moonslav59

There are too many reasons the Sox are better with Bregman at 3B and Devers at DH or 1B for it not to happen. A possible pouting Devers aside, if the biggest issue involved with the move is where and when to play Yoshida, then maybe even that turns into a plus. (BTW, I still see some ways to play Yoshida without significantly benching any one player. The one who might see the most effect is Rafaela, but he can still get a lot of PAs in 2025.)

True, but do we know Devers will never change his mind? You gotta try.

Wong's numbers look pretty bad, too, but I read somewhere he reduced his K% by more than any other player in MLB from 2023 to 2024. 33.3% to 23.4% I can't imagine Ceddanne lasting many more years with a K% of 27% along with a 3 BB%. I guess, if he can hit well enough and have some power, his D can carry him.

Casas 0-3: trade his fat ass!

Good point- kinda like an upside down bell curve.

Pitchers Best Seasons: 16-4 2.47 Buehler '21 (171 ERA+ led league) 6-9 2.91 Sandoval '22 (138 ERA+) 0.965 WHIP 9-10 3.12 Houck (137 ERA+) 14-9 3.41 Giolito '19 (134 ERA+) 6-8 4.04 Crawford '23 (113) 12-11 4.24 Bello (107) 6-5 4.08 Criswell (105) ___________________ 1.80 (240 ERA+) Hendriks '19 0.965 WHIP (38 svs in '21 w 0.732 WHIP) 1.96 (239 ERA+) Whitlock '21 1.105 WHIP 2.21 (202 ERA+) Chapman '19 1.105 WHIP (1.55 w 276 ERA+ in '16 w 0.862 WHIP) 2,54 (163 ERA+) Wilson '19 1.333 WHIP 2.88 (158) Winckowski '23 1.423 WHIP 2.93 (146) Slaten '24 1.102 WHIP 3.20 (143) Bernardino '23 1.303 WHIP 2.83 (141) I Campbell '23 1.221 WHIP As with the batters, 2019 was a big year and 6 years ago.

Batters Best Season or current 162 game average, since 2018 (OPS): .296 41 112 Bregman '19 (1.015) .311 32 115 Devers '19 (.916) .291 37 108 Story '18 (.914 & .917 in '19) .285 21 75 Duran '24 (.834) .250 31 80 Casas career per 162 (.830 & .856 in '23) .289 15 72 Yoshida '23 (.783) .283 11 40 Refsnyder '24 (.830 in 307 PAs & .881 in 2022) .795 w BOS .263 17 73 Abreu career/162 (.794) .280 13 52 Wong 2024 (.758 in 487 PAs) .246 15 72 Rafaela career/162 (.664) .235 11 40 DHam career/162 (.671) 50 SBs .291 5 18 Grissom '22 in just 156 PAs (.792)

5-2 BOS

Here are some of MLB's highest K rates by non-pitchers along with their BB rates: Not a complete list 40% Tim Jordan 12% 38% Joey Gallo 15% 37% Dalbec 8% 37% M Sano 12% 35% Zunino 7% 35% Franchy Cordero 8% 28% Wong 6% 27% Rafaela 3%

The games have begun! 5-2 win over NE. Mostly farm guys playing.

True, if he's bound to get hurt just swinging, then no much we can do about it. The "selling point" was more about easing his psyche. He can tell himself, he was moved due to injury and not suctitude.

A good "selling point" for convincing Devers to DH or play 1

hard to keep up that K:BB ratio, but maybe...

Now, that is over-the-top sensationalism.

I'm not sure what he does. If he has a monster year, he can probably get that same $171M/6 type offer, but with $40M already in the bank. Maybe he extends with BOS. On 3B, I'd like to see how Campbell looks there. If Story shows a resurgence, I'm fine with seeing Mayer at 3B. I have not lost faith in Grissom, but he needs to show he can hit for me to seriously think about him winning any FT job.

It's not just walks and OBP, it's SLG: .459 Wilyer is damn good for a first full season in MLB. .390 Ceddanne is not good. XBHs: 50 Abreu in 447 PAs 43 Ceddanne in 571 PAs (maybe more 2Bs due to better speed and not better power.) Ceddanne did hit way better in meaningful situations, and I'd like to believe he will continue to do well at that, but there is no evidence to suggest it is a repeatable skill. I think Abreu is damn good, but he just can't hit lefties. At least that is something easily taken care of by good managing. You can't easily fix Rafaela's issues. I'm also hopeful Abreu will not slump so badly at the end of 2025. He was at .267/.332/.499/.830 on September 8th. In his last 18 games, he went: .167/.262/.204/.466 YIKES! Of course, we could subtract Rafaela's worst 18 games stretch to make his season look better, too. I like both these guys. I'm fine with them platooning in RF and then seeing Rafaela play CF vs RHPs in many games, too... maybe not 500-600+ PAs, though.

