moonslav59

Yes, sorry. I thought I was responding to red. My bad. Thank you for giving actual reasons why you feel Rafaela will play almost exclusively in CF. I will ask this, what OF defense is better, and by how much? Duran in LF v R, Ref vs L, Rafaela v R/Duran v L in CF and Abreu v R-Rafaela v L in RF. Duran and Rafaela play near FT. Ref platoons with Abreu but not in fenway's RF. or Duran in LF FT, Rafaela in CF FT and Abreu-Ref in RF on a platoon, regardless of it being Fenway or Yankee Stadium. Now, if Yoshida does play OF, tell me how it happens, and who plays where vs R and v L, or do you think Cora saying Yoshi will play OF was a total smoke screen, perhaps to boost his trade value. (Could be true. I'm not arguing Yoshia will clearly play a significant amount of time in the OF (assuming no injuries.) Anthony entering the discussion changes the whole situation, whereby I don't see Yoshida having any role, unless devers is at 3B.

I can see the advantages of playing Rafaela in CF as much as possible, even if it means Yoshida has no designed role in the line-up. It could very well happen. Maybe they rest Rafaela more than Duran and others, just to get Yoshida some time, but maybe not. I could also see playing Yoshida in the shorter corner OF position vs half or more of the RH'd SP'ers we face. He would not take Duran's or Abreu's PAs, IMO. He might take some of Rafaela's PAs, since he out hits him by about 120 pts, but maybe not. It's not impossible for Cora to be right about both statements: Rafaela will be the primary CF'er. and Yoshida will get some time in the OF. Of course, where Devers plays is crucial to the answer. If he DH's, Yoshida gets squeezed- not Ref. Maybe Yoshida squeezes Rafaela, but IMO, not Duran or Abreu or Ref, unless it's their normal day off, and Yoshida fills in to get a scattering of PAs, that way (even if vs a LHP.) I don't have a big stake in the choice. I love great D, but I also have worries about our offense declining from 2024. Both choices have a clear plus and a clear minus.

Agreed. They cared more about keeping their primadonna stars happy. The Yanks won quite a bit with Jeter at 3B, after ARod joined the team, but it was just one ring in 11 seasons with ARod and Jeter on the same team (2004-2014.)

I know. That's my point. It's not me arguing Yoshi will not take away significant ABs fro Rafaela.

I think everyone would prefer 9 all around players that do not need a platoon, but 4 guys are always on the bench, so sometimes it works out better that you shuffle them around to get the best match-ups. If you agree that Abreu should be platooned, then the question is by whom, and what positions does that guy play or are other shuffled to make the D better? It looks like Ref matches the platoon with Abreu much better than Yoshida. This situation does not help Yoshida get OF ABs. Agreed. To find room for Yoshi, it gets complicated. That's why I feel like it's hard to know hw Cora will do it, and what he meant when he said he will play some OF. For who? Both Abreu and Duran bat LH'd, so he won't bump them. That leaves Rafaela who has had reverse splits, so far and bats RH'd. he is als a great defender, who seems to have made too many unforced errors, so far. I can see why Cora said he wants him as the primary CF'er. I do, too. Yoshida is a pretty good hitter vs RHPs (.810 career.) Rafaela is at .684 career v RHPs. It's reasonable to expect Yoshi's OF ABs will come at Rafaela's expense. That does not mean a full platoon, but maybe a sizeable number of ABs. We could see Yoshida strt vs most RHPs and Rafaela sub on D, later in games. Maybe not.

I only see one platoon: Abreu and Refsnyder. I had mentioned maybe DHam-Romy at 2B, but Campbell or Bregman at 2B ends that idea. I don't think Abreu was platooned because of injury or Rafaela playing SS. He was platooned because he sucked vs LHPs, and we used O'Neal and Ref in RF vs almost all LH's SP'ers. I'm suggesting Rafaela might take some of those RF PAs vs LHPs, because O'Neall is not here, and Rafaela will not likely be used at SS in 2025. Maybe we use Ref there, more. Who knows, maybe Cora gives Abreu a chance to play FT, but then where does ref play. Only 12 batters in all of MLB have a better OPS vs LHPs over the last 3 year sample size. Tell me why Ref will be benched, because you don't like platoons. Tell me why you think Cora will suddenly not like them, either. Okay, Cora said 3 times that Rafaela will be the primary CF'er. He also said, at least twice that Yoshida will play some OF. You thought Yoshi would not play OF at all, at first. How does he play OF? not by benching Duran. Not by benching Abreu vs RHPs. What's left? IMO, Yoshida will play some OF vs RHPs and maybe a little vs LHPs. How much, I don't know. I'm asking why you think he will not play much, despite quotes from Cora? You use quotes to support your Rafaela position, so why do quotes not support the idea that Yoshida WILL play some OF?

Fine to give your opinion but nothing about why you think Masa will not play much. Abreu is horrific vs LHPs, so you hate platoons all you want, but Ref is a top 12 batter vs LHPs and will be playing somewhere: OF or DH vs LHPs. Where and when Yoshida plays is an open book. Nobody knows. I said what I think they should do, but I am not saying Cora will do it. IMO, he will do a little of what I think and a little of what others think. Maybe, one works better than the other, and he goes that way more often. I'm not hoping Yoshida plays the OF, a lot. I think Cora will try to play all his players, as he has in the past. How he does it is in question.

