or framework of who is your best 9. Maybe you plan for a platoon or two. Maybe you plan on one player sitting out more than others, but in general you plan on certain players to play certain positions until something changes your initial plan. Maybe if I word it this way, you'll be more okay with the statement? These positions will see this player start there most often, barring injuries: C Narvaez 1, Wong 2 (maybe Contreras 3?) 1B Contreras 1 (Maybe Casas 2? Romy?? 2B/3B _____ & Mayer/Romy (DHam/Sogard/Eaton) SS Story 1 LF Anthony 1, Duran 2 CF Rafaela 1, Duran/Anthony 2 RF Abreu 1, Anthony 2 DH Duran 1, Masa 2 (Casas/Romy 3 and others a distant 4th)

My sample was 2024-2025. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&type=8&month=0&ind=0&startdate=&enddate=&season1=2024&season=2025&sortcol=17&sortdir=default&pageitems=2000000000&qual=800

If we can't get Paredes, E Suarez is my next choice. If we have to give up Duran to get Paredes, I'd rather sign Suarez.

No. From 2024-2025 Willson is #30 at a wRC+ of 130. (William is at #51.) It's my personal choice to say top tier is top 30 (30 teams.) A top 30 batter is in the top 9th of 270 batters (30 teams x 9 batters.) I then make the second tier top 31-60, but it's subjective where we set these tiers. I'm fine saying Contreras and Duran are tier 2 ('24-'25) I'd say Anthony will be, but that is based on 300 PAs in 2025. I'd like to think Abreu is reaching his prime and will be top 60, but he was 89th from '24-'25, so maybe that's being a homer. It took 600 PAs to get the 270 player sample size, that Anthony missed. If I change the sample to 800 PAs, it lowers the player sample size to 188. 25 Contreras (Tier 1 in my book) 46 Duran (Tier 2) 71 Abreu (mid Tier 3) We need a Tier 1 bat. BTW, Alonso is ranked 24th- right above Willson. Paredes, Bregman, Betts and E Suarez are all just below Duran. I guess they are not even Tier two either?

And maybe some estimates plan on 10 ILs while other project 20.

I don't think Campbell lost his hitting skills overnight. I think he will be a very good to great MLB batter. I think he'll be good enough to be a FT DH, if he can't earn a defensive role.

I'm one who thinks Casas will prove he can hit better than Masa (and maybe Duran, too.) He has not had split issues, so far. I'd look to trade Masa before ST'ing or opening day, but if there are no takers at $3-5M, then maybe wait to see how he does, and maybe he builds some trade value. I'd be fine looking at out 2026 and beyond DH as being filled by ... Duran & Co, or Casas/Campbell/Romy

This talk of shuffling players through the DH role is okay with me, if it is used as a way to give players some rest without losing their bat in the line-up and maybe needing less full days off, but to me, many of our batters are not good enough to DH. I don't want to lose the bats of Anthony, Story & Contreras, as well as vs RHPs: Duran, Abreu and maybe Mayer, at some point. Vs LHPs; Romy and maybe Narvaez, but I'm not DH'ing Narvaez. I'm not DH'ing Rafaela, ever. Maybe Mayer. Maybe Story, if he drops off. Okay, when Contreras, Anthony and Story need some rest, they can DH. That might be 10 games a year. That leaves 132 for Duran, maybe a few less, if Abreu plays FT and needs some rest.

Maybe only after hearing Brez cry about Devers, JH wanted him gone.

I think Masa can hit .750 to .800 in 2026, so to me he has value. We may have several other players on the team that can hit that, too- or a platoon set-up that can project to the same range. I have very little hope for Hicks, but with no roster crunch until opening day's 26 man roster, we might as well see if he regained something of what he had a few years back- if not, I'd be fine DFA'ing him. If Masa cannot be sent to AAA, I don't want him being just a bench guy: #2/3 DH and #5/6 OF'er. We should just trade or DFA him, if it comes to that. An OF'er trade clears room for him to win the DH job outright or as the strong side platoon with Romy.

In terms of projected fWAR, here is the scorecard: Add: 3.9 S Gray 3.3 R Suarez 1.9 Contreras 1.2 Oviedo (returning from injury: 1.5 Crawford + Sandoval) +11.8 Total (+10.3 added to team) _________________________ 2025 fWAR lost (2026 projected) 3.5 Bregman (3.8) 2.0 Giolito (1.2) 1.0 Wilson (0.5) 1.0 Dobbins (0.6) 1.0 Refsnyder (0.5) 0.7 Newcomb 0.6 Bernardino (0.1) 0.4 Lowe 0.2 Wink 0.1 Burdi -0.9 Toro+Sabol -2.1 several pitchers including Buehler + Matz (+1.7 Matz projected) +7.5 Total

I'm glad we didn't pay for Bichette. I wanted Breggie, but in 2-3 years we might view him like we view Bogey, now. We need a bat, still, and options are dwindling and expensive.

I really don't think we DFA Masa. Do we need an injury to demote him to AAA? Maybe someone would trade for him at a cost of $3-5M x 2 years, and we pay the rest. That might be the best solution. Just don't ask me who that team might be. I feel the same about Hicks, but he has no options and the pen is always in flux. See how he looks in ST'ing and decide then. We have no current 40 man roster crunch.

If any OF'er is healthy and does not need rest and is on the bench so that Masa can DH, DFA Masa, now!

I realize injuries happen and roles change. We all know this, but we can go into a season and place people where they should be when all are healthy. Of course they all won't get 650 PAs. Maybe Duran plays 155 games in the OF. I get that, But he could play play 130-150 at DH. I'd consider that FT. I'm giving these players what I think will be their roles: C Narvaez w Wong starting 30-40 games 1B Contreras FT 2B _____ or Mayer almost FT (Romy platoon?) SS Story FT 3B _____ or Mayer almost FT (Romy platoon?) LF Anthony FT w Duran some CF Rafaela FT w Duran/Anthony some RF Abreu w Anthony some DH Duran w Masa/Romy some and maybe a few others getting "rest days" as the DH. You don't have to agree, but this is a pretty normal way of viewing how a season is planned, knowing changes will be made.

Sox projected fWAR ranking by position: T4th LF 3.0 T7th CF 3.3 8th RF 2.8 13th DH 1.7 The whole infield + Catcher are ranked 14th or lower.... 14 1B 2.2 20 2B 2.3 23 Catcher 2.4 23 3B 2.1 27 SS 2.1 (Few are talking about upgrading SS) Pitching: 1st: 22.3 (LAD 21.8) 1st SP 18.3 5th RP 4.0

With the addition of Bellinger and Peralta to the NY teams, the fWAR rankings juggled a bit: 54.3 LAD 47.4 NYY, 46.7 NYM, 46.5 TOR 45.4 ATL, 45.0 SEA, 44.2 BOS 43.9 PHI, 43.1 BAL 42.2 HOU, 41.3 CHC, 41.0 SDP, 40.8 KCR, 40.6 DET 39.5 TEX, 39.4 MIL, 38.8 MIN, 38.1 AZ 36.9 TBR, 35.6 CIN, 35.5 ATH