oldtimer

You said it. The Red Sox seem to need an offensive spark and Anthony looks like he is our best bet for one. Let's give him a try.

I certainly hope so. The Sox are great at holding their prospects back in order to get them additional control, rather than improving the team. Bring him up, he is ready and the Sox could use an offensive spark. Mayer is a harder fit but is also capable of playing Major league ball now. I don't want to trade away all his capability.

This team still has the pieces to make the playoffs but something is holding them back. Ownership has opened their pocketbooks so where can we lay blame? Is it management or coaching? Certainly we didn't get the bats tuned up in Spring training. Trading players and/or bringing up prospects takes management courage to act. Clearly Yoshida has no place to play. Rafaela has had a problem with pitch selection but is versatile and a platinum level defender. Anthony has the potential to be a star hitter with power. Is there a reason to hold onto Yoshida? Can we bring up Anthony now and send Rafaela down with the understanding he has to work on his hitting? I'm not for trading him as he is young as still may develop into a star level player. Make moves now and improve the team before we build in another finish out of the playoffs.

I don't think Rafaela's hitting had developed enough to warrant a FT position but his defense and versatility along with his right hand bat makes him a player you don't want to quit on. I advocated sending him to the minors to work on his hitting. Meanwhile the Sox are sitting on the #1 prospect who is an outfielder who has both power and looks like an solid hitter. I advocated taking a chance on him even though he is another lefty bat. Now we are into the season and it still looks like the right approach. Rafaela could rejoin the team at the end of June, assuming he learns to be more selective at the plate. I can see him as that super utility player all teaks would love to have.

At the beginning of the season the Sox were looking for an improved defense and as you point out there were a number of changes which should have made that possible. There were some negatives that were associated with the defensive changes. Rafaela hadn't shown he could hit ML pitching. I had recommended they start him in AAA and bring up one of our stud prospects. Who know what would have resulted but clearly what we did hasn't worked to date? Moving Devers from third should have helped but his hitting is less than stellar at this point. I expect Devers to always be a streaky hitter with natural gifts which overcome his tendency to swing at balls. We are paying a bundle to a guy who is a substandard fielder and a gifted but streaky power hitter. I think we did the right thing to move him to DH. Story is a higher paid guy who we hoped would be a superior fielder and could give us a solid bat with some power. It's early in the season, but he too is providing less than we hoped. We doe have Mayer who may be worth a try. Losing 3 to the White Sox should mobilize the management to attempt to get better. I hope they don't wait too long.

I had hoped Spring Training would have allowed players to hone their plate mechanics such that they would at least have started competitively. Whether we faced incredible pitching, the players were unable to use Spring Training to their benefit or the manager made poor choices with the lineup construction remains to be seen. There were choices available, including two high potential rookies and Yoshida. That's what the front office gets paid to do (make choices) and I can only see the results. So far things are not going well. Good to see you back. I haven't been around much of late either

If he knows what it isn't, can he say what it is? Just working hard isn't going to cure this. Practicing the wrong technique makes one better at doing the wrong thing. They need to identify the problem(s) and make the necessary adjustment(s). Quit making excuses and lets see results!

Also wilder than Bregman's

There is a tendency among talksox fans to be reluctant to bring up our high level prospects and to instead want to stay with proven non-winners. There were those who disparaged Duran and wanted to trade him away. Now we have 3 top prospects and the advice is to hold them out for more seasoning? The time is now. Where there is a hint of an opening I prefer to bring a player up. Campbell to second, Bregman to third, Yoshida gone makes sense to me. Find a way to get Anthony into the outfield. Package Abreu with Yoshida and get a pitcher like Cease. Mayer may have to wait but Story has been fragile in the past so we need Mayer available in the wings. Devers to DH and sharing third when necessary is a reasonable approach and may increase the availaility of both players.

I recommend drastic action now. To me we want to put both the best offensive team available on the field while also greatly increasing our defensive. Clearly Devers, Casas, Bregman and Story are expected to be the best infield offensive players while only Bregman and Story are considered high caliber defensive players. We do have Campbell as a possible 2nd base prospect who is unproven but may well be a plus on both the offensive and defensive ends. The drastic action seems to imply either Devers or Casas be moved to DH, Story to remain at short, Bregman to 3rd. Probably Casas should remain at 1st, where he has experience. I would recommend taking a flyer on Campbell from the getgo. The loser in this is Yoshida at DH, who remains a bad fit on the team. In the outfield we have Duran who is good offensively and Abreau who is only good on one side of the split and Rafaela is currently below average. Yoshida has offensive potential and Anthony is a wild card with high potential. On the defensive side we have Duran again as good as is Abreau and Rafaela. Anthony looks to be high potential while Yoshida is not a quality defensive outfielder. I don't see a major role for Yoshida in the outfield with Duran, Abreau platooned and hopefully Anthony. I can see Rafaela and Refsnyder as utility especially since Rafaela has infield flexability as well. I had hoped the Sox would have traded Yoshida and perhaps Abreau for one quality right handed outfielder but that didn't happen. Taking drastic action does risk club house disfunction but if the problems aren't confronted now they will continnue to fester.

