5GoldGlovesOF,75

I think you mean in the batting order. We just picked up some professional infielders with gold gloves... and lead bats. The reasons Breslow hasn't filled in the Mariana Trench in the heart of the order is that he can't or won't.

My son has a pretty good swing that registers 85 mph exit velo on HitTrax. But he's 14 and doesn't do it for a job... (though I pay the amateur minimum for his lessons).

I want the Sox to hang on to him -- not because he might be a good pitcher, but so that every time he starts all season, posters get to type It's still Early.

His name was redadacted in any reports during investigations, and his face blacked out in all photograpical evidence. So he must be exonerated. Even his baseball cards have been altered; the only clues are the initials OC, which assassination theorists have linked to Oswald and Cuba.

In the last six years of his MLB career, Orlando Cabrera was a starting middle infielder on five other division champions... ... including the final four in a row for four different clubs. He may have worn out his welcome quickly, but contenders were always ready to recruit him. History can't dispute the fact that on the field, OC was a winner.

It would be, but then they'd have to platoon me and you at DH, because we'd have the best chance of getting on base in that batting order... (when we couldn't get out of the way of MLB fastballs).

Batting your best hitter directly after the two worst OBPs is not optimal, in my opinion. What I think Cora will do if Duran's still on the team: he may platoon Duran as a starter in CF with Rafaela -- but both will play just about every game. Neither will DH and they're not playing Ceddanne at 2B just to get his bat in the line-up. Anthony and Abreu are fixtures in LF and RF. vs. righty starting pitcher: Duran-Anthony-Contreras-Abreu-Story-Yoshida-Narvaez-Mayer-Romy. vs. lefty starting pitcher: Romy-Anthony-Contreras-Abreu-Story-Yoshida-Narvaez-Mayer-Rafaela. vs. either after trade: Hoerner-Anthony-Contreras-Abreu-Story-Yoshida-Narvaez-Mayer-Rafaela.

I'm not benching anybody, but this offense is so full of Ifs and Buts that unless everyone improves and everyone comes back as good as new, we're going to need prescription meds for acid-reflex all summer. Forget about watching slugfests and prepare for many ugfests. As in ugly. The one guy I'd be shocked they'll trade is Abreu. Cora already noted his plans for playing Abreu more fulltime and Werner's still waiting to see him get 400 at bats.

I just don't see Yoshida as THE big problem on a team that can't make contact. He won't hit 30 homers, but neither will anyone else in Boston... (at least, not one guy on the freaking 40 ever has yet). I'm just not one to complain that he just "doesn't fit." To me, the main reason Masa doesn't fit is that he doesn't whiff. I'm not saying he's even good, but I do think most of our other returning bats are a bit overrated on this forum. Few even admit the possibility he may surprise and contribute more than another guy or two we're actually counting on. I'm looking forward to the WBC: 1) to watch competitive world class baseball next month; 2). to see what Yoshida's got this year.

I promise I won't criticize Breslow if our starting rotation throws shutouts half the season to keep us in the games. And not just Crochet-Suarez-Gray-Bello-Oviedo, but when all of them get hurt, our deep depth of Crawford--Sandoval-Early-Tolle-Harrison-Bennett-Witherspoon has to be good, too -- and not just average... ... because the MLB average ERA last year was 4.15 -- and our offense as-is may not outscore that number very often.

Like, what was wrong with Yolmer Sanchez?

Tolle ate second basemen in high school.

Most fans and media have ignored the Anthony in the room... but it's risky to assume he'll be Ted Williams just because he looks like him. We all agree Roman Anthony has talent. Few ballplayers in the world can hit a 500-foot grand slam like he did in Worcester or turn around a fastball for a homer off the NL's unanimous Cy Young winner. But what if he doesn't improve this year? There is zero protection in the line-up around him. Willson Contreras has never hit 25 home runs in a season in his career. Expectations can weigh heavily on a 22-year old. The Red Sox desperately need him to be the big bopper -- but at what cost? We all expect Anthony to be Boston's best, but here's some perspective: last year there were 33 MLB hitters with at least 30 HRs. Twenty-seven of them had a lower strikeout rate than Anthony. The only sluggers with a worse K-rate than Roman's 27.7% were Devers, Wood, Kurtz, Jazz, Greene and Suarez. That means that even the big whiffers like Raleigh, Schwarber, Ohtani and Judge made more contact...

Breslow's so erudite that, while true contenders view the summer trading period as a lifeline, he can't help but interpret it literally -- as an actual deadline.

Just hope Tolle makes the team. He batted clean-up in college and is easily one of Boston's top five power threats -- with a pro career slugging percentage of 0.00%.

No problem: get someone on base, steal 2nd, IKF bunts him to 3rd, and then all the Red Sox' contact hitteR drives him in... oh, wait, Yoshida got cut?

Mickey and IKF are good depth moves... to the depths already jammed with plastic bottles, plastic bags and styrofoam containers -- Brez added something solid: aluminum cans.

This finally answers the question of who's going to hit tenth in the batting order! IKF already challenged Eaton to a 90-foot race from 3rd base to home plate. Nobody won, because neither reached the finish line.

Oh, Mickey - I'm so whelmed.

$8.2 -- holy... so half of 1 WAR is worth $4.1 mil, and 0 WAR is 0 mil -- the wage of a replacement player? Maybe the Red Sox should pay all of us replacement players a hundred thousand each to just stop squawking.

That's interesting... how much does fangraphs say 1 WAR is worth nowadays? I know there's some formula somewhere.

Losing Wheeler to injury crushed the Phils. And it's tough to assume he'll be as good as new when he comes back. Kinda makes me wary of why a guy like Dombrowski would allow Suarez to sign elsewhere.

Is he that conceited that he thinks he won't make a very good team worse? Wilson hasn't been that valuable since he floated away from Tom Hanks.

A lot of blather about prospect value, which as we all know is total conjecture (ya, the reason most sports message boards exist). But if I could pick moments when "Seattle acted like a contending team" it would be when they acquired Josh Naylor at the trade deadline, and then immediately signed him longterm as soon as the free agent season opened.

MLB Channel just named Duran baseball's #1 best leftfielder... with Anthony 2nd and Bellinger 3rd. Duran was also on one MLB Channel expert's list as the #5 best DH... which seems contradictory (if a ballplayer is tops at his position, why would he be taken off the field and only get to hit?). Still, wouldn't a guy that highly regarded in two spots seem too valuable to trade? Btw: Abreu was #10 for rightfielders. Rafaela, the other Gold Glover, didn't even make it for centerfield -- though Wyatt Langford, who played 45 games in CF last year, was rated #2 behind JRod.