moonslav59

Having two guys who look to be DH only is not ideal, but Devers is a DH only, now, because of an injury. He can play 3B, or better yet, back-up 3B. I still think he can be better than casas at 1B defense, but that is unknown, and I have heard no mention of that idea among any Sox brass. Yoshida is passable in short corner OF parks, but he should be a DH only. His current throwing issues makes him a DH only, now. It does look like Bloom promising Devers 3B, going forward and thinking Yoshida can play LF were both mistakes that led us here. (This is the reason I must have suggested 20 Yoshida trades over the winter.) Having too many middle infielders or outfielders is one thing, and it's not bad, but 2 DH onlys, not counting Ref, is not a good thing.

And what do Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, Anthony, Refsnyder, Campbell, Yoshida and DHam/Romy (occaisonally) have in common? That's enough OF'ers for 2-3 teams.

You could be right. I don't know much about mayer's defense, but he seems better suited for 3B. Story still looks pretty damn good with the glove and range, but if the arm is much worse, I'm fine with him at 2B. Having Bregman at 3B and maybe Campbell at 2B creates a squeeze, but with Story and Mayer's health histories, keeping everyone for a while makes sense. I'd be fine with Bregman at 3B, Mayer at SS and Story at 2B. (This might be why we've seen Campbell playing OF, some.)

Not when you have devers at DH, FT. The idea of a back-up DH (only) is what's unusual.

Back to 2B. IMO, we start the year with DHam and Romy platooning 2B. I'd be fine with Campbell at 2B FT, but I think Brez holds off a few weeks.

I would, too. I'd have Ref playing over Raf vs LHPs, and Abreu over Raf vs RHPs.

Of course. Ref may retire, after this year. I must have suggested 20 Abreu trades over the winter, because I can see this happening. Right now, I would never be okay with benching Ref vs LHPs, in fact, I'd bat him top 5 in the line-up- 6th at worst. He is THAT good!

How does a team who stunk vs LHPs and got worse losing O'Neal bench the 13th best batter vs LHPs, so rafaela can play FT, or Abreu can bat vs LHPs after a sub .560 season?

So, we bench GG and better batter Abreu for Rafaela & Anthony? Duran-Rafaela-Anthony Bench: Abreu & Ref. I don't think so.

Yes. I was following the recent talk about Yoshida starting the season on the IL (or not.) If he can't play LF for the first 15 days, then he should be on the IL, since devers will DH FT. After 15 days, let's see how far Yoshida can throw.

Last I heard, he was only throwing 30 feet due to his injury recovery. To start the year, I doubt he can play any LF, except in BOS. I'm the guy who has been saying we will likely see Yoshida in LF more than we thought, this year- just not in the first few weeks.

If Duran and Anthony play FT OF, and Devers is the FT DH, how can you bench Refsnyder vs LHPs and play Rafaela, instead? Refsnyder is the 13th best batter vs LHPs over the last 3 years, and we suck vs lefties. vs LHPs: LF Refsnyder CF Duran RF Anthony Vs RHPs: Duran, Anthony, Abreu Rafaela will be the supersub, IMO. Expensive, but he can play CF, RF, 2B and SS.

No. DHam & Romy are not hurt or coming off a nasty illness. 1. I don't like Ref in RF, but he will likely play there, anyway vs LHPs, even with a healthy Abreu. 2. Ref should not start vs RHPs. With Anthony, none of this happens. Ref plays LF vs LHPs, with Duran moving to CF. Rafaela becomes the super sub and can play 2B or SS. He further crowds the middle IF, making Campbell less needed. That being said, I am fine with Campbell getting the call on opening day, but I think they will try and get him (and maybe Anthony, too) the extra year of control. Just my opinion on what Brez chooses.

I'd PH Romy. I don't think PH'er only should take up a slot on the 26. When Yoshida can play LF, or we decide to move Devers to 3B, I can see the reasoning for having Yoshi on the IL. Maybe Yoshia can play Fenway's LF and just have the cut off man run to 50 feet away from him

Story is the better defensive SS, and maybe they think that is more important. I'm not against Mayer at SS and Story at 2B.

It would have been nicer if he had done that for us, but hardly a difference maker.

This on top of Houck, Bello and Crawford added in recent years. While these 3 might not be great, they are the best 3 homegrowns we've seen in a long time. Plus these relief guys (some developed in other systems) Whitlock, Slaten, Wink, Kelly, Guerrero and others.

