TedYazPapiMookie

It's been going on longer that that!! The club has been horrible since Dombrowski got fired and Mookie and Price were given away. 2020 was a year where .500 would have been a huge improvement and 2021 was the year of the great start when they beat up Tampa Bay, Toronto, CWS and MIN to run off to a 32-21 record by the end of May. Since then, the end of May records are almost exactly .500 for the four years: 2022 - 24-27 2023 - 29-27 2024 - 30-30 2025 - 27-28 (with 6 games left in May) Each year everyone talks about the improvement and by the end of May the team is hovering around .500 because the April schedule is easy and the May schedule is hard and then we start playing the Yankees in June and we need July to bounce back to .500. This all tracks back to the events of 2019. Dombrowski's firing reversed the good fortune that had occurred after we reversed the Curse. The Mookie giveaway was an earthquake. I said it would take no less than 5 years and more likely 10 years to recover from it. I said no division titles will happen in the 2020s. It's 2025 the predicted five-year drought has occurred, and we continue to be average. We always have hope prior to the season that doesn't materialize. Is it Cora's leadership? Maybe. Is it poor acquisitions? Yes, under Bloom. Not so much under Breslow. All Breslow can do is keep providing talent but there is something very fundamental missing from the team. They gave away their leadership group in Mookie, JD, Bogaerts, Sale and Eovaldi. They have no replacements for them except possibly Bregman and Crochet. Devers is about Devers. He's not a leader he is self-focused star with less talent than he thinks he has. JD was putting up far better numbers as a DH and from the time he arrived in Boston he helped others improve their hitting. Those days are gone. They really only have a few stars left on the team and the fan base doesn't really support the rising stars like they should. Duran deserves much more respect for what he has accomplished but listen to NESN broadcasts all they do is rave about Devers and disrespect Duran, Houck, Casas and most of the remaining players provided by Dombrowski. Bregman and Crochet are being supported by NESN so that's good but guys like Campbell, Rafaela are being overlooked so guys like Abreu and Mayer/Anthony can be hyped. Watch a nationally broadcast Red Sox game and the announcers rave about Rafaela's skills yet the NESN broadcast is just the opposite. They seem to remember back to his wild swings from last season and don't recognize he's a completely different hitter this year who has the fewest Ks of the starters. The marketing and promotion of individuals by the NESN announcers, Cora and the fanbase have all continued to work against the team concept that existed in 2018 and 2013. That needs to be fixed or .500 is the destiny of the franchise for years to come. Hopefully, Breslow can return the clubhouse to being a team environment but as long as performance doesn't drive the praise from the manager, the reporters aligned with the front office and the fanbase, there will be plenty of .500 ball in the future.

With regard to Rafaela, no chance he should move. Neither should Duran. The only questionable outfielder is the platoon player Abreu. Compare the three on offense Measure the consistency of the players using 2025 splits Duran hit .287 in the last 28 days and .284 in the last 365 days Rafaela hit .241 in the last 28 days and .258 in the last 365 days Abreu hit .244 in the last 28 days and .248 in the last 365 days EXCEPT - Rafaela plays against RH and LH pitchers and Abreu platoons Abreu has had 22 at bats versus LH pitchers and has hit .227 and if they are the starter then .176 Abreu has had 145 at bats versus RH pitchers and has hit .262 and if they are the starter then .267 Obviously, Abreu must stay as a platoon player at best. He's hitting .208 in May. Rafaela is hitting .270 in May and Duran is hitting .250 in May. Because Rafeala is by by far the best outfielder defensively and Abreu is the weakest it's just a matter of time before Abreu goes to the bench or gets traded. Only an injury to Duran or Rafaela will slow Abreu's decent to the fourth outfielder. Leave Mayer at 3B and hope he can field better than in the minors, leave Story at SS, leave Campbell at 2B and go get a real 1B who actually has power. If Anthony is a power hitter then maybe he should be the 1B so Abreu can stay in the line-up against RH pitchers and Refsnyder can play versus LH pitchers. Hopefully, Bregman recovers quicker than the last time he had this injury. Without him, this team is a .500 team at best.

