moonslav59

Is it time to move Sawamura to the 8th inning and Ottavino to the 7th or earlier?

Two Christians walk into a bar after 8 straight balls...

Let's have a crusade, instead of a parade!

Surrounded by heathens, though.

Stuck at "W?"

Well said, and I do think the plan is to give some younger players and prospects a significant look, at some point this season. If we are in the playoff hunt and think bringing a prospect up or playing a young ML player might hurt our chances, maybe we'll hold off. (Maybe not.) I also think we will take into consideration years of team control, even with players like Houck, although some knowledgeable posters disagree with me on him. We signed a bunch of one year players, one year + one option players and then EHern to 2 years. That has all the earmarks of making this season a "look see" season. There are a lot of players who I'm sure management would like to come to or close to a final determination- like Chavis, Taylor, Brewer and maybe about Devers continuing at 3B or not. Here are all the players I think management might view as having a chance at sticking around beyond 2021 and 2022, beyond the vets like Sale and are or might be ready to play, this year. I won't list anyone with just 1-2 years of team control, but certainly an extension of re-signing could occur with someone like ERod, Barnes and others. Vets with 3 or more years of team control (born in 1994 or earlier): 3 Devers Renfroe Brasier Brice 4 Sale Brewer 5 Bogey (no opt out) Valdez By Position and Age -Born in 1993 or later only (yrs of team control) Red= not yet on 40 man roster C 25 Wong (5+) 24 Ro Hernandez (5+) 1B 26 Dalbec (5+) 26 Chavis (5) 21 Casas 2B 26 Arroyo (4) 22 Downs 3B 25 Devers (3) SS 23 Arauz (5) LF 27 Cordero (3) CF 25 Wilson (5+) 24 Duran RF 25 Verdugo (4) SP 28 Pivetta (4) 26 Seabold (5+) 25 Whitlock (5+) 25 Houck (5+) 24 Ward RP 28 Taylor 26 Bazardo 25 DHern Others not on 40 man roster: 31 Rondon (P) 30 Puello (OF) 30 Weber (P) 29 Ort (P) 28 K Hart (P)

...or, they think anyone can do what Mookie did. Look, I'm not saying he is not ready. He might be. What counts is what the Sox think, AND even if he is "ready" in their opinion, do they think now is the time. Word was he also recently changed his batting approach, so maybe they want him to have more time working that out. He did only hit .775 in 2019, which included a bunch of infield hits he may not get in the bigs. I certainly am not going to pull the plug on a Renfroe-Cordero platoon after just 20 games, especially when both have hit against the wrong handed pitcher, too often. I also think Cora wants to get Marwin as many PAs as possible, so even if Duran was on the 26, he might not play much.

Good point.

Yes, way more ML ready. Renfroe has already proven he can play at the ML level. No 20 game sample size negates that. Cordero is more of a question mark, but he's played OF much longer than Duran. Look, Duran may or may not be deemed ML ready by the Sox brass. I trust they know more than both of us combined. They may think he's ready, but are holding him back for maybe these other reasons, like... team control years won't be playing FT, so AAA is better for development want to give Renfroe and Cordero a longer look before pulling the plug think Marwin is ahead of him, anyway might want to find out more about Chavis before Duran

Maybe he's the next Whitlock.

Indeed. I've been known to take liberties, too.

Webster... Mispositioned: adj incorrectly or improperly positioned Malposition*: n. wrong or faulty position *Not sure if using it as a verb is correct.

I liked what I saw, too, but the kid is just learning the position. I trust the Sox management team to know when he's ready.

Yes, or Chavis or even add Munoz to the 40 man before Duran is called up, this early.

I think the plan, this year, is for him to be a 3-5 innings guy in relief or maybe get a spot start here and there, if needed. 2 things: He is 24- not some 21 year old rule 5 hope. He pitcher over 120 innings in 21 starts in 2018 in the minors and started 14 games in 2019 (70 IP). I think he could give us close to 120, this year- same as Houck.

Dalbec has been heating up, especially vs LHPs. I might have moved him to 7th or 8th. Arroyo to lead off might not be bad either, but he usually hits righties better than lefties, so maybe today is not the "right time."

Max, they would have called that HBP a strike!

Plus, we are NOT calling up Duran, at this point. Renfroe and Cordero will be give a longer look. Plus, my guess is, if we bench one or both, Marwin gets the call not Duran. We could even call up Chavis for LF before Duran for CF.

Obviously, yes- I should not have said "more about," but I do think it was a significant part of us doing that deal. We thought Ottavino would be good, and he still might be.

12 Winter Additions plus 3 more coming: Whitlock Andriese Sawamura Hernandez Marwin Cordero Richards Renfroe Ottavino Ronaldo Hernandez Frank German Josh Winkowski 3 PTBNL (2 from KC & 1 from NYM)

Whitlock is being stretched out to maybe be a starter, eventually. We knew going into this season we had a big hole in the pen for the 8th and 9th inning. Barnes has been superb, but even that is not enough. I'd give Andriese and Sawamura more time in the 8th inning before I start messing with Whitlock's plan to return him to the starter role or long relief. I almost brought up Valdez, but I stopped myself, short.

Upcoming Schedule (possible SP'er) 10 games in the next 12 days, so we get some rest (23 in 26 days). APR 23 SEA Perez 24 SEA Eovaldi 25 SEA ERod off 27 @NYM Richards +1 day rest 28 @NYM Pivetta +1 29 @ TEX Perez +1 (or Eovaldi) 30 @ TEX Eovaldi +1 (or ERod M1 @ TEX ERod +1 (or Perez +3) M2 @ TEX Richards off 4 DET Pivetta +1 (Eovaldi) 5 DET Perez +1 (ERod) 6 DET Eovaldi +1 (Richards +4) 7 @ BAL ERod +1 (Pivetta +4) 8 @ BAL Richards +1 (Perez +2) 9 @ BAL Pivetta (Eovaldi) 10 @BAL Eovaldi (ERod) OAK for 3 LAA for 3 off

Before these recent games, our OPS in Late & Close situations and with men on base or RISP was higher than our overall OPS. Maybe it's just regressing to the norm. Now, it's.... .807 overall .722 RISP .718 Men on Base .779 Late & Close .781 High Leverage

That's how I feel, and voicing an opinion that differs from the team does not always mean you think the choice they made was wrong.

I agree, but since he's out of options, maybe the thought is to keep as many arms "live" as possible. I'm not sure anyone would claim him, if he was DFA'd.