drewski6

Fair point. But the point Im trying to make is the reason why when we acquired Contreras , we considered him a first baseman. Why he didnt catch last year. My only point is this is a lot because of Contreras age. There are other reasons too. But a 28 yr old Contreras is catching somewhere in MLB, and doing it at an all start level. This started with people calling me crazy for saying Contreras has aged significantly. You didnt disagree, you implied that sure Contreras is further aged than people 3 yrs younger that never had to catch, sure - but his positional fit and ST contract make you thankful we got him over 5 yrs of Alonoso. A comment I didnt see an issue with. Look, if everyone is telling me (and I dont mean to group all of your positions together) but if people are telling me that Im wrong that Contreras has aged too much to catch.....This is great news. If we're in a game 7, I can see Narvaez being the odd man out. Not saying its likely or will happen because I dont know who will be healthy at that point in time, but I think versatility and depth are good and if Contreras can still catch thats great news. I do believe that if he can catch, he should (at least sometimes)

I agree. Im very glad we didnt trade Duran, Abreu, Anthony. I am glad we didnt trade Cedanne. I never really saw the need to trade any. The argument for trading Cedanne would be the bat could regress then his value is kinda shot. But I dont think Cedanne had a ton of value this offseason (not sayiing he didnt have a significant amount) Im a hoarder of talent. I think you and I are both fine with things not being super clean. I respect you for this (among other things). Some people want one left-fielder, one center-fielder, one right - fielder, one third baseman....Im more like a stay flexible, stay versatile, have depth kinda guy. I expect twists and turns. I dont love making decisions right now that cant be undone (e.g. trading an outfielder), im more about how can we hoard the most talent.

Im fine with this, because a lot of things would have to line up. A position we need more would be Mayer falling on his face or Story getting hurt or Mayer getting hurt. But its not really a thing right now, as in there is no starter of our 9 who I see as a "hole". SO if theres an infield hold at the deadline, but all 4 OF'ers are healthy and productive, then you would trade Duran for an infielder who is a better hitter than Duran.....Im okay with this but.....I dont think that universe of players is as big as you think it is. Infielder who can field the position reasonably well and outhit Duran. Marte, sure. Paredes - no.

#1 is correctable and #2 doesnt apply to the 2026 Red Sox. Why is he not catching (even part time) for the 2026 Red Sox? You can be a 1b/C, see Ben Rice.

Bregman is still playing third base and Contreras can no longer catch. Contreras is also 2 years older. Bregman had his best OPS last year of the last four years. Contreras had his worst OPS last year of the last four years. My point is that I said that Contreras is further along in the aging process than Bregman. You gave me an all caps "OMG" and a sea exclamation points. Are you sure what I said was so wild? Other people are saying yeah but I like the positional fit better or I like the contract better. Which are valid points. And you may say that Contreras may not be as washed up as one might think considering his age. You may say that Bregman is more washed than one might think considering his age. And you wouldnt get an "OMG!!!!!!" from me for saying or thinking those things. But I dont think that saying the 34 yr old who can no longer play his position is more aged than the 32 yr old who can still play his position is some kind of wild statement.

YOu keep saying decline, im saying aging. Im saying that Contreras is aging and aging hard. Why is he no longer catching?

Doesnt Duran already have a double off Crochet THIS YEAR? WHere did Duran rank in doubles last year? Year before that? How about triples? Year before that? My point is more about Duran than it is about Cedanne, who I like also. But the fact that Duran is so many peoples first name as odd man out leads me to believe that people are understimatig the importance of doubles and triples. There is a reason why Duran will hit third and Anthony lead off (extra base hits).

Right now, Im glad Cedanne is still here because I think the injuries will solve this too many outfielder problem for us. And I do think he adds a lot with his CF defense. But I think we need Durans doubles and triples so much, that hes untouchable right now. I dont think hes going to get traded. And if Casas is tearing the cover off the ball in May and Contreras is playing well and everyone is heathy.....I expect Cedanne to either play infield (if like Mayer is struggling or hurt) or I expect Cedanne to come off the bench.

I said what I said, and that was that Im very glad that we didnt trade Duran, Abreu, Anthony. Cedanne not being on that list was not an oversight, you are correct to read into why I didnt include him.

