moonslav59

Ref in Fenway's RF and others. Thanks for answering. Last year, Ref started 15 games in RF on the road and 6 at Fenway, including 4 in a short stretch in early June. Of course, we had O'Neall and were using Rafaela at SS, a lot, but it will be interesting to see if Cora changes his tendencies, here on this one. It's hard to compare 2025 to 2024. We need to replace O'Neals games, but should have more games in the OF from Rafaela. Here was all the shuffling that happened in 2024 by GS in OF: LF: Duran 71, O'Neal 56, Ref 31, Abreu 4 CF: Duran 89, Rafaela 72, Romy 1 RF: Abreu 106, O'Neall 34, Ref 20, Dalbec 2. Ref & O'Neall both started more games in LF than RF, and Duran led all players in LF & CF starts. Rafaela's 71 GS at SS will not happen in 2025, so that could take a big chunk out of O'Neal's 90 OG GS.

It's not any more moving parts than 2024, in fact it's less. It's only about who play RF vs LHPs. Who do you think Cora plays RF v L, and is it the same as you want it to be?

If you were the manager, which OF alignments would you choose vs RHPs and LHPs (assuming Devers is DH'ing near FT, so no Yoshida or REF at DH): vs RHP A: Duran LF, Rafaela CF, Abreu RF (Great defensive OF) B: Yoshida LF, Duran CF, Abreu RFR (Not bad D, better O, as Yoshida hits RHPs about 120 pts better) vs LHP A: Duran LF, Rafaela CF, Abreu RF (Great defensive OF) B: Duran LF, Rafaela CF, Refsnyder RF (Shaky D in RF, especially in Fenway) C: Refsnyder LF, Duran CF, Rafaela RF (Not bad D and much better O as Ref is one of MLB's best batters v L) When Anthony joins the club, a whole new set of choices will be available, and it seems like it might make Rafaela the odd man out or into the super utility man. LF: Duran/Ref, CF: Anthony/Duran, RF: Abreu/Anthony w no place for Yoshida, at all.

Agreed, like the guys insisting that Rafaela WILL play CF FT and not RF and that Yoshida will hardly lay in the OF in 2025. We don't know jack.

How long does a prospect have to stay in the minors to get that "extra year" of team control?

Jeter is gone, Aaron Boone extended, so the ring-losing will continue.

Of course not, and I don't see anything wrong with the media asking anyone who will answer what they think about something their customers are interested in. I do think the media has contributed in making this a bigger drama than it is, but it's newsworthy. My point about "the way of the world" goes much deeper that happened over this. Reporters have to ask tough questions, like about the physical condition off Devers. I can understand the Q pissing Devers off, but even his manager is saying he's behind on conditioning, so WTH? I wish they'd ask him how his shoulder feels, not how big his gut is. On how it was back in the day, and I want to avoid politics: the media knew JFK was having affairs, and it was largely seen as "off grounds" by most of the media. That was my point about almost everything being fair game, now.

I have agreed it's impossible to ever know. We both agree, the Yanks would have been better without Jeter at SS, but still in the line-up. That would have increased their odds at winning more games in a season and the playoffs. Whether they win another ring or not, is pure speculation. You say "they won 5," like that shows he did not hurt the team. I disagree. A team can still be good enough to win with weak links of D, O and pitching. Even winning teams could win more. COULD.

Sensationalism has always been part of the media, but much was "off grounds" back in the day. It has changed and got worse, and not just because of increase access.

Just don't put im in Fenway's RF.

