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Renteria is a favorite among people who like to highlight how some players "cannot handle a big market", but how bad was he compared to the player he was before? His OPS in Boston was .721, but the season before in St. Louis, it was .728. And his career OPS before signing with Boston was .746. So it's not like he was struggling at the plate compared to his prior performance. Granted, he had a horrific season in the field, making a career high 30 errors. And that seemed like a lot for a player who had won 2 Gold Gloves in the previous 3 seasons. Of course, his putout numbers and assist numbers in Boston were also among the best of his career as well. Defensive metrics are not available for his early career, but he did posts some comparably poor UZR numbers in Atlanta and DRS numbers in San Francisco afterwards. So while it was the worst defensive season of his career, it wasn't ridiculously out of line. Not to mention, one thing I noticed that year was he did not dive for anything. I have always wondered if he had some sort of injury that he was playing through. But because Tony LaRussa said he wouldn't be able to handle Boston (which I read between the lines to mean "Renteria is nothing without Tony LaRussa"), he drew the "can't handle pressure" label. Which was a label that seemed really odd to attach to a guy who once got a walk off hit in extra innings of game 7 of a World Series. I mean, isn't that the scenario we all drew up in our backyards as kids? "Game 7. Score tied. Extra innings. Bases loaded. And here's the pitch..." Or did some of you draw up "Everyone's watching. One bad swing here and the media will fillet him like a halibut. And here's the pitch..."

Especially if other GMs are equally hopeful about them...

I think I sort of implied it

He'll be back opening day completely rejuvenated. 31 starts. 279 IP. 838 K's. (Plawecki made him work harder than one time by dropping a third strike.)

Psychology itself had created a few fields that can be considered unquantifiable. Does the recent proliferation of pet psychologists mean we have an uprise in Lhasa Apsos struggling to deal with the troubles in their daily lives?

It's not that I think there are no mental factors. Even Yogi Berra said baseball is "90% mental and the other half is physical." So according to him, the mental half of the game is almost the entire game. But my theory is players who cannot handle the mental aspect of the game don't make it to the majors. For all the talk about the mental pressure and media pressure, I've always felt there is more pressure to perform in the minors, where a failure to perform means a failure to get promoted. In the majors, there is pressure to keep any job you have. There is pressure from the guy behind you trying to replace you as one of the only 750 people in the world capable of holding an MLB roster spot. But this is the type of pressure these players face day in and day out. I am not so sure it can be equated to any single specific game situation...

Mystery solved. Go get him, Bloom!

But it's not like the pressure-riddled New York media doesn't cover road games. More likely, they were attributable to the small park...

Some promise. But the numbers of a 21yo player in Rookie Ball shouldn't be taken too seriously just yet. In maybe 2 or 3 years if/when he reaches AA ball, we will see how he does...

No one has been pushing harder for Taillon than me, but I do wonder that since he settled before arbitration, if it affects his availability. I don't like Musgrove nearly as much...

The bigger issue is fan perception, where they think pitching in Boston and New York is so much more difficult. There's pressure on every MLB team for every player. Don't perform and you don't get paid like you want to, or worse, the guy behind you passes you up on the depth chart...

100 mph fastball. Plenty of hard throwing minor league position players have transitioned into being major league relievers, including Trevor Hoffman, Joe Nathan, Sean Doolittle, Rafael Betancourt, Jordan Weems and Javier Guerra. (The Sox farm system seems to be the primary source for these guys, having produced Betancourt, Weems and Guerra before Aybar.) They're taking a chance at a guy with some serious heat. You can teach a guy control and mechanics. Teaching a guy to throw 100 mph is a lot harder...

There was a clear goal of opening a 40 man roster spot. While they could have released any number of players, Aybar was in an extremely small subset of the expendable players who could have gotten anything in a trade. I think that subset is now basically just Chatham...

Koss is an interesting case. He appears to have mashed in Rookie Ball better than he did in college...

