moonslav59

I had my knee scoped and was told to strengthen my knee muscles to lessen the chance of a reinjury. I have done the exercises, and my knee still bothers me, on and off. I have a minor rotator cuff issue and was told surgery is an option but I should first try to strengthen the should muscles. I have done the PT, religiously, and it still bothers me the same as before. These are just two anecdotal examples, and they may bias me against the hopes that Devers will be okay, but what is different about his case than mine, is that surgery was not a possible option.

I don't think any one of DHam, Grissom or Romy have a lock on a roster slot, mainly because of Campbell, and to a much lesser extent, Mayer. I do think DHam's 2B D and speed give him the upper hand over Grissom and Romy, but there is also the whole RHB issue. Romy was one of our best batters vs LHPs, so maybe that becomes a factor. Grissom probably has more talent than any of the 3, and if he looks great in ST'ing, or even just significantly better than the other two, I could see him winning a slot on the 26 over the others. His 2B D has to take a leap forward to convince me he deserves the slot, but that's just me. Another wild card is our shortage of a good RHB OF'er, and if we add a Grichuk or Laureano, we will just carry 2 from Campbell, DHam, Romy and Grissom- not 3. Personally, I'd go with Campbell, as of now, but if he looks shaky in ST'ing that could change. I'd give the inside edge to DHam over Grissom & Romy, but that could change, too. Romy can play SS and 1B better than DHam & Grissom. Grissom probably has the most upside potential or the 3.

We don't know. I'm just giving my opinion of who has the inside track. Nobody has the job won, and nobody has a split job secured. No, they did not get a chance only because of injury. Story let DHam, Rafaela and others play games at SS, but the 2B job was up for grabs. Grissom was supposed to win the job, and yes an injury gave EValdez the look to start the year, but EValdez lost the job, because he sucked on D and was not good on O. When Grissom was healthy, he failed to win the job back, because DHam and Romy were doing fine at 2B. Reyes was on the opening day roster and lost his job, because eh sucked- not because of injury. DHam actually lost the SS job and was demoted. He was later promoted and won the 2B platoon, because he was playing better than healthy EValdez, Grissom, Romy and Westbrook. Rafaela was doing better on D than DHam & others at SS. DHam got over 300 PAs in 2024. He did well vs RHPs and sucked vs LHPs. he played plus D, when nobody else did at 2B. He stole 33 bases, which projects to over 65 in 650 PAs. To me, he has not won the job, but he has the inside track to be the platoon. Again, I'm not saying anybody has won a slot on the 26- out of DHam, Roomy & Grissom. Campbell throws a wrench into the whole roster chocies, too. I never said DHam has won the job.

DHam sucks at SS defense. He started 1 game at 2B in 2023. In the minors he started 89 out of 328 games at 2B. I'm not so sure it was an "improvement" on D, as much as it was the switch from SS to 2B. He should not start vs LHPs, so his role should be limited to a strong side platoon with either Romy or Grissom. While a .729 OPS vs RHPs is nothing great, it blows away Grissom & Romy's splits. Grissom's "break out" 2022 season saw him hit .728 vs RHPs. Sure, he has much better minor league numbers than DHam and Romy, but making teh choice based on that seems problematic, to me. Oh, and by the way: minor league splits vs RHPs: .786 DHam in '23 AAA and .738 in '22 AA While these are much worse than Grissom's, they do show his 2024 MLB splits may not be a fluke. I also think his speed should not be undervalued.

