moonslav59

They actually thought Yoshida could play LF, and have been stuck on leaving Devers at 3B for 4 years too long. (It's not just Bloom on the second one.)

Well, with Rafaela, Anthony and Abreu, what would you do? LF: Anthony CF: Duran RF: Abreu 4th Rafaela

It's never been about stuff. I don't doubt that, at all.

MLB reported this on a couple weeks after the day of the surgery (OCT 3rd) Though no further details were made available in the team’s press release, a source told MLB.com that the Red Sox are aiming for the left-handed hitter to be ready by Opening Day, which is set for March 27 at Texas. MLBTR wrote: According to Ian Browne of MLB.com, the Red Sox are hoping Yoshida will be back in the lineup and ready to play on Opening Day. NESN: Alex Cora and company are aiming for the designated hitter to be ready for 2025 Opening Day. Did someone report otherwise?

I really like Abreu, a lot. He plays good D in RF, and had 5 years of control. I'd prefer replacing Rafaela with Anthony than Abreu, and this is a damn good OF on O and D: LF: Duran (Ref as back up vs LHPs) CF: Anthony v R/ Rafaela v L (back-up v R) RF: Abreu v R/ Anthony v L We can take care of all our needs via free agency and should not have to trade Abreu or anyone else. We can sign 3 players and still be under the tax line: Bregman, Flaherty, Estevez & E Diaz Burnes, Teoscar, E Diaz (Then we can trade an OF for a RP) Teoscar, Flaherty, Estevez & E Diaz Hell, we could sign Burnes and Bregman or Teoscar and nobody else.

Good post. I'm not sure we'd pay that much for a Murphy. Give them what they want, but then add Yoshida $25M.

I am, but Luzardo is less of one than Buehler.

We are more lefty heavy than other clubs. My point was that he has higher value with other clubs than us- not that he has little value to us. Now, RF D is important in BOS, so in that sense, he is more valuable to us, but I see Anthony as being a plus defender, too. A Duran-Rafaela-Anthony D would be buttah.

One report says "probable for opening day." ESPN says Feb 1st.

Pretty close. I gotta think Wong is spending his winter working on his defense, but then again, he probably has already spent a few on it, with few results.

Why? We are lefty heavy- bigtime. Our OF and OF depth is our strongest area on the 26, 40 and system as a whole. The step from Abreu to Anthony or Campbell could actually be a step up. Now, this assumes Rafaela is the FT CF'er, and I could see wanting Anthony in CF and Abreu in RF vs RHPs over Rafaela in CF, but we can also play Campbell in the OF or use Ref in LF and Duran in CF vs LHPs, and alternate Anthony in CF and RF, accordingly. LF: Duran, Refsnyder CF: Rafaela, Duran, Anthony, Campbell RF: Abreu, Anthony, Campbell, Ref (in short RF parks) We also have JH Garcia and Bleis in the pipeline. To me, our OF is one area we can afford to trade a player away, and it should be a LHB. If we sign Santander or Teoscar, we could trade Abreu and Rafaela and still have this: LF: Teoscar/Santander & Ref CF: Duran (Campbell) RF: Anthony (Campbell)

That very well might happen. A lot may depend on his opening day readiness. We may decide to keep Campbell and or Anthony off the 40 man, until they gain the added year of team control. That might be long enough for Yoshida to earn some value or prove he deserves a DFA. If we stick with Devers at 3B and Casas at 1B, which seems like the odds on favorite, then we can carry a Yoshida-Ref DH platoon for a few weeks.

The estimates are over $15M/1. Yes, JH would love the one year aspect of that offer, but $15M takes away a big chunk of the winter AAV budget.

Good point, and I have mentioned Flaherty as a target. I'm not sure who we can view as the most reliable. The scary thought might be Pivetta.

Why? Someone would take him at $2-6M a year, more like $6M, if he plays for a while and hits near or over .800.

Would you trade Abreu and Valera or just Abreu one for one? Another plus of upgrading Crawford would be adding Crawford to the pen over someone like Fulmer, Bernardino, Penrod or whoever else our 8th RP'er would have been.

I get that, and agree, but the chance he spends more than half the season on the IL is too high for me, and I think higher than other choices, still out there.