It will be interesting to see how the Mayer experiment will turn out initially. It was good to see him finally make contact on his fourth at bat. Should raise his confidence for the next game. For those expecting him to be great from the start, it's probably not going to happen. The key is can he field better than he did in the minors. This will be a good test for him. It might also help Campbell get back on track as the two reunite and share experiences with each other. Without Bregman for the length of time being suggested the team is in deep trouble. Devers has been on a sustained run on offense and we all know that can't last. When his batting regresses and it will, several players are going to need to step up if the team is to stay near .500 until Bregman gets back. It's probably a good idea for Breslow to go get a real 1B so the daily line-up will only be down Bregman with Mayer playing for him. The core team has talent on offense but 1B is a hole and 3B will be a struggle. June's schedule isn't as tough as May's but it does have 6 games with the Yankees and we could be swept in both series based on recent performances. Crochet needs to be a Yankee stopper twice in June. The key is to keep the games back behind the Yankees to no more than 10 by the time Bregman gets back.

I did and I am retired.

Look I wrote you a long response pointing out all the times you have instigated a negative response from me by insulting me and then I documented all your inaccurate comments that you called facts and I documented that they were not. I was going to send it but I knew it would just trigger more insults from you so I re-wrote my response to be short and to the point and it doesn't need a response. PLEASE DON"T RESPOND TO MY COMMENTS AT ALL. I guarantee like all the other original threads that I have created they won't include you. Unsolicited comments from you always begin with an insult. If you avoid responding I will have no reason to address you again and that would be wonderful. Thanks

I'm not interested in your career. I'm sure it was outstanding. When I read a comment like yours, I know what level you DIDN'T play at. That's all. Someone who played in college would know the pecking order of players. They would also know what being red-shirted means and why red-shirting happens. To think a player that got picked up on scholarship after the scholarship deadline due to a phenomenal summer season has a chance of beating out a multi-year starter and captain shows you didn't experience the hierarchy of college sports. So, no I have no idea what levels you played at, I only know what level you didn't play at based on your very naive comment on how things work in college. Heck, you could be in grade school for all I know, and I simply don't care. When you comment to me about things you clearly don't know anything about then it becomes clearer who I'm dealing with, and I need to consider the source. Feel free to be sarcastic and annoying as often you like because I'm really not interested in your opinions on topics you know nothing about. I am serious that I hope you had a great baseball career because you seem to enjoy the sport. I spent decades playing and promoting the sport and I frankly don't care if you believe me or not.

At the time I wrote my response the comment above related to Story. The way the website sequences these comments is very different from the other sites I've been on. Indentations for responses are more uniform. I apologize if someone else made the comments. I'm sure they know who it was and why I responded as I did.

I get it. You never played so you have no idea what I'm talking about and how often it happens.

I understand. You like speed and I like sure hands. Sometimes you get both. Measuring the times a ball gets hit to you has a lot more to do with the pitcher vs the hitter than the range of a defender. Also, each is a one-time event so extrapolation isn't valid. Every play will always be unique throwing each one into a bucket completely depends on the bucket and the person deciding which bucket. That's call "being arbitrary". That's why defensive metrics have varied by the source and to validate the metric concept of false information the individual sources add prefixes like r and others to distinguish why the same metric can't be calculated uniformly across the industry.

Yes I do but what I don't know is your point. People had documented that in the last two years that Campbell played 2B and all I did was point out that for the four years prior to that he was a SS exclusively. His move to 2B in college had nothing to do with his SS abilities, he was a freshman going against a senior starting SS. When he came to Boston Mayer was supposed to be the SS of the future but his struggles forced Boston to move Campbell back to his normal position in case Mayer's issues with injuries and mediocre play continued. In 2024 Mayer finally played like he was supposed to the prior 3 years and so Campbell looked to be a 2B at the MLB level but then once again Mayer got hurt and didn't get any AAA time in 2024. At this point with Campbell out playing Mayer prior to the start of the 2025 season I think Campbell should be considered the SS of the future and Mayer might catch on as the 3B of the future if Bregman opts out or he could be the 1B of the future if he can adapt to 1B like Campbell has had to adapt to 2B and two outfield positions. As the better defender and overall player Campbell should be shown the respect he deserves from the front office regardless of where Mayer was drafted back in 2021 four years ago. You just need to follow the string to understand why I pointed out he's a converted SS. I know it happens all the time and Campbell has been a victim of bad timing. In college, if the senior had graduated, he would have played SS like he did in HS and at Perfect Game. If he had played SS in college then he would have been drafted as a SS not a 2B because he played there one year in college and all the Red Sox fans would realize he's a converted SS not a 2B. That was the purpose of my post. Folks like facts so I provided his history of SS and why it was just bad timing that he ended up at 2B in college. Frankly, wherever Boston needs him he will willing go there and do the best job possible. He's an excellent young man who came through High School and college with very little recognition unlike Mayer who was great in High School 5 years ago but hasn't done much since. I hope this explains why I documented his history. You are 100% right that High School shortstops go in many, many directions after they graduate. Pitching is even on the paths they might take like Hunter Greene, who was an excellent high school shortstop.