No, the 75 and 80 PA sample sizes are not the only reason I do not give him the imnside track you seem to be handing him, and by the way, those sample sizes were not that small, solely because of injury. They were small, in part because he sucked and was demoted. That fact should not be ignored. If it was just injuries, okay, but it wasn't. He got 234 PAs at AAA, which shows he was ready to play but they chose DHam and Romy over him. You say Cora/Brez chose ref over Romy to play RF, last year, but they also chose DHam/Romy over Grissom, too. Grissom hit .758 w WOO, and his 2B defense sucked. He did not earn the 2B job for a reason beyond injury. Of course, we thought very highly of him to trade Sale plus money to get him, but after hearing your arguments on why we should have traded Sale, this seems like a minor flip by now saying Sale had a lot of value, I do not think the 2B job is anyone's, right now, but I do give the inside track to DHam vs RHPs and vs RHPs a kind of toss-up, with a slight edge to Romy. You speak of the tiny sample sizes by Grissom, but DHam's sample size was not so tiny, and should hold some swaying power, too, right? His defense and speed are big assets over Grissom. The Romy choice is more of a toss up, as 2024 could be more of an outlier than a trend. I guess one coudl say that about DHam, too. I see it as a close call, alla round, with Campbell as the wildcard. To me, I'd go into ST'ing thinking DHam has the inside track vs RHPs by a pretty solid margin, but the platoon side vs LHPs is close to a toss-up. I give the tiny edge to Romy due to his better D and speed. It's not so much about the 2023 and 2024 small sample sizes. Oh, and by the way, Romy's 2024 sample size was larger than Grissom's 2022 sample size, where most of his hype originated from. (216 to 156)

Some trends by age... Pre-prime or in prime.... Duran: .622 (24 & 25)> .828 (26)> .834 (27) Devers: .897 (25)> .851 (26)> .871 (27) Had career high .916 at age 22 Casas: .766 (22)> .856 (23)>.800 (24) Wong: .651 (25&26)>.673 (27)> .758 (28) Abreu: .794 (24&25) DHam: .671 (25 & 26) Rafaela: .664 (22&23) Back end of prime: Yoshida: .783 (29)>.765 (30) Story: .863 (up to age 28)> .737 (29)>.630 (30&31) Past prime: Refsnyder: .618 (up to age 30)>.881 (31)>.682 (32)>.830 (33) These numbers do not prove most players improve as they near prime or reach prime. They seem to move all over the place, but the norm is usually that players do better as they near or reach ages 26-28. They may hold on through ages 29-31 and then start declining. The vast majority of our players have not reached age 29, yet. Only Yoshida, Story and Ref are past 29, and only ref is past age 32. There is no guarantee our younger players improve, as a whole, but I do not see why we should expect regression, as STEAMER and other sites seem to be suggesting.

I'm not, but he wasn't very good in 2023, either, and he has not earned an inside track over DHam and Romy.

They should be "fill-ins" until Campbell wins the job, which could happen by opening day. This is about DHam/Romy vs Grissom or DHam/Romy vs DHam/Grissom, IMO. DHam played the best D at 2B out of the 3. DHam stole 33 bases in just 313 PAs. (Romy stole 11 in 216.) While going by just 2024 numbers is not the way to make a choice, Grissom has done poorly for 2 straight years. (.545 OPS '23-'24) Last 2 years: Romy .680 and DHam .671 overall 2024 Splits: v R: . .729 DHam .498 Romy (.460 in '23) 425 Grissom (.770 in '23) v L: . .879 Romy (.666 in '23) .619 Grissom (.522 in '23) .532 DHam I would not say anyone is locked into any role at 2B to start 2025, and this is even beyond the Campbell option, but I'd go with a DHam-Romy 2B platoon, unless something jumps out during ST'ing or Campbell wins the job.

I think Grissom will get a long hard look in ST'ing and with all things looking even, might get the nod over Romy v LHPs, but I can't see why we'd start him vs RHPs over DHam, who plays much better 2B D and can steal 50-60 bases over 160 games. (Also, Romy was one of our better hitters vs LHPs, in 2024.) Who is Herbandez?

I never really trust a treatment of "building up the muscles around" the problem area, but that seems to be the rough idea, here. I'm worried, too, but if surgery was not a cure, what else can be done?

On away games, Ref in RF is fine with me. At home, I prefer someone/anyone esle. I can't see what Cora did home and away, but my guess is Ref started more games in LF at Fenway than RF. On the road, it was likely flipped.

What is encouraging about Goldschmidt's track record? What about Cabrera and LeMahieu replacing Torres? Am I missing the track record, there? I do think Bellinger will have a good year, but his track record is spotty. He has a track record more in line with Verdugo than Soto. Last 4 years: .725 Verdugo (6.9 bWAR) .724 Bellinger (6.3 bWAR) So, count Bellinger as Verdugo's replacement. Goldy for Rizzo, then this... Cabrera & LeMahieu for Torres and Mr. Diddly for Soto, yet somehow us losing O'Neall comes close to this? I'm flabbergasted.

