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It s did seem like Cora is, especially since Bello’s last start snapped a streak of 5 starts in which Cora pulled him in the middle of the fifth inning. In 4 of those 5 starts, Bello allowed 2 earned runs or less, including one in which he was throwing allowed 0 earned runs…

Not if Cora has any say in it…

Me too, but largely by default…

The big issue with dealing Duran is he’s been a very good leadoff hitter. And while he struggles against lefties, he’s not so bad as to necessitate a platoon...

I think Hamilton sticks in Boston ant most until Bregman returns. Toro has made himself a keeper, at lest for 2025. Anthony does need a call up, but who does he push to the bench? Even Rafaela is holding his own as a starter. In theory, Rafaela to 2b and demote Campbell, but Cora clearly prefers C-Note be his CF and not sure what Campbell gets out of AAA. Should the Sox bench Abreu here? Anthony could also DH, but that’s a whole separate thread…

There are lots of issues with fielding percentage. A couple weeks back, I was watching a Rangers-White Sox game and saw the following “defense”. Austin Slater hit a routine flyball to deep center. Rangers’ CF Sam Haggerty settled under the ball on the warning track. Just as he caught it, LF Wyatt Langford plowed him over and the ball popped out. Slater, who had been jogging, managed to reach third. Error was charged to Haggerty. Haggerty!! For what? Making the mistake of forgetting his LF was a buffoon? Next up was Chase Meidroth. Routine grounder to third that Jace Jung dropped, Jung picked it up and fired to first but Meidroth beat the throw. Error -Jung. Had this been a less speedy runner, it’s very likely an out with no error. So now fielding is measured by the speed of the opposing runner? Then Lenin Garcia hit a routine grounder to Rangers 2b Marcus Semien. Instead of throwing the ball, Semien tried to chase down the speedy Meidroth. Once that failed, he threw to first but Garcia beat the throw. No error charged. Somehow it was a clean play. So three routine hits, no outs recorded, and what should have been a clean 1-2-3 inning for Ranger hurler Hobie Milner was instead a 6 run inning. The two errors in it were from one player getting tackled by his teammate, and one because the runner was too fast. Just not seeing the value in this stat…

Can’t it be both?

That might be more due to Cora than Priester…

.390 + .152 =0.542 .390 + .356 =0.746 .542 + .746 =1.288 A bit off for reasons I cited. But two important facts. 1. TYPM did count BA twice in his formula. You missed that, and 2. I just learned if you type a math equation into this applet, it does the math. At least for addition..

Actually not true. OBP isnt simply BA plus walk rate. That does work as an approximation, but HBP and sacrifice flies will affect it…

Except for Sale, who had 4 years of absence peppered with Steve Matz-type performance. He was an obvious keeper clearly ready to tback the clock 5 full years

Do you think his defense has never come up before? I suppose it’s possible. But is it realistic? The mere fact that he had to receive some sort of reassurance that he would be playing third base tells me it has…

I had some faith in Priester at the time. I didn’t question the entire practice of trading SP simply because the Sox dealt a pitcher with a 5.16 ERA as a starter for a prospect with some promise. Not to mention Priester isnt even starting in Milwaukee, plus Pitt -a team that cannot afford to retain good SP - did deal him for Nick Yorke long before arbitration became an issue. And Theres the whole question about the Sox coaching staff. If they really are the source of problems, wouldn’t Priester suffer from those as well? And of course the defense behind him. Priester seems pretty Fungibles to me right now. I can wait and see how Yophery does before I call this deal into question…

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…