notin

Slaten has been injured and mediocre since his rookie year and probably why thinking every Rule 5 RP is the next Whitlock is a weak way to fortify the bullpen. While teams occasionally leave some serious talent unprotected, most players are left unprotected for a reason, which is why none of us regret losing Thad Ward any more…

As much as people complain about losing Harrison, how much better is he than Bennett? If the Sox had kept Harrison and dealt Perales for Durbin, what’s the net change?

Handier than Contreras and Gray?

It was actually the same situation in Boston sand SF. Both teams had much better gloves at 3b. Both teams asked him to play DH and 1b. He did so in SF with no experience, whereas in Boston he whined about having “to play every position.” Whether or not it weakens the DH position is immaterial if Devers is still in the lineup. The Sox lineup would have looked better with Devers (1b) and Yoshida (DH) than it would have with Devers (DH) and Abraham Toro (1b)…

The lineup that faced the Yankees featured too much Romy, Eaton, Refsnyder, etc. and little to no Anthony and Abreu. Was that lineup a bigger concern than using a struggling Bello to start game two after Quinn Priester was needlessly traded? And then followed with Connelly Early (with all of 14 career IP) starting game 3? The Sox lineup last year lost Bregman and Lowe/Toro and replaced them with Contreras and Durbin. Upgrade, downgrade or status quo? Bear in mind that the lineup post Devers scored 4.84 RPG, down from 4.86 RPG with Devers. Some (too many?) sophomore slumps coupled with an absolutely horrific season from Duran and Story trying to play injured are bigger culprits here. And who was the new big bat going to replace? Duran or Anthony? And I am fairly certain in February no one knew of Anthony’s injury and Duran’s struggles…

Did he? There was much more talk about Abreu as the potential breakout star. If anything, Anthony was miscast as a leadoff hitter solely because of his ability to draw walks. While I think the Sox need a leadoff hitter, did anyone anywhere so much as imply Anthony would carry the team from that role?

They kind of needed to trade Duran if the plan was to acquire a “big bat.” And cries that they “overvalued him” always come from the same people who get critical f the Sox don’t get enough back in trades…

Calling Anthony a flop is just either ignorant or short-sighted and any national broadcaster saying that is clearly an idiot. Hes 22 years old , has 433 plate appearances and a career OPS .804. Thats not flopping by any means and anyone saying so clearly had much higher expectations. Odd that you say you don’t like the expectations put on Anthony but you clearly side with the ones who have them. And if your comeback is you only care about this year, calling a player a flop based solely on 130 PA is even worse. Fun point - never answered whose expectations? Ours? Why does that bother anyone? Breslow’s? I could see the issue but I don’t know what his expectations were. This off-season the front office seemed to talk up Abreu as their potenetial breakout star more than Anthony. The WBC guys loved Anthony, but who cares? That impacted nothing and he backed everything up in that tournament anyway…

And what exactly were those expectations and from whom? And if your only problem was expectations, why did you repeatedly call him a flop and “Little Anthony” and refuse any positive commentary on him?

All right. All right. You talked me into it. Tell Breslow to leave the keys in the desk…

He was the leadoff hitter. Does that sound like they wanted RBIs from him?

I saw Devers reaction. Frankly I thought Devers should have been moved off third years ago. And if no one had even broached the subject with him at any point in the previous 5 years, then either the Sox have had tons of clueless observers running this team or Devers was a notoriously obstinate fellow…

Right because you have certainly shown yourself to have an open mind. And if it is open, close it off soon before more of it escapes 😉

Jim Willoughby was another one..

Do our players ever come off the IL?

No idea. Schwarber certainly didn’t allow for much time to entertain offers…

I doubt they’re moving Walcott just yet. I don’t think two pitchers in their late 30s changes that. I hope Breslow asks. I just don’t think it will work…

We all knew Devers grabbing a 3b mitt didn’t help the Red Sox. And Devers did some 1b OJT in San Francisco. So not sure why you are trying to argue that point. Cora clearly knew Devers was going to be difficult to get to change positions. He advocated for Bregman at 2b despite Bregman being the reigning AL Gold Glover at third. So is your argument that Cora felt his infield would be best with the worst 3b in MLB still at 3b while the best one changed positions? Cora didn’t talk to Devers about 1b because he knew Devers was difficult and selfish. It had nothing to do with whether or not Devers could play 1b (which Devers clearly proved he could). And the worst part to me was that it was to cover for an injured teammate. It’s not like they were just randomly bouncing him around…

No. The Rangers aren’t giving up the guy who would be the number one prospect in baseball just because of one injury. Of course, if he gets injured again next year, all bets are off. They might think “we’ve seen this story before - best prospect SS gets repeatedly injured. This is Jurickson Profar The Sequel! Sell! Sell!” But probably not…

Liking Siegler. Hes not a guy I want starting 140 games, but he certainly could be a serviceable short term fix…

Gee that sounds like a solution. But at least it’s nonsensical and solves nothing. Sounds like all your gripes are based solely on the budget.

If your argument is money talks, thats not on Breslow, is it?

Schwarber wasn’t leaving Philly. Hes a legend for a team with an owner willing to overspend and a CBO that hates leaving a budget unused. No one expected anything else. He signed very early as the least surprising signing of the off-season. Apparently the Sox were not happy giving Alonso 5 years. While you were probably only concerned with 2026, Breslow has to be concerned with the whole contract. He might be wrong, but Alonso is a one-dimensional player many teams felt the same way about, which is why he settled for a mere one year deal last year. Plus doubtful the Sox move on Contreras if they got Alonso. Arguments that there was room for both noted, although it definitely meant benching Anthony or Duran. And I to this season, leadoff hitter looks like the biggest need anyway. Anthony is injured and was probably a better option to bat second. Duran has flopped in the biggest possible way. They’ve been using Gasper/Seigler types in the role, which isn’t working so well. Yoshida has been tried, but he’s struggling at close to Duran levels. And of course there is Story. Most of the weak links are the guys Breslow didn’t bring in…

If Breslow had brought back Bregman - who is underperforming and barely outdoing Durbin after the latter had a historically bad start, would you say Breslow did his job? He replaced Bregman and Toro/Lowe on a playoff team wuth Durbin and Contreras. Is that or is that not an improvement over last season’s offense?

Breslow is definitely portrayed as unlikable, but if he had given Devers his wishes, suddenly it’s “the inmates running the asylum.” When you’re in charge and have all the responsibility and are fair game for all the blame, isn’t it necessary to flex your authority when your players refuse your changes?