moonslav59

Ks suck, and while guys like Bobby D could never sustain his minor league OBP (BB and H%) Anthony has started out showing he can. Give me a .390+ OBP and I could care less about the K rate. Anthony should lead off, next season, and his skills, other than baserunning, will be a big asset.

It used to be thought that players who hit the ball hard and low (high GB% and LD%) were good hitters.

48.4 and 48.0 is still high, yes. His MLB 51.1 is likely a predictable increase, but it doesn't mean he will always be around 48-51%, and besides, we don't need every batter hitting 30+ HRs. I'll take the near 400 OBP (minors & majors.) I'll take the 40 doubles+triples and 12-18 HRs, but I do think we'll see his HR rate improve as he ages. While OBP might be out of style, I still think it has immense value.

While I agree, the guy deserved an F or D-. A manager playing him is no excuse for sucking, badly. He was great from game 9 to game 27, so maybe that's enough to get him to a D or D+. (1.073 OPS in 73 PAs) Had he not been replaced by Lowe, we'd have almost certainly missed the playoffs. .509 OPS in his last 185 PAs. That's like Wong & DHam suckiness.

Many times, these awards are jokes.

It's a number often used- not so much to project the guy will reach 650, buts as a measuring stick to compare apples to apples and what a full season of hitting might project to being. It's easier to grasp what 33 HRs looks like at 650 PAs than to say the guy projects to 22 Hrs per 417 PAs. if we went to HRs per PA, it would seem meaningless, unless you listed out everybody or the players ranking in HRs per 1 PA.

IMO, he is not injury prone. Cora has chosent o platoon Abreu over Duran, and until this season, Duran has been better than Abreu v LHPs. Duran has been in MLB longer, so that should be considered. IMO, Abreu would have played FT in 2025 on most teams. Abreu hit .676 v LHPs, this season, while Duran hit .600. (Duran earned FT status while batting .650 v L from 2022-2024. Abreu only had 77 PAs vs L in this time frame at .517.) Abreu may play FT in 2026, if ref retires or signs elsewhere, but even if Ref is back, I could see Ref platoon at DH with Masa and Abreu play vs L & R. If Duran is traded, it's almost a certainty. Having RHBs Jh Garcia & K Campbell as the OF depth does offer further platoon options, so this is not a sure bet to happen. What worries me is Abreu's 2 HRs in 145 PAs vs LHPs, career. His power appears to be one-sided. There are clear advantages to having players who bat well vs L & R, but none of our current OF'ers do. The only one with near equal splits is Rafaela, and he's not a good batter vs either side. Best OF'er on D: 1. Rafaela (Difficult CF) 2. Abreu (Very difficult RF) 3. Jh Garcia (can play all OF positions) 4. Duran 5. Campbell Best Batter vs RHPs (65% of SP'ers) : 1. Abreu 2. Duran 3. Rafaela 4. Campbell/Garcia Best Batter v LHPs (35%) 1. Probably Garcia 2. Probably Campbell 3. Rafaela 4. Duran & Abreu close to even, but Abreu better in '25. Running 1. Duran 2. Rafaela Big gap.... T5 Abreu, Garcia, Campbell Are you suggesting we change the whole OF, since none hit well vs both sides? Our OF was one of the best in MLB- on O and D.

I get that and pointed it out in my first sentence. I think Sogard can get better than C+. I'd try and find someone better than Toro for corner IF depth. I could see Casas being the 1B/DH and Eaton for 3B, but if we sign Suarez, he could be the 3B depth and starting 1Bman. If Casas gets healthy, we could shuffle things around, easy enough. Toro sucked- expected or not. D- max.

Anthony did everything but smack a bunch of homers in his first 300 MLB PAs. He's a keeper, and He's pencilled in my top 4 batters for 2026. He is also THE GUY that makes trading Duran for Lodolo or Ryan even possible. I like Mayer more than some here, but I share your deep concerns about his ability to stay on the field. Maybe he'll pull a 2025 Story on us. I'm far from giving up on KC, but he needs to find a position. Our DH slot is 5 deep. If we trade Duran, we'd have a 4th OF'er slot open, but he needs to play everyday to prove he can get another shot at FT play. 1B is open, but we need serious power, and that slot is ideal for filling that need. (DH, too.)

Agreed, although I'd pull more than Abreu or say no to Greene. Duran and I C ampbell or Kelly for Lodolo works for me. Abreu is the one true power bat we have. (34 HRs per 650 in '25.)

While we don't need to add a Crochet, every winter, we seriously lack star power on offense. I loved the balanced approach, and still do, but even when we had Mueller and Hobson batting 9th, we had a couple bashers in the middle. Our rotation showed serious cracks, especially at the end, and one of our top 3 (Gio) is a goner. Yes, adding Greene would be shiny, but when you subtract Gio's season, it's not like replacing Criswell with Crochet. We do NOT need to go very shiny at SP. I agree with that. I'd be fine with Lodolo or Ryan and have even said I'd settle for M Keller, but I'm with Drew on going large on a power bat or TWO!