I'm not sure why starting Campbellover a DHam-Romy platoon at 2B should influence the Anthony decision, unless it's about the 40 man roster crunch pushing Brez towards just adding one, and saving other kids for later. The way the injuries and illnesses are, right now, I think Anthony in RF makes more sense than Campbell at 2B. I'm going to say DHam and Romy "earned" starting slots, but they did look pretty good with the splits in '24. If Abreu is not ready, starting Anthony in RF makes sense, but if Abrei is just out for a few days, we should not add Anthony, unless we are ready to play him FT, once Abreu returns. How does that look? vs RHP: LF Duran, CF Anthony, RF Abreu vs LHP: LF Refsnyder, CF Duran, RF Anthony There is no starting slot for Rafaela, this way.

We are not even sure Abreu starts the season on the 10 Day IL. He may just sit out the first game or two. We have Duran, Rafaela and Refsnyder. If Yoshida is not on the IL, he could be used in LF, even with the weak arm, but yes, Romy can be the back-up for a few days. I doubt we add Sogard to the 26, even if Yoshida and Abreu are out. We still have a few guys who could be added to the 60 Day IL to make temporary room on the 40: Perales, Penrod & Murphy (Crawford, Bello and Gio look like 15 Day IL guys, as of now.) With the unbalanced 40 man roster favoring pitchers over everyday players, it looks like 2-3 everyday players will be added, at some point- maybe not all by opening day. Everyday players on the 26 and 40: 13 of the 26 for sure, these look like the sure 10-12: Wong, Narvaez, Casas, Devers, DHam, Story, Bregman, Duran, Rafaela, Refsnyder (Abreu & Yoshida on 10 Day IL?) MLB or AAA: Romy, Grissom, Sogard, Sabol AA: Jh Garcia Possible add-ons: Anthony, Campbell & Mayer or Eaton, Thompson, Sykes & Toro (Zavala, if Sabol goes) The pitching is more complicated as so many guys will start on the 15 & 60 Day IL: 60 Day: Sandoval and maybe Perales, Penrod & Murphy 15 day: Crawford, Giolito, Bello Sure 10 of the 13: SP- Crochet, Houck, Buehler and likely Fitts & Priester (Newcomb or Criswell?) RP- Chapman, Hendriks, Slaten, Whitlock, Wilson 3 more from the Maybes: Criswell, Guerrero, Bernardino, Winckowski, Weissert, Kelly Not on 40: Newcomb, Ottavino, Fulmer, Mata, I Campbell, N Davis, Adams, Moore. I'm not sure any of these guys get added, except maybe Newcomb, due to our higher need for everyday players on the 40, but with so many pitchers starting out on the IL, maybe Newcomb gets the call.

Yes. I was corrected by MVP. The problem is, if we need him on the 26, and or want to delay adding Anthony, instead, then we may be faced with losing him from the system, if we no longer need him on the 26. I'm not sure we care about losing Thompson, though, but usually a team tries to keep as many options in the system as they can. Eaton does seem like an option that preserves everyone else's roster status, but is he good enough? Also, Eaton may have options, but once you add him to the 40, he has to stay on the 40, over someone else, even if he is sent back to AAA. We may need 3 or more slots on the 40, for the 3 kids and a pitcher or two.

I still think Devers can be a better 1Bman than Casas, but it's safer for him to DH. I agree on Yoshida, but in Fenway's LF, he could be passable.

Great post. IMO, our pen would be pretty damn good, if we had a lockdown closer, and every other RP'er was knocked down one role slot. Slaten, Hendriks & Chapman would make plus set-up men, and maybe only 2 have to be good. Whitlock pitches the 2 high leverage innings every third day. (Criswell offers nice depth for him.) When Crawford returns, he could be a nice boost (or Fitts/Priester) Wink, Weissert, Guerrero & Bernardino offer decent depth.

Plus the OF pretender, Yoshida?

It baffled me, how we tried to go with a group of migh-be's instead of a proven closer with recent success. Even David Robertson could have been a late signing who had a better chance than these guys. I like Slaten and Whitlock, but I'm not sure they are "closer types." We should not be in a situation where we have to go through 3-4 guys to MAYBE find one that works. (It worked with Uehara back in 2013, but it's not a good plan: I agree.)

That's how I see it. Kinda wonder if 2024 was a fluke for Criswell. His 1.1 fWAR in 99 IP is a higher fWAR per IP (.011) than ... Crawford 1.9 in 183.2 IP (.010) and pretty close to... Bello 2.0 in 162.1 (.012) Pivetta 2.0 in 145.2 (.014)