5GoldGlovesOF,75

Early turns 24 in April. Tolle just turned 23 this month. Why can't it be one of those guys... by the time we have legitimate big league regulars at the other 9 positions? (I should've put quotes around that line, since I bet someone in a conference room already asked that in a front office meeting discussing this very topic).

We all know there should be no turning back now, and Cora and Breslow at least publicly agree. What we don't know is what the front office really feels about their 2026 percentages and whether to truly go for it. We'll know by Spring Training, if there aren't enough major moves to improve, and we hear Sam and Craig blabbing that no one wanted our prospects (and those in the industry know that every club overrates their own prospects, at least to the media, who buy in and excite fandom to sell tickets). Teel is the White Sox starting catcher and a future All-Star, while Montgomery is now Chicago's #1 prospect. That didn't take long, but maybe Arias and Garcia don't look as promising... yet. I've said many times that any big trades will have to include either Early, Tolle or both -- but imagine all those Asst. VPs who've been in the front office for years and have never had starting pitching prospects this good. On top of that, they now work for a CBO who is all about pitching. So don't be surprised if they hang on to the youth...

Hey -- no politics!

Free agency will have the usual Domino's effect. They'll all wait until one guy sets the market by getting overpaid to sign -- then the rest will order pizza.

I was conceding that we'll have to accept a platoon somewhere or at least rely on improvement from within. If we don't trade an outfielder and just spend money, we'd have to live with maybe Romy/Casas at 1B/DH, along with a 4th and 5th (cough, Masa) outfielder rotated at DH -- or if we sign Alonso, then it's Romy/Mayer at 2B... ... this is all assuming they PAY TWO INFIELDERS, because we all know they need to ACQUIRE TWO INFIELDERS.

From a front office standpoint -- especially one that works for John Henry -- can any serious Red Sox fan envision a scenario where they trade away their biggest strength and spend near half a billion on one free agent to replace them? No, really... ... why not just keep the outfielders and blow all that dough filling the holes? Can we sign Bregman, Bichette and King for half a bil?

I was going to say Harold Baines, who had more than 25 HRs once in his 22-year career... you know, the guy with only 38.8 WAR, compared to Dwight Evans' 67.2 WAR. But got to hand to Harold -- bb-ref did... on his Similarity Scores list, the first five batters are all in Cooperstown: Perez, Kaline, Parker, B.Williams, Dawson (Evans is 8th). On Dewey's list, the first five are Luis Gonzalez, Tori Hunter, Chili Davis, B.Williams and Bobby Abreu... then Perez, Parker, Beltran, Darrell Evans and Kaline. So Baines has maybe a slight edge on Dwight in offense. Then again, Evans was also the best rightfielder in the American League during his era -- and still no plaque?

Good post, with specific points that are legitimate concerns. We didn't talk a lot about outfield arm strength and accuracy; Duran's is average at best. But the Sox won with plenty of fast centerfielders with average arms: Damon, Crisp, Ellsbury. They also had postseason teams with Lynn, Bradley and Rafaela, who had cannons. Obviously, Ceddanne's range and arm would be wasted in LF, but moving him to RF may not be optimizing his abilities in bigger ballparks. When the Sox moved Betts to RF it made sense, because JBJ had more experience in CF with Gold Glove jumps. Duran isn't that guy yet -- even as an elite athlete and converted second baseman like Mookie (though it's not fair to compare anyone to a first-ballot Hall of Famer, either). What's best for the team? If Breslow isn't allowed to spend to fill all the holes this winter, then maybe multiple trades can still make the Sox a contender. If Boston is ready to commit to Garcia in RF -- or platoon him in LF with Yoshida -- then perhaps we could see separate trades for both Duran and Abreu in packages that stabilize an infield position and the pitching staff...

They thought Barnes would inherit the closer role -- and once he made the All-Star team they extended him. Then MLB banned the sticky stuff.

I like the contrasts you describe with other MLB regions. Lived in New England all my life and while MLB isn't as popular as it once was -- anywhere -- baseball still thrives because growing up, everyone can play it, and still can as adults (in some derivative: softball, old-timers leagues etc)... of course, oldsters still play hoop or soccer, but contact sports take a toll sooner on flesh and bone. As an area, the only big city north of NYC in the U.S. is Boston. Because of that, I've always considered New England more pastoral so maybe with more interest in a summer outdoor pastime (I know that's crap, because there are plenty of urban areas, including ones where I taught, that have little interest in baseball). The Red Sox are still very popular and exclusive to 5 or 6 states, so definitely worth investing in as a product for their owners. The Sox even have fans who type junk about them online 365 days a year...

A line drive hit directly at your head anywhere in LF, CF or RF is the hardest play for an outfielder. Always take the first step back, because it's a lot easier to come in on a ball. If your first step is in and you're wrong, they're circling the bases. But the oppo slices down the lines are by far the trickiest. (I won't bore you to say how many years I've played outfield, but I bet it's longer than some posters have been alive).

