Hugh2

Moon I normally agree with you than most posters in here but I just can't see this at all. Wong is a plus defender behind the dish and McGuire historically was until a down year although he looks like he's found his own form recently. Wong/McGuire is fine. Casas has literally been one of the most elite hitters in all of baseball for the past 3 months, 2B/SS isn't as defensible but they've also been riddled by unprecedented injury. With Story and Reyes back and Urias under contract for the next two years it's at the very least as deep as the OF, and you literally have Rafael Devers at 3B. How many MLB at bats does Abreu and Rafeala have? penciling them in as anything right now is just irresponsible. Ceddanne might be a 2 WAR player with it all coming from his defense and that's fine but he's not better than Casas and Devers, or Story if healthy. Abreu hasn't proven to me he's more than a 4th of/platoon-type. Again, I'm not deciding between the two, if you want to ask me the hypothetical gun to the head I'd respond by saying that this is a PERFECT example of why my opinion that this is why we BUY starting pitching now makes all the sense in the world. We have the money, we have the cap space, and it's the most robust area of 2024 free agency. It would be bonkers to not do so.

Probably a little from column a and a little from column b. If it's the later I can't blame them.

actually, at the time you posted this it was 4:51 somewhere......close enough if you ask me.

Is there a better board for Sox posters? The only other one I spend time on is the Soxprospects.com forum.

I'm not sure I'm understanding this. Did you think I was saying the outfield was deep? if yes then let me just state that I do not think that I think the outfield is very thin. Rafaeala is promising, and Anthony looks like he could be a stud, but Ceddanne is still unproven and Roman at least a year away. So my comments here are in the context of the 2024 season, the outfield is very thin. I think you'd agree, I think most would. Look how lackluster this team is!! shouldn't be a big surprise that they're not particularly deep in many places.

The outfield is not deep at all. Verdugo 3.0 WAR Yoshida 1.4 WAR Duran 1.4 Yoshida can't field, his defense is horrible. Duran has been up/down, exciting player but he's had two good months and then a lot of subpar play, he could turn back into a pumpkin or just be a 1.5 WAR player. Dugo, good player but not great and gone after 2024. After that you have role players and bench bats, the best of which Duval is also a FA at the end of this year. Wong/McGuire at Catcher and Teel looking like he's on the fast track. Casas after slow month has turned into one of the best hitters in all of baseball and 1B. Arguably MI is as weak, but if Story is healthy the outlook looks a lot different, especially if Rafaela actually spends time there (making of even weaker) and Reyes and Urias can field their positions and Luis has good offensive upside as well. The outfield has zero depth. What happens if you lose an outfielder and trade Dugo and you're rolling out with Yoshida/Ref/Abreu next year? That could literally be a disaster. You also have a better prospect pipeline closer to the majors up the middle than you do in the OF. I will not answer the question in your statement because I have a very strong preference to NOT trade any of those guys, including Dugo and any of the guys in the outfield.

Maybe you should just both stop, you're killing my buzz, and it's almost the afternoon over here.

Verdugo is under contract for 2023, the outfield is thin and so is the outfielder market so Bloom doesn't really need to sell him on anything. Unless he plans on extending him.

What if Rafealla can't hit and Duran turns back into a pumpkin? Yoshida can't play LF anywhere, while there is potential there, there's also potential for that outfield to be disastrous and you're also losing Duval to FA. Dugo should NOT be traded. Rafeala might be better with a full season under his belt and Anthony is ready to play full-time in the bigs by 2025. Just let it ride with Dugo and take the QO pick.

Depending on how far back you want to go on this forum, there's a f***ton of blood on a lotta hands here. We got feuds in here going back decades.

No, but a lot of people seem to think so. There are some here who think the Sox resetting the luxury tax limit is evidence they don't want to be big time spenders anymore.

Well Kike was a free agent he was trying to sign, Verdugo is here next year and he doesn't really have a choice right now.

Neither do I, they need pitchers not position players.

If you give DD credit for 2021, then don't you have to give him credit for 2020/2022 as well? which makes the narrative that he built a team heading for the dumps more believable.

Not when he's used right. He's a nice bench bat. Outfield is thin and what upgrades exist? Hey we could trade our prospect capital for an outfielder when we need pitchers I suppose.

In no permutation of my future projections is Ref a starter. He doesn't move any needles, he's a nice bench bat.

They have a little bit more than 8 mil to spend. I really really really like Turner, but I really really really like Masa not playing the field too.

Exactly, plus there's nothing in free agency, or very slim pickings on the position side. They really should explore retaining Duval for next year.

Well if Turner walks you can replace him with Yoshida. Now your defense just got 100% better with Duran replacing him in LF and the future GG Rafaela roaming CF. Sox could use a RHH

I agree. So if you expect to compete next year you don't trade Dugo and hope Anthony is his replacement. Still Masa may be even worse in the outfield by then, Duran could turn back into a Pumpkin and Rafaela may never hit. The outfield is THIN. Our outfield depth is similar to our starting pitching depth. Some great options for the BOTRS and the bullpen but not much high-end talent at the MLB level. Unless we are talking about signing Teoscar Hernandez or Cody Bellinger, we really have no business trading Dugo/Ref/Abreu/Duran.

Fair, but if you're trading away that talent and you don't have much to replace it then you're effectively already giving up on the 2024 season. No thank you,

We are really in zero position to be trading outfielders. Have you guys seen next years free-agent class? What do you do if Duran turns into a pumpkin, or someone goes down? I'd be hoarding my outfield depth like humanity depends on it right now.

And how often are we told to ignore milb stats. SO much more at play BUT - He has sucked vs. LHP at the MLB level, which is the only level that scouts. And that matches up verbatim with his scouting. I'll believe in that until proven otherwise. "Starts open and vertical with his hands high and his front foot inverted. Medium high-leg kick. Above-average bat speed. Vertical swing path, makes a lot of contact in the air. Passive approach. Will take a walk, but also strikes out a lot due to working consistent deep counts. Will have to show he can consistently hit high fastballs at the major league level as he has struggled at times with velocity up in the zone in the minors. Does a good job recognizing spin and has shown the ability to make adjustments within an at-bat. Has some platoon splits and seems to see the ball more comfortably against right-handed pitching. Potential below-average hit tool." "Potential up-and-down depth outfielder. Ceiling of a major league platoon outfielder. Development of hit tool will determine his major league potential. Has raw power and will take a walk, but needs to cut down on his swing-and-miss and show he can consistently make contact and impact the baseball against advanced pitching."

How do you expect them to spend the money? there's literally nothing on the position player side. Particularly in positions of need.

There's more fish in the sea. I'm more concerned with getting two top teir guys in. Sell me on another two. Nola/Yama....OK lets do that.