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It doesn’t, but it does give him more exposure to the weaker parts of the lineup. The whole purpose of the opener strategy is to use a good reliever against the opposing better hitters rather than wait and use them against whoever is due up next…

It did help us keep Campbell, Anthony and Mayer.

The job of the front office is to care about more than whats happening now….

While I was vocally opposed to this trade from Day One, I think this is a silly overreaction. Largely it seems as though these criticisms come from a place impatience. And maybe frustration that the pitcher worked out at all? The kid the Sox got might never work out, but that’s not the only possibility there either. And remember, trades are not about ripping the other team off; they are supposed to benefit both sides. Sale is one thing, but I remember some folks being upset about dealing Kason Gabbard over Jon Lester. I think in time we will see more about Quinn Priester. He might be a tough loss, but he also might be a Fungibles long reliever outperforming expectations solely due to beneficial usage. Or he might just suck next year…

If Priester was here, Cora would never let that happen…

Really? .795 OPS, 2.0 fWAR, 6 Defensive Runs Saved. All in 50 games? He’s not Pudge Rodriguez, but he does have a legitimate chance to back up Cal Raleigh in the All Star game this year…

Ok let’s run with that analogy. If your boss tells you he is recruiting your replacement, does that make you happy? I doubt any team gets honest about stuff like that. What were they supposed to say? “Yes, we think your defense at third is a place we can upgrade and we want to move you to another position.” Ok, but what if you tell Devers that, and then Bregman signs with Detroit and no Arenado trade gets workedE out? “About your defense, well, ummm, jusssst kidding?” And no salary brings a player into the inner circle

Wong is a clear backup at this point. If backup catcher is a team’s biggest weakness, that team has no weakness…

There are other outcomes. A fielder’s choice where the runner is safe, for example. Happens every day. Errors are more about explaining baserunners runners or runners taking extra bases. They’re not really about fielding. A fielder can misplay two identical grounders, but Hitter A is much faster than Hitter B and beats the throw. So the misplay is only an error because Hitter A can run faster? That’s not a good way to assess fielding…

Agreed. Teams really can’t say anything else, just in case the moves dont pan out…

Toro has been a pleasant surprise so far

Well, the move to 1b was to cover for an injury. Might as well blame Casas for getting hurt…

Really? Doesn’t every team give non-answers like that? Otherwise leaky stories can lead to embarassing and awkward moments. Just ask Kevin Millar…

Of course all errors are not the same. But they are all worth the same when you use fielding percentage. Not sure why you’re blathering on about eye test won a play clearly being described for you, but your eye test needs glasses if it saw Bregman in that play. There are two issues with errors - some guys opinion blah blah blah. But more important, they’re not meant to measure fielding ability; they’re meant to explain baserunners. Using errors and fielding percentage to evaluate a fielder’s defensive skills is like using wild pitches to evaluate a pitcher’s control…

They definitely paid Devers like an All Star 3b, but that doesn’t guarantee he gets to play there forever. At one point, Pablo Sandoval was paid like an All Star 3b, and it didn’t even guarantee him a roster spot…

No, they signed him to play baseball. And they agreed to give him a chance to play third base for two years. I can promise nowhere did that contract mention he would be playing third base, and even Devers knew he could lose it if he wasn’t good enough…

BA also tells you 95% of the league gets a hit between 20% and 30% of their at bats. And the other 5% falls outside that small range. And do these small differences really ever get that big? Or is it just fan perception regarding a hitter?

Gee, putting a promise in an agreed-upon document full of promises. What a novel idea…

And he played third for two full seasons and in the process, lost the job. This isn’t rocket surgery…

And that’s where you’re wrong. Their original offer to him was closer Matt Olson’s deal, at which point Devers was told his future was likely at 1b at some point (and they were not planning this move because Devers played third too well). That discussed move to first was why Devers insisted on getting a promise of playing third. He got said promise, but he then went on to play himself off of third. And that’s why Bregman was brought in…

And Jaz Chisholm conveniently forgets that Devers did have the position for two full seasons and didn’t play it well. The Sox held up their end of the deal. How does Devers justify his?

Or: In those 3 games where the Sox starting pitchers gave up 15 first inning runs, what about the fact that the Sox still went 1-2 in those games, with a run differential of 2 runs? That provides no hope?

I’ve been all for giving Story a chance, but I think it’s simply time to bench or DFA him. Play Toro at 1b, Campbell at 2b, Romy at 3b and Mayer at SS full time until injured players start returning and selfish DHs get their heads out of the glutes. Campbell and/or Mayer might struggle as much as Story, but at least they would both be doing so as part of a learning curve as opposed to a decline…

So your defense is “I thought you people were too stupid to understand the right word”? It’s easy to argue it isn’t cronyism, either. Why not just use “favoritism”?

Can minor league coaching? It seems to me the only place to learn to hit MLB pitching is MLB. I mean, if you aced pre-Calc, but next semester started off failing Calculus, your professor won’t send you back to pre-Calc and you learn Calculus there. No, you stay and learn Calculys where the Calculus is. I don’t see it as being about confidence, either. Campbell already mastered AAA pitching and probably has the confidence that he can do so again. But what if he struggles,which is the only possible change? Couldn’t that destroy his confidence? Seems like making a player work to maintain the status quo is the solution many want. We all want Campbell to learn to hit MLB pitching, but some do not want to watch it. The problem is, the two are inseparable. Demotions strike me as primarily being about two things 1. Not losing team control while the player struggles,. Campbell has already signed his extension, so he is immune here. And 2. Not having the struggling rookie bring the team down. The article mentioned Matt Shaw, who had an OPS in the neighborhood of .550 when he got demoted. He was recalled roughly a month later. Was he recalled because he learned to hit MLB pitching in a month? Or was he recalled because the Cubs realized that Jon Berti and Vidal Brujan were not better solutions at 3b?