Nick

Moving Rafaela to short along with Devers and Grissom taking the field off the 'injured' status should stabilize our infield. We have too many moving parts right now with Devers/Dalbec/Reyes (3B/SS/2B)/Hamilton/Valdez (2B/SS).....unreal.

We have too many 'if's' in the infield. Physical mistakes on top of mental lapses have killed us.

We are 10-10. This is a .500 team at best.

Maybe Hohn Henry does not have issues spending money. But like most wealthy people he doesn't like to waste money. More and more $23M and $17M for Story and Yoshida seems an overpay Throw in Guolito deal that bow guarantees $38M for at best one year peeformance doesn't bolster confidence. $10M for Kluber and ither blown money can anyone blame him?

This board pretty much have no credibility. So many wanted Houck in the pen. Starting pitching is highly sought after commodity. You give guys like Houck, Kutter and even Whitlock long leash to see if they can start.

I don't think we need jerk around Grissom in the infield. He should play 2B and get used to playing 2B. Play as many position players at positions they are destined to play. Rafaela has to play short because no one else is a permanent fixture at SS at this point. Trevor is hurt and Mayer is in AA.

Well said..... Assuming Roman Anthony is ahead of Mayer, then why not let Rafaela play some shortstop? Our team won't be 'set' until the three amigos arrive in Fenway.

0-4 vs >.500 teams. All of you will have your heart broken if you're looking for playoff spot. They took a step in the right direction today by moving Rafaela to shortstop. My guess is he can return to centerfield without much work. He's the best option at shortstop right now. This will allow Abreu to get bats in right field. I wait for the arrival of Grissom.

You are on target Old Red. If you can't provide Rafaela with major league experience this year on a bad team, then when? You f***ing bite the bullet and let him bat ninth and play him. He's the Dave Conception of the Reds in the 70's. Unfortunately the rest of the team is not as good as the Big Red Machine but so what? You play him. Be mindful that we are 0-3 vs AL East. Unless we go .500 vs them, we're not ready to compete for the playoffs. PERIOD. This is the year to find out who are the keepers and who are the pretenders.

Only way Abreu gets more at bat would be to move Rafaela to short or bench our $18M bat. Cora promises to play Abreu more.

Tough to compete with Reyes, Hamilton and Dalbec in the infield. One at a time maybe but not all 3 at once. Ugh.

A REALISTIC VIEW OF 2024 SEASON:PART II We're not making the playoffs. So what do we want to accomplish this year? Goal I Identify the starting pitchers in this organization. Bello was the only sure thing. I think Kutter was more likely than not starter, #4 or #5 in my mind. Big question mark was Houck and Whitlock. I'm sure many here still claim they are better suited for the pen. Let's find out. Management want them to be starters. Period. They will both get a long leash. Goal II Identify young positional players. $50M and 8 years for a guy with less than 50 at bats in the majors says a lot about what the club thinks of Rafaela. Pencil him in CF for next 8 years plus one. Duran appears to have settled in offensively. I still want to see him do it for the entire season. His defense is 'exciting'. Never know what you're going to get. Abreu is highly regarded. It will be interesting to see how he does. Devers and Casas are locks. Catching will be adequate for two years assuming no one gets traded. Waiting for Teel. More and more Yoshida signing appears to be an overpay. A defensive liability, no power maybe other than at home games. $18M for singles hitting DH. Definitely not the answer as a DH. Waiting for Grissom to arrive. Hopefully two of the three of future stars arrive in August/September. Meanwhile, I'm content watching our starters. Sure hope no one gets hurt.

Reese McGuire is only 29 with arbitration year 3 in 2025. If we're out of it, would you trade him? Are we ready for Teel by July? We're either all in or not in Teel, Anthony and Mayer. We gave Rafaela an 8 year deal despite his inexperience. (I was all for it). I would love to see all three a Fenway in September (if not sooner).

I may go with Yorke at 2B instead of Reyes.

I think I'm with you, probably at DH assuming Casas sticks at 1B mainly due to his height. We should be building a championship team. This is the year to find out what we have...... CC We need an upgrade. Teel? 1B Casas 2B Grissom (he'll get his chance, we've been told by Brez) SS Mayer 3B open LF Anthony CF Rafaela RF O'Neill DH Devers I'm assuming Anthony is better defender than Duran. We need to find stars.....

Did I miss something? We all knew what Devers was all about. Everyone here screamed about locking him down. Now it seems many here are having buyers remorse. He is here for ten years. Not sure why we keep talking about his contract. At least he's on the field unlike Sale and Story.

Going in starting pitching was our concern. To date the group has acquitted themselves well. We are not making the playoffs. For me we need to see our three budding stars later this year. At some point we will move away from Yoshida at DH.

Obviously you never want anyone to get hurt.... Another non performing contract. Not Henry's fault Bloom signed him. You were never going to get another team friendly contract from Xander. Pass on Xander's new deal.

Definite NO to extending him even if he comes back this year.

Good find....thx

I think the 'odd' I mentioned is having 5 right handed throwers bat left handed. Not one switch hitter among them. Without looking I bet you $100 that no other team has 8 or more left handed bats and 5 of them throws right handed and not one of them is switch hitter.

Impressive. Let's hope they stay healthy.

Trout with another meaningless home run. JK

Anderson looking to go another 3 inning finish? Good addition.

We have 8 left handed hitting lineup for today's game. I've never seen it. Interestingly, 5 of 8 throws right handed, Casas, Valdez, Hamilton, Duran and McGuire. Odd.