Try to remember this kid is young. Four years of high school ball at SS and I found a quote for you about his High School career that ended in 2020 the COVID year. In high school, he lettered in baseball and helped his team win the Region 5 Division 7A Championship in 2019. In 2020, he batted .373 with a .572 on base percentage and 30 stolen bases If you know anything about elite baseball at the High School level in Georgia you would understand just how good a SS he was to play on the 7A division champion's team. Then, with a shortened season in 2020 he was remarkable as a SS. In addition, check out the East Cobb team he played his select baseball on for Perfect Game. To earn the starting SS position on that team is a hugh accomplishment because East Cobb teams recruit all over the country. Here is another source about Campbell: Campbell attended George Walton Comprehensive High School in Marietta, Georgia. He lettered in baseball all four years of high school. In 2023, he slashed .376/.484/.549 in 45 games, walking 29 times and getting hit by a pitch 11 times while striking out only 17 times.[1] He was named a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball.[4] So this kid played SS four years in HS while playing elite select baseball for one of Perfect Games top teams as a Shortstop. Went to college got redshirted so he went to a summer league program similar to the Cape Cod League and completely tore it up earning him the starting 2nd base spot due to an incombent SS at Georgia Tech. He puts up great numbers again, earns freshman All-American honors and finally gets drafted and THEN all of the above that you wrote happens. You minimalized his SS experience to bias the argument but it didn't work. Campbell was an under the radar guy until he proved that his lifelong trend of being excellent at baseball got noticed big time last year and yet you still take shots at him because he has so many seasons at SS during his high school years playing for an elite high school programs. Did you know that Arenado, M Chapman and Skenes all played in a select High School program in California similar to the ones Campbell played for in Georgia? It's not easy to win a starting spot in the elite high school programs around the country but Campbell did it as a Shortstop not a 2B. He had to learn 2B after high school which is why he's a SS who has been converted by Boston to play 2B along with 2 outfield positions and now 1B. In the end, as long as Story is owed $70 Million it doesn't much matter whether Campbell's superior skills at SS are recognized by people like you, he's going to be used elsewhere because he's the best athlete in the bunch with the most innate skills on defense to be able to play most positions at a league average level or higher in the MLB. It is simply amazing that Red Sox fans want to sell him so short despite all his accolades. Mayer doesn't have any like Campbell has earned recently and in High School. Mayer's successes are prior to the draft and need to start happening now since it's 5 years later!!

