TedYazPapiMookie

It's a cheap move that builds depth. He's a right-handed hitter who provides depth at 1B and DH. He also can help try to prevent Narvaez from becoming the next "one and done" catcher like Wong. It won't win the team many games, but it will help prevent the team from falling off when injuries at 1B or DH happen. His bat should help a bit, but his true value will be replacing Bregman in the clubhouse with the Latin players. So, it's not meant to be a solution as much as it is a level of insurance protecting the downside. The need for a quality SP is still there along with a 3B who can field and hit.

He signed so mistake avoided. Silly suggestion in the first place. Breslow must stick to a value/cost ratio that is positive to work within ownerships guidelines. This guy wasn't even close. Adrian Houser makes more sense. Houser will cost less than $25Million per year and is just as good at pitching.

Hicks has been around long enough to know he has no upside. Without adequate control over his pitches he's just a guy who had potential many years ago but no more. He's a throw in on a trade or a DFA waiting to happen. To many SPs in the system to waste time on him.

Total chances matter!! I agree that Fielding % out of context can be very misleading.

Nice analysis. Breslow's choice was far better than Ryan. Sonny was elite when he started in Oakland many years ago and by his 27 year old season he went to the NYY pressure cooker and struggled. After that his career returned to normal in Cincy and by 32 he was in Minnesota pitching with Ryan. The stats show the difference in the two pitchers performing for the same team in the same two years - 2022 and 2023. Gray in 2022 had 24 starts with an ERA of 3.08 and WHIP of 1.128 in 119.2 innings. Ryan in 2022 had 27 starts with an ERA of 3.55 and WHIP of 1.102 in 147 innings. Gray in 2023 had 32 starts with an ERA of 2.79 and WHIP of 1.147 in 184 innings. (CY Young 2nd place) Ryan in 2023 had 29 starts with an ERA of 4.51 and WHIP of 1.169 in 161.2 innings. Sonny is 6 years older and out-performed Ryan is his prime. Drawing conclusions from one recent season is very short-sighted as this author suggested. Sonny has experience, knowledge of the AL East and Ryan has never pitched anywhere other than in MIN where the numbers are favorable for pitchers and the team has yet to be competitive. He's not ready for Boston. Good move Breslow.

You just don't get it. I don't care if he doesn't play CF other than how much it hurts the team. I present the facts so whoever is reading understands why we don't win any more. You think of your comments as a contest, but you are the only one playing!! I'm just glad as you stated is that you enjoy laughing at yourself. That's a good thing for you and all those other folks who support your behavior. Keep telling yourself that they are laughing with you!! haha

Let me simplify this for you since I'm not the one on crack. Rafaela is the best LF, CF, RF and 2B on the team. Duran is the 2nd best CFer, he sucks in LF and doesn't have a strong enough arm to play RF. Anthony can play any of the outfield positions adequately but he's nowhere near as fast as Duran and Rafaela so the confined space in LF works for him like Ted, Yaz and Rice. Abreu is an above league average outfielder who thanks to a quirk in the metric formula for Fenway has led the team in errors while winning gold gloves. After 3 seasons he still can't hit lefties and batted .212 after April 30th in 2025 while making 5 errors in just 104 games for a .978 fielding percentage when league average for right field was .987 (9 points higher!!!). Basically, he's a league average player at best since he must platoon and doesn't hit for average and his power is just slightly above league average, and his defense is inflated using metrics and is average to below average using real traditional statistics like errors. His speed to cover right field is NOT good enough to cover the 302 to 380 distance from the Pesky pole to right center field. So before suggesting someone is on drugs, try to detox, shoot some Visine in your eyes and try to focus on the facts. They are clearly detailed above. Do what's best for the team not what's best for Abreu if you want to win. .212 after Apri 30 is almost the same as Campbell who got sent down. Hard to argue for a guy that bad.

I believe in team defense and Boston is strongest with Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF because his arm is so much stronger than Duran's. Duran ONLY works in CF whereas Rafaela is probably the best LF, CF, RF and 2B on the team. So play him where he maximizes the team defense.

