moonslav59

Casas should have been viewed as the DH of the future. His 1B D was even worse than Devers at 3B.

I think we both were saying this years ago. It couldn't have hurt to get him ready a few years back. Practicing 3B defense wasn't helping.

Look who is slotted at DH... https://www.soxprospects.com/2026.htm

Trade him, now.

I don't know about anyone else, but I was on pins and needles last October as I waited for Masa's next playoff AB.

If Casas is healthy, he might be better than Masa at DH or 1B. It just might be time to ask every team what amount would you pay to take Masa off our hands, and take the best offer. Unless he's hitting .800 for another team, I can't see anyone ever saying, "I wish we didn't trade Masa." I undertsand.750-.800 is better than several batters in our projected line-up, and our offense is a weakness, but I don't see him as a 1B option. It's DH or the shorter corner OF. We have enough good hitters at those two slots to move on from Yoshida.

Well, if William has 2 L's his parents didn't want Willson to go without.

BTV shows the prospect value way lower than Gore's, but I agree. I'm glad we got Suarez. I'm glad we got Gray and Contreras, too. Oviedo and Bennett are TBD. Getting a 2B/3Bman is TBD.

Not for a long while, so it was unlikely he might have at the MLB level. To me, it's hard to assign blame on one thing and be sure about it. I do agree that he was rushed, but it just my opinion and the results seem to support it.

All well documented. I will say that had Devers been moved to 1B years ago, maybe he'd still be here, and maybe even "forevers."

Would you trade Duran for CJ Abrams? BTV accepted it as well as Duran + Crawford. Story to 2B and Mayer to 3B.

Gore to Rangers for 5 prospects.

Agreed.

I think the idea was they were not bringing Guerrero back, and they felt he was the best return offered.

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.