drewski6

Certainly not if we add Paredes because then against righties thats your bench (with wong). But I guess you do have an OF at DH, so its not like 0 OF coverage but it def feels like too much mediocre -> below second baseman, which honestly Wong kinda counts for that also. And even Cedanne can play the position. We may not have a second baseman, but we certainly have enough 2b depth lol

You are correct, and sorry to beat a dead horse here but working out is huge for health. Im sure we've all had a phsyical therapist tell us that adding muscle to our problem areas (in my case my neck) adds padding and in addition building up "stabilizer muscles" really help (thats what my physical therapist told me and my neck got better after working with her) and Ill stop here because I am 100% sure that someone here knows this stuff better than I do as Im not a physical therapist.

The Red sox were concerned about Mayer work out habits. If he was hitting the ball hard last year hard and he comes back with added strength because he's embraced protein and lifting - thats exciting.

Mayer is a great example of what I am talking about. Show me a shirtless picture of Mayer from May last year and one taken right now, and Ill tell you if we can start getting excited for what he can do this year. OF COURSE body isnt everything. Pitch recognition, approach, swing trajectory - this stuff can get better and improve performance at the plate even without adding muscle.... But 90% of the game is half physical.

I agree that hes not the easiest guy to project and there is some variability , a lot of variance, in his year-to-year end of year stats last 3 years. But he works out and he works out a ton, and hes 6'1 He has a better baseline than a 5'11 guy with no muscle. Not as many MLB players work out as you may think and people underestimate how much body matters to prospect readiness. Yes, you can in very many cases , look at a guy and tell if hes ready. No boys. Roman Anthony is not a boy, I can tell by looking at him. Even in high-school, there are some 15 yr olds who are 6'3 and fully filled out and some 15 yr olds that are still children in appearance.

I dont mind and never mind hoping for homerish expectations, like Romy is going to hit against righties like he does against lefties or Anthony is going to be a superstar this year or Abreu is going to be an .850+OPS bat even playing everyday or Mayer is going to take 2 giant leaps forward at the plate. Hope away. I hope so too. But I get shy when we start assuming/counting on these things.

Even if the swing trajectory never adjusts enough to include consistent loft to become a 30+ HR guy, it would still be huge if he could learn to consistently rip it over the corner infielder's down the line a la Tony Gwynn. Will have a higher batting average doing this than smashing the ball into the ground because even if you hit it into the ground at 105+ MPH (and he will) a non small portion of those are still getting fielded and he (Anthony) isnt Ichiro like outrunning fielded ground balls.

Im not sure Hamilton is pushed off (yet), if IKF is the backup. But maybe if Romy grabs the everyday job

those jokes dont bother me.

Rooker is a player I like who I can make sense with logic why he could be available but I havent heard like rumors of oak shopping him, and ill stop bringing him up because paredes is (or at least has been) part of actual conversations so theres actual smoke there and not forum speculation. I dont like when people were like did you hear the new rumor and its some fan talking about why he would try to get player x and im like thats not like "a rumor" we need to differentiate between fan saying "how about this guy?" (in this case, me with Rooker) vs like something on mlbtraderumors from a real insider "Sox and houston have discussed Paredes". I dont mind fan trades at all or bringing it up (exactly like Im doing with Rooker) just saying its worth pointing out that some fan saying "I like this trade" is much different than like Peter G reporting the GMs and player X is at the center of conversations. So ill stop going back to Rooker. Its just a guy I like who I can make a case for being moved (31 yr DH in Oakland making 12m + incentives)

Yes Im aware and Notin has mentioned this before....They have to want to trade Rooker and its very very very likely they do not. I just assume that because hes a 31 yr old DH , making 12-18m/yr (based on incentives) that Oak would flip him. But I honestly think it would be hard to pry him loose because he's a legit very very very good hitter and people like him.

Ima check out Moons sick place, but I need to be outta the southwest by summer, not a heat guy.

To me, Brent Rooker is that DH

I make this trade, and if I woke up and saw it, Id be happy about it...But its not one I would go to first. Regardless of position, who is the best hitter in the MLB who you think may be reasonably available. I dont even care if they are a DH. Position 100% aside. Because if you get that elite hitting DH, they drastically help your defense. You can now play IKF at SS, and move Story to 2b (dont worry, he wont hissy fit like Devers)

Me. Bello and Cedanne for Brent Rooker , who says no?

This joke lands

This is true, and its especially true in Bello's case. He sometimes tries to mix in an upstairs cutter/4-seam (I have trouble telling Bello's pitches apart, I also cant tell if his primary is a 2-seamer or a sinker - but 2seamer vs sinker is more of a spectrum thing than a black / white thing but his straddles the middle).....But anyways, Bello could get better , I think, if he would abandon trying to go upstairs with his 4 seam/cutter (it may be 2 separate pitches, I have trouble with identifying his pitches) and live down in the zone (think DLowe when he is at his best) .... I think hed be better for it If I were to nitpick your post (sorry), you imply that experience matters more than nasty stuff (sometimes). Experience and "stuff nastiness" are very very correlated. A lot of people incorrectly think that experience as a pitcher is about learning how to mix up your pitches, but that stuff is kind of easy. Change eye level. Inside - outside. Stay unpredictable. All 4 quadrants. Hard inside; soft away. The real experience , where it really helps, is learning and tweaking the grips. And that directly effects the nastiness. A good pitcher who does not have nasty stuff is a myth. Its usually a pitcher, who figured out a grip late in his career and everyone is assuming the stuff isnt nasty because he was always mediocre and now he isnt. Another thing is you can get it fast, and you can lose it fast. Trust me. I never pitched except for one year, where I was awesome. Then I lost it, and could never do it again.

Bello has a proven sinkerball that gives him a high floor, but he also kind of has a capped ceiling because at this point we know what we are getting and its like on the line between #3/#4 (my opinion)

I feel like as a sinkerballer, Bello, I wanted to trade him more yesterday than I do right now after IKF and clear prioritization of infield defense over offense. Still not against moving him, I guess, hes just no longer the one I immediately circle. I personally have a hard time putting Tolle, Early, and Witherspoon in the same category. Tolle to me is worth way more and much harder to part with. The arm/extension and reach, to me make his potential top. I dont know much about Witherspoon, but regarding Early, I think that anybody who is moving Early above Tolle is buying too much into small sample sizes last year, just my opinion. Im hopeful we'll see more trading/fixing. But if we dont, I dont hate the IKF move in a vacuum but in the context of our current roster....We still have DHAM at 2nd. So you like IKF to backup Mayer. Thats 2 really bad bats, so the positional coverage insurance is fine, the hitting depth isnt. And like I always go back to, when you have good hitters at the top of your lineup, you can survive defense first players on the bottom half. But we dont. Weve always been able to get like a Yu Chang if we need one.

i also didnt read it, i heard it on tv in the background and misremembered it

bad job remembering but agreed

First of all, wanting him to win and saying hes gonna are indeed 2 different things, thats not a matter of opinion, IMO Secondly, I might not have said it, but I was confident.

I would say hes more crudite than erudite because hes stiffer than a raw carrot in a veggie tray

captain crunch berries, oops all berries pitchers

Thats great. I think I could pitch to this team and get through a couple innings.