Hugh2

Do you honestly think this management team is going to fill every single need we have? That's a packaged question but the short answer is no. However every hole is always filled, the question is where do you allocate more resources???. A platoon in the outfield can plug up a hole and that may work fine, but when you're rolling out 1-2 platoons with guys who absoluteyl can't field, and might not be able to hit MLB pitching and you trade away a starter then you're just creating a hole and banking on everything smelling like roses and working out in our favor. I'm not talking about pouring resources into the outfield. I'm talking about NOT subtracting from the outfield. Polar opposites. OF shoots up the list if you trade away a starting right fielder. Although I'd still put Starting pitcher at the top of the list. We also don't know how the Sox are viewing the offseason. They might be looking a guy like Houck who pitched as good as any #1 starting pitcher in innings 1-3, but then fell off. If the Sox see that as a stamina problem and not a stuff problem they might view him as a starter if he can add endurance. He is reportedly making that a focus of his offseason. I still think pitching should be and IS a priority but my point there is they might only really be looking to add one solid starter and not two.

Let me just state for the record that I'm talking about starting-caliber outfielders. I see two on that list if you want to count Yoshida as an outfielder and not a DH. Duran has to show me he can be consistent, and Abreu and Rafaela are almost completely untested. One might always just be a guy who adds value on defense, and the other might just be a platoon player. Could they be more? absolutely, but you're banking on that AND plugging Yoshida or rolling with a platoon? Does anyone else remember when the Boston Red Sox use to act like the Boston Red Sox?

Calling those guys "veterans" is a bit of a stretch. Refsnyder played in a career-high 82 games this year with an exciting .682 OPS. Duvall was here for one year and doesn't stay healthy for a full season. Yoshida doesn't speak English and has only been on this team (and country) for not even a year now. Those aren't exactly known, veteran leaders, who you can plug in for a good 150 games + a year. Pretty much none of those guys are that guy. None of them.

I'm all for the youth movement, you've had enough conversations with me in here to know I can be a bit of a prospect homer at times but I just really value having a solid foundation of guys you can depend on in your lineup, even if they're not all stars. Verdugo isn't a great player, but he's a good player, and you can pretty much slot him in for a 2 WAR season next year. If all of Rafaela, Duran, and ABreu are MASHING between AAA and Boston next year you can always trade him at the deadline to some team desperate to upgrade their outfield.

We have 6 outfiedlers? That group consists of guys like Refsnyder. That would be like pointing out we have John Schrieber when talking about building a rotation. I like having a consistent player you know can play good D and at least provide you with an average offense. I'm also good at banking on him having a good contract year. His track record is there, even if he's not an all star he's a fine player to have under control. Duran literally had two good months, he could turn back into a pumpkin, Yoshida is an ok hitter who can't field, and Refsyner is a strictly platoon bat. Rafaela is largely unproven, and might even need more seasoning in AAA, Abreu is largely untested, right now it appears he's playing above ALL his projections. Can any one of these things happen? Yes, its much more likely that they do not and perhaps even more likely none of them do. I'd bank on one of them turning out to be a great roster addition in 2024. That outfield just seems like complete irresponsibility to me. Every. single. year. we fall in love with guys who play above their capabilities and EVERY. SINGLE. TIME we expect so much more out of them. What's the saying "the definition of insanity". No one is ever going to convince me that outfield is a good ideal and I"m about 99% sure the Sox agree with me. I will literally buy a pair of Red Sox, put them in a blender, chop them up and eat them if that happens. Mark my words.

Yes it was a mistake, you pointed it out, thank you. And I clarified it.

Anyways, moving on to more interesting things. Sox met with Montgomery agents. Montgomery + Yama? SIgn Bader or Duval and don't trade Verdugo. Sign me up.

At bats not games played. He's not durable, and he's 35. I suppose opinions are like *******s, as all got one but I just don't see how anyone who wants to go for it loads up an outfield with that many question marks. I'd be insanely surprised if that happened. If they trade Verdugo it's because they're bringing in a Teoscar Hernandez (which I hate and don't think they will) or they are trading for Soto, or someone else.

