moonslav59

It is clear the plan is Rafaela to play FT CF. IMO, he deserves to be handed the job, but not unconditionally. He could play some RF, when Abreu sits vs LHPs, although Anthony could play RF vs LHPs, too. I will ask this, if Anthony plays LF, where does Duran play? (Hint: not RF.)

I remember some people were pretty high on Romero, when drafted. "Romero, a solid all-around shortstop prospect. Romero is a left-handed hitter with outstanding contact skills and plenty of bat speed to succeed at the next level. He has all the defensive actions you would want, and the strong arm to boot, to stick at shortstop for a long time." _Mayo

The stake awaits the warlock.

The "Rizzo>Goldschmidt" statement was not meant to imply Rizzo is better than Goldscmidt. It was meant to denote a change from Rizzo to Goldschmidt. I'm also not sure the players replacing Verdugo will be worse. Jackson might be better than Trevino, too. To me, the drop off from Soto to Bellinger outweighs all other possible gains, and makes your everyday set-up worse than 2024. The loss of Torres is big, too, and you guys had Chisolm for much of 2024, anyway, so it's not a full Chisholm to Torres situation- on paper. Feel free to disagree. Sorry for the misuse of the ">" symbol. I will say, it is not a certainty the 37 year old Goldschmidt will hit over the .637 Rizzo hit in 2024 or the .730 he hit from 2022-2024 at ages 32-35.

This whole scenario was based on adding 3 everyday players (Campbell, Anthony & mayer) to the 40 (and 26.) DFA'ing Sogard and 60 Day IL'ing Murphy and Penrod is a net gain of 2 everyday players. Sogard would not be needed, but we could also 60 Day Yoshida, whether he likes it or not. I don't see Sogard as the type of guy we have to hold onto. If a need arises, there are dozens of Sogards out there for the taking, on any given day.

Rafaela could play 150 games without having a set position of his own, but I like the idea of him in CF FT, or maybe playing CF vs RHPs and RF vs LHPs, as Abreu sits. The scenario I presented was about finding room for all 3 kids AND everyone healthy, including Story. Play along: who sits, if all 3 play? Assuming Bregman at 3B, casas at 1B, Devers at DH and Duran, Story, Campbell, Mayer and Anthony playing FT or very near FT, someone sits from Abreu, Rafaela, Yoshida and Ref. In fact, someone cant even be on the 26, since we need 2 catchers on it. To me, the 9th slot goes to an Abreu-Ref platoon- not Rafaela, and since Rafaela can play any OF position and middle IF, he could still get a lot of time on the field, inclduing late inning defensive play. I've been higher on Rafaela than most posters, here, I think, but under this scenario, I'd prefer Abreu-Ref in the line-up. It's not like Abreu is a slouch on D, and we can hide Ref's D in LF.

There is a long way to go to the end of ST'ing and the Campbell vs Rafaela numbers could easily flip. I agree that all 3 kids starting on opening day is far-fetched, unless we have 1-3 injuries (1-2 with 60 Day ILs.) As for DFA'ing 3 players to make room, we only have 60 Day'd Sandoval. We still have Murphy, Penrod and maybe Yoshida as possible 60 Day guys. I'd also have no issues DFA'ing Sabol, but an injuy to a catcher would need an immediate DFA to add a catcher back onto the 40. That could be risky, but what about DFA'ing Sogard? I know our 40 man is overlaoded with pitchers, right now, but adding Mayer, Campbell and Anthony severely lessens the need for Sogard.

Wilson is a near lock for the opening day pen. To me, there are 1-2 pen slots still open, barring new injuries: Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock (if not on IL) and Winckowski look like locks. Wilson is a near lock. Guerrero seems like he'd need to bomb out the rest of March to not make it. The last slot might go to Weissert, Adams,Ottavino, Fulmer, Bernardino (IL?) or Criswell/Fitts. Kinda wide open, here. I doubt it's Kelly, Moore or I Campbell.

