TedYazPapiMookie

To call something you don't agree with "nonsense" is both unnecessary and inflamatory. Clearly you lack experience with the game, so I'll ignore the insult. You know it's perfectly fine being a fan of Devers without making up things about him that simply aren't true based on the data. He doesn't belong on the field in any capacity other than a DH. 14 years of bad play typically proves the point to most people.

Actually, Devers main issue is that he had no skills to be a 3B. He has no backhand ability, he has terrible balance and falls to his right frequently while backhanding plays, he has no baseball acumen when it comes to selecting which balls to make a play on, he's got a slow first step, he's not good at charging slowly hit balls and he's even worse at throwing on the run. The reason that fangraph's numbers don't accurately represent the problem is that during his 8 seasons his errors the score keepers have only recorded roughly 1/4 of his misplays as errors. Misplays don't get included in the fangraphs numbers. I was shocked in 2022 when Devers had 14 errors when his year by year errors starting in his partial season in 2017 were 14, 24, 22, 14 (60 games in 2020), 22 and 14 (in 2022). FYI 2023 and 2024 were 19 and 12(only 130 games). So I went to the very reliable Baseball Reference and went game by game counting the number of hits to 3B that occurred in 2022. A hit to 3B is a ball hit to the 3B that does not result in an out but was a playable ball. It could be a ball that was considered hit too hard, a ball that hits off his glove or his body or a ball that is mishit and the player doesn't make a play on it while charging the ball and throwing it. These are the plays we see Bregman make regularly. In 2022 Devers had 52 misplays and 14 errors so 38 balls didn't result in outs and didn't result in errors yet Devers made a play on them. Those 38 misplays do not get included in the numbers by fangraphs which significantly reduces the errors related to the fielding side of the equation. The throwing side was miserable but the fielding side likely created twice as many base runners and impacted the ERAs and WHIPs of the Red Sox pitching staff for 8 seasons. Devers truly has no skills on defense beyond that of an average High School player and his skill level never improved during his MLB play, his MiLB play or even at the Dominican Republic Baseball Academy. Many, many fans love Devers and have claimed he's been improving for years. The data shows the opposite. No improvement over roughly 14 seasons of baseball!! We haven't seen the number of errors (not counting misplays) that Devers has made since the Dead Ball era when infields weren't manicured and the baseballs were reused throughout the games leaving them out of round frequently. That's how bad Devers is on defense. There is absolutely no reason to play him anywhere other than DH. You can't compare him to other "normal" 3Bs and suggest if others can do it he can do it. There was NOTHING normal about his defense at 3B. Let him finish his career at DH. Papi was fine not playing, JD was fine not playing and Devers will be fine not playing and Boston should win roughly 10 games a year more with Bregman at 3B not Devers.

Hey thanks for asking!! Actually, I played both positions in High School and College. I trained players at both positions for over 20 years years and I worked with players at both positions to improve their draft status for many years but I'm sure you know much more about the game than I do.

Why a round peg in a square hole especially after watching 8 seasons of butchery at 3B? Why not simply find a 1B, maybe a 1B for the future so when Casas comes back all those that don't like him can watch him get packaged in a deal to get us something else we might need at that point in time. Devers has been observed by Boston scouts, front office personnel, multiple managers and GMs over the 14 years since he was discovered in the Dominican Republic by one of Theo's scouts. NEVER during that time has he been an adequate fielder. He's been below league average his entire career. Who suggests such a bad defender to take over a different position? That's completely illogical. Let the guy play DH and never look back on the 8 MLB seasons that he hurt the Red Sox by playing 3B. Heck, watch Bregman play 3B ONE DAY and you'll see how much better he is than Devers. Being loyal to a player is great but you can't hurt the team so he can feel good about himself. We did that for 8 seasons. Think about the satisfaction the pitching staff must be feeling knowing that Bregman can catch all those balls Devers never even got his glove on, let alone the ones that bounced off the heel of his glove, his foot, his hand or got thrown past the 1B!!!

