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Unless Bloom starts reading my posts!!! I can see him now. "Brilliant!! This has to be the plan going forward!!! I couldn't possibly have figured out a better one!!" Sure, he's probably being sarcastic, but that doesn't show up in text...

Nope. I don't have to. He's really good anywhere. Anyway, that only matters if they bring back Schwarber...

I suppose it also depends how particular he is. I remember an old SI story about how Jerry Rice would try in multiple jerseys before every game to find one that just felt right. Maybe that plastic fixture in his glove just threw Barnes off his game somewhat. A lot of athletes are very particular...

The Notin Plan 1B: Dalbec. And eventually Casas is he makes a case for himself, which he is very capable of doing. 2B: Kike Hernandez. CF defense will suffer, but 2B defense will improve 3B: Devers SS: Bogaerts. Opt out is a concern, but after the Great Shortstop Re-Shuffling of 2021, Boston might still be his ideal landing spot anyway. LF: Schwarber: He won't exercise his part of the mutual option, but he can still come back CF: Verdugo: Not my favorite for CF, but if Kike plays 2B, he is the Last Man Standing for the job RF: Renfroe DH: Martinez. I know there is a chance he opts out, but for now I will assume he doesn't. BN: Plawecki, Arroyo, OF capable of CF (Jeisson Rosario? FA?) SP: Sale, Eovaldi, Pivetta, and 2 acquistions that can include ERod either via QO or extension. BP: Houck, Whitlock, Barnes, Brasier, Taylor, Sawamura, Valdez, Davis, DHernandez Darwinzon and Duran might be adequate trade bait to fill a pitching role or two. I know Oakland will be trying to move a bunch of arbitration eligibles, although Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt each have one year. Montas has two, but Duran probably isn't an attractive enough piece to get him. Pitchers with roughly the same BTV value as Duran include Sonny Gray (Cincinnati), Casey Mize (Detroit), Kyle Muller (Atlanta), Chris Flexen (Seattle), Joe Musgrove (San Diego), and Cal Quantrill and Aaron Civale (Cleveland). I don't see Detroit moving Casey Mize here. Atlanta, San Diego and Seattle are both largely all set with young outfield talent either in MLB already or beating down the door. That leaves Cincinnati (30th in fWAR for CF last year, but is Duran the solution?) and Cleveland. Per Roster Resource, the Cleveland 2022 OF features Harold Ramirez, Myles Straw and a Bradley Zimmer/Oscar Mercado platoon. Very, very weak. Now they are far more likely to move around the middle infield depth problem to solve the OF as opposed to dealing Civale or McKenzie, but it's not the most ridiculous solution, either. And clearly BTV would call it fair, not that theyare the end-all of trade value. But they do better than I could on my own. And at the very least, arbitration eligible closer Lou Trivino (Oakland) needs to be on the radar in another potential deal. His BTV trade value is actually very low, at a surplus of $1.1 million. So either he is undervalued or is expected to get a substantial raise from last years's $912,000 salary...

Well, if there is any truth to the impact of the pepper slicing incident, can we really hold that against Barnes? Injuries can derail any player...

Just keep Vaz and Plawecki. It ain't broken...

Even that might not be a hiccup. Schwarber to LF, Verdugo to CF, Hernandez to 2b? I know Kike was an outstanding CF, but he is also an extremely good infielder who is second in DRS at 2B over the past 3 seasons, trailing only Kolten Wong (28 to 21) despite Wong playing over twice as many innings at the position. Signing Schwarber should impact Duran more than it does Dalbec...

Exactly. It fixes a lot of the blips in the game, although it won't affect the overall pace as pitchers who take a long time will still take a long time. I could foresee a tech-savvy team hacking into the system to add an extra half inch or so to the strike zone when their team is up and gain a slight edge. As we have seen with the Astros and the Cardinals, teams will do anything to gain an edge. but this doesn't mean the whole idea should be scrapped...

I think he should get the job to start and then work in Casas when and as needed...

I suppose technically the 1904 World Series was not cancelled due to a labor disagreement, but rather due to one time deciding they already won and didn't need to play anymore...