It's very early, and these sample size are small, but here are some pitching ST'ing numbers: 0.00 ERA (IP) K:BB (2.0 IP+) Fitts (4.0) 5:1 Fulmer (3.2) 3:2 Crochet (3.1) 7:4 Guerrero (3.0) 6:1 Adams (2.0) 4:0 Criswell (2.0) 2:0 Weissert (2.0) 3:1 Drohan (2.0) 3:0 Newcomb (2.0) 3:0 2:25 Priester (4.0) 1:3 4.50 Dobbins (2.0) 3:0 6.00 Houck (3.0) 0:0 9.00 Wink (3.0) 1:3

It looks like Devers will start off at DH, while his should issue is figured out. (He may even miss a few early games, for all we know.) If Yoshida begins the season on the IL, Cora's choices are almost made for him. The biggest calls will be on the big 3 prospects. As long as Story is playing, I seriously doubt Campbell and Mayer make the roster. Anthony may be held down, but more and more I'm feeling these guys should given their shot on day one. With all three on the roster, Cora will have some major choices to make, since it makes little sense to have the 3 top prospects playing only FT or very near it. If all are healthy, what would that look like? DH: Devers C: Wong & Narvaez 1B: Casas 2B: Story SS: Mayer 3B: Bregman LF: Campbell CF: Duran RF: Anthony Hard to bench Abreu vs RHPs and Ref vs LHPs, and Rafaela would make a great super utility guy, but these are all OF'ers. Only Rafaela offers IF support. Someone would have to be demoted or traded.

Campbell can play OF, if the IF is crowded out by healthy and performing Devers (DH), Bregman, Story, Mayer and Casas. It might make more sense to trade an OF'er not named Duran or Anthony to find Campbell a place to play. The big if, is Story being healthy and hitting well. If and when he goes down, Campbell could play IF, and whichever OF'er you did not trade tkes his place, there. (Abreu/Ref or Rafaela/Ref)

I think he meant the Salem witch trials, not the baseball team.

LOL. No pitcher can get him to swing an miss on anything they got!

Tiny sample sizes? Yes, but what the hey... ST OPS: 2.500 Wong 1.417 Thompson 1.400 Bregman 1.356 Rafaela 1.250 Romy 1.236 Mayer 1.000 Duran .983 Hamilton .917 Anthony .833 Story

Devers has yet to make an accurate throw to 1B, this spring, so there is that, too.

Is it me, or are these guys shaded in dark gray?

I see Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten and Wilson as the short guys for the 8th and 9th. Whitlock will be the 2-3 innings guy that could end up finishing out some games, Wink can be the 1-2 inning guy, who may go into the 3rd inning, at times. That's the 6, I see as having a slot pretty much locked up. I like the idea of Criswell as a second "long man," but I also see the value of having as many stretched out SP'ers in AAA, as possible. Guerrero seems to be a pick many think will be made. I don't disagree, but I don't see him as a lock for the 8 man pen. Weissert is the #8 guy on the soxprospects.com projected opening day roster. That seems reasonable. There is a boatload of pitchers hoping they can win that 8th slot away from Weissert, or maybe even the 7 slot from Guerrero: On the 40: Bernardino (IL?), Kelly or a converted SP: Criswell, Fitts, Priester, Dobbins Non Roster Invitees: Michael Fulmer, Ottavino, Austin Adams, Matt Moore, Isaiah Campbell, Jovani Moran, Wyatt Mills, Noah Davis, Bryan Mata, Sean Newcomb

Yes, I see that, now. I just responded to that point.

I'm happy Story looks pretty good, so far.

Ahhh. I'm not sure why that should be his projection. Yes, he's coming off a serious injury and is not getting any younger, but he hit .794 after AUG 5th in 2024, while the rest of the team slumped. Okay, it was .633 in SEP after going around .900 from July to the end of August. .783 in 2023 .765 in 2024 .700 "at best" in '25? It's the "at best" that seems hyper-pessimistic.

Right now, soxprospects,com projects NRI Campbell to be the starting 2Bman on the roster. They have Crawford, Penrod and Yoshida starting the season on the IL. Rotation: Crochet, Buehler, Houck, Gio, Bello Pen: Hendriks, Chapman, Slaten, Whitlock, Wilson, Guerrero, Wink & Weissert C: Wong & Narvaez 1B: Casas 2B: Campbell SS: Story 3B: Bregman LF: Duran CF: Rafaela RF: Abreu DH: Devers Bench: DHam, Refsnyder, Romy Others on the 40: Fitts, Priester, Criswell, Dobbins, Kelly, Grissom, Sogard, Sabol & Jh Garcia (AA)

The fact that he looked so damn good, at times, is what gave each new team hope he might put it all together for a prolonged period of time.

