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I don’t think you’re crazy for wanting Porcello back. I do have other reasons, though

Well, we had that Alex Gonzalez guy in between...

No. I think he only signed him over Cabrera in an effort to rebuild the farm (letting Cabrera go netted the Sox Ellsbury and Lowrie, but signing Renteria cost them Colby Rasmus) and he couldn’t refuse the offer of Marte. If Epstein was just unloading him to get him out of town, wouldn’t that return be considered surprisingly successful?

O Oh GMs respond to media pressure. That’s not uncommon at all. And the money hit he took was a big deal at the time. But he also got the BA #2 overall prospect in return. (And really, the money spent wasn’t that different than what untried prospects were getting as signing bonuses at the time.) LNow that guy (the late Andy Marte) was a complete bust, but that was Cleveland’s problem...

I believe that is already calculated into fWAR...

I haven’t seen Gallo play CF for a single inning, so we’d just be working off reputations here...

As a hitter, his numbers that one year in Boston were right in line with his career numbers. He was awful defensively, but metrics had him in rapid decline the 3 previous seasons. And it was also only one season, which is more important (and really my entire point - that this whole “can’t handle Boston” thing gets thrown around so quickly). At the time, I couldn’t remember Renteria diving for a single ground ball and playing all year very gingerly. Like he had a mild injury of some soreness, which is hardly uncommon. But I think people cling to the LaRussa comment, which I always interpreted to mean “Edgar won’t be very good without me, since I’m the only manager who knows how to get anything out of him or any other player.” But then, I’ve always felt LaRussa was a bit of a megalomaniac...

But add 0.5 back in for having the name “Vogelbach”...

Everyone does. The point is that even with the two best OBP hitters in most teams batting 1 and 2, the third hitter will still have a lot of “2 out no one on” at bats. Unless your third hitter is Joe Carter, who got to bat behind Roberto Alomar and Tony Gwynn for a while there...

And he’s actually spent more time in CF than any other position. Who saw that coming?

Castillo is certainly irrelevant to the discussion. It’s very possible that Sandoval is a big part of why the Sox didn’t get involved. But with Dombrowski and bullpens, one never knows. This year isn’t the first time he has not spent on one...

Very poor man’s. And not the 2019 Gallo...

And probably a future Russ Branyan clone. Which does give him a respectable MLB career, but also makes him very expendable...

But I agree with mvp it’s more interesting than the influx of “JBJ sucks” posts..

I’m all ears. Or eyes in this case...

At the hands of Ortiz, no doubt. Is it really chocking if you get beat by a Hall of Famer to be? Ok let’s take a more obvious candidate. Do you think Edgar Renteria - a man who once got the game-winnng hit in game seven of the World Series - struggled in Boston due to media pressure?

I was never all that high on him. Reportedly Cora liked his defense in Spring Training, but I don’t think his fascination goes much beyond that...

The definition of “legend” is “traditional story believed to be historic but is unauthenticated.” So it leaves the door open that you don’t exist...

Also, stating something is an opinion makes it free for counter arguments and criticisms...

But even that behavior isn’t unique to Boston or exclusive to large markets. Social media makes it very, very easy for anyone and EVERY player in MLB has detractors on Twitter or bloggers who rip them for some reason. And even then, do you think Foulke or Pedroia or whoever thought about it on the field? And it affected their play?

I wouldn’t demote Chavis to accommodate Holt. Let Chavis play and make his adjustments. Demote him if a doubleheader forces a need for a bigger pitching staff short term. But that’s it...

Errors are not the only defensive metric he hasn’t done well on. Absolute worst case scenario for Devers is he does get moved to 1b, as hit bat got him to Boston. But I think they keep him at 3b and move Dalbec elsewhere...

But do players really notice or care? Maybe some might, but the notion that players in small markets can walk amongst the normies unnoticed is ridiculous. I believe most players live in a bubble, and that bubble contains 24 other guys they spend nearly all their time with. And when they’re on the field focusing on the game, they’re not thinking about what Gerry Callahan or Tony Massarotti is going to complain about the next day. Those guys complain about everything. They’re focused on the pitcher staring them down. Or the hitter and what they have to do when the ball is hit to them. They’re focused on those other 24 guys and not letting THEM down. Because those guys are in their bubble, not Callahan or Massarotti. And I believe every player in MLB has this type of focus, because you simply don’t make the majors without it. And probably plenty of players worry about the players coming up to take their jobs, or how their current injuries will affect their time going forward. Or their pending contract. Or what do they need to do to make sure their next road trip isn’t on a bus. That Bob Q. Twitter has some disparaging comments to share with his followers is far, far down on the list, where it belongs. And none of that is any different in Boston than it is in Minneapolis...

It’s not faulty for Shaw’s tenure there. This was about Shaw. In fact, I don’t think you get how impressive that is. Milwaukee is only about an hour from Chicago. People commute from the Milwaukee suburbs to the Chicago suburbs. Yet even in the wake of TV coverage from another major market so close, the Brewers still do well. They have a huge disadvantage in that their blackout region covers Wisconsin and Iowa, which affects viewership. Even if you want me to concede that media pressure in Boston is so much worse, the notion that players in other cities have no pressure is just ludicrous. Media pressure isn’t the only factor and certainly not the only type of pressure. Also the notion that it was an issue for Shaw - which is really where this all started- is 100% unsupported.

I could write an entire treatise on why I think fan perception of media pressure is overblown. But I don’t think you’d want to take the time to read it. Even though I would probably color it up with a lot of profanity...