You and I have a different perspective on the state of the Red Sox team. Boston isn't ready for any big playoff run. There is a decent chance they won't make the playoffs if just about anything goes wrong related to injuries. The ownership is shaky on whether they would repair any injuries versus send the GM to KMART to seek a player like a 1B. If Crochet goes down, season over. If Devers goes down season over. So my perspective is more of optimism for the future. That's why Kurtz makes sense because he's a better all around player than Soderstrom to play 1B and he creates a window for success along with many other players that could all gel during one 3 to 5 year stretch. If you pass on Kurtz because he won't be much different than a healthy Casas or Mayer or Anthony from a hitting perspective that's fair but in 2026 he'll be much better and by 2027 he might be an all-star which can also be said for Campbell and Anthony. As we talk about the team today, Abreu is in one of his hot streaks. He has enormous cold streaks as well so Duran, Rafaela and Anthony look like the future outfield to me despite Cora really liking Abreu. The outfield depth that Boston has needs to be cashed in during an opportunity to trade and improve the future. Abreu and Kurtz in a deal really makes the prospect of 2026 and beyond more exciting. I have no idea how Oakland looks at Kurtz or Abreu so maybe it can't happen but a good GM should be able to find out and add the appropriate extra piece to get Kurtz. Then all Boston will need is a catcher of the future since Teel is gone. The first pick this year has 3 very capable catchers of the future so that need might be filled with their first pick. The plugging of the holes at 1B and Catcher and the addition of Anthony in 2025 should make Boston a very exciting team in 2026 and beyond. And if Mayer can figure out how to stay healthy and perform at his 2024 level not all the other previous years, Boston will have excellent infield and outfield depth in 2026.

The team's pitching is better giving them a chance to make the play-offs. They have been injury prone which could leave them a .500 team again. Doesn't feel all over the map to me. Pretty straight forward opinion. Should be slightly better if injuries don't hurt them. Even mentioned they could win a first round playoff series. 2021 was a fluke. That team was a sub .500 team that over performed and they proved it the next year and the year after that not to mention how far below .500 they were in 2020 when Bloom destroyed the organization stability with his horrendous mistakes at trading.

Romero's future as a SS is limited due to the bias the front office has for Mayer. As the article mentions he's likely not to play SS but he is just as unlikely to play 2B down the road since Campbell is a far superior 2B to Mayer's SS play. It seems like Bregman likes to play for Alex so his shot at 3B is also highly unlike unless someone is willing to give Bregman more than $40Million a year. So where does that leave Romero? A candidate for trades or a replacement for an injured Mayer which happens often. He's a nice league average player who could be a slightly above league average player if he continues to improve. What he won't be is the big name Mayer is or Campbell or Anthony and he's not going to beat out Bregman or Story. He's a utility player likely to end up in Pittsburgh or some other place where former Red Sox utility players end up. Maybe KC or Oakland. Best case for Boston is that he grows his value to bring back a missing piece that is urgently needed at some point in one of the team's future runs for the playoffs.

You might want to slow your horses with respect to a minor league player coming to the MLB and performing like they did against minor league pitchers. It's not realistic. This team will be fine. It's got slightly above league average talent and should win 81 to 90 games based on injuries. The upgrade in pitching is the biggest difference from the .500 teams of recent years. It's not enough to win the division but they should make the playoffs and possibly could win their first series thanks to the new pitchers. The hitting will get shut down by good pitching and most of the teams in the playoffs will have shutdown capabilities so this isn't the year they will win a ring but it's better than the last 5 since Dombrowski was fired and Mookie thrown away.

So you agree that Abreu and Casas is a fair trade for Kurtz? Or are you saying the opposite of the other guy who hates Casas and says it's not enough for Kurtz?

By adding Abreu Oakland lands two pre-arb players. Did you even read what I wrote? If you don't like Casas then it's easy to understand why you think he's worth a lot less than Kurtz but he's an excellent player who hasn't been able to stay healthy like Mayer. The big difference is Mayer played many years as the fourth pick in the draft and was very average, nothing special. In 2024 he FINALLY had his first season that resembles what a first rounder should be. Casas outperformed Mayer all through his comparable seasons in the minors. So to suggest Kurtz is so special because he was the fourth pick is like suggesting Mayer is and he hasn't been except for one season. Abreu has been an excellent surprise so to couple them and give the As two guys for one that are young, most people would comprehend why it would be a good deal. Only a Casas hater would respond like you have. That's your choice but Casas and Kurtz don't vary that much in talent displayed so far. Like other first round picks you can call them locks when they aren't. Recent history shows that Holliday was higher ranked than Kurtz and has flopped so far. Henderson was also a higher pick and had a great year like Kurtz might have this year and he's struggling now. The hyperbolic expectations of first round picks significantly overstate the true value of players early in their career. Sorry that you think so little of Casas. Other than getting injured, he's done good things for Boston.

