moonslav59

As of now, I agree, but the choice should be made when it is determined Casas in ML ready. If that is opening day 2022 (doubtful), I'd go with Devers, although keeping him at 3B might have more merit. If it's opening day 2023, Devers last year of control, the choice might be different, and again, we might just keep Devers at 3B, if Casas is raking, rather than trade either one.

If that means the rest of 2021, I totally agree. If he doesn't show improvement on defense by the end of the year, I think we have to seriously consider moving him to 1B. I think he can and will be a plus on defense at 1B. Now, who plays 3B?

True, in the sense of numerical leaps, but since it is two stats added together, the large jumps are the result of two moderate jumps added together, and if you go by percent improvement like you used during the .200 vs .300 BA players argument, the percent rise of his OPS equaled the percent rise of his OBP and SLG. (They both went up about 25 points or about 8%.) Going by your position on the BA debate, Dalbec's SLG went up 8.8% (35/397), his OBP went up 6.0% (15/252) and his OPS went up 7.7%. It looks like SLG can fluctuate more than OPS using your own methodology..

I'm not sure why that stat has not caught on.

We can agree to disagree on Vaz being a plus behind the plate. He does frame pitches very well and has a decent arm. That certainly helps, but I don't think he gets the most out of our staff. I know I might be in the minority on that, but there is ample evidence to support my position. You say Marwin is a bench guy, which he is, but he has more PAs than Dalbec, so he should be dissected as much as Dalbec has. I have expected Dalbec to show better defense, and he has, recently, but he has not been a plus on defense, this year. I'm not saying Dalbec should not have been criticized or even criticized harshly. Hell, I wanted him demoted. My point is more about the others being treated less harshly. I did not mention Kike in this post, because he has been bashed pretty harshly, too. While he has been a high usage utility guy his whole career, I think we signed him thinking he'd get over 550 PAs- more or as much as we expected from Dalbec, this year.

Actually, it's more about smaller sample sizes vs larger sample sizes. We like to think 70 game sample sizes are pretty big, and they certainly are significant, but many players need much longer sample sizes for their true value to be realized in stats. This is not to say .699 or higher is who Dalbec really is. He could drop back down to below .650 and end his career there. I have to admit, as much as I harp about sample sizes, I felt Dalbec needed some time in AAA to work out his issues. It makes me wonder about Cordero and Chavis. Did we send them down, too soon? (Both did very well in AAA- not that this means anything significant.) Santana seems like a different case, but who knows if he will heat up starting in his next game. I have to think he's near a DFA.

That's a ways away, and the answer may be clearer by then- injury, one pitcher really struggling (ERod?). I doubt we stay with 6 for long. We also have the long all star break coming up, soon..

Not yet. He's certainly "on the radar," but I think he's earned a longer chance to turn things around. I could see us calling up Houck and putting ERod on the IL to give him a rest, and to see, if maybe he just needs to gain some strength back. I'd but Andriese, Rios & Workman ahead of ERod on my pitcher replacement list. Santana stands alone on the everyday player list, which probably should included Marwin in second, but it won't.

All true. One would expect much better health from a DH only.

Mid June! It's not looking like a seller's deadline for the Sox.

Feels nice, especially after the missed opportunities, last night, and everyone else losing. The A's now have the best AL record by 1/2 game over us & CWS. TBR & HOU are 1/2 game behind us. It looks like a battle between the 5 teams teams like the Yanks and Guardians still in the mix.

Vaz is like second in catcher innings on D. Plawecki is not a bad sub. Yes, rest Vaz more. As for what Bloom saw in Kike, we needed to cover our bases at 2B and CF. Kike can play both. That was one major factor. I think we felt the need at 2B was greater, and as it turned out, almost every free agent choice at 2B has sucked, bigtime. That's no excuse, but other choices cost more and did worse. Of course, there are some that cost less that are doing better, but not many can play CF, too. Kike was a very good player for the Dodgers, you know, the team that won it all. He was 6th on the team in innings played in 2019 and 2020 for the Dodgers. In 2018, the year they faced us in the WS, he was 4 innings away from being 4th on the team in innings played. You can't be a chump and play that much for 3 straight years on a team like LA. (He also has a .758 OPS in 142 playoff PAs.) It's not like the guy has been this bad his whole career. He had a .737 OPS in 4 years with LA and is just 29. We signed him to play 2B, CF and maybe hit between .700-.750. I'm fine with blaming Bloom for choosing Kike, but I'm not sure it was really that much of a head-scratcher. The $7M seemed higher than most expected, and he had shown some decline in OPS over the 2 previous seasons, but at his age, there was no reason to expect continued and steeper decline, and besides, he's not even 25% into his contract, so he may end up proving us all wrong by the end of 2022.

I haven't either. I'm not sure what level of urgency Bloom had for replacing Andriese, if any. We have 3 guys that could easily be replaced: Andriese Rios Workman (In no particular order)

Yankees

I think he meant "trumps everything" in terms of amazement.

135 players in the AL have 130+ PAs, this year (9 players x 15 teams). Here's how they break into these chose categories: Top 15 (.884 to 1.102) Sox have 3 in the top 15 (Bogey/JD/Devers) 16-30 (.827-.881) Sox have 0 31-45 (.778-.827) Sox have 1 (Verdugo) 46-60 (.745-.777) Sox have 2 (Renfroe/Arroyo) 61-75 (.684-.703) Sox have 0 76-90 (.632-.702) Sox have 0 (Vaz is #91) 91-105(.649-.676) Sox have 2 (Vaz & Kike) 106-120 (.610-.641) Sox have 0 121-135 (.533-.610) Sox have 1 (Marwin at #130) Pretty amazing how a third of the top 135 batters are under .676. We have exactly our share (3).

The Sox have 3 batters in the top 15 OPS Leaders. 10. Bogey .941 13. JD .914 14. Devers .908 No other team has even 2. (TOR has 1 & 17 and HOU has 15 & 16) Verdugo ranks 47th at .804, so we have 4 in the top 50. Mookie is 39th at .825 & Moncada is 48th at .811. Out of 142 qualified players on the list, JBJ ranks last at .501. Kike is 126th at .660. Vaz is 123rd at .664 Renfroe is 89th at .743 No other Sox player qualifies.

Dalbec is now sitting at .699. Others not doing as well, but seemingly catching less flack are... .678 Plawecki .664 Vaz .660 Kike .574 Marwin .478 Santana (actually went up by going 1 for 5, today!)

Great! What is he now? 2 for his last 60?

If Brasier and Bazardo are ready, they may get the call, first. Wecould also demote Rios and bring up 2.

Some good news, Nick. Add Houck to the list and maybe we can get a big infusion of talent without any big trades. Chavis for Santana Houck for Andriese Brasier for Rios Sale/Bazardo/Duran for Workman (and/or Chavis)

Perez pitched well, too. Bobby Dee is a BB away from the .700 mark. Kike even got on base 3 times!

I never worry about Devers' bat. He always bounces back.

He's been struggling of late. Glad to see he can help pull us out of this mini-funk.

He's shown serious signs of turning things around. 2 weeks is still a small sample size, but 2 weeks ago, just about nobody was saying he deserves to keep playing.