Devers and Casas are two of our best hitters and both have power potential. I finbd it doubtful that Sox management would risk the clubhouse upheaval of moving either from their hot corner positions despite their below league average defensive woes. That relegates Bregman to 2nd base. Each of the three could wind up as DH for short stints but the majority of their play will be at the expected positions. Story will line up at SS as long as he can remain healthy. In the outfield we have Duran as a lock. Abreau is solid and Rafaela is capable defensive;y but is a question mark at the plate. It has been difficult to follow the Sox on the basis of a long term plan as they have had a terrible time of it for years. Still I remain hopeful and I think you do as well. Somehow, we have to incorporate are best prospect into the team sooner than later. That means Anthony, Campbell and Mayer. Bregman could opt out after a year. Yoshida is a bad fit for our team. We have a structurally weak defensive team and need to take drastic measures to correct the problems. Does management have the willingness to do so? I doubt it.

The concept of depth is that there are backup players who are around league average who can sub in during short term periods of FT player absence. To me it implies that we want our best players (those above league average) to get a substantial portion of the season reps. When we identify Anthony and Campbell as potential above league average players, it means to me that we want them as FT position players. That is especially true for our team which has done poorly over the recent past. With Bregman added to the team and both Devers and Casas likely fixtures in the lineup despite their lackluster fielding prowess, there are few opportunities for our new potential game changers from reaching the ML lineup. The best bet is in the outfield where we need to evaluate if Anthony and/or Capbell are better than Abreau, Rafaela and Yoshida. We have made one move to balance our lineup but are still heavy with left handed batters. Abreau is a quality player on both sides of the ball, Rafaela is a quality fielder but with a weak bat. Personally I would move Rafaela to utility while trading Yoshida and Abreau. We need a closer and a quality backup catcher. I'm an advocate of acting boldly.

I'm in agreement with you on this and in particular on finding a path to the majors for both Campbell and Anthony. With Bregman coming to the Sox, and with 2nd base as the expected position we have blocked the most logical position for Cambell. Bregman helps us with lineup balance but does nothing to solve our defensive shortcomings at the corners or at catcher. Now Campbell and Anthony must break in to a set outfield to into ML games. I have advocated trading Yoshida and Abreau to open space for these top prospects., I hope that the Sox don't drag out their promotion for another year.

I didn't expect this to happen but there it is. Now we will see what other ramifications are involved. Does this hold Campbell out of the lineup? Right now things are up in the air but clearly we aren't paying Bregman to be a utility player. It;s 3rd or 2nd.

Like me, you discount Yoshida and think he should be traded. I think we can do better in the outfield as well. Trade Abeau, move Rafaela to utility along with Refsnyder, move Anthony into our outfield and trade for a right handed power hitting outfielder. I don't expect Bregman will be in a Sox uniform so Devers remains at 3rd and we live with poor fielding at the corners. We do need another catcher but I don't expect there will be one available. There must be a moderate cost older right handed hitter who could be picked up to fill our DH spot instead of Yoshida.

We really need to improve our defense while also starting a more balance lineup. Arenado at third improves both area but then required moving Devers to first or better yet into a very expensive designated hitter. If Campbell is truly reading for 2nd we would have a balanced lineup and Devers would be able to backup Arenado as needed. Part of the consideration should involve the outfield plan going forward.. Anthony is a #1 prospect and looks to be the future. Duran is in his prime and was an all star. Is Rafaela going to improve and is Refsnyder our utility answer. Depending on ones view of that outfield plan it would make both and the use of Devers in the primary DH role, both Yoshida and Abreau become available. Certainly there is value there. That is the direction that makes sense to me. I don't believe a high value catcher is available or I would also look in that direction.