I totally agree. I can see waiting to trade Grissom, in hopes he can increase his trade value in 2025, but how many times do we say that and don't see it happen? I like DHam's D at 2B, but he is not a good utility type guy. His ability to steal bases has real value, too, and he could be used as a PR, often. I'm not sure that makes him deserving of a roster spot, with Campbell at 2B FT. I agree that Romy's versatility puts him ahead of DHam and Grissom. If Anthony and Campbell are on the 26, it should be as FT'ers or near FT'ers, so that would further squeeze the capable players into the minors or a trade. The OF would be squeezed to a point where we just keep 1 IF sub (Romy.) The catcher takes the second sub slot. That leaves room for 5 OF"ers/DH types. Rafaela offers IF depth, so we can roll with 5: Rafaela, Duran, Abreu, Anthony and _____? I say REF over Yoshida, as we need his RHB. Yoshida has options, so we don't need to DFA or trade, but a trade would do wonders for our "roster construction." Other options: trade Casas or Abreu. ( don't like those ideas.) With Anthony and Campbell FT, we almost have to have Bregman at 3B and Devers at DH (or 1B,) unless Campbell plays OF and puts Abreu on the bench (highly doubtful vs RHPs.) and REF vs LHPs (damn!, unless we bench Rafaela- see below.) 1. L Duran LF v R and CF v L 2. R Bregman 3B 3. L Casas 1B/DH 4. L Devers DH/1B 5. R Campbell 2B 6. L Abreu RF vs R/ R Story SS v L 7. R Story SS v R/ L Refsnyder LF v L 8. L Anthony CF v R/ RF v L 9. R Wong or Narvaez C Bench: Rafaela, a catcher, Ref or Abreu and Romy

We know where the OF will play vs RHPs, at least until Anthony arrives, but name names and positions vs LH'd starters.

Abreu will not likely start vs LHPs. Did they give their opinion on who plays RF vs LHPs in the big Fenway RF?

"Time" in the minors?

I disagree.

Why? He got worse as he aged. What does 5 have to do with a possible 6, 7 ot 8? He helped them win with his bat. Hee was not a negative player. He just sucked on D.

I always knew Jeter was overrated on D, and the GGs were one of the biggest jokes in awards history. It was only later that I became aware the metrics supported my opinion. From 1995 to 204, Jeter had the worst DRS in MLB, out of all positions! Granted, he played a lot, and DRS accumulates the more you play- to the good or bad, but still, a negative 109 DRS! Among SSs: -162 Jeter (15027 innings) -74 HRam (9237) -66 Betancourt (8239) -37 J Reyes (12250) Even if you rate these numbers per inning player, he's still the worst. ARod was +8 in 2768 innings, mostly at a younger age. Since they started doing DRS, maybe Michael Young was worse, but he played about 40% of the innings by Jeter, and Jeter doubled his negative DRS. -162 Jeter -81 Young Amazingly, out of 107 players that had over 1,000 innings at SS, Jeter placed 4th in Error Rate. He was last in Range and 4th to last in DPs. He was last in UZR/150, which is scaled to per games: -66 Jeter -56 Young -54 HRam -51 Betancourt Was Jeter the reason they won fewer rings than before? Who knows, but his D at a very key position in baseball made the team worse.

Jeter was the worst defensive SS ever to play so long at the position, in my memory. The metrics supported my opinion, before I even knew metrics existed. He made a few highlight reel plays that they never failed to show on Sports Center. He was awful on D. ARod was okay, by the time he joined NY- certainly significantly better on D than Jeter. Jeter did have a nice arm from the long cut off slot. That's about it.

Yes. A sign of our times.

Yup. If the RF is shorter than LF, flip it. REF and Yosh DH, if no Devers DH'ing.

On one move, it was not about winning. It does not mean everything they did was not geared towards winning. They could have been a better team with Jeter off SS. They chose not to do so. That was my point: not that the Yanks tried to lose.

Abreu sits vs LHPs and we don't want Ref in RF, who plays RF? Duran RF and Rafaela in CF, because Cora said so, or... Rafaela in RF and a damn good Duran in CF. My point was NO DURAN in RF. NO REF or Yoshida in RF, unless it's the shorter corner OF.

Indeed, the only one that fits and can play D is Rafaela. It's not like Duran in CF is some huge loss on D.

That's what I was driving at. Maybe they can play RF at Yankee Stadium, but they should not play the larger corner OFs. That leads to the big Q: who then platoons with Abreu in RF? Not Duran- arm too weak. That leaves the guy many feel should be entrenched in CF and CF only- Rafaela. My suggestion, at least for some games vs LHPs, is to have Rafaela in RF, Duran in CF and Ref in LF...not REF in RF, as he played too often in 2024. This does not answer how to get Yoshi OF ABs vs RHPs.

I'm not sure anyone can know that with 100% certainty. Did any of the rabid media think to ask him about that?