No offense but giving a contract of any length to a platoon outfielder when it's the organization's deepest position makes very little sense. Remember he hits .273 vs right-handed pitchers and .194 against left-handed pitchers. That's exactly why he is a platoon player and at best a back-up when Anthony comes to the MLB. Duran is an all-star, Rafaela proves daily that he might be one of the best defensive CF in the game and Anthony is a better fielder and hitter than Abreu so why would he get a long-term contract rather than being traded to get something the team might need since we are still a .500 team? Let's get more pitching with Abreu and Yoshida. If you look at Abreu's stats, he's a streaky hitter. He hits great in April and August, poorly in May and September, and between .250 and .265 in June and July. Duran, Rafaela and Anthony with Refsnyder as the 4th outfielder makes Abreu completely expendable. More splits on Abreu show he's hitting .211 at home and .312 on the road. He's hitting .227 vs lefties but he's hitting .176 versus left-handed starters. He hit .295 in April and .208 in May so far. He's hitting .042 with 2 outs and RISP which seems to be a common problem this season. Rafaela on the other hand who he is competing with him as Anthony's promotion is not too far away is hitting .271 at home and .205 on the road. As far as clutch stats go, he's hitting .364 with 2 outs and RISP which begs the question why is he still hitting 9th when the team average with 2 outs and RISP is .216? Almost .150 points less than Rafaela. The batting order is such a critical aspect to winning and Cora has failed miserably at putting together batting orders that work. Think about that. As good as the data has been with regard to hitting vs pitching, how good could it have been with a better, more logical batting order? Why haven't Campbell or Rafaela been batting 2nd, especially in April when Campbell was red hot? Or Rafaela now that he's done well in May? Duran is hitting now, add a righty in the 2nd slot and Devers RBI opportunities would jump. Without a power hitting right-hander other than Bregman, (who needs to stay behind Devers right now) the team desperately needs a trade to get one which would allow Bregman to move to the 2 hole and the new power bat would fill the 4 hole to protect Devers. This team's manager also needs to recognize who is hot faster and adjust the line-up accordingly. Did you know Rafaela has gone from worst at Ks to best at Ks so that issue has been eliminated. Even more reason for Cora to move him up in the order and Abreu down until Abreu heats up again in June. Too much time is spent right now on thinking about extensions. These young guys haven't earned them yet so give it time to see if they deserve it. We need wins not contracts.

The guy has had 103 plays at 2B at the MLB level in his rookie season. Is your expectation perfection? The guy is a SS forced to play 2B. He put up a .980 fielding percentage at 2B in in 2024 after a .977 at 2B in 2023 the year he was drafted. League average at 2B in 2025 is 2 points higher than his current fielding percentage. Wake up and smell the roses. You a criticizing a rookie for being 2 points below league average at a relatively new position. And who cares if he is 24th out of 30 in innings at 2B? He's playing LF and CF as well for the team. You act as if that fact doesn't make him more a superstar than a slug you are trying to wrongfully suggest. You simply don't have a clue about baseball and based on the way Notin speaks up for you I'm guessing you are a kid trying to discuss baseball with adults so I'll end with 4 points. 1 - The league fielding percentage for 2025 is actually .981 not .985 so next time get your numbers right 2 - This stud prospect should be complimented by a Red Sox fan for doing an incredible job in his first year while playing 3 other positions other than his primary position of SS. 3 - He doesn't need inaccurate bonus points from a metric to see that he is an exceptional player. His fielding percentage says it all. This kid has talent coming out of ears. He can hit, field, run and play almost anywhere on the field at a league average level in his first 42 games in the MLB. Cue the loud applauds!!! 4 - Now the kid needs to learn his most critical skill and that is dealing with adversity. Every great minor league player has to learn this when they only have success prior to getting to the MLB. Harper struggled with it, Griffey struggled with and even Trout struggled with it but once they figured it out, wow, they never looked back and became superstars.

Hahaha got quite the chuckle out of this response. Thanks. First you try to call me out for pointing out that using the single greatest number of plays in a season wasn't technically incorrect without acknowledging how incredibly absurd it is to use the single biggest outlier example to prove a point about normalization of data in a faulty formula. Then you try to suggest that me pointing out that Story's learning curve while playing three positons was similar and even common for young SSs because it takes time to develop in the minors while Mayer has best case been similar while slightly regressing over 3 seasons in the minors. Your rationalization skills are epic!!! hahaha

Or maybe Story's pattern just fits your argument because Mayer has the following data: 2021 partial ROK season 70 chances .857 2022 A and Hi-A 306 chances .961 (peak season before partial 2025 season) 2023 Hi-A and AA 236 chances .958 (dropped 3 points after 376 chances prior to 2023) 2024 AA 212 chances .953 (dropped another 5 points with 236 more chances under his belt!!) 2025 AAA 104 chances .981 (a bit too early to project the full season since his last season was .953) Looks like Mayer's history is regressing not adapting and improving like you suggest. That's probably why we see things so differently. Campbell's .971 in the minors is a fact so to call him "not a good SS" has no basis in fact. I'd use a phrase that you used on me, but I don't want to be petty. One other key point you overlooked is that Story played 2B, SS and 3B and was NOT a dedicated SS like Mayer. His history more resembled Campbell's short stint in the minors but Story was there 5 years and Campbell just two years. Also, if you look back at his Perfect Game prospect reports about his arm they completely disagree with your comments about not being strong enough. Here is yet another key item that was inaccurate in your comments, THIS SEASON in 2025 at 2B Campbell's fielding percentage is .979. If you call that struggling that's crazy talk. .979 is excellent for a rookie adapting to a new position he's nowhere near as familiar with as SS. He's also played LF and CF flawlessly so far which speaks to what an incredible athlete he is and further validates his Minor League Player of the Year award. That's why he makes the most sense at shortstop should the team choose not to continue with the $70Million dollar man.