Except I was joking. Hacking is a legitimate concern, but it shouldn't be a deal breaker...

Fun fact: AL First Base OPS Leaders from 6-10-21 to the end of the season 1. Vlad Guerrero - .955 2. Bobby Dalbec - .916 3. Matt Olson - .897 So why should the Sox replace this guy?

Giving ERod QO strikes me as a no-brainer, and I am far from his biggest supporter. I do think one of Whitlock or Houck moves to the rotation, where we have no idea what to expect. Sox have 3 starters lined up for next season already under contract. If ERod makes 4, then maybe they will think twice about moving Houck/Whitlock there...

Like by having human umpires call balls and strikes?

Two of them did not even have World Series...

Exactly. It happens to nearly every pitcher, and very frequently before they reach age 38. It's a major part of why I hate long term deals for starters in free agency, especially those on the wrong side of 30...

They may or may not use Barnes in that role. but his pre-finger slice 2021 was actually quite stellar. It's really going to come down to how Houck and Whitlock are used. If both stay in the pen (my choice), then one probably handles the closing/high leverage and the other, along with Taylor, Barnes, Brasier, Sawamura, and maybe Valdez and/or Darwinzon Hernandez can give the Sox what looks like it could be a pretty formidable bullpen. But if one or both move to the rotation, then it puts question marks potentially all over the staff, including in the closing/high leverage role, where Barnes certainly remains a candidate. (Of course, not all question marks are answered negatively.)

It actually does bring up what I consider the most glaring concern against robot umpires - what do you do about hackers?

Technically, that is where we are now. But maybe it is time to get away from the mud, as maybe it is not providing enough grip. Since many teams have been using chemists to develop newer and better gripping substances, maybe these teams should stop being so secretive with their proprietary discoveries, and the league can settle one or two of the best ones...

It all starts with a pre-tacked ball, but next thing you know MLB teams will be using pre-roided players, raising them from infancy on special farms and feeding them nothing but a steady diet of Stanozolol and HGH. Too subtle?

Shouldn't that be the Cardinals, as they were the team that did actual hacking? The Astros were the team that got hacked in that particular case...

JD posted a .867 OPS and a 126OPS+. I don't really care if he hits .300 anymore, but he did hit 286 last year, which for his at-bats means he was a whopping 8 hits away from hitting .300. 2020 was a ridiculous season that can be ignored for a lot of reasons...

You're still tying to mislead. Even if you use your old numbers, 37 saves and 18 blown saves is closer to 30%. But a lot of his blown saves were really "blown holds," but no stat sites differentiate between the two. As Barnes spent most of 2018 pitching in situations where he was not going to get a save but was able to get a blown save, the overall statement is misleading. Iglesias did do better than Barnes, blowing 14% of all save/hold opportunities. But Barnes actually rate was 24% of all save/hold chances blown. Less than the 32% if you only look at saves, and certainly less than the 50% which is just flat out wrong no matter how you look at it. Of course, there are other aspects that are incorrect, too. 1) How many blown saves did the Sox still win? Blown saves are not all losses, after all. And how many were blown saves where Barnes did nothing wrong? Coming in with the tying run on third and no one out and giving up a sac fly is a blown save, but is it really the fault of the pitcher getting the blown save?

If he really wants to return to Boston, he can simply exercise his player half of his mutual option rather than making statements about it to the press…

A little misleading. And by “a little” I mean “very”. In the last 3 seasons, Rasiel Iglesias has 13 blown saves per Fangraphs. He also has 76 saves. Were you looking at AL only? Iglesias’ 34 saves / 5 blown saves represent his totals from 2021 alone. Also worth noting, unlike everyone else in this post, Barnes was not a full time closer for the last 3 seasons. You can only get a save if you pitch the last inning; you can get a blown save in any inning after the 5th. Barnes has 30 holds in that stretch and Iglesias has 5. So really, Barnes has 67 saves plus holds to 18 blown saves. Iglesias has 81 saves plus holds to 13 blown saves. That certainly narrows the gap between the two..