You're putting an awful lot of trust into this youth movement. We've seen plenty of guys come up, much much much more highly regarded with the bat and even hit well for 1/2 to a full season and then just disappear. You're assuming best case scenario for all of them and that almost never happens. You're also assuming Duval can be a full-time player. At age 35 his second most played games since he was 28 was 384. Your outfield has the capacity to be absolutely awful. Good teams roll the dice with uncertainty and young guys.....but not in all three positions.

Replace with what? that was the whole point of my rebuttal. Is your outfield Yoshida/Duran/Abreu? I like all those guys, but I recognize the possibility of how disastrous that could be. If we just want to sell high, why not sell on Duran? or Abreu? or Rafaela? certainly, if these guys are cost-controlled for 5-6 years and better than a 2 WAR player they should bring back SUBSTANTIAL value in return. If the goal is to maximize an asset due to market conditions then those are the guys we should be trading, no????

There are varying degrees of significant uncertainty in what all of Abreu/Duran/Rafaela/Yoshida will give you next year. Alex Verdugo's 1.8 fWar could easily be the 1st or 2nd best fWar in the outfield given your 2023 performances. What if Yoshida doesn't improve? heck what if his defense gets even worse? what if Abreu is a bust? what if Duran regresses? There's just sooooooo much potential for ugliness out there I don't know why team would trade a guy just because they should trade him to get something for him. By that logic alone, every single player with 1 year of team control, with obvious caveats that we shouldn't jump into for simplicity (E.G. resign franchise players like Bogaerts) we shouldn't jump into. Maybe we should talk about trading Pivetta, why not, there are at least a ton of options to replace him in free agency and on this roster!?!?!?!? If you think you have a chance of winning in 2024, you should really keep Verdugo for a year.

Even if that was true that’s not a great excuse to trade him. Even if you can Verdugo in at 2 War, you don’t know what you’ll get from your 3 other outfielders and the market is just thin. We don’t know if Teoscar would have accepted if offered one. Perhaps the most important factor is Verdugo will be almost three years younger than Teoscar was when he hits FA. There’s real value in that for a guy in his twenties

Pass on him in general? or just pass on him at that dollar amount? because it's one year and they're likely going above the LTL so who cares if they pay a few extra million. It's one year. There's really not much in FA, and any better option I would NOT want to sign to multiple years.

What does Bloom have to do with Anderson? Bloom is gone, lets move on.

I wouldn't mind taking a swing at a 1 year with Anderson, they could strike gold if he has a bounce-back year. He fits the bill.

Eovaldi didn't get 20 million in the open market and he still turned it down. It's not about AAV as much as it's about total dollar. This might be Verdugo's only chance at a payday. If he gets even 40-50 million at a lower AAV than 20 he's taking it. You absolutely offer him a QO, unless he completely lays an egg in 2024.

Sox already have Abreu, Duran, and Rafaella, with the first two being LHB. It's redundancy on the roster for what may end up equating to moving up in the draft a few spots. Verdugo and Pivetta are two guys you may want to keep around if you want to compete. Verdugo adds certainty to a position that has little and offers little in FA and Pivetta has shown he can be a very capable BOTH starter or possibly even elite in the BP. It would be a real head-scratcher for the Sox to make that move, even if it's a fair trade on paper.

Fair trade on paper, but the Sox could get a pick for just offering Verdugo a QO and get a full year out of him. Marlowe is a nice young player, but the Sox already have a couple young, fringey outfielders who bat left handed. So I'd say no.

I’d be surprised too, but not absolutely shocked.

If the past 25 years defines the Boston Red Sox and not the last several then no one should ever think we can’t outbid anyone. People can be forgiven for being skeptical given the last few years but there’s equally nothing wrong with saying the Boston Red Sox should start acting like the BOSTON f***ING (I’ll say it) RED SOX again. I think they will, but nothing really surprises that much anymore.

Weak side of a 1B platoon isn’t exactly a need for many teams. Dalbec, without drastic change, is going to be a AAAA guy. If he wants to stick around in pro ball he’s going to have to live with the fact that he’s that guy who plays in AAA and wait for a guy(s) to get hurt before he gets a chance

It’s also a different position, he didn’t have the main gig in Chicago. He will probably spend a lot more days in the office in Boston than he did in Chicago.

If the Sox make enough good moves to not need his bat I’d be perfectly fine just batting him 9th and plugging him in the 9 hole.

Which is exactly why you platoon him. I suspect at least one of the outfield positions is going to be platooned in 2024

Tis the season