I'm curious why you sure of this alignment. I'm thinking he mixes and matches, like he did, last year. While there should not be a need for Rafaela at SS, this year, O'Neall is gone, so about the same amount of PAs are available for Duran, Rafaela, Abreu and the RH platoon bat for Abreu. While it does seem there is little room for another LHB outfielder, my "guess" is Yoshida sees more time that you think. I'd say probably less than I think, but I have no number. If I had to project, I'd say 175-250 PAs in the OF and 50-150 at DH, depending on Devers at DH. (It could be 400-550 at DH and 0-50 in the OF, if Devers plays FT 3B.) Last year, we saw this... 735 Duran 428 Abreu 392 O'Neall 273 Rafaela 235 Refsnyder 17 Romy, Dalbec, Yoshida & Wong. I could see about half of O'neals OF PAs going to Rafaela and half to Yoshida.

Bregman would likely be a very good 2Bman and decent SS, but we know he is an excellent 3Bman, and we have the worst in MLB, there now. This is not rocket science. I feel pretty confident Devers will come around. if not, we'll see what happens.

You'd think Raffy would have come to camp, in shape and ready to prove he can be a good 3Bman. I guess he missed the memos.

Have Bregman talk ti Will.

To bad he didn't fail to trade Betts.

Because management does not like to be criticized by an employee. Because his injury history is real. Because we won't be handing him away for nothing. We'd fill another big need via trade. Because maybe Devers plays 1B and Yoshida DH (not LF.) Because we have already heard trading him was being looked at. I'm not for trading Casas just for the sake of trading him. It's not a dump deal. I'm projecting a bustout year for Casas and have said, recently, I would not trade one of our best batters vs LHPs, this winter. Depending on what shakes out with Devers (DH, 3B or 1B,) maybe the dynamic changes. Maybe Vladdy does become a target. Maybe....

He's on another team looking to shed salary.

Yes, I do. I think he'll play Yoshida in LF vs RHPs more than Rafaela, but that assumes both are healthy and not doing anything radically different on O. Do you see one choice as being clearly better than the other? I'm a big fan of up-the-middle D, but the O from Yoshida might outweigh benching Rafaela vs RHPs, and the drop from Rafaela to Duran in CF is not a big drop, if any at all. Vs. RHPs: A: LF Duran, CF Rafaela, RF Abreu is a damn good defensive OF. B: LF Yoshida (Fenway) CF Duran, RF Abreu is not a bad D, overall and maybe 150 pts better in OPS between Yoshi & Rafaela. (Does Yoshida play RF in parks like NYY, and Abreu in LF?) I could see Cora mixing these two up to get everyone playing.

They very well may severely limit Yoshida's ABs. He may even start the year on the IL. As of now, we have two options, if we platoon Abreu in RF: a shaky Refsnyder or Rafaela. Playing Ref in RF is no worse than Yoshida in LF (at Fenway, anyway.) If Rafaela plays RF vs LHPs, Duran moves to CF and Ref plays LF. There is no room for Yoshida vs LHPs. Vs. RHPs, one could argue Yoshida's offense and poor LF defense still outweighs Rafaela's great CF D and awful offense, but it's not a clear cut choice. They could easily choose Rafaela in CF, and he plays FT (CF v R and RF v L.) That is a nice set-up, too, especially if Rafaela can hit better. Rafaela's reverse splits may be a fluke, and he's been so bad from both sides, that I'm not sure the L-R thing matters with him, but it does with Yoshida and Ref. Cora has some choices and may mix and match to try and get everyone playing, just enough to not get pissed off. None of the guys I just mentioned should feel entitled to play, everyday, but Yoshida might feel he is.

Yes, I've said that about Devers main issue being the erratic arm, but I have not heard anything from anyone on the team about Devers at 1B or sharing it with Casas. If part of Devers not wanting to DH has to do with hating to sit on the bench for half the game, then why not try 1B? It's unlikely he will suck anymore than Casas at 1B, but if he does, then DH him FT. (We need a back-up 1Bman anyway. Right now, it's Romy, Wong or maybe Ref.)

Or, wait till he has the monster 2025 season, builds value, then trade him.

Thanks for setting me straight.

That's a good comp. Bloom swung and missed on so many of his attempts- seemingly way more than the Rays ever did.

Bregman has much of his value in his defense, leadership and intangible skills. He makes most of the players around him better. He's not the big RHB we wanted or needed, although he could bust out in Fenway. We need to maximize every 400 million pennies we are paying him. Third Base.

I'd think long and hard about it and as much as I think Casas will break out, this year, the injury and our need for catching is too great. It also offers Devers a non DH landing spot (1B) and keeps Yoshida and Ref away from the OF. It also makes calling up Anthony more likely.

He reaffirmed it, again, today: “Masa is going to be part of the picture, yeah. We’ve just got to get him going,” Cora said. “Like I said, last year he was a DH, this year we need him to play defense. It’s a different season.” “It’s a long process, it was a big surgery and he’s swinging right now,” Cora said. “He knows that we need him to play defense.”

Maybe they try harder to trade him, now.

Not really. He said Yoshida will see time in LF. Most of the talk was before we had Bregman and the real possibility of Devers moving to DH. That would crowd Yoshida and Ref into OF only roles. Don't be so sure. Abreu may platoon RF, like he did last year, so that opens up some PAs for the RHB, Refsnyder, but I'm not so sure Yoshida will be benched, so this OF alignment can be etched in stone. Rafaela is way better on D than Yoshida and Ref, but those two are way better batters.