moonslav59

Ro-BOUT time!

The only thing I might disagree with are these two things: 1. I do not see refsnyder playing RF, unless in an away game, where RF is the shorter field. I think we see Ref in LF vs LHPs, Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF. Vs RHP, it's Duran LF, Rafaela CF and Abreu RF. (We could also choose to platoon Ref and Yoshida at DH and maybe use Romy in LF- not Ref. Maybe mix and match the two.) 2. At 2B, I'm not as high on Grissom as some in the Sox seem to be, and you, too. IMO, Romy did more in 2024 to earn a 2B platoon with DHam than Grissom did, but of course that is and should not be the sole criteria uses to choose DHam's platoon partner. I do think DHam has the inside track on starting vs RHPs at 2B, unless and until he shows he does not deserve it, of someone else outshines him. Of course, Campbell could win the job, at any time, including opening day. (I think Murphy starts the year on the 60 Day IL and Guerrero wins the 8th spot in the pen. I have Criswell ahead of Fitts on the pen/starter call-up ranked list.)

Until he gets hurt... again.

As long as the Sox keep making them money, they don't see a need to invest more. It's hard to prove spending more to sign Bregman will help the team make more than if they don't sign him.

Besides, I ended up saying it should count, just put an asterisk.

Agreed. There was a marked shift in spending policy under Dan D. He also signed Offerman and Tom "Flash" Gordan.

142 games = 60?

I do not think Yoshida plays LF, unless we add a 3Bman and force Devers and or Casas to the DH slot. Even then, we may just cut ties with Yoshida or trade him and almost his whole salary. The loss of O'Neill should not force Yoshida into the OF, as long as the DH position is his. Rafaela should not be used at SS, so he can play FT CF/RF. The season could start like this: LF: Duran v R/ Ref v L CF: Rafaela v R/ Duran v L RF: Abreu v R/ Rafaela v L (until Anthony wins an OF job.)

Sox sign another Catcher to a minor league deal: Mark Kolozsvary. He will get an invite to the ML ST'ing camp. Apparently, he profiles as a no bat- strong defensive catcher who bats RH'd.

I'm almost certain we are done with our closer role. I'm not even expecting anyone else being added to the ML staff before opening day. I think we may add a RHB, like Grichuk and roll the dice, again.

I'd say no. Thanks to Machado.

Pedro joined the team in 1998. I think Dan D was around for 3 years before that, and we did okay- maybe about like now. From 1998 to when JH took over the team, we tried to win. We did finish in 1st in 1995.

I think they still win, but they also lost Holmes, Cortes, Torres & Verdugo. (They added Fried, Bellinger, D Williams and Goldschmidt to replace Rizzo.)

Let's see if losing Soto to free agency has the same outcome.

Yup, another winter sham.

The Pedro trade was a big part of that. The Manny signing was a clear sign we wanted to win. I agree.

Hope is not a projection.

I feel the same. Great job on building up the rotation and rotation depth, but nothing, everywhere else. Even the rotation was built on pitchers returning from injury and a trade for 2 years of a really good pitcher, recently converted to a SP'er.

Our 3B depth sucked, but I think our depth was fine, last year. Houck was slated to be our 6th starter, before Gio went down. Criswell did very well as our 7th SP. DHam and Romy did way better than E Vadlez /Grissom/Reyes, who started the season at 2B. Rafaela helped stabilize the SS position in a way Kike never could. Abreu emerged as a solid platoon player with plus D. We had to go outside the system to get Dom Smith, so we did suck at 1B depth (Dalbec), too. Our pen depth struggled, especially down the stretch, but overall, I do not think our depth was worse than most teams: we just needed it, a lot. It's hard for any team to replace a Devers.

Those three injuries hurt, and maybe Gio's, too, but I don't think we had way more injuries than other teams, and we had less than the Dodgers. It looks like our hopes for 2025 rest on health, once again. It was all about Sale for 3-4 years, Story for 2-3 years and ongoing, and now Devers, Casas, Whit and others.

It seems like the pen is the best way to get talent without giving up 5-8 year deals and $100M plus. I thought the Jansen and Martin signings signalled the Sox recognized that as a way to improve the team on the cheap and without long commitments. (We ended up paying Jansen and Martin more AAV than Scott got, but they were just two 2 year commitments and not one 4-5 year commitment.)

They were looking to save about $40-45M with the Astros trade, so if any deal comes close to that, they might listen. Taking on a $54M Yoshida deal would mean we'd have to pay off his whole deal and pay $40M for Arenado (STL pays $20M). That makes zero sense for the Sox. However, if the bottom line is what this is mostly about for STL, they could add Contreras, who is owed exactly what Yoshida is owed, and we could accept Arenado's full deal, saving STL $20M more, or accept the $20M and give them less young talent, in return for Contreras. Yoshida, Fitts and Cespedes for Contreras and Arenado & $15M cash. (STL saves $45M and we pay enough to stay under the tax line) of Yoshida and Cespedes for Contreras and Arenado w no cash. (STL saves $60M) We pay $18 to Contreras, not Yoshida and Arenado's full boat- what COL pays.

I did not say my list is what will happen- only that I see these areas as our weakest ones. I think Narvaez is a plus on D, and he has shown some power in the minors (about 20 Hrs per 550.) He has an okay OBP in the minors, but that is not something that always translates to the bigs. Our best hope is, the new coaches help Wong improve on D, and he shows his decent offense, when compared to only catchers was not a fluke. Realistically, we may sign Grichuk and someone like Finnegan or Beeks.

Grichuk. Career: .833 v LHPs and about the same as Bregman v RHPs at .737. 2024: .914 v l/ .801 v R 2023: .995 v L/ .694 v R 2022: .926/.620 He might cost 5-10% of what Bregman gets.

Bregman's splits: .795 OPS since 2020 (122 OPS+) He has reverse splits since 2020: .746 v LHPs .817 v RHP Sox players to possibly be replaced by Bregman in the line-up: (v L/vR) Yoshida: .669/ .810 (Bregman is about 80 pys better v LHPs and about the same vs RHP, but we can platoon Ref with Yoshida and get better results than Bregman.) Rafaela .610/ .684 (Bregman is much better in both splits) Casas (if traded) .772/.846 (Casas has been better in both splits)