True, but "saving" some of his salary. I'd like to think we could get away with paying none, but why would MIA take on Yoshida's salary that offsets Alcantara's? Their whole purpose for making this trade would be to dump salary. I'm not saying I'm for trading Mayer for Alcantara, but he has a big chance at being great, again. He's shown he can be great at the ML level. Mayer has not, and my desire to dump Yoshida is likely getting the better of me. No Yoshida really helps our roster construction. I realize we could just option him to AAA and get the same results, but the budget issue cramps our future choices, bigtime,

I can see having little faith in DHam and Romy. So much of their 2024 numbers were heavily boosted by just one prolonged hot streak, while the rest of their careers look like .700 tops, at best. I've never been thrilled with the idea of a DHam-Romy platoon at 2B, but I do feel like those two offered the best we've seen at 2B since Pedey, except for that period where Story & Kike each played 2B for a half a season. Their career splits are: .695 DHam v RHPs (26 SBs in 303 PAs) .802 Romy vs LHPs in just 214 PAs spread over 4 seasons. .700 is real possibility and is unacceptable, even if that is neat the league average .711 OPS at 2B in 2024. It is, however not nearly as bad as we've seen in a half decade at 2B. The D from these two is a plus. That, alone, is a major improvement over the EValdez's, Reyes', Arroyo's, Arauz, Peraza's and Chavis' of our recent 2B history. I'd certainly rather see Campbell, Story or Bregman at 2B over the platoon I have mentioned, and maybe that happens. (I hope not the Bregman choice for reasons I have mentioned several times.) I do, however, see the potential for .750-.790, and maybe in a perfect world .800. I am pretty sure they'd play plus defense, if that ends up the main choice Cora makes. In short, while I don't see a DHam-Romy 2B platoon as something great, I do see it as a vast improvement over this: 2020-2024 Sox 2B (note how nobody had 550+ PAs in 5 years combined) .739 Arroyo (544 PAs) -2 OAA .737 Story (396) +10 OAA .651 Valdez (350) -12 OAA .901 Kike (304) -8 511 Marwin (119) +2 .627 Reyes (100) -2 .468 Arauz (91) -6 .553 Peraza (89) +2 .743 Urais (88) -3 .587 Chavis (83) -3 Team: .668 OPS (-16 DRS, -123 OAA and a 0.0 UZR/150) I'd like nothing more than to fix the 2B problem, once and for all. Even the 2018-2019 2B situation was an issue that forced us to trade for help (Nunez, Kinsler and others.) I'm a big fan of Bregman at 3B, so I don't want to see him as the 2B fix. He "fixes" 3B more. That leaves Campbell or one of Mayer or Story as a FT solution. I'm fine with any of these chocies over a DHam-Romy platoon. This whole conversation was based on the supposition that Campbell does not make the roster on opening day. It's a hypothetical scenario that I hope does not occur. I'm not for DHam-Romy over Campbell. My only point was what do we do, if Campbell does not win the job (or Mayer & Story are the opening day keystone combo.) The chocies I laid out were ONLY within this context: 2B: DHam-Romy platoon, 3B: Bregman, DH: Devers and maybe forcing Yoshida & Ref to put a squeez on the OF (namely Rafaela as Duran plays some CF) by playing some LF' vs 2B: Bregman, 3B: Devers, DH: Yoshida-Ref platoon and the OF freed from Ref and Yoshida's playing time squeeze. (More PAs from Rafaela improves the D but is likely worse O than DHam-Romy.) This has never been about DHam-Romy vs Bregman or Campbell. It is basically boiled down to DHam-Romy at 2B (We'd maybe see a Rafaela-Abreu platoon in RF, too) vs Rafaela in CF FT and maybe Abreu playing RF vs LHPs, unless we stick Ref out there w Yoshida as the FT DH.

Not at all. Their injury histories makes me wonder how long they both can hold out, but I like the combo. By next year, maybe we see: 1B: Casas 2B: Story SS: Mayer 3B: Campbell Maybe in 3 years we see: 1B: Casas 2B: Mayer/Campbell (Romero) SS: Arias (Mayer) 3B: Campbell/Mayer (Romero)