Malcolm White

Yes, he chases.....but his K% was lower than any Red Sox regular except Devers and Bregman last year. He "swings at everything" but manages to hit some of it -- not ideal, but with his speed, incremental improvements in chase and patience could turn him into a really valuable guy.

Trader Craig -- where once he had pitching depth, he traded it for infield depth,

Crochet-Suarez-Gray-Bello-Oviedo-Crawford-Sandoval-Early-Tolle-Harrison all will get MLB starts somewhere this year, Two years ago, Breslow inherited Bello-Sale-Houck-Crawford and nobody in the minors. Amazing resurgence. When ST begins and starters get sore arms, he'll have a ton of leverage.

You would think that Cedanne showed out as a great shortstop when he played there in 2024; he wasn't. And people are using that to say he'll have no trouble excelleing at ANOTHER infield position, on the other side of the diamond. Not to mention he's a Gold Glove CF....

The Sox now have a ground-ball staff and pretty good ground-ball pickers, but 3B is a priority in a park where teams load their order with RH batters. Bello is one of those ground-ball guys, and his contract going forward is a bargain. If their depth of starters wasn't this good, I'd hold onto him. But... The Astros are starving for pitching -- besides Brown, they have a bunch of guys worth >1 WAR. The Cubs' rotation is better but aging--three of their starters are 33+. The Mets' rotation isn't dominating or deep. All three teams have a 3B who would help--Paredes, Matt Shaw in CHI or Brett Baty. Shaw's a terrific fielder with five years of control; Paredes a good hitter with a below-average glove, and Baty is likely the Mets' top option at 3B given their unhappiness with Vientos. That makes Duran. Abreu AND Bello available; all are overpays for these three 3B. Breslow is waiting for a crisis, which usually means pitches who get hurt. I believe he'll wait until somebody gives him the 2B or 3B with a good glove and good-enough bat.

While I was all about Geno Suarez at the start of the offseason, no more. This is a ground-ball staff and it's frustrating to watch ground balls not turned into outs. ALmost as frustration to watch K's with RISP, and Geno's likely to do that. An above-average glove 3B, with Mayer moving to 2B, would give them a terrific defense. IF KC won't let go og Mikeal Garcia (they shouldn't), the target should me Matt Shaw of the Cubs, a great glove guy (13 runs saved to Bregman's 1) who'll lose his job to Bregman. Abreu, Duran or Bello would be an overpay for a guy just finishing his rookie season, but there's the guy for that position if you want the best defender possible.

Bullpen's thin. If Kelly makes the team, it will still be thin. Don't see the value of keeping Nate Eaton (careerr OPS .601) over Casas (career OPS .800), but so many have buried the latter it's like he doesn't exist anymore. And if they're spending $30M/yr. on a player, I'd rather it be Bichette than Bregman. A six-year deal for Bo would conclude with him being a year older than Bregman is now.

Someday Breslow will be credited for building an organization, not just the major league team. It's a difficult balance and he's striking it.

Having signed Imai, the Astros are in a bit of salary bind. While their fans think Paredes is worth Tolle to the Sox, I don't, but Paredes' pull tendency would fit well in this lineup and ballpark.

Good job by Breslow to shore up the rotation without waiting for the Boras Sweepstakes to ruin the offseason. Plenty of bullets left to trade, plenty of opportunities to pick up another starter, and $20-40M to fix the infield. They need either a 3B (Suarez) or 1b/DH (Alonso) with big power from the right side. If they do go defense first (always my preference) at 3B, figuring out what else it would take to get Bloom to take Masa for Arenado makes sense IF they've already signed an ALonso.

Stop already. The argument is not supported by your facts. Jarren Duran had an even .600 OPS vs. lefties last year, with a 28% K rate and 4% walk rate. He shouldn't even be in the lineup, let alone hitting high in the order. Abreu's OPS vs. LHP was .676. You whine about Abreu's ,212 average, which was a point higher than Duran's against lefties. "Summarizing" that a position switch makes him a better defender than a two-time Gold Glove winner is flat-out wrong. Duran takes lousy routes and has an infielder's arm; Abreu's is elite. I like Duran, a lot. He doesn't have enough power for a corner outfielder, can't be played in center (an enormous fielding gulf between him and Rafaela), and the $7.7M represents the last year he'll be good value. In a full season's worth (512 AB's) of facing lefties, he's .232/.284/.336, with 8 homers. If the Red Sox auction off their OFs as they should, they'll find Duran has the least value, not the most.

Who can recall the Sox closers BEFORE they got around to Koji? Joel Hanrahan and yep, Andrew Bailey. Chapman was great last year, but didn't hold a candle to Koji.

An idea: Sox need RH power, high-end starter, 3B. The Cardinals have all three, all on contracts they'd rather move: Contreras (2/$37M); Gray (2/$65M), and Arenado (2/$42M). Bloom's now calling the shots. Cards are rebuilding; there's talk of subsidizing those deals to get out from under them. Why not swap with the Sox, who could give Masa (2/$36M) and an MLB-ready starter (Crawford, Dobbins, maybe Harrison) and take on STL's inflated obligations. None would by my first choice, but Masa's just got to go. Gray makes all his starts and is very reliable; marginal cost would be $30M over two years. Arenado's marginal cost would be only an extra $6M; I'd do it only if they signed Alonso because Arenado's bat isn't much. The glove's still great, he says he could play some 1B (don't doubt it). Arenado + Gray + Alonso (@ $27M) adds roughly $89M to the payroll, but they save $18M from Yoshida and solve all three needs without giving up their best young players. And they're out from under both deals the same year as Masa's. NOT my preference, but a way to get the holes filled.