I agree that Campbell put up better numbers as a hitter than Mayer. People think I hate Mayer but I just go by the stats. The reason I consider Mayer a more prototypical 1B is his size compared to Campbell. Campbell has a thin frame and Mayer looks to fill out even more as he ages. Everyone has hammered on me about his power, you are right about his power not being materially different than Campbell. On defense if you quote the .981 on 104 total chances does that render the 824 other plays in his Milb career as irrelevant? His fielding on those was .951!!! Should we dismiss approximately 89% of his plays at .951 and only count the 11% of the plays in 2025? Maybe after 4 years of not being very good he's become a great defender suddenly. I hope that is true but it seems unlikely. Also, I've never thought dumping Bogaerts for Story was a wise move and his hitting seems to have proven my instinct correct but on defense he's always .984 or higher until the small sample this season. Due to injuries it could be argued the other years were small samples too but if I have to choose between a guy with a 10 year fielding percentage of .979 who is temporarily at .973 versus a kid who put up .951 for 4 seasons in the minors and now is suddenly at .981 for just 104 plays, I'll take the veteran with a track record of success not the youngster who has a recent small sample of success. If you want to pull Story for his hitting, I'm good with that but I would put Campbell at SS not Mayer. All his slick looking play has still resulted in 4 years at .951. Until he proves in a much bigger sample size that he is a .981 fielder, he should stay at AAA. FYI.... Campbell at SS in the minors carries a .971 fielding percentage in an equally small sample size of 103 total chances I'd rather have Bogaerts right now who is 32 (the same as Story) hitting at a league average rate and playing .979 defense which is his career average after 13 seasons. Maybe body frame shouldn't be a reason to move Mayer to 1B and put Campbell at SS. I guess performance should be the primary reason but with 70Million still owed Story, it seems like Story isn't going anywhere unless an injury happens. Casas will be back in 2026 so Boston must also reconcile his future. Putting any of the prospects at 1B seems like a bad move long-term. Unless Casas can be packaged for another better 1B prospect (Boston needs to package Casas with a partially paid for Yoshida or Abreu/Rafaela) Casas will return and be the 1B of the future forcing one of the prospects into a limbo situation in 2026. I think among Campbell, Anthony and Mayer based on past performance Mayer deserves to be the one in limbo not Campbell. All these issues go away if Story disappears knowing that change will cost $70Million.

Go back in time and look at Mayer's stats in the lower minors. Funks are commonplace. That is a trend for him. That's why Anthony looks like a far better prospect from a performance standpoint just like Campbell. This is a really cool time. Having great rookies come up around the same time has always been memorable. Rice and Lynn was a great era in Boston. Bogaerts and Mookie then Benny and Devers was an exciting time too. Now Duran, Campbell, Anthony and Mayer looks to be great fun with unexpected contributions like Narvaez makes this a very fun team to watch while they mature.