Steamers projects .756 for Bellinger & Goldschmidt. Who is replacing Torres? .699 Cabrera .681 LeMahieu (I'm assuming Chisholm plays 3B.) They project these OPS, too: .958 Soto .734 Torres .703 Rizzo These are "objective numbers," too. We lost a guy STEAMER projects to have a .751 OPS in 2025.

We lost a guy who only played 2/3 a season. It was a big loss, I agree, and it was a loss in an area where we sucked to begin with. but losing Soto, Torres, Dugo and Rizzo is massive vs LHPs and RHPs. Bellinger should do well, but he is a huge "what if?" and Goldy has been falling off a cliff by more than Arenado, on offense. Why are you giving them the benefit of the doubt, but not our 24-29 year old players?

Goldschmidt turns 101 in September (38 in Dog years.) His OPS dropped 171 points, 2 years ago and 94 points in 2024. He had a 98 OPS+. I'm not sure why you expect improvement from a 38 year ols, and suggest I am being overly optimistic by saying I project improvement by our whole group of pre-prime, peak prime and prime players, who are basically everybody but Ref. While the 1B position was a mess for NYY, last year and a .716 repeat OPS bt Goldschmidt would still be a nice gain from 2024, I'm not seeing Goldy making up for the loss of Soto, Torres and Dugo. Bellinger has a much better chance to make a dent in the losses, but no way he and Goldy come close to what they lost. Anytime a lefty joins NYY, you have to think they could have a big year, and Cody just might, but the guy has been all over the map. I'd say he has as many or more questions as our Sox players do. His OPS over the last 4 years: .542 in '21 (44 OPS+) .654 in '22 (81) .881 in '23 (139) .751 in '24 (111) Verdugo's last 4 OPS+ 107>102>100>81 Torres last 4: 93>113>118>101 Soto: 158>127>155>178 Rizzo: 110>130>94>81

We essentially added Giolito to the rotation, too. You failed to point out who was lost from the rotation. We lost Paxton: they lost Cortes, so I give us the edge on improving that area. We also added Hendriks to the pen. Yes, we lost Jansen and Martin, but also a lot of scrubs that look like addition by subtraction. The Yanks lost Holmes, Trivino and Kahlne. I still agree, though- advantage NYY by a hair. (You claimed "not even close?") On batting: The Yanks lost a ton of offense in Soto, some with Torres and a little with Verdugo & Rizzo. To me they lost a lot more than they gained with Bellinger and Goldschmidt, who might be slightly better than Rizzo. We lost O'Neall and McGuire/Jansen and gained nobody. I say we lost less than NYY did: edge BOS.

I can't find any recent reports on his shoulder(s.) Back in September, they said it was "nothing structural," and that off season workout is all that is needed. I, too, have my doubts. It's not like our medical team has a great record. Devers has said both shoulders bothered him, but the left one was the worst and "hurt" all season. It's pretty amazing that he was on his way to his best career OPS into mis August, despite the injury. It seems like just about every Sox player has some sort of lingering question(s.)

With no Anthony or an addition like Grichuk on the opening day line-up, I'd say Ref is the LF platoon. This assumes Yoshida is healthy. Even if we add Grichuk/Laureano or Anthony to the roster, Ref should start every game vs LHPs, even if it means platooning Yoshida at DH. I see our opening day OF configuration as such: LF: Duran v R/ Ref v L CF: Rafaela v R/ Duran v L RF: Abreu v R/ Rafaela v L (As you can see, Duran and RAF play FT, while Abreu and Ref platoon.) If Yoshida is hurt, we might see Romy platoon with Abreu in RF and Ref DH or platoon DH with ____?