Abreu platoons because Cora platoons him. He'll never get better sitting on the bench. Maybe if Ref retires Cora will realize Abreu is an everyday player. Duran plays every day because Cora plays him every day, even with Duran's putrid .600 OPS vs. LHP. Abreu's was .676, btw, and Duran's is .620 career. Between that, and the delta in salary (Duran's $7.7M vs. Abreu's pre-arb $1M), Abreu's far superior defense and arm, plus better power, and I don't know why so many people think Duran is so much more valuable, esp. as a LF. Nothing against Duran, but I'd pump the brakes on thinking he's the centerpiece for a #2 starter without throwing in a lot extra. OTOH, a pre-arb Abreu makes ANY team's defense better for less than a mil a year.

None of these guys does it for me, but Kim would come closest due to positional versatility. At some point the Sox need to which infielders (Mayer, Campbell, Grissom, all the way down to Arias and Romero) are keepers. And 2B isn't nearly the hole that 3B and 1B/DH are, not to mention SP#2. They MUST find the starter (trade of Duran/Abreu more likely than 6+ year deal for over-30 starter). I favor Alonso or Suarez as the big stick, but lean towards Alonso. For 3B, the Cards are dying to deal Arenado's contract, so a swap of Yoshida makes some sense for both sides. Can't rely on Arenado's bat, but the glove is still great and having a bopper in-house makes Arenado's bat less important.

The Hicks decision's gonna be interesting. I'd rather spend his $12M on a more reliable guy, but not at the cost of Hicks's $12 PLUS another $12M. Chapman-Whit-Slaten-Weissert is good, but I think they need a solid lefty who fits in there. Wilson did a great job, mostly. Drew Pomerantz would be my choice.

They should, esp. if they want to dodge Duran's .600 OPS vs. lefties (Abreu .676).

There's no need to reinforce the bottom of the rotation--you need optionable young pitchers in those slots to have the flexibility to swap them out if they're overwhelmed. All set there. But this "solid #2/borderline #1" guy is hard to find. Guys with 30+ starts, WHIP >1.25, ERA >3.50: In the AL (not counting Yankees, who have 4): Castillo, Woo, Gilbert, SEA. Ryan, Lopez, MIN. Cameron, Bubic, KC. Skrubal. Hunter Brown. Rasmussen, Tampa. deGrom, Eovaldi, Mahle**, Texas. NL (Dodgers had five, but only Yamamoto made 30 starts): Matt Boyd, Cubs. Hunter Greene (19 starts), Abbott (29), CIN. Cabrera, MI (26 starts). Peralta, MIL. Sanchez, Suarez**, Wheeler**, PHL. Skenes. Pivetta. Logan Webb, SF. A few of them are free agents (Wheeler's intriguing), but to make a trade, gotta find a team with pitching surplus (LAD, NYY--not happening) that badly needs offense. KC, CIN look like best bets.

They "simply" need to beat out the Yankees, who will start Cole-Fried-Rodon-Gil-Schlitter-Schmidt (oops, that's six starters) next year. vs. the two Red Sox starters (one of which is your depth starter, Bello).? Both Bieber and Gio won't be here. While I'd like to extend Bregman a year or two, too, that ain't happening. And putting Abreu, a far superior defender and hitter against LHP than Duran (.676 vs. an anemic .600) makes little sense. I am reluctant to sit or move Gold Glove defenders; maybe it's just me. We'll see this offseason how the industry rates Duran, but the lack of power for a corner OF, the shaky fielding/mediocre arm, and futility vs. LHP is liable to suppress his trade value. Wouldn't surprise me to see Abreu or even Rafaela bring a better return.

I cannot even allow myself to dream about Tarik Skrubal in a Red Sox uniform.

Free agency is so tricky because the length of deals. If they're spending big money, would rather give it to Alonso and use trade capital to get the pitcher from a team that can't afford his contract (Lopez of the Twins) or needs other assets even more (Greene from the Reds for Duran+). There's so many starters in the system with potential that I'd rather go short-term with the starter. Who knows what Tolle, Early, Perales, etc. might look like in a year. This first two took a major leap forward last season, and it's possible Bres, Bailey and the pitching lab know what they're doing.

Agree......FA is just the least efficient way to obtain starters, and you have to badly overpay. Speculation is that Michael King will get 3/$75M, and he's had exactly one healthy season. Abreu's new GG makes him even more attractive to non-contending teams trying to save money -- MIN, MIA, PGH, ARI, KC and maybe more. Pair him with a MLB-ready starter like Harrison, Early or Dobbins and that should bring back a good starter with at least two years of term. In order, I prefer Hunter Greene, Ryan, Pablo Lopez, Brady Singer, Cole Ragans and Edward Cabrera. Then buy Geno Suarez and the Justin WIlson replacement (Pomerantz?) and let's go.

I like Yoshida. With a big-bat masher or two in the lineup, his batted-ball skills would help the offense. But his is not a big bat. Casas's is. Masa's hit 29 HR in 1200 PA's since joining the Red Sox. Casas has hit 45 in 950 PAs, or one every 21 PA, a better rate than Devers or anyone else on the roster. Get Suarez to play third, keep Casas healthy, hit more HR.

Power. He has it. OBP....he has it.

Given the other needs, this isn't a tough call. Wong just had an awful start to the season and never recovered, but look around.......not many teams have better backups.