oldtimer

You say Duran is not ready, but in comparison to who. Are Renfroe and or Codero more ready?

The Sox offense has been good despite Refroe's very slow start.

Just looked up JBJ and Andrew Benintendi's offensive stats. Looks like Bloom's trade of Beni was a good move and not picking up JBJ's FA contract also is working well. Beni -0.2 War jbj 0.2 WAR

When you look at the practical aspects of setting a batting order, you have to look at a balance between right and left hand hitters. We currently have the following mix, which is right hand heavy. Bringing a lefty substitute for a righty makes some sense. I took a guess at who will be with the club in 2022 and who is questionable at this juncture. That might also be a consideration as to whether a prospect is brought up. Right Handed Arroyo Bogaerts Dalbec Hernandez Martinez Plawecki Renfroe Vazquez Left Handed Codero Devers Verdugo Switch Gonzalez Likely prospect pool 2021 Duran L Chavis R Downs R

I believe Devers continues at 3rd this year and any evaluation of moving him will take place in the off season. Clearly he is a star offensive player and will find a home on the club. I think the verdict is out on Dalbec, Renfroe and Codero. Dalbec may well improve his hitting and with his power and defensive abilities stay with the team longer term. I'd say the verdict is out on him right now. Renfroe looks like a decent defensive outfielder but his offense is a major question. Codero has been a pleasant surprise offensively yet his defense is suspect. neither Codero or Renfroe seem particularly flexible, since they tend to be a liability against same side pitching. The Sox have Chavis and Duran as potential replacements this season. There is no guarantee that Chavis will hit well and his defense is somewhat suspect. Duran is that fresh new face. His main strength is his speed and you rightly point out he would be an unknown against ML pitching. Still, if some of our players are struggling for a significant length of time, it may be best to try alternatives.We may be a playoff level team and we shouldn't overlook the possibility of improving through replacement of a struggling player.

And some of those may win or lose games. Use technology to assist the umpire where it is easy to do, like ball and strike calls!

I also have followed the Sox and from the late 1940's. I think Bloom is doing a remarkable job given the circumstances and I guess I am more understanding of the Betts move. I believe Bloom was tasked with bringing the Sox back to relevance while staying below the CBT until the Sox have a real chance of competing at the highest level. His plan appears to involve improving the minor league prospects while gradually bringing the team forward. There was no way that taking on 365 million for the next 12 years was consistent with that approach. Bloom has instead added lower cost, but potentially talented players and prospects by trading away Betts and a few lesser players. He is still stuck with the Price, Pedey and Bennintendi contract residuals and an ace level contract to Sale, which for the time being is not contributing to the team. Fully 1/4 of the CBT is wasted. Getting Arroyo, Verdugo, Codero, Renfroe, Hernandez, Gonzalez and a plethora of better pitching has improved the team. Will all the guys we picked up perform well enough to be with the club for more than this year? No, but some will and the budget will grow next year and put us squarely in the race. The surprise is that we appear to be causing some major ripples already this season.

Very encouraging to date. They may feed off each other gaining confidence in what they can do collectively.

I've thought this year we have started with an experiment with three players on the roster who are relatively low cost power hitters coming into their prime years, but who all have question marks. Codero, Renfroe and Dalbec all are decent athletes and defensive players for their positions, but those question marks remain. Codero has durability question marks and doesn't hit left hand pitchers while both Dalbec and Renfroe strike out a lot which may be exploited during a full season. We also have Chavis who had options or might have made the team or been traded. he is not as good defensively but has versatility going for him. He is another question mark as far as strikeout rate.. The way I see Cora handling these guys is to encourage Codero to go with the pitch more and hit to left when the pitcher goes outside. With Dalbec he just wants him to make more frequent contact and not to worry about the HR. They will come. Renfroe tends to take a big swing so I don't know if Cora can get him to a better place. The point is that these guys are young enough to be around in 2022 and 2023 provided the experiment shows that they can adapt. They could be solid for the team this year, help us to a winning season and be a part of a rebuilt team. I doubt they all show that they belong, but one or even more happily, two of these guys come through we have gotten a real lift. Clearly there are young stars in the making in Duran this year and Casas next depending on how these guys do.

Thats the risk a team has to accept to sign a guy for such a long contract. I hope I live long enough to see his contract through.

We do have that speed but have chosen to park it in the AAA site.

I fully expect Betts to have several additional years of good performance, barring injuries. He is getting paid more than $30 million a year and should produce. The risk is high that he will either get injured or will decline after 5 years, but his salary will remain.

We need to remain flexible in our thinking as new FA stars will appear and we will have to assess our prospects and they include both Codero and Renfroe who are both fairly young. As you point out, we will have lots of money to spend and need to use it to fill in the weak spots and especially in the pitching area. I personally hope we don't pour big money into aging ace pitchers.

A few of us were concerned that JDM was losing bat speed and as a highly paid DH without defensive cred, he might become a liability. I didn't see a way to effect a trade so suggested the best approach would be to let him demonstrate his ability, at least to the All-Star break and then be better informed about how to deal with him going forward. So far, he is hitting much better and looks like a top DH and strength of the team. Patience is a virtue.

Moving Bogey rom short during the season is also unlikely. That may happen someday but not during this season.

Every game is important and there will be tough matchups coming down the line. If there is a chance of making the playoffs, we need to win most of the games in which we are favored. We showed quality and resilience against the Rays, things missing against the O's. My question is why the team didn't seem ready to play during the first 3 outings. We can't get those games back and it's a shame we started that slow. Was there something lacking in Cora's preparation of the team?

Why did it take the manager advising the guys to do that instead of being an approach up front?

Time will tell if we made the right moves by taking fill-in players this year instead of promoting up and coming talent at low cost and let them gain crucial experience. Of course we can still do that during the year if the team as currently formulated shows itself to be uncompetitive over the longer haul. Most of us anticipated 2021 to be a transition year but were hoping to see significant improvement. So far it is not encouraging but it is only 3 games.

The Braves scored a total of 3 runs in their first 3 games. One would hope ST would prepare hitters better.

Would Betts have made a difference in the first three losses to the O's. Probably not enough to win.

I wonder how Devers reacts to this idea of 1st base or DH. He must have thoughts and if they conflict with the suggested moves does that drive him away from Booston?

Better get it done as being swept by the Orioles at home would be hard to bear.

With other people's money.

We have to be looking at Refroe, Codero and Dalbec to see if they will produce. Devers is a slow starter so that isn't anything new. I would hope that Spring training wasn't an illusion and the hitting will show up.

I remember it being discussed but also that the discussion was futile because no one was likely to pay even half his salary following such a tough showing in 2020. Now he is here for 2021, the best strategy is to let him try to return to his past good form. Letting him try means at least a couple of months. If it doesn't work out, we should know by then. Not as if we will be compromising a shot at the pennant.