True, but it's not like Casas, Alonso and some others talked about play even close to average 1B defense. We are NOT signing Schwarber. I only mention him out of our extreme need for a power bat. Even if we somehow miraculously dumped Yoshida, I'd put our odds at signing Schwarber at less than 2%. Alonso is probably a very long shot, too. Tucker is a zero chance and under 2% if we trade 2 OF'ers. Who is left? E Suarez who is about a year older than Schwarber and can likely play 1B as well or better than Casas and Alonso. He can also serve as our back up to Mayer at 3B. (We may need one.) His contract will not be 5+ years, so that will make JH happy. He won't get the AAV that Alonso, Schwarber and probably even Bichette & Bregman get, so another enticement for JH & Co. Any other options look to be via trade, and IMO, out big trade should be for a pitcher. (Merrill Kelly might be a FA option for all the reasons I stated for Suarez.)

Feel the same.

It's hard not to tie grades with expectations. Here are my grades: B+ Story (His D kept him from an A-) B+ Romy (He did well enough vs RHPs to warrant this grade.) B Bregman (The missed time and slump near the end kept him from an A- B Lowe (He did what we needed and fixed the 1B position for the end of 2025.) C Mayer & Sogard (Both showed some promise, but .... meh.) D- Campbell (He sucked on D and but for about 10 days out of the gate, sucked on O, too.) F DHam, Toro & Casas (These three did ZERO to help the team win. Anything they did okay was more than made up for by their extreme faults.)

He may not have time to prove this with the Sox after batting .618 v R, this season. Very short leash, if he gets a chance. His glove is a plus at 2B ONLY, so his utility value is minimized by that. It could force shuffling around infielders so he's at 2B. His baserunning is top 5%, and he has some PR value.

Of the series, yes.

Nobody is untouchable or should be, IMO. Offer me more than they are worth, and presto...

Vladdy coming alive after a kinda rough season.

If there was some way we could trade Yoshida or have the nerve to bench or demote him, we could go with Duran at DH, Anthony in LF, Rafaela in CF and Abreu in RF. This takes away an opportunity to trade an OF'er for a pitcher, 2Bman or corner IF'er, but one or two FAs should be possible, and we'd probably still need a significant trade to fill one of the 3 priorities. #SP2 1B 3B or 2B (Mayer or Story fill the other.) We aren't fill one of these needs with a high quality player by trading DHam, Wink and Sandlin, so it's going to take someone else to headline the deal, like maybe _____? Campbell plus one from... Crawford, Dobbins, Fitts, Harrison or Perales (or Jh Garcia) add ons.... DHam, Sandlin, Mullins, Wink, Guerrero or Kelly I'm not sure we get what we need with an offer like this, but we get to keep Duran and Abreu.

I've always thought the other talking heads in the Sox organization that spin our heads- not so much Brez (or Cora.)

I'm not worries about Anthony's initial GB%. The guy can hit. He may never become a 40-50 HR guy, but he might reach 30-40, at some point. I think he's our best hope at a .900 batter in 2026. Abreu, Duran, Yoshida and maybe Casas are the three with the best odds at reaching .800, but .750 to .775 is their likely projection. (Romy and a possible returning Ref can hit ,800+ in a strict platoon.) Story, Narvaez, Mayer and Rafaela are probably looking at .750 as a max. Wong, DHam and others might struggle to get close to .700. As for power, these were the HR per 650 numbers: 35 Abreu 28 Refsnyder (may not return) 25 Story 21 Narvaez 20 Mayer & DHam 18 Anthony & Casas 17 Romy 16 Campbell 15 Duran 13 Yoshida 7 Eaton 0 Wong & Sogard

This could be an interesting winter for Japanese player signings. There are two 3Bmen with differing profiles: Munetaka Murakami & maybe Kazuma Okamoto (29- 2 time GG winner who averaged 34 HRs since 2018, but some say he's 1B only in MLB.) Sung Mun Song may be posted as well. He's played 2B, 3B & 1B. Kona Takahashi (RHP) is posted and maybe RHP Tatsaya Imai will be, too. He's 29 and has had an OPS above .900 for two straight seasons (45 HRs/1248 PAs)

Who was the 1Bman who won the GG award when playing mostly DH?

Replacing an 18-22 HR Bregman with an 18-22 HR Bichette looks like a sideways move that may be even more expensive.

I totally get that and agree. As the season moves on, we may have to adjust and fill needs anyway we can, and that might mean using Tolle and or others in pen roles. He should start the season in the AAA rotation, unless he wins a rotation slot of the Sox. He also has options, so others may make the 26 due to control issues- someone like the undeserving (for now) Hicks. Others out of options: Wink, Criswell, Moran and the easy to DFA/Trade DeLeon & I Campbell. I don't see a 40 man roster crunch, this winter, unless we add 5-6 players, but there will be a 26 man roster crunch, that may lead to needing to put guys in AAA that are better players.