All true, and it is also a tribute to our farm system to see that we got the most sought after pitcher of the winter without parting with a top 3 prospects. Of course, 4, 5 and 8 is very costly, but I doubt any other team could have gotten him without trading a top 3 or 2 of their top 3 prospects. BTW, part of the "tank" was letting Bogey walk, and we drafted Campbell with the comp pick we got for losing him. We got Anthony with the comp pick for letting ERod walk. We got Mayer with the 4th pick, overall, after the biggest tank year of all in 2020.

Anybody think Jesus Luzardo is a big enough upgrade over Crawford to risk a trade? He's got 2 arbs left and just turned 27. He's had some injury history, so that worries me, bigtime, but I'm not sure how many of his injuries seem worrisome. He did have a couple nice seasons from 2022-2023. That was not long ago. 279 IP 3.48 ERA (129 ERA+) and a 3.40 FIP/ 1.15 WHIP 11Ks to 3BB was not bad. Maybe MIA would take farther away prospects than most team along with Abreu or Crawford, who both have 2+ years more of team control. Abreu, Romero and Valera for Luzardo?

If he just plays plus D and bats .230 (.310 OBP) with 10 HRs in 300 PAs, we'll be fine at catcher. Teel may end up much better, but we needed to trade from our everyday strength to add to our weak area: pitching. The risk was big. Monty might be the ball-buster.

I'm not convinced we spend big, this winter, too. I have repeatedly said I need to see actions and not hear talk. That being said, you seem so sure we will not. We have come up short on many FAs, so far, and that may happen with the rest we bid on, going forward. I get that. We may reach a point, where we feel desperate enough to up our "final offer" to get a prize. Maybe not. On Abreu, I think you are under valuing a Gold Glove OF'er with 5 years of control, who is still pre-arb. On the platoon aspect, I agree, but he is on the big end of a platoon and gets 450 PAs over a season. That is a significant amount of offense brought to table. He's only 25 and may improve vs LHPs, but he has a long way to go to respectability, there. His career OPS vs LHPs is bench-worthy, to date (.516.) His numbers vs RHPs is more than respectable (.842.) His 650 PA line vs LHPs: .277 22 94 with a .347 OBP and .495 SLG. My suggestion was Abreu plus others (maybe Crawford) for a decent SP'er or quality RP or a RHB like himself. Hell, Crawford is a decent SP'er, already. I think Crawford + Abreu gets us a #3 SP or a really good RP'er. You don't. Okay. Maybe Abreu, DHam and Romero get us a very helpful piece.

No, not when they'd take El Rod for him. You might be surprised by Narvaez, but maybe not. soxprospects says they will rank him below Jo Garcia and above Brannon, which isn't saying much- possibly top 30. On the "no hit" aspect of his profile, I fully realize OBP does not always translate from the farm to MLB, but he did have a .371 OBP in AAA (762 PAs) and .364 at all levels. He also has 21 HRs and 33 2Bs in 762 PAs at AAA, so he may have some power. The .247 BA is not all that low for the majors, now. The big worry is the 196 Ks in 762 (27%.) It's 23% for the minors. I'm not projecting greatness on offense, but he may be okay, for a catcher. 2024 MLB Catchers BA .234 OBP .300 SLG .378 OPS .678 The good thing is, we can PH Wong for him, late in games, if needed. I would like to see us add a better catcher, but if we fill the other big needs: SP, Closer, and maybe a RHB, I think we can get by with Narvaez/Wong as our catchers. (I might start Narvaez more than Wong.)

I disagree. We could trade Abreu for a RHB or pitcher with or without adding significant salary. We have budget space and showed a willingness to bid $700M for Soto, so it is not a stretch to think we may trade for salary, like Castillo, Lopez or Arenado. Hell, we may still sign Burnes, Bregman, Teoscar, Santander or Flaherty. Maybe another pen arm, too. I would also not be surprised to see us do nothing more major, in terms of adding salary, but my position is we just don't know.

That type of signing is what I want to avoid, for a while, anyway. In some ways, Crochet is an injury risk, too- maybe more than the average. I know Gio was supposed to be "that guy," but I'd still rather go with someone who has not been hurt more times than not, in the last 2-3 years. You may disagree with my position, but you should at least understand where I'm coming from. Afterall, we were a couple of the very few who saw merit in the Sale trade, and still understand why it was made..

Narvaez is supposed to be really good in all defensive areas and has shown some power and BB ability on O in the minors.