My view throughout the off seeason is that the Sox nees to improve on defense and to do more to balance their lineup with right hand bats, preferably with some power. In my view Yoshida is not a good fit for Boston in either category (defense, balance). Is it still too late to trade for a right handed outfielder? Trade Yoshida and if necessary Abreau to make it happen. A trade for another quality right handed hitting catcher doesn't seem to be in the offing so an outfielder makes sense. Rafaela's hitting reamains suspect so I don't expect he will begin the year as more than a utility player. I don't see him as filling the need. Realistically Devers and Casas will remain at the corners and we would like to see the Sox take advantage of our high performance prospects. Anthony in the outfield and Campbell at 2nd base while avoiding a major commitment to an older player who would wind up out of his best position. I woulld roll the dice in the direction of our prospects. Can Mayer also be brought up and given reps at SS against some RH pitching? That's a tougher call but I hate to see him languish in the minors if he has true ML capability. Over the years I have lost confidence that Sox management has a plan to make the team truly competitive.

While our pitching looks to be improved for the 2025 season we have built in defensive issues on the infield corners, at catcher and in the outfield if the idea of using Yoshida is carried forward in a meaningful number of games. The lineup imbalance also remains. Because we have Devers, finding a home for either Arenado or Bregman is the issue holding up bringing them in. Rafaela didn't hit well last year, marking him as more or a utility player or someone working on his game in the minors. I just don't see us having a strong season so believe it would be smarter to bring in our best prospects early and trade away the bad fits. The Sox front office doesn't see it the way I do so I'm ready for another disappointing season. I'd be delighted is Sox management would act strategically and forcefully to strengthen the team.

Vlad is too expensive as a DH. Also Yoshida should go. Bring in a solid LF or keep Abreau. Why not pick up a RH power hitter? Otherwise I like the idea of bringing up Cambell, Anthony and Mayer. If they pan out, they represent a major upside and if we don't one or more can be recycled to gain experience.

You say you're not sure that we shouldn't have both Rafael and Vlad on the team together. I am sure and realize thar at this time we have Devers, Casas and Yoshida. All are lefty bats and sub-par defenders. I resigned to the fact that we will have sub-par defenders at the corners this year but certainly do not want to add another expensive lefty who plays only first base. I also have been a long term advocate of moving Yoshida. He can hit and should have value to another team but he is not a fit for the Sox. Package him and get a decent return.

Our goals for the 2025 season were to improve the defense and balance the lineup. In addition, addressing the pitching issues was the priority item. At least we have addressed the pitching to some extent but we still have four poor defenders in the lineup if catching is included and we have less balance in the lineup than last season. There were some trade and FA possibilities out there but as yet they have not been realized. Management needs to think stategially, including long term and also use the strengths available to us. Clearly Yoshida is a poor defender with a left hand bat. It would be an addition by subtraction had we traded him, even if we had to sweeten the pot with Abreau. Is there a catcher out there we can acquire in trade? We let Teel go so now have very little in the wings. We have the number 1 rated prospect in all of baseball and are debating whether he will make the 26 man. True he is a left handed bat, but come on man, bring him up. We need a second baseman and have Kristian Campbell who is a high potential and flexible defender and swings a right hand bat. Bring him up instead of dumping big bucks on a once great but now possibly over the age hump infielder. We also have Mayer who clearly is an advanced defender with a high potential bat. The problem there is he is a left handed player and doesn't fit as well We have put ourselves in the position of starting below average defenders at both 1st and 3rd. Since we get a lot of offense from those positions and we have big money involved, the solution is not obvious. Having Yoshida out of the lineup would open the DH up but I doubt if either Devers or Casas wants to go that route. If we don' t find a solution to the problem this year, it will linger on. It sounds like they are both here to stay so is their defense. If that is the case, we at least need aRH power bat for DH. I don't see that Sox management and ownership have addressed fixing the weaknesses in our field players.

Arenado is still in the mix. He could play 3rd, 1st or DH. Would be a smart addition and would fit at Fenway. I have thought we might go that way if Tescovar wasn't interested in the Sox.

Arenado is owed 74 million over 3 years. He would be a goodx fit for us but are the Cardinals looking for young pitching and would they eat some of the remaining contract. Since Yoshida has value, but is not a good fit for us, we would like to include him in a trade, but he too has a big remaining contract. Maybe Fitts and Bleis for Arenado with cash or a solid catching prospect.

I just noticed we got Arenado.That's a big get if true. The Sox are really making a bid after the recent inactive years. At 84, I am happy we might be getting back to competitiveness. Anyone guess on what that means for the sstarting team?

He's a lefty handed hitter on the RS. a team loaded with them. He is slow and not a serious outfield reserve. He is a reasonable contact hitter but doesn't do much else. i believe we should trade him to someone who can utilize him more than we can. Get as much of his salary off our books while looking for a right hand hitter who can at least be a reasonable sub at 1st and who can DH.