moonslav59

You can just ask him how he feels about playing 1B. Doing that is not going to shake the clubhouse foundation, if he says no, and the club chooses to not try hi at 1B.

Great points. So many people seem to think what players do in one month sets who they are for the full season. No matter how many times the results shift wildly for some players, the same is believed the next season. I get the concern over Devers, since the end of last year was bad, but the guy was clearly playing hurt.

The team doesn't have to know. I get your point, though. If the team believes Devers could/would defense 1B better than Casas (not hard to do,) they should tell not ask him to pick up a glove. I wonder, if they worry about increasing the chances of a new injury or extending the shoulder issue.

Too bad Fitts is not ready.

It's likely normal fluctuation of tiny sample sizes.

I had heard he was really good on D, but I never expected this good. Brez has made some nice deals.

Our OPS leaders jumped up the rankings, tonight. 7. Bregman .971 10. Abreu .963 13. Campbell .935

I don't think the seriously considered playing Devers at 1B, except in private meetings and discussions. The "assurance" Bloom gave to Devers about playing 3B may have been a big part of never asking him. (I am assuming they never did.) The Bregman signing and a new GM changed the dynamic, and that was not very long ago on the Bregman addition. The shoulder injury to devers and failure to trade Casas probably made asking him a low priority. Maybe it was brought up when Devers was talking about not wanting to DH. Probably not. If I was the GM, I'd have at least asked about the idea, and if he didn't like it, I would not push it. I think Casas will start hitting, soon, but I have no faith in his defense ever improving. The bar is set so low for Devers to match or exceed, I find it hard imagining him being worse than Casas at 1B. Hie quickness and range at 3B were not really the main issue: it was his erratic arm.

The kid just can't conform.

How bad is BAL? They are being no hit and outscored 9-0 by the Yanks.

Are you remembering the old Duran from years ago? Someone may argue 810 innings in CF is not a large enough sample size, but consider these numbers ... 2024: 810 innings in CF Duran: 17 DRS & 6 OAA 630 innings in CF Rafaela: 12 DRS & 5 OAA If you widen the sample size to 23-25, he's still at +11 DRS and +6 OAA in CF. My "eye test" says Rafaela is better, but Duran looks pretty good in CF, to me. We could see this, if we want to take some CF innings away from Duran: LF: Anthony v R/Duran v L CF: Duran v R/ Rafaela v L RF: Abreu v R/Anthony v L ...but some hate shuffles, especially musical chairs like this.

He has started, this year with WOO, and his numbers look good, but who knows if that would work in MLB. You are likely right: he'd have a better chance at making it in a role like Whitlock's or a lower leverage type role.

Arias isa tremendous defensive SS. I think he plays there 100%. Zanetello may share time at 3B with Andy Lugo and 2B w Alcantara or play OF/DH. I wonder if he can play 1B. Alcanara and Lugo are both over .800, while Zanetello is around .650. "Zane" is not good on D, either.

He also passed the guy everyone has been raving about his start to the season: Story. For whatever that is worth. To me, that is evidence that shows how silly it is to judge people over a 3-4 week sample size, when 1-2 games can show drastic changes. Had Devers had his 2-3 biggest games in the first week of the season, nobody would notice a .600 OPS and be complaining (as much.)

I hope he does not retire and comes back for another year, especially if we have Devers at 1B by then and the DH slot is open to Yoshida and Refsnyder to share. (I'm assuming Anthony has crowded Ref and maybe others out of their OF roles.)

Yes, I totally get this point you have made repeatedly. I don't disagree with your position. There was not a strong possibility he'd bust out on offense and make an extension harder to do. My point is that he still has plenty of time to end up earning every cent of the deal. That will not change the point that the extension was premature and excessive. (There is also a chance Rafaela is not even in MLB for his last season under the contract, or a bench player. I get that.)

Agreed, although they could find time for him to work out at first base, especially if he really wants to play on the field over DH'ing. I wonder if they even talked to him about it. If he's okay with the idea, why not have him take some practice at 1B. He used to spend time practicing 3B during the year. Maybe he never is ready by the end of the season, but he could be closer to it happening, and if the idea is to trade Casas, next winter, we might have an idea on Dever's skill level at 1B. (It would also open an avenue for Yoshida and Ref to DH in '26... or even Casas.)

Yes. We haven't even finished a month in the season. He can easily get up to .790 or .800+ by season's end.

Yes, true, but on any given off season, they could have asked him to workout at 1B. This season, despite recovering from injury, they could have had him pick up a 1Bman's mitt in ST'ing, and at least get the process going. I would avoid playing him at 1B, until he feels comfortable and ready. (if it ever happens.)

I've been on the Ref bandwagon for years. This is no fluke or small sample size. The guy kills LHPs! Only 12 batters have more PAs vs LHPs and a higher OPS than Refsnyder since 2022. (He has the 5th best OBP!)

I'm a long way from benching Casas, but the leash ends somewhere.

Agreed. Casas is not bringing anything major back, so it's best to keep him and hope he comes around, even if just to rebuild his trade value for a winter deal. I'm a big Abreu fan, myself, but he does seem like the most logical OF'er to be traded to make room for Anthony. Rafaela might be second, and we should not view his batting RH'd as being a plus.

I totally get your point. I think they felt his offense would improve to a point where he earned the money. That may be just be a .700 to .725 OPS over his last few higher paying seasons. He could reach those marks.

A grissom-Romy 1B platoon is a possibility, so why not ask Devers to try 1B?

Our worst positions, offensively, are C, 1B and CF. Our top prospects play OF and middle IF. None are catchers or 1Bmen, so that puts the squeeze on Rafaela and Refsnyder. We are 28th in catcher OPS at a really bad .513 clip. The defense is much better, so to me we can handle one black hole, if it's at catcher. .513 is 81 points below #15. We are 23rd in 1B OPS at .595, which is mayb e worse than .513 at catcher, especially since Casas is an awful defender. .595 is 97 behind the #15 team. We are 19th in CF OPS at .638, which is just 46 behind #15. That's one big game away from being right in the missle. The great D makes it acceptable, on paper, but when you have 3 players significantly under their positional norm or mean, I can't help but think we should try to upgrade one of the three slots. This is not the time of the year major trades are made, so we look at options within the system, and Anthony jumps out at us, both out of a positional upgrade need and the fact that he's the top prospect in the nation and widely regarded as ML ready. I have been a fierce defender of keeping Refsnyder starting vs every lefty we face, but even I am willing to allow Rafaela playing as Abreu's platoon, starting some games as Duran and Anthony need rest, and also becoming the number one back-up at SS, 2B and maybe even 3B. If someone could move to 1B, we coudl find even more time for Rafaela, but I don't see Bregman, Campbell, Story, Duran or Abreu playing there. (Maybe Ref coudl replace Romy as the 1B platoon, but Cora has yet to play him at 1B, so that is not likely an option.) With injuries bound to happen. I think things might work themselves out on their own.