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When Grissom arrives, it would not surprise me if he played SS. But the that means more of Enmanuel Valdez, who is to defense what ptomaine is to dinner time...

Did McDonough really say Henry won't let him do anything?

Adrian Beltre sees your knocking out of Ellsbury, and raises you one knockout of Jeremy Hermida…

I have my doubts there. But certainly Hamilton isn’t an improvement…

What’s Duran supposed to do? His only job there is if the ball gets dropped, pick it up and throw it in. He’s an outfielder, not a medic…

Ok to question. Why not are Reyes?

There is a decent chance we see whether or not Grissom can be a stopgap shortstop...

Last year it took them longer to move Kike off shortstop. They put him in CF, and let him play there for a week and he played very well.. But then Chang got hurt and Kike went right back to SS, continued to botch plays and was just left there with no end in sight. And he stayed there until Chang came back and then finally got traded...

So the Sox would have been correct in making that move. Yet you lump it in with the failed Bradley trade. Interesting...

I am not opposed to Rafaela at SS. The Sox have an in-house replacement in Abreu (and some re-arrangement in the OF). But until Breslow and/or Cora agree he s should play there, other options should probably be pursued. Particularly ones that can easily be undone,like starting Andrus at SS. If he flops, DFA him and cut bait and Rafaela will still be there…

I’ll say it again - Elvis Andrus is still available. Not sure why Breslow is so hellbent on repeating the biggest mistake Bloom made last off-season…

You’re still missing the point. How do you know how much they practice anything? What are you basing this complaint on?

Ok here’s my question - would this be a better team with Chapman at 3b and Devers as 1b/DH? Would Gallo have been a better right field option than Bradley/Arroyo?

I can see that. I mean, if I’m Juan Soto, I’m not getting paid for my glove. Serviceable in the field, elite at the plate…

Ok here is the point. The Sox very likely do more infield practice than we realize. And while practice might help every player achieve their best, it doesn’t mean that personal best is any good. Some guys will just never be good defensive players. Just like some of us could practice golf 18 hours a day for the next 5 years. If I did that I’d get substantially better. But I still most likely will still suck at golf. Just a better degree of suck. Of course I also think the Sox have had more defensive success stories than many of us realize. Especially when you consider how many players get drafted at one position and then have to learn a whole new position…

And everyone who practices golf becomes a professional, right? I agree the weight room should be limited, although I don’t know how much it gets used. And just because it gets used didn’t mean team don’t stress defense. But you’re starting to move the goalposts. Your original point was the Sox were not teaching defense properly, and supported with their lack of outstanding infielders since Betts. Now you’re moving on to weight rooms and overall training regimens.

I don’t know if that’s true or not. Some people just lack the hand-eye coordination. Or can’t get a good read. And just lack the skills to improve upon. It’s like hitting. You can spend hours upon hours in the cage and get markedly better. But will you be good enough for MLB? How many more hours will it take until you are? Practice makes progress, but contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t make perfection…

I think the farm system is a giant multilevel organization that attempts to bring in a high volume of players each year through drafting and IFA, etc. and through attrition whittles them down to a handful of players each year who graduate to MLB. And if any of these human beings are deficient in any aspect of baseball, it all gets blamed on the farm system., coaching, and the FO, and whoever else comes up. Even if the process is perfect, which it likely isn’t, that doesn’t mean every product coming out will be perfect…

I don’t know how their coaching of defense is in the minors, but what I do know is what you’re calling proof simply isn’t proof. Nothing personal, but it just leaves too many other possibilities and only accounts for a very small sample…

Not what was said. Although there seems to be a school of thought that defense is solely leaned by practice while hitting and pitching are innate abilities. My point was to say the Sox don’t teach coaching because they have not produced any great infielders once Betts is just flat out incorrect on multiple levels.

Guardians 8 Yankees 7….

He lead the league in saves the year after the Dodgers let him walk…

I’m sure you can find examples of hitters and pitchers who improved over time as well…

Can hitting and pitching be taught?

Sure it is. Offense has always ruled baseball. Owners figured out over a century ago that fans don’t pay to watch players field. If you can hit, you’re more likely to make the majors than if you can field. But fielding is a unique skill set, and not one everyone has. A lot of fans think it’s easy or easily learned, which is not necessarily true. Even on this thread, someone said something about “the Sox don’t have infield practice anymore,” as if all it took to becoming a great fielder was repetitive practice drills. Ted Williams once said the hardest thing in sports is hitting a round ball with a round bat squarely. Yet Williams mastered hitting like no other, but was fairly questionable as an outfielder. You’d think he’d call the activity he found more challenging to be the difficult one. But he didn’t. And while hitting is tough, so is doing the complex math in your head to extrapolate the curved path of s flyball until it intersects with the plane of the outfielder. As bizarre as that sounds, that’s what it takes to catch a fly ball. And when we say an outfielder “takes bad routes” or “gets bad jumps”, what we mean is he cannot do that math in his head fast enough. It’s not just simple coaching and teaching. Just like hitting, there has to be a foundation to work with. Is it possible the Sox don’t coach defense well? Sure. But the evidence has to be diverting other than “name one outstanding infielder since Betts.” By the way, Betts learned to become an elite outfielder really fast. Don’t you think the Sox developmental coaches had a hand in that?