moonslav59

Walker Buehler's Day Off. Man, this is brutal

He might be the best 2Bman we have, right now, especially needing Mayer at 3B and Story at SS. I can't see the point in the DFA him opinion.

No doubt, and these are some of our major infield utility players over the past 7 seasons: Games Played since 2018: 224 Arroyo 196 Holt 168 Chavis 150 DHam 125 E Valdez 109 Romy 85 Reyes 77 Marwin 76 Tzu-Wei 61 Marco Hernandez, 59 Arauz, 50 Chang, 45 Sogard, 37 Kinsler, 34 Peraza, 31 Grissom, 31 Urias, 26 Owings, 23 Iggy, 21 Westbrook, 17 Munoz, 14 Jeter & Y Sanchez, 9 B Phillips. Look how many of these guys were awful on D, and how few were even decent on D. This is not a justification for keeping DHam around, but he's a way better defensive 2Bman than most on this list, and we don't really need him at SS, as Mayer and Story are better. (Romy is, too.) DHam's running skills is big plus, too. Okay, the .647 career OPS is god-awful, and it's just .666 after his rookie season, but his D at 2B, decent splits vs RHPs (.729 in '24) and speed makes me want to keep him around over several others. I'm not claiming he's a stud. He's also just 27 and entering peak prime years. There is hope he can do better.

As much as you have criticized Bloom and JH for "roster construction," it seems you still want to blame Cora for not working more miracles than just 2021. It's everybody's fault these sucky players did not do better.

This does seem true. Sometimes it's based on first impressions that are hard to overcome. Sometimes, it's a particular skill we are more enamored with than perhaps we should be. Sometimes it's the "recency effect" or career numbers that are boosted by long ago successes that are no longer within reach, but we hold out hope for recapturing past glories.

Facing the RHP, here is our line-up in the Bronx: L Duran LF L Devers DH L Abreu RF R Narvaez C S Toro 1B L Mayer 3B R Story SS L DHam 2B R Rafaela CF

Houck was supposed to be a decent #2, but he's looked like the "other" kind of number two, as in doo-doo. We did seem to finally have rotation depth, even after trading away Priester, and the depth has done pretty well, except with the departed Newcomb. Dobbins at 4.06 and Fitts at 4.71 have done what could be expected from pitchers ranked 8th to 10th on the rotation depth chart in December. Injuries have hit our rotation, as it always does. The Sox are not alone on this, and it's not really an excuse, for that reason, but we have seen these missed starts: 12 Sandoval (totally expected when signed) 12 Crawford (not sure when he returns) 5 Giolito (I wish it was 10-12 missed starts) 3 Buehler and Bello (and Houck, thankfully) I still see our rotation as having hope, and it is one area we could see a legitimate hope for improvement. Crochet is a CYA candidate. Buehler is a legitimate hope. Bello could be a nice #3 or solid #4. We need 2 from Fitts, Dobbins and maybe Criswell to bridge us to Sandoval's, Crawford's or Houck's return. It's not a huge reach to think we can cobble together 2-3 good starters from these 6 pitchers. We have better hope here than our infield, where all 4 slots have major issues. Our pen has done better than expected and is top 5 in IP, so I'm not sure how long that holds up. Our OF is our big plus and it has top depth, too.

I liked him, a while ago. He may still be better than Wong. Grandal is about to retire, so that hope is extinguished. Jo Garcia is way too far away. I'm sure glad we stole Narvaez from the Yanks. Catcher fWAR 1. Raleigh 4.4 2. Narvaez 2.3 3. W Smith 2.3 4. Dingler 2.0 5. G Moreno 2.0 6. Kirk 1.8 7. Kelly 1.6 (Some of us wanted him signed) 8. Baldwin 1.5 9. A Wells 1.4 NYY 10. Wm Contreras 10. S Murphy 1.3 (Some of us hoped we could trade Story & cash for him.) 12. Heineman 1.2 (We had him.) 9 catchers are between 0.8 and 1.0 10 catchers are between 0.5 and 0.9 Wong is tied for #50 at 0.1 with Danny Jansen and is ahead of Vazquez and 11 others at 0.0.