Any outfielder with speed knows that the easiest one to play is centerfield. Being positioned directly behind the mound gives the best look at the direction of both pitches and swings, and allows the CFer to get a better jump on batted balls than the corner outfielders. There's more ground to cover in CF, but that also gives a really fast outfielder room to outrun bad jumps or misjudgments. Jarren Duran isn't a great centerfielder, but he's better there than at a corner. He's a below-average leftfielder because he doesn't have as much room to compensate from his bad reads. Duran also doesn't get on base enough to be a great leadoff man. Every Red Sox fan knows the team was at its best last summer when Cora moved Anthony to leadoff. If you're old enough, then you also know a moron manager when you see it -- like Don Zimmer in 1978, when he batted Rick Burleson and his .295 OBP leadoff, instead of Fred Lynn and his .380 OBP... could the Sox -- with Hall of Famers Rice, Yaz and Fisk hitting behind Lynn, and that quartet getting the most ABs -- have won one more game that season with such a change?

Wave Eaton home.

I prefer Tolle to bat clean-up, like he did in college. Guy's a beast (well, more beastly than our other current candidates until Mass Attacker returns from the next WBC).

FOX broadcast a lot of playoff games this year.

You have to be really fast.

Skubal and Duran are both All-Stars. Skubal has pitched two All-Star innings and given up two runs. Duran was the All-Star Game MVP! Who else is Detroit giving us in that trade?

Good point, Hugh. Ceddanne covers so much ground in center that he makes a lot of plays in LF and RF, too. (the play of the year came when the ball that tipped off Abreu's glove was caught by Rafaela, standing there as a back-up just in case). Moving the best centerfielder in baseball to another position is folly. Duran has had exactly one good year playing anywhere in the outfield. When the Sox picked RF for Betts, it was only because Bradley was the better choice in CF. Maybe when he's in his 30s Ceddanne can play middle infield like Mookie, but only if it will complete a World Series team.

Bo knows both. I've followed Bichette's career since he was a New Hampshire Fisher Cat, and his elite hand-eye coordination gives him the unique confidence to carry dual approaches to his at bats: with his first two swings, he absolutely tries to crush the ball... but if he misses and has two strikes, he definitely adjusts and does whatever he can to make contact -- a lot of his two-strike hits go to right field; that's not selling out, but the sign of a good hitter. Bichette's hitting plan isn't that much different than Bregman's, except the latter's age and nagging injuries limit the damage he once did. Both are examples to younger batters in a line-up; Bo is still in his 20s and thus more dangerous...

Someone f***ing pliable.

Un- . Brez will trade for a starting pitcher and sign Alonso. No other free agent signings, no Bregman, no Bichette, no Cease, not even King or Kelly. Cora will challenge his returning roster to step it up with more responsible roles. A few youngsters will improve incrementally, some will flop. None will turn into Rice or Lynn or Fisk or Nomar next year. But wait until '27, when Early becomes Bill Lee, and Tolle is Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky.

Yup -- the grudge Henry held for being forced by fandom to sign Raffy for $300 mil. I'm still the only fan who has ever suggested that signing Bregman -- for one year -- was well worth $40 mil to someone in the front office if it helped get them out of the Devers contract. Just think of how much they saved! Just think of how much they told us they'd now have to reinforce the roster! (oh, wait -- we have to build a tower behind the Green Monster...)

The Sox can't use Anthony's extension as an excuse that he's the budget replacement for Devers. According to bb-ref, Roman will make MLB minimum in '25, then $2.6 million in '26, $4.6 million in '27, $8.6 in '28, $15.6 in '29, etc. Raffy's contract from Boston calls for a salary of $29.5 mil for just next year... basically, what Anthony agreed to play for in total the next half decade...

At least. The Red Sox currently have one starting infielder and a handful of Quadruple A type platoon options: Romy, Hammy, Sogard, Eaton, Mayer (he played in 44 games, 3 more than Eaton). We can't count on a Casas comeback, and they no longer consider Campbell an infielder. Last year, the best of that lot was Gonzalez, who earned 2 WAR in 96 games, mostly at 1B. Are they going to finally let him face righty pitchers more? Do they have a choice?

You could see this; I could barely watch it -- another powerhouse starting lineup... (but I like all those guys on the roster). And amidst a lot of Campbell posts this weekend, I never saw one that revealed one of the main reasons he was handed a starting job out of ST: he bats right-handed. Breslow even said a year ago one of his priorities was to find a way to balance the batting order with more righty swingers... ... it worked great for a few weeks, until MLB pitchers "wrote the texts and tweets" about him; before instantaneous communiques, it used to take a lot longer for leagues to figure out a rookie's weaknesses, back when they actually "wrote the book" (cutting down trees, logging/hauling/delivering to processing locales, pulping into paper, packing, shipping to stores, typing, editing, printing, bookbinding, distributing, studying etc.)