To me, if Bregman plays 3B, as he should, and Devers and or Casas DH FT, the choice is Yoshida (LF) vs Rafaela (CF/RF.) It's not an easy choice, and maybe Cora tries to juggle it so both play as much as possible (like Rafaela in RF vs LHPs,) but who knows? I agree on 2B, Campbell is not being blocked by DHam- Romy/Grissom. They just happen to be the starters, now, if Bregman plays 3B. With Bregman at 2B, Campbell joins Anthony in the quest to break into the OF that currently has Duran, Rafaela and Abreu. (Yoshida and Ref could platoon DH and not need OF time.)

Devers is a way better hitter and likely will be even better, going forward, as age catches up with Bregman. I'm hopeful that Fenway can add some juice to Bregman's declined numbers.

When you talk "platoon," maybe mention L-R platoon OPS splits, not just BA: vs RHPs .825 Wilyer (.842 career) +158 .685 Rafaela (.684 career) vs LHPs .603 Rafaela (.610 career) +96! .532 Wilyer (.514 career) This is clearly a platoon for the books. I'm not sure those clutch stats are sustainable.

YES! These roster crunch issues are good things. We are looking at benching an .800 plus batter vs RHPs or making Rafaela a super utility guy rather than a near GG FT CF'er. We will likely be benching a pretty good defensive 2B platoon that could hit about .780 in combined splits, last year, in DHam & Romy. We may end up squeezing out Abreu, if Campbell is forced into the OF with Devers at 3B and Bregman at 2B. These are good things to worry about.

The main defensive issue with Devers is not "roots." Since 2017, his range is +3.4. His arm is the issue, namely accuracy: -6.3 DP and -22.8 Err R. 66 Throwing errors to the next guys at 48, 46, 37, 33. He has double the throwing errors as the 4th worst arm in MLB. He's still worst in FE, but not because of range. (He has 75 FE, and the next guys have 56,54, 43, 42.) I would not call Devers and Bregman's offense "similar." Maybe it was back in 2017-2020, but not since: 2017-2019 OPS: .902 Bregman (126 OPS+) but .924 2017-2019 (147) ages 22-25 .837 Devers (116) Ages 20-22, 2021-2024: .873 Devers (135) .795 Bregman (122)

Mayer had more PAs than some, but I don't see the "by far" statement as ringing true... 1.069 Lugo (146 AB) 1.045 Campbell (213) .856 Anthony (323) .852 Teel (325) .850 (300) BA: .362 Campbell, .315 Lugo, .307 Mayer SLG: .664 Lugo, .582 Campbell, .489 Anthony, .480 Mayer (An thony did well in AAA, too: .982 in 132 ABs: Campbell .897 in 70. Mayer got hurt like the day he was promoted.

I have no idea if he values Yoshida's way better bat vs RHPs than Rafaela's excellent D. The thing that helps the Yoshi case, to me, is that the drop off in CF on D from Rafaela to Duran is not much. The loss comes in LF from Duran to Yoshida, but in Fenway, that loss in minimized to some extent. Enough to tip the balance? IMO, Cora likes to play everybody, so we may see more of Yoshida in Fenway's LF and RF in some away fields with short RFs. Just a hunch.

Devers at DH squeezes the hell out of Yoshida, but not many other OF'ers played DH, last year. 18 O'Neall and 13 Refsnyder. With O'Neal gone from DH and OF, there are more OF games that Rafaela had at SS, in 2024. In theory, there are more freed up OF games with O'Neal gone than the DH squeeze, UNLESS, we try to play Yoshida a lot. Then, Rafaela gets squeezed, bigtime. With Devers at FT DH and Yoshida not playing much, Ref and Rafaela can both play all they can (Raff) and should (Ref v L, only.) It's kinda moved to Yoshida putting the squeeze on, at least until Anthony arrives. No Yoshida- your way.... LF: Duran 150 gms/ Ref 10 gms (Fenway) CF: Rafaela 152 gms/ Duran 10 gms RF: Abreu 110 gsm and Ref 52 gms

Do we know if it will be CF, RF or LF?