Seems like you are fairly negative about Casas' value. He has a career .800 OPS and 2.0 War in just 251 games and less than 1000 plate appearances. Don't forget that Casas was a first round pick in 2018. He made it to the majors from HS in four years while playing in a Major Market. Kurtz progressed rapidly mostly because he's in Oakland. Oakland likes bargains and giving them a guy like Casas and maybe someone like Abreu would be enough plus Anthony could replace Abreu so both teams win in the deal. A 2 for 1 with both players from Boston being well above average and pre-arb makes sense. Casas has been the 1B of the future since he was drafted so an injury doesn't mean he still isn't the future in Boston unless he is traded away. Also, while Mayer was drafted 4th as well, he's more injury prone than Casas AND he's never performed as well as Casas in the minors. Mayer has yet to live up to his ratings. You are right they don't need a SS because theirs is light years better than Mayer but they could use their depth at 1B to allow Casas to replace Kurtz long term and then they would add a lefty bat in Abreu who is a GG corner outfielder. I think Kurtz could be had for those two. It fits their financial situation better because they are swapping two pre-arb players for one pre-arb AND they have a couple of starting outfielders who are late in their arbitration years. FYI... Soderstrom is also a pre-arb guy with more experience than Kurtz so I would think he is less likely to be traded thanks to his bat being more proven. I can't speak for Oakland but their depth does match nicely with our needs so maybe something can be done to make both teams happy.

Consider what a 1B must be able to do routinely. 1 - Scoop (he was horrible at short hops at 3B) 2 - Read the throw and how it is breaking with each infielder having a different break in their path to first with the ball. He never showed average hand eye coordination which is partly why he has the most errors in history for a Red Sox 3B. 3 - He has to play far off the base and run to it while keeping his eye on the play. He fell over on a majority of balls hit to his right at 3B suggesting poor balance and footwork. Can he improve his balance? He didn't in 14 years at 3B. 4 - As you pointed out he makes many errant throws so forget about double plays. 5 - Horrendous on pop-ups and now the ball moves away from the stands in the opposite direction. 6 - Slow glove reaction time means he could struggle with the many pick-off moves by the pitchers. 7 - Errant throws up the line. High risk for a critical hitter. He's a big dude but an extended left arm being run into by a base runner will take him out of the line-up. Now ask yourself why? Why force a round peg in a square hole? There is no NEED for him to put on a baseball glove considering how inadequate he is in using it so WHY? Let him think of himself as a modern day Big Papi so his ego is satisfied and lets put a 1B and 1B. Lets trade for a 1B with all our excess depth in the farm system. Kurtz makes perfect sense and OAK can have Casas who is more proven than Kurtz and we can give them something else from the farm system to keep them happy. Breslow can pick a guy who is rated higher than his skills and move him with Casas for Kurtz. The whole point about firing someone has nothing to do with video games, it's a commentary on accountability. If someone is going to rachet up the chance of risk for a top player on the team who happens to be carrying the offense right now, someone needs to be accountable for such a huge mistake when the easily predictable happens. If Raffy gets hurt doing routine tasks that is baseball, if Raffy gets hurt because a GM decides to significantly raise his risk of injury for NO REASON, that's a firing worthy offense.

I agree that there are players who can move from 3B to 1B very smoothly but we are talking about a guy who was given 14 years to develop into a league average 3B (clock started at the Dominican baseball academy when he was 14 years old and our scout suggested he was going to be the franchise player in Boston) but he's never made it to league average even with help from the score keepers. You can't fix his lack of baseball acumen because he has hero syndrome and wants to field any ball hit near him even if it's a routine ball to the SS. Put that on the other side of the infield and you have a disaster. Again, 14 years to fix this one issue and it never happened. I think it's unfair to compare him to guys like Hatteberg because he was a grinder and wasn't handed a starting job without earning it before being moved to first base. His baseball IQ was far higher and he WAS NOT critical to the success of the team before the move. Devers is not capable of being a quality 1B based on the last 14 years and he is FAR TOO VALUABLE due to his hitting to increase risk of injury.