It's very simple. I go by performance not hype. A player can showcase extremely well but not perform. I compare factual stats rather than hearing about how good a guy looks. Jeter Downs is a perfect example. Great bat speed, launch angle, athleticism, arm, base running etc etc etc. Then I went and read his stats and saw for 198 games he was below average and for 12 games at the end of 2019 he got promoted to hit against 2 of the worst pitching teams in the AA league he was promoted to. He hit .333 for 12 games and jumped for around 200 to 44 in the pipeline ratings thanks to Friedman and his public relations group. Cincinati had Downs from the draft and saw he wasn't cutting so they traded him to LAD and duped Friedman. The second he found out the issue with Down's performance he got promoted to be packaged to somewhere else. Fortunely, he was a mentor to Bloom and he took the guy who suddenly jumped over 150 spots in the ratings after 12 games. There were many, many Red Sox fans that criticized my opinion and I explained it wasn't an opinion, it was the stats from his actual performance. I'm in the exact same situation with Mayer. Dull performance at the lower levels of the minors with multiple injuries. 2024 was his only good year and I thought when he got promoted to AAA he would finally prove himself. Unfortunately, like several times before he got hurt and was a no show. Anthony took about two or three games to adjust to AAA and took off and destroyed the pitchers. Campbell took off immediately and then started to fade the last week or so. That's why I think Anthony has nothing left to prove and should be promoted, Campbell now needs to learn how to deal with adversity just like Harper did when he was a rookie and failed for the first time in his life and Mayer needs to become a consistent hitter who stays healthy and fields better. You don't like fielding percentage, but he only had a .951 fielding percentage in the minors. If nothing else, that should throw up a red flag to suggest there may be an underlying issue with his fielding. Possibly great athleticism and that doesn't translate to the field. His spring training comment suggests a massive ego like Devers and an expectation he should be given everything because he's a 4th pick in the draft. Personally, he needs to learn humility and I think Cora agrees. I hope he gains that and turns out just like you expect him to. Experts who sit and view players and ignore their actual performance aren't much of experts to me.

I think a lot of fans feel much like you do. The only problem is that Story is owed $70Million for 2025 to 2027. Do you eat that in hopes a guy who hasn't performed that well in the minors suddenly becomes the player everyone wanted to him to be? With $70Million owed it's hard to believe Boston would eat that money for the least certain of the star prospects. If Story needs to play this year and two more it makes way more sense to move Mayer to 1B and see if he can stick there, move Campbell back to 2B. Then bring up Anthony and nudge either Rafaela or Abreu into the fourth outfielder role. Maybe you play Abreu against right-handed hitters and move Anthony to center and when Rafaela plays you have Anthony in right field. Also, when Casas comes back you can see if he can beat out Mayer at 1B. If he can't, he's trade bait like Yoshida.

There are a lot of "point in time" comments that have been made related to performance. Casas started poorly but that isn't unusual because he's done that before and was fine. So replacing him "should be easy" based on what he's done doesn't really apply. It's replacing his entire season and what he's done historically that is being replaced. Likewise, nobody expected Devers to be bad all season and he is now hitting. In a few weeks he won't be and a few weeks after that he will be. That's normal in a baseball season so taking pictures of results at a point in time is short sighted. Story is cold but will heat up. He's an excellent fielder who has struggled hitting in Boston but he is fully capable of rebounding just like Devers and Duran have done this season. Campbell went to college as a SS, got forced into playing 2B for one season due to an incumbent SS who was in his last year at his college, then he got drafted and Boston put him at 2B because they love Mayer and thought they could be a middle infield duo for a decade or so. Then, Boston sees Mayer struggling in 2023 and asks Campbell to split time at SS and 2B in 2024 and he wins Minor League Player of the Year. He beats out Mayer in spring training for a spot on the roster and is asked to play 2B since Story was healthy. He gets off to a hot start then teams adjust and he starts struggling at the bat. As soon as that happens, someone decides to prepare the least prototypical 1B of the three top prospects to play 1B. While Campbell has decent power, the infield corner positions are for the big power guys and both Anthony and Mayer have more power than Campbell and are far better choices if the team is going to not do the obvious and get a real 1B. What makes Campbell an even worse choice is that he's dealing with his first adversity in baseball. He was a star shortstop though his senior year of High Schoo, he was a star in college and then he won Minor League Player of the Year in his first full season in the minors. He's learning how to deal with adversity right now so why would anyone think it's a good idea to pile on a change of position to distract him from learning how to deal with adversity. It's completely illogical. To conclude, Abreu hit great in April and horribly in May so depending on which picture you take he should either be traded or a full-time starter. Neither is right, he's an excellent hitting outfielder who hasn't hit lefties yet. It may happen some day and that will raise his value. Point in time reviews of his performance have had huge swings since he got promoted. Nothing wrong with streak hitters like Abreu and Dever as long as the lows aren't focused on more than their highs. Rafaela can be described much like Abreu except he has had different hitting issues. His defense is the best in the outfield and his hitting has been terrible due to his impatience. The good news is he went from most Ks to last in Ks over the off season and he is walking a bit more so he is improving AND remains an extraordinarily productive hitter out of the 9 hole. He has a bright future despite all the exaggerated point in time criticisms that he receives. People are trying to predict success without the growing pains. Bloom devastated the 2018 roster and the talent level went nearly to zero and now it's on the rise with Breslow and it takes time. 2025 needs to be a steppingstone to the future. Too many prospects don't have the minimal two seasons under their belt to see how good they are. Hitting minor league pitching or pitching to minor league hitters isn't' the same as doing it in the MLB. Great success like Anthony and Campbell have had usually means success in the MLB but years of average play like Mayer has had is far more difficult to trend especially with all the injuries. Anthony needs to be up and getting lots of playing time so someone needs to pick between Abreu a platoon hitter or Rafaela the best defender who is just now beginning to catch on with his hitting. One needs to sit so Anthony can get experience sooner than later. Mayer needs to spend much more time in AAA to refine his mistakes in the field and prove he can like he did in 2024 not the previous seasons and he can stay healthy. As soon as that is accomplished Boston will need him on the MLB roster.