Agreed that Suarez can't play defense but his bat would talk loudly in Fenway. I'd rather have Bregman but if we can''t get him back, everyone else seems like slim pickins other than Suarez. His power will dwarf Mayer's in 2026 and Suarez isn't a lot better but he enough better than Devers that he'll do. At some point Masa simply needs to be moved. He's a sunk cost. So either a back-up or gone. Adding Schwarber and Suarez raises Ks but it raises HRs more. I start with Casas at 1B and see if he can restart his career and we have lots of choices at 2B. If Campbell can return to form great, if Arias gets a chance, great, if Romy fields better, great, if Eaton can handle it, great, if Sogard can handle it, great. It's like 2018 when Holt and Duran handled things. In the end, the OF looks great, we need a catcher and two thumpers at 3B and DH. If Casas fails, my next choice would be Campbell. I find it hard to believe after 2024 he could be as bad as he looked after May 1.

So the GGs and people wrongfully thinking he's more valuable than Duran is just a Red Sox thing? Makes sense. Abreu hit .212 after April 30th. Slightly better than Campbell who out hit Abreu in April. Shift the outfield with Rafaela in right covering the long distance between 302 and 380 and put Duran back in center where in three years he had 2 errors in over 300 chances and put our main man in left field like the other great Red Sox outfielders (Ted, Yaz, Jimbo). Package Abreu with Mayer and Grissom for their upside and go get a set-up/closer to couple with Chapman. Then go sign Suarez to play 3B for $20 Million a year and splurge on Schwarber at DH. The profits over the last five years would allow this team a one-time splurge to bring home a ring.

We got a SP3 not SP2 so Early will need to step up a be the SP2 while Tolle needs to step up and be the SP4 with Bello needing to step up and be the SP5. Early has the greatest upside of the young pitcher and Tolle's future depends on adding a pitch. Leaving enough money to get Realmuto was smart. They need a real catcher because it's very likely Narvaez will be just like Wong, a one year wonder.

Joe, some fun facts: Abreu hit .295 in April of 2025 while Campbell hit .301. Abreu had 95 at bats in 26 games so he platooned part of the month while he was peaking. The high average needs to be normalized for what it would have been had he not platooned since folks suggest he should be full time. Campbell had 103 at bats in 29 games. These two players led the ball club in March/April. Campbell dramatically dropped off May 1 and he only had 126 more at bats in 2025 and finished at .223 average facing both right-handed and left-handed pitchers. Abreu had 302 more at bats while platooning against right-handed pitchers and had just 64 hits for an average of .212 after May 1 while platooning!! The .295 in the first month allowed the season average to only fall to .247 for the year while platooning. Duran had 620 at bats while being dropped in the order for part of the season. He hit .256 with an OBP of .332. The .256 was 11 points below his career average and his OBP was four points higher than his career average. His defense sucked in LF compared to his days in centerfield but that is easily fixed by playing him in CF in 2026. While Abreu had a career season hitting LH pitchers .230 average it was only in 61 at bats. No telling what he'd do if he was fulltime and getting 280 at bats versus lefties. Duran had his worst season hitting LH pitchers .211 in 194 at bats (more than 3 times as many as Abreu). For their careers Duran is hitting .232 (512 ABs) vs LH pitchers and ,279 vs RH pitchers. Abreu on the other hand is hitting ,205 (132 ABs) vs LH pitchers and .265 vs RH pitchers (14 points lower than Duran). In summary, if Duran plays CF he's a better defender than Abreu, he's a better hitter than Abreu while not platooning like Abreu to artificially raise his performance, he's a better base runner than Abreu and he's missed less time than Abreu to injury. It's a no brainer that Duran should stay and Abreu should go if we seek an arm and the choice of who to trade for it comes down to Duran and Abreu. The team is much stronger with Duran despite the bogus GGs Awarded to Abreu because Abreu hit .212 from May 1 until the end of the season. That's nearly the same as Campbell in June prior to being dropped to AAA!!!

Now let's talk facts not your opinion. FACT - 3 years in CF Duran has 2 errors and a fielding percentage off the charts since his total chances were 301. In LF he sucks that's why he belongs in CF where he is elite after three years playing there. Rafaela is the best of the best outfielders in Boston and should play the most challenging position of right field which has fence dimensions of 302 down the line and 380 in Deep Right Centerfield, that means he must cover 78 feet slanting at a difficult angle toward centerfield. Centerfield is surrounded by left and right field at a depth of roughly 380 (379 in LF) and dead center is just 420 so 60 feet of depth is the challenge in centerfield compared to the angled 78 feet in RF. There is no definitive ranking between the two, only opinions. I base my opinion on the ground that must be covered by each position. Both positions demand speed and Abreu's speed is BAD compared to Rafaela in covering the 78 feet. Logically, the only position good for Abreu would be LF BUT nobody is going to replace Anthony in LF. To be fair, let me insult you now. Duran's REAL numbers are facts so for you to suggest he wasn't elite is pure ignorance on your part. If there is some fabricated metric that suggests otherwise, it's FAKE NEWS. The estimates by the metrics world are all bull crap. The plus or minus of their estimates make them completely unreliable. Don't be so gullible. USE FACTS.