Lets remember, the Mookie/Price giveaway brought back nothing from LAD with regard to talent. Verdugo was a disruptive under performer, the highly touted Jeter Downs was a complete bust but that was not a shock since he was ranked well over 100 and played 18 games at AA where he hit way over his historical level from the previous 198 games. The 18 games at AA at the end of 2019 allowed Friedman to pump Down's Pipeline position to 44. He DFA's 2 years later. Wong is the sole survivor and was ranked 5th or 6th within the LAD organization catcher depth chart. He projected to be a journeyman catcher at best and until last year he was proving that to be true. Was 2024 an anomaly in a less than glorious career or did he actually learn how to hit? The small sample size of success leaves us questioning his skills at hitting and in his 38 bats this season he has done nothing to suggest that 2024 was not an exception. Add to that he is league average at caught stealing stats and he has a terrible DRS and the need for Narvaez becomes obvious. We can all hope that he can prove last year was not a fluke hitting and we can all hope he improves defensively but until he does and sustains it, he's just the 6th best catcher in the Dodger organization that was a throw in with some minor potential 5 years ago.

The age-old question is whether to pick your top need or best athlete. Boston is set with Bregman, Story/Mayer, Campbell, Anthony, Duran and Rafaela (he's going to improve his offense). That leaves 1B where Casas may not be the answer and Catcher. Best catchers in the draft should be available at 15 and maybe Luke Stevenson from North Carolina or Ike Irish from Auburn make sense to restart the clock on having a long-term solution at Catcher. If not, then I'm guessing a HS SS or a power left-handed starter will be the number 15 pick in the draft by the Red Sox.

If you base your answer on their contribution to the Boston Red Sox only then there is Ted Williams and everyone else far behind him. If you ask who the most talented players were to ever put on a Red Sox uniform and play at least 1 game, then the answer is far more difficult. I like Ted Williams the most BUT Babe Ruth had better numbers for several reasons including lost time to the military by Ted and Ruth pitching. From a skill standpoint across the board, I think Mookie has been the most talented player when it comes to all aspects of his game. That's why it was a travesty what ownership did to dissolve their relationship. Many great pitchers have worn the uniform with Cy Young, Mathewson, Pedro and Clemens heading the list. Papi and Manny in their hay day were incredible at producing in the clutch like Yaz. Jim Lonborg was my favorite pitcher in 1967, but Tiant was the pitcher we mimicked playing whiffle ball. Boston has such a great heritage to this franchise!! That's why it's critical to the fanbase to see the quality of the franchise be returned to a 2018 level. What should have been a dynasty extension turned out to be a dismantling of a champion run.

Suggesting Devers is not at greater risk by playing 1B is simply wrong. He's the worst in history at 3B, you can expect the same at 1B and the defense at 1B is far more challenging than 3B because it's not just fielding balls hit at you. It's knowing how far to play from the base when speed is at bat versus slower runners, it's about knowing which way the throw is going to break from each infielder you work with, it's about footwork on errant throws and how to avoid collisions. It's about new movements with your legs that might create pulls you have never experienced. Sure, he could over swing like he often does and hurt himself and that's a real risk but why stack his lack of experience at a new position on top of that if he's considered critical to winning? When you suggest that moving to first doesn't drastically increase his risk of injury suggests you have not played the positions of 3B and 1B, especially as such an ineffective fielder at 3B as Devers has been over his eight seasons at 3B. Most errors of all active 3B players should be enough to suggest 1B isn't the answer.

When you check out the heights of the players on the roster or in AAA there are not many 6'3" or taller players. You have Campbell at 6'3" and Grissom at 6'3" on the MLB roster and Mayer 6'3", Anthony 6'3", Grandal 6'2", Trayce Thomspon 6'2". So of the six internal choices based on height, which one makes the most sense? We have Campbell playing 2B and he is by far the best 2B on the team, we have Grissom who can't hit and is behind Campbell at 2B so his skills are not good enough at this point in time, We have both Mayer and Anthony whose skills at hitting may be good enough but it should be easier for Mayer to adapt since clearly Story defensively is light years ahead of Mayer so for me bring up both from AAA and put Mayer at 1B and Anthony at RF and use Abreu as a pinch hitter/4th outfielder. Problem solved until Mayer doesn't hit then you put Anthony there and bring back Abreu as right fielder. That's the inexpensive solution. The expensive solution is to trade Casas, Abreu and Yoshida to OAKLAND for Kurtz. He replaces Casas as the 1B or the future, we pay half of Yoshida's remaining payroll and Abreu becomes a full-time outfielder in Oakland while Anthony because the full-time RF in Boston..