True, 1.1 innings at 3B is not a 3Bman, but he has played 69 OF innings, where we don't need him. He does have more MLB innings at SS than 2B and had way more in the minors. BTW, I did say "maybe." It's about the same as saying "Maybe Campbell or Anthony can play 1B." Many "utility players are only middle infielders, and few can run like he does. I'd keep him around ahead of Sogard, Eaton, Noda, Burdi and Toro, if we could get Devers or Campbell to play 1B. He might be tied with Penrod. That's #6, maybe.

My thoughts are that I don''t blame the manager for being handed weak and highly flawed rosters for 6 seasons (2019 to 2024.) Yes, 2021's roster was flawed, too, but we put everything together and made a solid run. I think the 2025 roster is good enough to be a playoff team, and I have said Cora can be partially responsible for the letdown. We did lose a big chunk of the rotation, started the season with an awful pen on paper (pun intended) and then lost Bregman and Casas. The total implosion by Houck is not Cora's fault. (Giving him 9 starts might be.) No, it's not all about rosters, but with the rosters Cora was handed for those 6 years, coming withing a few outs of a trip to the WS in 1 season is about the best I could expect. Maybe 2 playoff trips could have been expected, and Cora got one. I'm not hanging him for that. I understand the criticism, and many feel wins is the bottom line on everything. I guess the Rockies would be a playoff team with a great manager.

He can play SS and maybe 3B. I think they tried him in the OF, but we have 10 guys ahead of him, there. You don't have to be a great defender to be "utility," but it does help, I agree. Our past utility infielders were often worse on D than DHam. His ability to be a PR is a value, too. He has some pop, but not much. He's down past the top 5 players to be DFA'd on my list. Besides, he'd be traded and not DFA'd.

So was the roster he was handed, until this season.

DHam is a slow starter and has hit .708 after his first 13 games, this year. He has 10 SBs in those 24 games and plays better 2B defense than KC and others. He is a decent utility player, except for his poor SS defense. If it wasn't for out 1B situation, Toro, Romy and eaton would all be ahead of DHam on the next-to-be-DFA list. I'd DFA Noda or Sogard or one of the 3 I just mentioned before DHam. I'd rather have DHam playing than Story, too. (Mayer at SS, DHam at 2B v R and Story/Campbell at 2B v L, but that ain't happening.)

Criswell has been a better starter than reliever and in larger sample sizes than Toro and Mayer. I'd replace Gio with Criswell, but that still leaves his starting over one of Fitts & Dobbins, so point well taken. (Unless Bello to the pen... LOL) I'd still rather have a healthy Casas than Toro & Romy atg 1B. I'm not one who thinks Casas would have stayed that cold, all year.

There are a lot of current FT or near FT Sox players that have not been earning their slots. If Cora is one thing as a manager, he's loyal to those he thinks are better. All of these guys have numbers that, at best, hint at a benching, demotion or a rest: Story: We used to say, "Well, he's still a GG-type SS," and we'd hope he could hit over .750. Now, he's not the same defender and is on a really bad cold streak. How long is long enough? How Soon Is Now? The guy has hit .403 (OPS not a Ted Williams BA) in his last 153 PAs! Campbell: The elephant in the room. His meager numbers are boosted by his first 8 games in the bigs. He's hit .553 in his last 193 PAs. That's about 1/3 of a season. It's at .490 in his last 135 PAs and .368 his last 107 PAs. The Sox have a long history of sticking with struggling rookies, JBJ & Pedey to name a couple, but this is looking really bad. Now, one could have made the same argument about Rafaela, and some were. His OPS was pretty low, all year and for most of 2024. He's over .700, now, but just 9 games ago, he was coming off a .272 stretch of 11 games (34 PAs.) Some were arguing Devers should be demoted in the line-up in mid April, so many times, patience is a virtue. With pitchers, it's a little harder to judge, but Houck did get 9 starts before the plug was pulled, and Gio is up to 7 starts, now, and he has a 6.42 ERA and a 1.634 WHIP. When is enough enough?