This was a solid deal. Sonny Gray has pitched well on and off for his whole career. The last two years haven't been stellar but they've been adequate. His incredible control helps off set his diminishing ability to get batters out. His H/9 is that of a bottom of the order pitcher but his BB/9 makes up for it a bit and creates a profile of an aging SP3 or SP4. Crochet and Early are clearly superior to him. He's more comparable to Bello (when he's pitching well). Now we need Tolle to add a pitch and round out the starting rotation. It cost Boston next to nothing for him so it's a good deal. He has big game experience which makes him more valuable than his numbers.

How about we stick Abreu in LF and Duran in RF and let's see who puts up the better defensive numbers. Abreu would still have more errors but the underlying formula for Fenway Park related to the difference between RF and LF would make Abreu's DRS negative and Duran would win a GG. So is Abreu a good defender or is he simply being glorified by the inaccuracy of metrics in Fenway Park like Verdugo did when he played right field before Abreu.

No question Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF is far better on defense than Rafaela in CF and Abreu in RF. The numbers are conclusive.

2 gold gloves. Most people don't know he's got the most errors within the Red Sox outfield. Sell now before he goes down more. If Duran is in CF he'll trend up in 2026, if Rafaela is in RF and his hitting stays clutch and he keeps developing as a hitter he'll trend up too. Roman will trend up. And I think Garcia will trend up too. Almost any way you cut it, he deserves to be the first out the door as an outfielder.

The GGs inflate his value falsely. He leads the outfield in errors. Remember Verdugo almost won one in RF in Boston? It's about the underlying assumptions in the DRS formula related to Fenway Park. DRS is not a valid estimate because of the anomalies of the underlying components in the formula. Errors are still valid measures of the impact on the pitchers by outfield mistakes. Rafaela will be a far better RFer in the future and Duran has 3 seasons in CF with just 2 errors. It's hard to skew that reality into something bad. He sucks in LF and has proven that. His skills are fine for CF but he should not play LF. You have many other players who can produce GGs in RF so Abreu must hit to play. I'll take Rafaela as a hitter even if he strikes out too much because he's clutch and has power like Abreu. Abreu has too many shortcomings to beat out either Duran or Rafaela. Anthony has to be the LFer going forward to maximize defense. Platooning Abreu at DH no longer works without Refsnyder and Yoshida still is on the roster. Selling Abreu high makes perfect sense. There will be no impact without him as we saw this past summer. With Garcia needing a spot, he's an ideal 4th OFer or maybe Campbell makes a comeback as the fourth OFer. Highlight the GGs and get something we need in return.

Injuries are always going to happen, and we've lost multiple outfielders in years past but if we trade Abreu we still have our big three Anthony, Duran and Rafaela plus Campbell, Yoshida (last choice to field) and of course Garcia. That's excellent depth. I'm most concerned about 3B. Breslow's greatest challenge because EVERYONE saw how many more games you can win with a decent 3B like Bregman compared to Devers. We don't want to take a step back on defense and I think Mayer would be a big step back. He needs to play 2B and back-up Story. I'm still not convinced in a full season he would be better than Campbell but if he struggles the Red Sox have others like Campbell and Arias. I hate Ryan but Marte would make Mayer expendable, and Tucker would make Duran expendable, but the payroll goes way up. I still think priorities need to be: 1 - SP #2 and 3B 2 - Catcher (Move Narvaez to defensive back-up plays 1/3 of the games) 3 - A big bat upgrade at 1B, 2B or OF. (Alfonso, Marte or Tucker like you suggested) 4 - Reliever who can close as a back-up to Chapman