The Rangers signed Joe Gatto to a Major League deal. Does this mean he's leaving Impractical Jokers?

Especially playing in Target Field. Despite the Twins setting league HR records, the park still ranks in the mid-20's most seasons for home runs...

And then there is the inevitable comment after a routine minor league deal is given to an obscure player - "Print the post-season tickets!!"

Well, you always call for platoons early. At this point, a platoon is more about cutting into his playing time more so than trying to cover up his weaknesses. Taking him out vs LHP is just an excuse to do so. Now the Sox do have one guy on their team who can hit LHP pretty well and has no position. Maybe Chavis can handle LF part time? I know the only reason the Sox trotted him out here last year was because they were running out of outfielders, but Chavis isn't going anywhere (who would want him?) and can hit LHP and really has never established himself as owning any infield position defensively. A Benintedi-Chavis platoon in LF? Sign/trade for a CF (Still liking Inciarte here.) and Verdugo in RF.

Also Ellsbury needs to know that he is in foul ground, which makes simply backing off and letting Beltre take the chance or calling Beltre off a low risk play anyway. That he let it go like it did just increased the risk of injury...

Ellsbury has to make that call, as he is the one with the play in front of him. If he thinks he can get it, he should call off Beltre. If he does not think he can get to it or thinks Beltre has a better shot, he has to back off. Of course, Beltre did have a bad habit of sidelining Sox left fielders that year...

I'm still waiting for Dombrowski to make moves from the 2019 off-season...

I can agree it is not the optimum move. He was drafted as a CF, but was obviously moef to LF for a reason. and it was not due to the logjam the Sox had in CF, since they were trying anyone and everyone out there (Bradley, Betts, Castillo). But on the other hand, if the Sox had a good defensive LF and put Benintendi between to good outfielders, it would lessen his impact. and if he was coupled with a RHH platoon option/defensive replacement, it would help even more. Someone like Almora or Marisnick, for example. Or the Sox could sign one of the rifle-armed RF options like Puig, Eaton or Renfroe and slide Verdugo into CF. Still, if Benintendi does not turn something around, is he still a full time option in LF? Or is he a lesser version of Joc Pederson? Should the Sox look into a platoon partner for Benintedi, regardless of where he plays?

He's just a cheap glove out there, but if that is the plan the other cheap glove options like Almora, Dyson and Marisnick are not exactly more exciting. The most intriguing free agent position appears to be the corner OF market, with Ozuna, Rosario, Dahl, Schwarber, Renfroe and Puig. If the Sox plan to move Benintendi to CF, they will definitely be able to get increased production in LF with these players, all of whom are very likely to sign for less than Springer. Of course, that leaves CF as a question mark, and might require another RHH cheap glove to help Benintendi...

DeShields is a pretty underrated player who seems to struggle to find a home every year, but he is not a bad candidate for any team looking for a CF, and he will be MUCH less expensive than Inciarte. If I has to pick a move by the Braves, one guy who just seems like a perfect fit for them is Eddie Rosario...

I'd be surprised if the Braves made no other moves and kept Inciarte in their starting lineup. They have already been linked to Marcell Ozuna, who was an obvious success story for them in LF. Or they could return Austin Riley to LF. And they still hjave top prospect Drew Waters. Inciarte's main contribution is CF defense, which they already have covered with the much cheaper Christian Pache, who saw more playing time than Inciarte in the post-season. Nick Markakis was also starting over Inciarte throughout the entire post-season. The fact that Inciarte saw 0 plate appearances in the entire 2020 post-season might be a very strong indication of his future role with that team, if he has one at all. I actually strongly suspect they will try to bring Duvall back. He clearly worked out for them. But they will try to get Duvall back for much less than his $7.1mill projected salary (per MLBTR). but for the one team that has been actively signing players and going for it, I do have my very strong doubts about an Inciarte-Pache-Acuna outfield...