moonslav59

We all know Casas was off to a really bad start, and replacing those numbers looked easy, but that is not all there is to it. I'd rather have a healthy casas that Toro, now, because I expected him to turn things around. Maybe he would not have, but I liked his odds more than Toro's. I'd also prefer Casas than Yoshida getting a look at DH with Devers at 1B- not that this might happen.

I thought his contract would count against the lux tax, if they promoted him. (They since changed the rules.)

Thanks. I missed your earlier post. No talk about not playing in games.

He won't/can't trade Devers w/o upper brass buy-in.

His mama was a bot. (No link available.)

I read this after I mentioned R Castillo. At least there was an obvious reason to keep RC in AAA.

Nobody disputes this. It's worse than the Rusney situation, because Rusney was allowed to keep playing. I still wonder why he was never traded to a team who was $50M below the lux tax. This whole situation is bizarre. (Notice how Yoshida is not talking, as far as I know.)

You perceived wrongly, again. LOL!

This is befuddling, for sure. At least Rusney got to keep playing, and yes, his case was "roster manipulation." Are they trying to get Yoshida to quit? (Ain't happening.") I can't see how Yoshida is gaining any trade value by not demonstrating he can still hit. Maybe some team would want him as a DH only player, so the arm is not needed. While any trade would involve pennies on the dollar, it makes sense to move on from him. A 60 day IL stint only prolongs the choice. Unless we see Devers as a longer term 1B option, we have our DH for more years than our Yoshida control years. Yoshida is not and should not ever play OF for the Sox as long as we still have Duran, Abreu, Anthony, Campbell, Rafaela and Refsnyder. He's like 6th or 7th on the depth chart, depending on it being a lefty or righty pitcher.

I always try to answer any and all questions directed to me. Why not just explain how the word "roster manipulation" fits the Yoshida situation. He's on the 40. He's not on the 26. We chose not to 60 day IL him (so far.) It is a mystery why he's not DH'ing on some farm team as he works on building up his arm strength, even if just to add value for a trade, but where is any roster manipulation taking place? Maybe, I'm nit-picking the term, but I don't see how keeping him off any minor league roster, while he has options is accomplishing anything or allowing us to keep someone else or whatever the "manipulation" is gaining us. If you just explain it, I agree. Not answering is what seems obtuse, to me.

We really cannot afford to have two platoon OF'ers who are awful vs lefties. Carrying one guy like Refsnyder can be very useful, but I can't see having 2 of the 4 bench slots going to short-side platoon OF bats. One is for a catcher and one has to be for an infielder. One hope is that Anthony can continue his good splist vs L's and R's, if and when he is promoted. Rafaela seems equally bad vs L's & R's, so counting him as a "platoon bat" is a bit deceptive. His defense does make up for much, if not all of his lack of O. This looks pretty good, in isolation, but the roster suffers greatly by having 5 OF'ers. LF: Anthony CF: Duran-Rafaela platoon RF: Abreu-Refsnyder platoon Since Campbell can play CF, having 5 OF'ers does not really make sense, especially with Mayer beating down the door for a middle infield shot. Also, Rafaela's ability to play a decent 2B and close to passable SS, does help give Cora some flexibility, if he goes this way. Some tough choices lie ahead.

They may trade Grissom & Jordan.

I think everyone has Arias higher than Romero, but he likely needs more time to be ML ready than Romero. The defense of Arias is already ML ready, IMO>

He has 2 options left, so why not? I won't be surprised if he's put on the IL, tomorrow. Something is not right.

I have no issues with saying that Yoshida does not fit the roster. Yes, it was poor roster "construction" when we signed him. My point was about the term "roster manipulation." Nobody has explained how that fits this situation. That term implies something like a fantom IL stint to open a roster slot, keeping a prospect off the 40 to gain an extra year and keep a roster slot open for someone you don't want to lose or to keep roster depth. I'm sure there are other examples, but I don't see any that apply here. Yoshida has options. Playing on the big club, AAA club or not playing at all has not affected the 40 man or 26 man roster, so what is this so-called "manipulation." I'm also not sure why the fact that they aren't DH'ing him in AAA while he works on his D is "BS," either, but I won't wait for you to explain. It seems strange and questionable. I just don't see how roster manipulation or BS fits the situation. We could have dealt with the roster construction over the winter, but chose not to do it. Calling that BS could make sense, if that's what you meant.

MLB.com Sox injury update: May 18th Romy May 19-21 Buhler June Fitts Mid June Crawford ("at the earliest") June, at the earliest Yoshida Midseason Sandoval After All Star Murphy

That was the kind of start where you end up reading the pitchers went on the IL, the next day. Man, Houck looks awful.

I can see being upset, and feeling he was mislead, but the circumstances change, like the often do, and the team needs a change. The leaders felt moving him was the best idea, at the time, and he seems to be balking at the idea. I will say, I'm still a big Devers fan.

I would call it silly to call it that. What's the manipulation? Are they trying to keep open a roster slot on the AAA roster flor Binelas, and for what? It's not like he needs to be kept on the 40 man AAA roster, or we lose him. I do agree the whole idea of having him work on his D without being on a minor league club as the DH, while he does it is mystifying or "BS" as you call it, but I see no purpose in doing this as a manipulation of a roster slot. Maybe, I'm missing some rule or reason why it benefits the team by doing this, and if someone points it out, I'll be happy to apologize for calling the "manipulation" aspect "silly."

What's up with out 4 slot in the batting order? (.528 OPS) .687 Story (43 PAs) The only guy with a higher 4 slot OPS than overall (.653) .551 Casas (53) Overall: .580 .545 Refsnyder (11) Overall: .918 .528 Abreu (53) Overall: .931 .231 Campbell (26) Overall: .774 Our .690 first slot isn't very good, either (.310 OBP.) almost all Duran. Our 7-8-9 slots are hitting a combined .695. MB is hitting .708 overall!

Minor league roster manipulation? LMAO!

MLB OPS Leaders (140+ PAs) 1.274 Judge 1.051 Ohtani 1.047 Alonso .998 Schwarber .951 Bregman (9th in wRC+) 8. Abreu .931 (11th wRC+) 16. Devers .888 (18th) 59. Campbell .774 (58th) ERA- (20+ IP) 26 Fried 16. Crochet 46 18. Bello 48 40. Dobbins 67 69. Whitlock 81 74. Newcomb 86 103. Buehler 102 168. Houck 146 (180 in sample size)

The Sox are 5th in OPS and 12th in wRC+. 9th in ERA- and 8th in FIP 18th in DRS & 15th in OAA On paper, these numbers show we are about 10th. We have the 13th best record in MLB. We are 5.5 GB the best record (same distance to #26) We are 2 games from the 7th best record in MLB, while 2 ahead of #21.

I'm not sure Grissom can ever be even okay at any position. His D will not add value, no matter where he plays. We need a 1Bman, so I think they moved a semi-hot hand to 1B, just in case. He's not hot, anymore.

He's still got to get to the bigs, and has to spend more time at AA and AAA, before we start talking about a utility role on the Sox. He's played just over 40 games at that level. I do not think he's ML ready, now. DHam can play decent D at 2B (only) and is a great base-runner and PR for stealing bases. He's got others to leapfrog, too, beyond DHam and Romy: Mayer & Grissom AAA (Sogard, Toro & Eaton)