Fenway Park presents challenges to each outfield position. Yes, the ball hit directly at the CF is difficult especially if you don't get a good read from the sound off the bat, yes the corner outfield spots are hard to read due to the flight patterns from righties and lefties being so different plus in Fenway the side wall is very, very tough to read and avoid injury because it's so low in right field Likewise for the back fence in right field. I remember Evans being fearless in right field as was Mookie. Abreu in my opinion is very conservative and slows too soon as he approaches both the back fence and side fence and that's why I will never consider him more than an average outfielder especially with all the errors compared to the other Red Sox outfielders. One other issue for me with regard to Abreu is technique. He momentarily blocks his line of sight to the ball when he goes back and to his left to reach over his head for a ball beyond him. He often misses the ball, but no error is assessed due to the difficulty of the play according to the score keeper. Mookie, Evans and Rafaela catch that same ball. LF is a very tricky field in Fenway but for many different reasons than typical leftfield issues like the spin off the bat. In LF, you have to be excellent at judging the depth of the fly off the bat to know if you play the ball off the wall or go to the wall and catch it. Duran is NOT good at that. That's why he needs to play centerfield. Anthony, on the other hand, will always be in the line-up for his hitting so starting at a young age like other great Boston hitters, it makes great sense to play him in LF and learn the wall so he can come charging to the plate and catch the ball over his shoulder off the wall like Yaz did and throw a strike to the plate. The two strongest arms in the outfielders are Rafaela and Abreu. Rafaela is much fast and quicker than Abreu so he can cover more ground. He's also fearless unlike Abreu who hesitates as he approaches the wall. Rafaela defensively can be every bit as good in RF as Mookie and maybe even better. That's why I believe the outfield needs to be Anthony, Duran and Rafaela to maximize defense. That outfield rivals Benny, JBJ and Mookie.

My take is Mayer is destined to play SS especially if Story can't stay healthy like the previous years in Boston. I could see Arias being moved to 2B if he really is that good but I have no faith that Mayer can stay healthy either, so I have assumed Arias is next up after Mayer rather than Campbell because his small sample on defense last year has erased all he did before last year on defense, it's all been erased from everyone's memory and now his defense is trashed despite playing great defense until age 22. I don't know if you are old enough to remember Bob Horner but Mayer's injury history is beginning to mimic Horner's. I hope that changes but I'm not optimistic. I still find it hard to believe Detroit would ever trade Skubal but I thought the same thing about Crochet in Chicago, so anything is possible, especially if it makes no sense. Based on your answer, do you believe the Red Sox are going to take the huge step backward of playing Mayer at 3B for Bregman rather than getting Bregman back or an equivalently talented player for 3B. I assumed Mayer would be the 2B.

