Malcolm White

Reluctant to give up on a guy who: - had OPS of .882, .899 and .920 in the minors before getting sick last Spring; - hit .338/.467/.507 once he got his weight/strength back in Sept. - even with this miserable swing, has as many BBs as Ks. Doesn't matter that he cost them Sale, or that Sale pitched great last year. You don't give up on guys that have consistently raked in the minors. Let's see him do it again and create a roster problem. He needs health, not new scenery.

Or wishful thinking on his usage. I'm hopeful they manage games played much better than last year, when Duran, Rafaela, Wong and others were gassed late in the season. I hope Cora has a plan for getting Casas a day off his feet every 7-10 days.

Add Newcombe and Fullmer to the possbilities list.

It would be a fun bet to see who gets more ABs, Story or O'Neill. Not sure the O's did their homework on how much he was babied last year.

I'm stupid, and maybe stuck in the past, but why hit a slow power hitter (Devers) #2 when he would have more RBI chances hitting lower? Grissom or Hamilton behind Duran pressures the defense, breaks up the lefties, and creates a Devers-Bregman-Casas 3-4-5 that should do serious damage.

I'd move a pitcher to the 60-day, ride Thompson for a couple weeks until Abreu gets his strength back. And Sogard is making it difficult to cut him. He's the best defensive SS they have (except Mayer) who is readily available. Competitive ABs almost every time. But I hope Story lasts long enough to hand the keys to Mayer, who looks like the best player on the field most of the time he plays. Smoooooth with the glove, dangerous with the bat. I'd never move him off SS.

"Plenty of things" don't necessarily have to go right. They've already lost a starter; they have five more, two more who have flashed so far in ST games. They could lose TWO 2B to injury and still be OK. If Story goes down, Mayer certainly has the glove for SS and his bat looks pretty good, too. If casas sustains a long-term injury it will hurt, but it hurts ANY team when one of their best hitters goes down. Breslow has built a lot of redundancy into this team, to the point where perhaps none of the Big 3 will come North. That's a lot of good roster-builing in less than 18 months.

I swear some of those pitchers would've been counted on to be starters for the big club in 2020-21. The fact that they'll be lucky to get a sniff in Worcester's bullpen is a great credit to Breslow's building of pitching depth in the short year-plus he's been at the helm.

Don't see the need to make anyone a full-time anything. Having Bregman doesn't mean Devers never plays third again--it just means the Sox D will be better when he doesn't. Doesn't mean Bregman will never play 2B.....but if Grissom/Ham/Campbell can play it, he won't play 2B very often. Means Masa might hit (mostly) against RHP, against whom he's very good. They're much deeper, erected a fall-back in case all of the 2Bs fail, and protected both Masa and Devers. I'd be thrilled if he opted out; it would mean he had a great season.

One WAR is worth closer to $9M these days.

I'm starting to talk myself into Arenado....plus. Hear me out for a second. Two successive years of rotten infield defense made it my top priority coming into the season, and they have done nothing to improve it. At worst, Arenado is a plus fielder moving a minus fielder (Devers) to DH. He's played with Story, and this young team could use another veteran. Cards are desperate to deal him and should take Yoshida back--after all, Bloom signed him. And he'll hit in a big ballpark like STL. A straight swap saves STL $15-20M. But I would give more to get back one of two players--Ryan Helsley or Ivan Herrera. Helsley had 49 saves and a 2.04 ERA last year, but makes $8M in his last arb year and the Cards aren't a contender. Their SPs are old; a young starter like Fitts or Priester might land him. Herrera would cost more, but I'd deal Crawford (who would thrive in that big park) for him - a 24-y.o. catcher who hit .301 with an .800 OPS last year. Very valuable but STL has many young catchers and needs starting pitching. Arenado improves the defense (a lot), balances the lineup, offloads Yoshida (who I like but he's a bad fit), and gives Campbell more time to develop. Even if his bat suffers, his glove makes it worthwhile with this ground ball heavy staff. Contract can be dumped by 2026. Arenado-Helsley makes them competitive with BAL, NY. Arenado-Herrera sets them up for the future.