My question for the Red Sox organization is WHO takes responsibility for moving Devers to 1B when he goes down for the rest of season with a shoulder injury or any kind of injury related to him playing a position, he is NOT familar with? Seriously, this single move could destroy any chance of making the playoffs but going outside to get a legitimate 1B wouldn't ruin the season if he gets hurt. It just costs a little bit more money to get another 1B. We have two outstanding hitters on the team in Duran and Devers. This team can't lose either and still compete for the playoffs. My suggestion if this move gets made is that ONE person is held accountable when he gets hurt and is fired for taking such a huge risk for no reason.

It all goes back to what's best for the club and anyone who thinks Devers could play 1B must not have been around for the last 8 seasons watching him butcher 3B. Devers IS NOT the answer or what's best for the ball club. Two key issues - 1 ) the 1B is a power hitter position and Anthony is a power hitter so internally he's the best choice and externally there are several teams with good power depth at 1B that we could trade for. 2) The last thing anyone that loves the Red Sox would want is to see Devers hurt significantly. At 1B his injury risk skyrockets. Forget about the fact that he has no defensive skills, focus on what a devastating injury at 1B would do to the team and who would be the scapegoat for moving him there? Cora says absolutely don't put him there and Breslow suggested to move him there. This may be the one time that Cora makes the most sense of anyone. He knows they can't lose his bat by risking his health at 1B.

Bloom was on his way out and he didn't care if he lied to Devers since he was trying to save his job but instead created an albatross contract. Devers should NEVER have played 3B once he proved his horrendous play in the minors wasn't going to improve. This is a team that dismissed their greatest player Mookie to keep the player who was declared their future at 14. Nothing that was done after 2019 made sense from a baseball ownership perspective if the organization wanted to win. The wealthy ownership chose to not pay Mookie for 12 years at a price $9Million higher than his 2020 salary so they could overpay a DH who was nowhere near as good of a hitter as Mookie PLUS he couldn't play defense and could not run the bases as well. Devers should have just taken the money, recognized how incredibly lucky he was and how patient the front office had been. He also needed to recognize that he was a pretender as a fielder and someday it would end despite ANY promises made by Bloom who was on his way out. Now, maybe Devers realizes how incredibly bad he was at 3B after watching Bregman and doesn't want to embarrass himself any further. That would be the most mature thinking he's ever done. Go get a 1B using the outfield depth or trade Mayer since he carries significant risk to injury. His value should be high enough to get a real long-term solution at 1B especially with throw ins like Yoshida and Abreu who have no place in Boston's future other than being back-ups.

In 14 years since Boston discovered Devers in the Dominican Republic he has NEVER been able to field above a .950 fielding percentage yet it was often reported how he was improving. He's someone who simply can't field at a MLB level. 1B, 3B, OF it doesn't really matter. He's now locked in and has stopped pouting so why not just let him thrive at DH and think of himself as the second coming of Papi? He's nowhere near as good a hitter but I think he thinks he is. Keep him happy, productive and without a glove on!! I would offer TB Wilyer Abreu for Yandy Diaz and call up Roman Anthony.

Devers has the most errors of any active 3B in baseball and it's not close. He should NOT play 1B ever since he has too many defensive deficiencies. 1 - hands of stone, 2 - No balance, 3 - No footwork, 4 - poor baseball acumen judging which ground balls to go for, 5- Inaccurate arm, 6 - Likely to lose playing time to errant throws leading him into the way of the runner, 7 - slow first step, 8 - horrible at charging ground balls and throwing so 1B would be even more difficult for a player who was bad at it from 3B, 9 - Terrible on pop-ups and would need to learn the reverse spin along the first base line and 10 - Slow hands could lead to a pick-off hitting him in the face. The worst 3B of all time for Boston won't be better at 1B, he'll be even worse so burning his gloves is still a great idea.