moonslav59

For sure. I'm pretty sure he can't or won't be any worse than Casas. (The bar is set very low, on this.)

They should at least think about skipping a Houck start. I'm not one to bail on SSS, but this is not the same guy.

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

Sano went from -31 DRS/ -22 OAA in 2500 innings at 3B to -9/-9 in 1800 innings at 1B. When you prorate the innings, it still looks like a slight improvement.

We can all agree that you do believe this to be true.

The thing is, all 3Bman are graded the same way on fangraphs, and the plus or minus scores are comps to other 3Bmen. His range compared well with other 3Bman, and yes I can "compare." His throwing and DP tries compared very badly, and he made more errors than almost all 3Bmen- many on throws. I did not see the same things you did. I actually thought Devers looked pretty quick at 3B. On the few times a 3Bman has to run to catch a pop up, he looked okay, to me. He made a few really nice plays, but not as many as others. It seemed to me, he made more throwing errors than most 3Bman, but I'm not sure the numbers back up my perception on that. We all know he made a lot of bad throws- many to 2B on DP tries. He was one of the worst defensive 3Bmen in MLB. I've agreed with that for years. Without a bad arm, he might have been around 20th to 24th out of 30. That could easily translate to 12th to 18th at 1B, overall, as throwing is not a major component of 1B D. The other thing I repeatedly brought up was that the bar was set low by Casas, and all he had to do was be equal or better than the worst 1Bman in MLB to move from 3B to 1B and have it not hurt us. I feel he'd be better than the worst 1Bman. I think he could be around 15th, over time. There are some bad 1Bman in MLB. I'm fine if you disagree. BTW, my choice is Campbell at 1B, Devers at DH FT and forever, and Mayer called up.

Maybe we have to hope Buehler can become the #2... or Fitts.

I'm not saying these options are sure fire winners, but I do think Anthony or Mayer are better choices than Toro-Romy-Ref-Wong-Grandal at 1B options. Anthony and Mayer are both ML ready. If Story was hurt, today, mayer would be playing tomorrow. Anthony could/should be playing in ML, already. The only issue is the complexities involved with moving players around or playing people at positions where they have little or no experience. I'm not for throwing Campbell at 1B with no practice or prep, but he's already been a player with no one position, anyway, and as much as we dislike that idea, it doesn't mean he's not the best option we have. Even if he struggles with defense at 1B, maybe Mayer's superior middle IF defense over Campbell's makes up for it, or most of it. Anthony as anear FT DH is not ideal for his progress either, but he could play the OF some, and his bat is likely going to be way better than Toro & Co. Yes, the Devers to 1B and Yoshida at DH has merit, too, but I'd rather give a kid a shot over Yoshi. Just my opinion.

I've always felt Devers could be a decent 1B in a short time and maybe an average to plus one over a longer period. He has quick reflexes and his range at 3B was not horrible. When compared to mostly big lumbering 1Bmen, his range at 1B could be a plus. His major issue was throwing, and that is greatly reduced at 1B. fangraphs has these career numbers at 3B on D: Err -22.8 (74 Fielding Errors vs 66 Throwing Errors- pretty close.) DPR -6.3 RngR +3.4

I'm not so sure the upper brass gets involved in minor trades.

There are also many examples of a player having a massive breakout season, and then doing very well, afterwards, even if never as good again. Also, Duran's 2024 season was great, but his 2023 season was on pace for being pretty close to '24. He had almost exactly half the PAs due in part to an injury, and these are the two seasons with 2023 x 2: 2023: .295 16 80 (72 2B+3B & 48 SBs) .828 OPS 2024: .285 21 75 (62 2B+3B & 34 SBs) .834 OPS It's a 262 game sample size of nearly 1100 PAs with an .832 OPS. I'm not all that worried about a 6 week slow start.

I'm just thinking about how we've been banging our heads trying to work out a way for Anthony and/or mayer to get a FT position on the ML team without benching a good (Rafaela/Refsnyder) or high-priced player (Story.) The Casas injury opened up a window for one. Anthony could play DH, if Devers played 1B. Mayer could play SS, if Story moved to 2B and Campbell to 1B, of he could just play 2B as Campbell plays 1B. Both ideas cost us nothing- not even a DFA, as we just add Casas to the 60 day IL. Their bats are likely better than Vaughn or Mountcastle, or whatever else might be out there in mid May.

No complaints on this. Our corner IF defense has been atrocious for as long as Casas/Devers have been the starters. Their bats "make up for it," and that's enough for many fans, and apparently our managers and GM for several years. We knew this when we signed Yoshida, but for some reason, these guys felt Yoshida could play a decent LF in MLB. The plan, all long, should have been to have Devers and Casas share DH/1B duty or to trade Casas and have devers be the FT DH (or 1B, if he proved he could be decent enough there.)

He might have been a 3rd or 4th OF'er for some bad team.

Yes. That's what I remembered. There was a reason for keeping Rusney down. There is a reason to keep Yoshida down, too, but not for having him not even play. Has anyone asked Cora or Brez to follow up on their answer that he's "working on building up his arm strength for throwing." Can't he play in a farm game to keep his batting eye sharp and work on the arm during his off time? (Maybe they did answer, but I missed it.)

We all know Casas was off to a really bad start, and replacing those numbers looked easy, but that is not all there is to it. I'd rather have a healthy casas that Toro, now, because I expected him to turn things around. Maybe he would not have, but I liked his odds more than Toro's. I'd also prefer Casas than Yoshida getting a look at DH with Devers at 1B- not that this might happen.

I thought his contract would count against the lux tax, if they promoted him. (They since changed the rules.)

Thanks. I missed your earlier post. No talk about not playing in games.

He won't/can't trade Devers w/o upper brass buy-in.

His mama was a bot. (No link available.)

I read this after I mentioned R Castillo. At least there was an obvious reason to keep RC in AAA.

Nobody disputes this. It's worse than the Rusney situation, because Rusney was allowed to keep playing. I still wonder why he was never traded to a team who was $50M below the lux tax. This whole situation is bizarre. (Notice how Yoshida is not talking, as far as I know.)

You perceived wrongly, again. LOL!

This is befuddling, for sure. At least Rusney got to keep playing, and yes, his case was "roster manipulation." Are they trying to get Yoshida to quit? (Ain't happening.") I can't see how Yoshida is gaining any trade value by not demonstrating he can still hit. Maybe some team would want him as a DH only player, so the arm is not needed. While any trade would involve pennies on the dollar, it makes sense to move on from him. A 60 day IL stint only prolongs the choice. Unless we see Devers as a longer term 1B option, we have our DH for more years than our Yoshida control years. Yoshida is not and should not ever play OF for the Sox as long as we still have Duran, Abreu, Anthony, Campbell, Rafaela and Refsnyder. He's like 6th or 7th on the depth chart, depending on it being a lefty or righty pitcher.

I always try to answer any and all questions directed to me. Why not just explain how the word "roster manipulation" fits the Yoshida situation. He's on the 40. He's not on the 26. We chose not to 60 day IL him (so far.) It is a mystery why he's not DH'ing on some farm team as he works on building up his arm strength, even if just to add value for a trade, but where is any roster manipulation taking place? Maybe, I'm nit-picking the term, but I don't see how keeping him off any minor league roster, while he has options is accomplishing anything or allowing us to keep someone else or whatever the "manipulation" is gaining us. If you just explain it, I agree. Not answering is what seems obtuse, to me.