moonslav59

He's so bad on D, that DH'ing him 10-15 games a year could be all the "rest" he needs. The problem is, who plays 1B, when he does not? I had hoped it might be Devers- someday, but that has not seemed to be an idea anyone in the Sox organization holds as even an option. That leaves Romy, Wong or longshot Refsnyder. That's a major step down and assumes Devers moves from DH to 3B on those days, if not 1B. Cora did play Duran 160 games for 735 PAs in 2024.

We won't get anything very good for Grissom, so I think maybe waiting, in hope he can build up his stock may be the best call. He may have to do it at AAA. Even with Bregman playing 3B FT, I have Grissom 5th on the 2B depth chart: Campbell Mayer or Story (whoever is not at SS) DHam-Romy platoon Grissom (Maybe he can beat our Romy for a platoon role with DHam, but Romy plays better D and can play SS, 1B and 3B.) If we come up to a 40 man roster crunch, maybe we'll need to trade Grissom.

The Kids Are Allright.

Yes, great elbow extension!

People keep pointing to the loss of O'Neall but neglect to mention others lost: .847 O'Neall (473 PAs) .706 D Smith (278) .633 E Valdez (223) Just Smith + Valdez= more PAs than O'Neill. .575 McGuire (158), .623 Jansen (96), .410 Dalbec (93), .455 Cooper (75). .451 Reyes (64), .584 Westbrook (48) & Gasper .217 (23) All these guys total more PAs than O'Neal. We are losing almost 1500 PAs from players no longer on the Sox. Who gets those PAs is key. You gotta figure Narvaez might get 200-250, and he may hit as badly as McGuire & Jansen, combined. Casas could get 400 more. Bregman might get 600. That leaves 250 or so for Story, the kids or maybe more from DHam, Romy, Yoshi or others. According to fangraphs, the Sox offense ranked in the AL: 5th in Off fWAR at 30.7 (11th on D at -40.5) 5th in wRC+ at 104 T3rd in wOBA at .321 3rd in OPS at .741 I think our offense improved, while NYY's got worse. HOU's got worse. Did BAL get better? They did lose Santander, but all we hear is that they added O'Neall.

I guess we will find out just how good our rotation depth is.

He did not start in 11 of those games, and some were late inning entries. He also did not finish 11 games he started. If he bats 3rd for 160 games, he'll easily reach 650. Last year, our 3 slot had 727 PAs. I don't see it as high pacing. It might be wishful thinking on his health.

Agreed. In terms of good deals vs bad deals, not counting scrub signings, I think he might be near 50%. It's just the bad were really bad and more hurtful. Bad: Sale & Gio Good: O"Neal & Slaten (Criswell & Romy could be viewed as a scrub signings that worked- maybe 2 out of 10 or 15.) TBD: Fitts & Weissert, Sandlin, I Campbell.

I think our 7-9 SP'er depth might be more promising than almost all other teams. Let's roll with it. Fitts, Priester & Criswell Hopefully, we won't need 2 at any given time, but if Gio, Crawford and Bello start the season on the IL or bench, we might see it happen,

There is something to be said to have 2 of your highest OBP guys up 1-2 and your big RBI guy up 4th. It's hard to pinpoint who our best OBP guys are, since none have been consistently great. 2022-2024 .367 Refsnyder .357 Casas .354 Devers .349 Bregman .343 Yoshida .333 Duran & Abreu 2024 only .359 Ref .354 Devers .349 Yoshida .342 Duran .333 Wong .322 Abreu .315 Bregman I think the idea of Duran at #1 makes a ton of sense, and his 2024 OBP supports the idea. The next best OBP guys are Refsnyder (vs LHPs only) Devers, Casas or Bregman, although Bregman slipped to .315 in '24. I like Devers as our RBI guy (4th) but worry that Story behind him is not enough "protection." That being said, my top 5 would be... 1. Duran 2. Bregman 3. Casas 4. Devers 5. Story One coudl argue a Yoshida (.351 v R) and Refsnyder (.410 v L) should bat 2nd, based on their numbers and splits. 1. Duran 2. Yoshida-Ref 3. Bregman 4. Devers 5. Casas 6. Story This gives Devers better protection and lengthens the line-up.

I would flip the Abreu-Ref platoon for Wong in the 7 slot, or maybe even bat them 6th and push Yoshida down to 7, but the line-up looks solid, to me. I do NOT want Bregman at 2B, though Another alternative might be: 1. L Duran CF 2. R Bregman 3B 3. L Casas 1B 4. L Devers DH 5. R Story SS 6. L Yoshida- R Refsnyder LF 7. L Abreu -R Rafaela RF 8. R Campbell 2B (or a L DHam- R Romy platoon to start the season) 9. R Wong C

Casas needs a 650 PA season. Period. I still think, at some point, Devers should grab a 1Bman's mitt, practice 1B, some, and see how it goes, and how he likes it. (Wong and Ref might be viewed as emergency depth at 1B, too.)

That has been shortened, too. Now, it's just "You can't have your cake."

Boredom. Trying to sound whitty.

The O"Neall and Slaten trades were golden. Fitts & Weissert for Dugo looks like a good one. The Criswell signing was nice. The I Campbell & Sandlin trades are still TBD. The two bad ones weigh heavier, of course.

The "not known" beforehand group.

With Abreu out, I agree,

Why are we so attracted to these guys, even when they were not known for glue factory material when we sign them?

Mayb e just a legit platoon for Ref- not really a FT'er. With Devers at DH, we do have Ref and Yoshida as LF options, and maybe Thompson keeps raking and wins a longer look.

Gio to get MRI on hammy.

I hope we roll the dice based on his age and not his injury and lack of a long durable season on record.

I tend to think of positions in terms of how we compare to last year and even hos we compare to the feeling we had at each position going into 2024 vs now. I'm not happy with DHam at SS. I thin k I'd rather see Romy or Rafaela at SS and keep DHam at 2B, only. Last year, we had Reyes, and not many saw Rafaela as a viable SS option, but he ended ujp bringing some measure of stability to the SS position in '24, after Story went down and the otyhers all failed miserably. Having Rafaela, Romy, Campbell, DHam and eventually Mayer does look like way better SS depth, to me.

I remember thinking, last winter, that maybe our catcher tandem of Wong and McGuire could hit average or better vs other catchers, and that Wong's D would improve. McGuire was thought to be a plus on D, so I was thinking maybe we could finish near the middle in team fWAR at this position. That did not happen, despite adding Jansen. I'm not so optimistic, this year, but mainly because Narvaez is such a big unknown. I do think we have potential to be mid-level, but I'm not predicting it.

Maybe Baby Ruth as in the candy bar,

I read somewhere the Sox have let teams know, they are open to finding a RHB OF'er.