Good read. We have to consider Rafaela as a "streaky hitter" like Abreu, but with many more cold stretches. Right now, he's over .700, and we are all thrilled to see this. .700 for a GG caliber CF'er is fine, but Abreu has been around .800 with an actual GG to his name. (Rafaela is better on D.) Thanks for this.

Average WAR (FWAR, bWAR) 2.8 Bregman 2.5, 3.0 (Out for a while) 2.2 Devers 2.0, 2.3 (Like last season, on pace for career year) 2.1 Rafaela 1.7, 2.4 (Nobody doubts his FT status, anymore) 2.0 Narvaez 2.0, 1.9 (Biggest Sox surprise) 1.6 Abreu 1.4, 1.8 (Had a great start to the season) 1.3 Duran 1.2, 1.3 (Regressed from 2024, but heating up) 0.7 Refsnyder 0.6, 0.7 (in 1/3 ro 1/4 the playing time) 0.3 Romy 0.2, 0.3 (missed some time) 0.2 DHam 0.1, 0.3 (Decent utility player) 0.1 Toro 0.0, 0.1 (Should have has better depth) 0.0 Wong 0.0, -0.1 (No longer the FT'er) 0.0 Mayer 0.0, 0.0 (Seems to be a plus, so far) 0.0 Story -0.3, 0.3 (Big differential between f & b) -0.2 Sogard -0.3, -0.2 (Surprised he has over 50 PA) -0.3 Campbell -0.1, -0.5 (Needs to turn it around) -0.7 Casas -0.6, -0.9 (Out for season) Pitchers: 2.6 Crochet 2.4, 2.7 (All we hoped he'd be and leads the league in IP) 1.0 Chapman 0.8, 1.2 (Has kept us somewhat relevant) 0.6 Dobbins 0.8, 0.3 (Better than we expected) 0.6 Wilson 0.6, 0.6 (Surprise of the staff) 0.5 Whitlock 0.5, 0.4 (We need him to be on) 0.5 Weissert 0.3, 0.6 (Quietly gets the job done) 0.3 Bernardino 0.3, 0.3 (Nice to see him regain) 0.3 Buehler 0.3, 0.2 (We need better from our $20M man) 0.3 Bello 0.1, 0.4 (fWAR slights him) 0.2 Slaten 0.4, 0.0 (bWAR slights him) 0.2 Burdi 0.1, 0.2 (On IL) 0.2 Newcomb 0.6, -0.2 (GONE) 0.1 Winkowski 0.2, -0.1 (Still in Cora's doghouse?) -0,2 Fitts -0.2, -0.2 (Seems like better than this) -0.2 Criswell -0,1, -0.3 (Should be a starter) -0.2 Hendricks 0.0, -0.3 (Close to a DFA) -0.3 Giolito 0.1, -0.6 (Big differential) -0.4 Kelly 0.1, -0.8 (Even bigger differential) -0.1 Houck -0.4, -1.6 (Killed us)

Rubbish.

2026 is before some of these guys can even dream of being near ML ready. (Not that Perales will be pitching in MLB in '26.)

So, then MAYBE 5.

Small "b" and "f" do not count as grades.

They had the same record as the Sox, a day or two ago.

We really want 6 1bmen?

We talk about Clarke, Tolle & Valera, but what about Perales? I say we have 4 in a tier by themselves. The second tier might include: Early (top tier?) Fitts, Guerrero & Dobbins (will graduate soon) Sandlin, Paez & Reyes (3rd tier?) Wehunt, Monegro, Mullins & Drohan (Third Tier) Delzine: TBD Did I miss anyone?

Being conservative as we are ranked 7TH AND 13TH. Maybe top 10 or 11?