If the MLB 13 man pitching staff begins with Crochet, Houck, Buehler, Bello, Giolito, Crawford, Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock, Wink, Wilson, Weissert and Guerrero, these would be the pitchers lined up to make the 14 man AAA staff. (Assuming Sandoval, Murphy & Perales begin the season on the 60 Day IL.) SP: Criswell, Fitts, Priester, Dobbins, Fulmer, Gambrell, Drohan RP: Bernardino, Penrod, Kelly, I Campbell, Mata, A Adams, J Moran Noah Davis, Wyatt Mills, Robert Stock, Brian Van Belle, Hobie Haris, S Newcomb, Wyatt Olds, Jose Adames That looks like pretty decent AAA pitching depth, for once.

Is this how we start the season? vs RHP 1. L Duran LF 2. L DHam 2B 3. L Casas 1B 4. L Devers 3B 5. R Story SS 6. L Abreu RF 7. L Yoshida DH 8. R Wong C 9. Rafaela CF vs LHPs 1. L Duran CF 2. R Refsnyder LF 3. R Story SS 4. L Devers 3B 5. L Casas 1B 6. R Romy 2B 7. L Yoshida DH 8. R Wong C 9. Rafaela RF SP: Crochet, Houck, Buehler, Bello, Giolito, Crawford RP: Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock, Winckowski, Wilson, Weissert, Guerrero If Campbell makes the 26, he coudl bat 2nd FT and play 2B. Ref could bat 3rd vs LHPs, and Story 5th...

Solid post, again. I don't think Yoshida is tradeable, and throwing in a good player to dump him is a hard thing to do. I don't think we'd call up Mayer or any of the big 3 to be a sub. We've all lost confidence in our FO. Their lack of actions, wrong actions are bad enough, but the lies and deceptions just drive it into our hearts.

Here is a look at the ALE and top AL contenders' winter pluses and minuses: BOS: Lost Pivetta, Jansen, Martin, O'Neill, D Jansen/McGuire, L Garcia/Sims Added: Crochet, Buehler, Chapman, Sandoval, Wilson, Narvaez, J Moran NYY: Lost Soto, Torres, Cortes, Holmes, Verdugo, Rizzo, Kahnle, Berti, Trevino, Poteet Added: Fried, D Willimas, Bellinger, Goldschmidt, Loaisiga, F Cruz BAL: Lost Burnes, Santander, Means, McCann, E Jimenez, A Slater, J Webb & Coulombe Added: O'Neill, Morton, G Sanchez, Kittredge, D Carlson & T Sugano TBR: Lost Springs, Carlson, Siri, Poche & T Alexander Added: H-S Kim, D Jansen & E Jimenez TOR: Lost Yarbrough, Tate, Horwitz & Romano Added: Santander, Scherzer, Hoffman, Y Garcia, Straw, A Gimenez, N Sandlin & J Walker HOU: Lost Tucker, Bregman (?) Kikuchi, Pressly, Verlander, Urguidy, Neris, Graveman, Gamel, C Ferguson, Heywood Added: Paredes, Walker, Wesneski CLE: Lost Boyd, Cobb, Naylor, Straw, Gimenez, Sandlin & Morgan Add: Santana, Sewald, Luis Ortiz, Cecconi DET: Lost nobody at all Added: G Torres, Cobb & Kahnle KCR: Lost Singer, Y Gurriel, Frazier, W Smith, Pham, DeJong & Grossman Add: India, Estevez, Lorenzen, Wiemer SEA: Lost Y Garcia, Josh Rojas, J Turner, Urias, Chargois, Voth & Haggerty Added: Polanco, Solano & Mastrobuoni MIN: Lost Margot, Santana, DeSclafani, Kepler, Farmer, Thielbar & Moran Added: nobody at all To me, only TOR, DET and BOS clearly got better. BAL, HOU and MIN got worse The others stayed about even or maybe got worse.

Ref should. They guy has been a lefty killer for 3 years in a row. Only 11 batters in all of MLB have a higher OPS vs LHPs and more PAs than Ref since 2022. He's at .910. Yoshida has an .810 OPS vs RHPs, career- not great but pretty good. If Ref hits .910 and Yoshida .810, our DH might hit .845-.850. That would have placed them 5th in 2024 DH OPS. We placed 13th, last year at .742.

I told myself to expect no more spending, but then that damn Soto thing got to me.

Yes, I have fond memories of signing that song in February.