notin

And I’m ok with that…

Intriguing. It does further clutter the Sox OF/DH logjam, but there is time to work that out. And sometimes injuries do that for you. Hicks did bump his fastball up to 97.5 mph last year. Poor season aside, there is still something there to intrigue a team, and if the Dodgers may not be thrilled with Teoscar’s middle infielder-esque .738 OPS. Another one that looks fringey but acceptable on paper (to me, anyway) is Triston Casas for Mark Vientos…

But pronounced to rhyme with “Ow”…

So the field died with Michael King? King was never an option for anyone but San Diego. Between injuries and his limited experience as a starter, no one was going to surrender a draft pick to sign him. If anyone filled out the MLBTR Free Agent contest and didn’t put King back in SD, they gave away a freebie. He was the equivalent of the center space on a Bingo card. MLBTR ranked King as the 5th best starting pitcher on the free agent market. 3 of the 4 ranked above him (Valdez, Imai, Suarez) are still available…

Cellar sellers?

He had the purchase the copy after adding his name in permanent Sharpie…

I have been on the Marte Train for a while. I’m not so much in Camp Suarez, but I could see it happening…

Marte and Eugenio Suarez? Suarez might only require 2-3 years given his age. Hes listed as 34 years old, but advanced carbon dating and the fossil record places him closer to 650,000,003 years old…

Leave his private life out of this. Focus on talking about how he can bat from the left side as well as the right side …

For context, that was only referring to one season. No idea if he just had a bad year there. And Okamoto had the same issue last year…

I did see where one scout graded his power at 90, which is impressive on the 20 to 80 scale…

Did Henry kill that deal or was Breslow simply not as into Alonso as many fans were? Alonso did check some boxes, but he wasn’t the best free agent out there…

Yoshida is like 5’2”. He makes Andrew Vaughn look tall…

Ketel is the only One True Marte. Starlin is an aging poser. And nobody love Noelvi or Jose. Especially not Jose…

Make sure to show them the red ledgers. Not the blue ones with all “mistakes” in them. The RED ones…

Anthony LF Marte 2b Abreu RF E Suarez 1b Yoshida/Romy DH Story SS Mayer 3b Rafaela CF Narvaez C SP: Crochet, Gray, Sandoval, Crawford, Oviedo RP: Chapman, Whitlock, Slaten, Weissert, Hicks, Kahnle, Harrison, Watson

And that becomes possible if they can move Yoshida. Of course any trade of Yoshida will yield nothing in the way of an enthusiastic return. There is also the unpopular solution of returning Rafaela to the INF, where he is much less of a contributor. But he might be the best internal option for 2b, not counting their other starting infielders…

Hey I want to trade him for Marte. Top 50 or not, the Sox have 4 viable candidates to start in the OF. Given they have other needs, one of them is the most logical trade candidate….

Done!! Except you will play 2b…

Was Hazen there when Bello and/or Duran joined the Sox organization?

There are a lot of teams Duran represents an immediate and smart upgrade. Diamondbacks, Mets, Phillies, Dodgers, Royals, Guardians, Astros, Blue Jays, Yankees, Tigers, Mariners, Braves, Padres, and probably a couple others. And he’s out of so few budgets…

If I’m Hazen, I leave it. When it comes to Carroll, not sure Anthony even perks my interest…

That’s why the OF offers better trade alternatives. Duran and Bello for Marte. Sign Marte’s former teammate Eugenio Suarez for 1b. Start the season…

They do need a 1b, but unless SF offers up Bryce Eldridge, doubtful they use Marte to get someone. Triston Casas is basically a repeat of their current Pavin Smith. I looked at RR on Fangraphs, which is usually pretty accurate. Their starting OF was Blaze Alexander in LF, Alex Thomas in CF, and Corbin Carroll in RF. Carroll is an MVP candidate, and Thomas is passable due to his defense. Alexander? I’d say FG is just filling gaps wuth best available here. Duran, whose WAR values are comparable to Marte, does fill their OF. Not sure if they view Alexander as a defensive solution in the INF, but it is a possibility. So basically they could swap out Marte (10.9 fWAR and 11.6bWAR in the last two years) for Duran (10.8 fWAR, 13.4bWAR in the last two years) and gain Bello along with it. Marte does have a good contract, but Duran is still younger and cheaper. Fewer years left, but doubtful AZ considers losing Marte at 36 and 37 a deal breaker. Does it make sense? Sure on one level. But it all depends what direction Hazen wants. One point in Boston’s favor is Hazen might have favorable opinions on both players. Of course, he might also hate them both with the white hot passion of 1,000 August suns, I suppose…

Well, you said if not Mayer, they want pitching. Whether or not they want Duran - and I can see both sides there - is something neither of us can determine. But here is what we know. 1. Arizona isn’t necessarily rebuilding. They just committed $40mill to a mid-30s pitcher. 2. Not long ago, they had 3 good outfield prospects, but only one has settled in as a starter abd contributor. (Thomas can start due to his defense. McCarthy is a 4th OF.) 3. The DBacks were 80-82 last year. Certainly they could sell off and hope, but it’s not exactly impossible to improve in a very unstable NL West. 4. While Marte is their far and away WAR leader, he and Duran are fairly close in that department. But Duran is cheaper. 5. The reason they are interested in trading Marte might be because it turns out, Marte is a whiny bitch.