Without data clearly the comment about not having a clue is just an uninformed opinion often called a cheap shot. You can't just voice your viewpoint. That's a lack of maturity.

Campbell eventually will learn 1B and his skills are good enough to play him there but there are better alternatives: 1 - Go get a real 1B 2 - Put Mayer there because he's more of a prototypical 1B than Campbell. Corner infield is a power position and Mayer has more power than Campbell. He's not as good at hitting or fielding but he does have more power. Hopefully, his issues with injures won't continue into the future. 3 - Put Anthony there because he's a power hitter as well and the team is deepest in the outfield. At 1B Anthony like both Mayer and Campbell, should be able to learn the position quickly and develop sharper skills in future years. 4 - Use Campbell despite him being the best SS in the organization. He has handled the change to 2B for Story's sake quite well but his natural position is SS. If Boston hadn't already invested 2 years of Mayer at SS when Campbell was drafted, Campbell would be the heir apparent to SS. What doesn't make sense is why have Campbell play SS and 2B in 2024 in case Story gets hurt and then change things up and have him now learn 1B which then forces Mayer to learn 2B. That is a lot more re-positioning to pursue when the obvious better choice is just Mayer learning a new potition or just Anthony learn a new position. Both guys are power hitters more so than Campbell. Any of the choices other than #1 make very little sense. Let Mayer stay in the minors until his defense improves and have Anthony join the outfield and use Abreu to get more pitching.

I have agreed several times now that this discussion is not worthwhile. Also, I'm still waiting for the ONE metric fully defined to the nth level. A stat like Fielding % is very straight forward and I've stated it too often according to you, yet I have not received ONE defensive metric detailed with assumptions, calculations, constants and variables. I've asked for that many times now. Your comment that I said that fielding % is all there is to defense is an interpretation of what I wrote and not representative of what I said. Fielding percentage is the rate of success in the all important area of stopping the offense from getting baserunners. Every play has a binary result; Success or failure to get the batter out. No normalization techniques are used, no complex formula is used, no need to simulate past events are used, no counting on a company to provide an uncertified set of data that shows the fan the nth level of detail of each formula and the exceptions that are created to make the formula work. I like fielding percentage more. It doesn't pretend to solve the "apples to oranges" issue when comparing players it just records the facts of each binary result. It shows a rate of success in an untampered form. It's not perfect but it's factual.

Maybe you didn't see it but I already debunked that link many responses ago. Pointed out the mistakes line for line and how the theory was nothing but incorrect baseball concepts. Key words ... incorrect normalization techniques that are meaningless, erroneous assumptions that don't represent facts and simulating retro activity to further attempt to define individual play to attempt to resolve apples to oranges situations. With such a hostile group, I've already said I agree to disagree. The irony is that there is still no definition of all the components of just ONE black box metric. Not sure why nobody knows ONE off the top of their head yet you are convinced they are right. Hahaha. Seems like a big disconnect to me. Again, no need to keep beating a dead horse. Let it go.