I dont believe when people are like "I like player x but heres why im glad he opted out or why we didnt sign him or why i would trade him" If hes your first choice to send out, you DONT like the player. Im not saying that you like actively dislike him but clearly theres a reason why you keep going back to trading him over , say , Cedanne - who is a good chance to be a "4th outfielder/defensive substitution" by June. Notin talks about trading Duran over Cedanne due to trade value, do you? Or do you just prefer Cedanne? And if the latter that is more unreasonable than ANYTHING Fred has ever said. Duran will likely be top 5 in AL in doubles and triples again. And I think by end of season, he will have played more games in field than DH because I think either a) someone will get hurt or b) someone will push CEDANNE out of a starting job.

I said signs of aging I believe. This is great news that Contreras isnt aging at the rate of Bregman. Do you think we'll trade Narvaez or use him off the bench?

Okay mr present your opinions as fact. Meanwhile Cedanne has less trade value with 2x the control.

You would not make Sam Kennedy squirm by asking him a bunch of questions that are better suited for Breslow. I mean, maybe he would squirm, but the answer to all these questions is the same. We hired Breslow, Breslow does NOT have a strict "stay under" budget. Breslow made up the NTC thing on the spot. Not sure why he double dog dared Bregman to take the Cubs offer. Really the questions for SK is just one. Is this a make/break year for Breslow?

Just dont understand the Duran disrespect.

Agreed. I dont dislike Contreras or the move. I expect Contreras to contribute and be our best hitter next year who isnt an outfielder and likely our third best hitter overall. But a guy who can no longer play the position he always was, entering his age 34 season, who just his first sub .800 OPS season in a while is in an advanced stage of aging. And if he ages backwards (which does happen, see Al Horford), great. Freeman had an .850 OPS his age 34 season and while Contreras was never on Freemans level, I would happily take that.

ANd if hes not old, Contreras, this is great news for everybody but Narvaez.

Bregman is getting old, Contreras is old.

Dont try the gymnastics here....Contreras is going into his age 34 season and is 2 yrs older than Bregman. His OPS was under .800 last year for the first time in four years. It fell from .850 to sub .800 which is a concerning trend. And he cant play his primary position anymore becasue he got old. Hes aging well, yes. Hes doing a good job of staying a contributor in the aging process. He is quite advanced/far along in the aging process. I understand that aging is not always linear and different for everybody, but no way he would have gotten a 5 yr contract had he been a free-agent like Bregman/Alonso, and there is a reason why the Cards added money to make his contract worth trading for.

I agree, but I think Fred in his default state (not digging in heels and going 200 proof stubborn) is more reasonable than the people who go too far the other way talking about like GM of the year / one of the best off-seasons in baseball history / 2nd best team in MLB At least you agree with Freds underlying beliefs. I do love ur points regarding blame Breslow over JH and Im there.

The best thing that Breslow did this offseason is not trade any of : Duran, Anthony, Abreu But I dont really mean that as a knock. He made a lot of moves, and he impressively held onto to the dudes he needed to hold on to (not sure if that was by design or luck) Kind of like how DD somehow kept the prospects worth keeping while making a lot of moves (and similarly Im not sure how much of that was design or luck, e.g. other teams asking for the wrong prospect)

Fine. Whatever. Just dont use Casas as an excuse to trade Duran or expect Casas to save the season. Casas is in the "whatever we get from him is gravy" category for this year, but I do agree that could be a lot of gravy. Personally, I think that if anybody is going to be the guy who is like "im a superstar hitter, and IM gonna save ur season and all of y'all mofos need to FULL STOP the dirsrespect" - is Duran. ANthony second. Abreu third. And this is why its a good thing we didnt trade one of them.

Hes also showing signs of aging across the board though. More than Alonso and Bregman who are showing signs of aging but not as much.

Correct. Durbin is yet another average player on a team with too many average position players. Its one less place to put a superstar.

Only cuz of "sure fire" tho, his position is only unreasonable because of the extreme confidence ,but thats par for the course. He ends up hurting himself with incredible stubbornness. Like how last year he was screaming about how we were not going to make the playoffs when we were already in. But he had been making great points all year about how the team wasnt an actual competitor, but he just wouldnt fall back from "no playoffs" to "easy out in the playoffs"

The rotation will be lights out. But the lack of offense puts a ceiling on the team IMO. Caleb Durbin wasnt a dumpster dive.