My belief is you look at a player's body of work not just last year. Duran is a perfect example because when you look at a player's body of work you consider his defense at each position he plays and where he plays it. Duran played 576 games in the minors at centerfield making 6 errors for a .990 fielding percentage. He played 78 games in RF made 2 errors for a fielding percentage of .974, He played 22 games in LF and made 1 error for a fielding percentage of .955. To me this suggests that this guy is an outstanding CF and does not belong in the corner outfield positions. A good manager would make the same observation. In 5 seasons in the Majors Duran has played 287 games in CF and made 2 errors for a fielding percentage of .997 which is elite. Thanks to Cora's absolute stupidity he's played 37 less games in LF (250) and made 12 errors for a fielding percentage of .971 (28 points lower than in CF). He played 10 games in RF and made 1 error for a fielding percentage .944 (53 points lower than in CF). Given this data only a moron would play him in LF but that's what we have for a manager. Duran's drop off is strictly from playing a position he's not as good at. Any player not playing at his best position is going to play worse and it's not a drop in his skill level; it's an idiot manager who knows nothing about maximizing defense based on the stats. With respect to Abreu, look at his full body of work. In the minors he played RF 131 games and made 8 errors for a fielding percentage of .969 which is a bad infielder number and a terrible outfield number. Then he goes to Boston and plays just 3 games in RF in 2023 for a .967 fielding percentage because he made 1 error in three games. That's consistent to his crap performance in RF in the minors. Now let's stop using facts and step into the world of modern metric estimates. This is where a formula estimates the performance rather than using the real data. This is a perfect example of why it's a joke. Rtot is 0, Rtot/Yr is 65 (seriously?), Rdrs is 0 (Not negative?) and Rdrs/yr is 0 (once again not negative?) Metrics provides counter intuitive numbers. Why? Simple, flaw in the calculation formula. Obviously, there are factors hidden within the formula that sway the outcome based on a bias. My GUESS is that the dimensions of right field skew the actual numbers in favor of the player. Abreu had 12 games at CF and LF that same year and made 0 errors at both positions, yet his Rdrs/yr was -14 in CF and 32 in LF. None of these numbers make sense without knowing the bias buried in the calculation so how can anyone trust them? Is Abreu significantly different playing these positions? In the minors his fielding percentage was roughly .980 in LF and CF and significantly lower in RF. So why do we ever use metrics to define a player's defensive acumen? I already pointed out the anomalies in his 2023 metrics so let's look at his 2 bogus GGs. In 2024 in 125 games while playing RF Abreu made a whopping 7 errors compared to Duran playing 105 games in CF and making 1 error. The bogus metrics produced by these two players are: RDS Duran 17 Abreu 17 RDS/YR Duran 25 Abreu 22 Abreu got the GG and Duran didn't because RF is incredibly weak compared to CF in the AL. So who is the better fielder? Duran without question despite the fake GG going to Abreu. The guy with 7 errors wins the GG and the guy with far less errors and a higher RDS/YR gets moved to LF by an idiot manager. What's wrong with this picture? These are the facts. If you want to buy into the BS gold gloves that's fine but the REAL stats show a much different picture. You can thank the errant formula in the defensive metrics for over inflating Abreu's performance. He's the same average outfielder he was in the minors. Duran and Rafaela are the elite outfielders who belong in the difficult fields in Fenway Park. Abreu can't hit lefties and is dramatically over-rated as the numbers show so he should NOT be starting ahead of Duran in CF and Rafaela in RF and Anthony in LF. It's so obvious yet Cora doesn't see it. Bias? You bet. Killing the Red Sox chances of winning a ring? You bet. Is this going to be fixed in the future? Absolutely not because logic does not supersede Cora bias. So, lets ruin the future by keeping the platoon hitter and trading the only legitimate leadoff man we've had since Mookie Betts. And if we don't trade him, let's keep playing Duran in his weakest position and batting him down in the order so Abreu stays happy. Good old Cora, he loses at least 10 games a year due to pure stupidity. And let's keep following the completely illogical numbers produced by metrics rather than using facts to evaluate our players on defense. Abreu has played 232 games and has made 13 errors on 558 total chances for a whopping fielding percentage of .976 (7 points higher than his minor league numbers!!) while Duran has 2 errors in 5 years playing CF 287 times and fielding 599 total chances for a fielding percentage of .997. For me, these numbers don't lead to me moving Duran to LF to accommodate a platoon hitting power hitter that has two bogus GGs due to anomalies in the calculation of metrics in Fenway Park. Look it up, LF and RF have components in their formula that vary significantly based on Fewway Park that severely skew the REAL results. The metric formulas, again, are estimates based on underlying formulas unknown to most of the public and produce really bad results based on specific fielding locations across all Baseball Fields in the MLB. When Verdugo almost won a GG before Abreu arrived, I was flagged that there is an issue in RF for Fenway Park and now Abreu has proven it by making so many more errors than Duran and being evaluated so much higher. If it looks wrong, smells wrong and tastes wrong, it's probably wrong. Abreu gets the yips as he approaches walls unlike Rafaela and Duran or any of the other great outfielders in baseball that don't have 2 gold gloves. Those GGs will remain bogus throughout time and let's take advantage of the mistakes by trading him as if he is a GG winner. We will NEVER get more for Abreu than we can get now while most think the metrics are right.

Maybe due to Anthony having the highest potential, Rafaela having all-star potential and Duran has already been an all-star while playing centerfield. Abreu may be the 5th or 6th best outfielder in the Red Sox organization BUT is falsely touted as one of the top three. Take advantage of the fake news suggesting more skills than he has and use his fake value to minimize the loss for the Red Sox in any deal. Duran in centerfield batting lead-off is worth much, much more than the platoon hitting GG right fielder who leads the outfield in errors.

Skubal needs to sign an extension as part of the deal, but the players are completely wrong. First, Early will be as good or better than Skubal in two years. Tolle is more expendable. Duran is critical to the success of the Red Sox as the CF of the future. Abreu is highly over-rated and the misguided in the industry think he's better than Duran so swap in Abreu the platoon hitter with very limited defensive skills despite the bogus GG we need Rafaela in RF, Arias is a good choice since he has no future thanks to Mayer BUT Boston is better off including the often injured Mayer with the big rep and poor performance so far in Boston for Arias. From a reputation perspective this is more talent than what you offered. Personally, I wouldn't do it if I was Detroit without getting more talent. Add Garcia to secure the deal. Garcia has no future in Boston either due to the depth of outfield talent. These four should capture Skubal if he can get the deal he wants. It should cost more than the Devers money but would lock Boston in contention for the division title and possible world series for years to come.

I want to compliment you on your research. The writer is a parrot with opinions that are always derivative, and you did a great job identifying where his comments came from. The frustrating part about comments made by some of the writers is that they have absolutely no consistency. This is the same guy that argued with me when I pointed out that Rafaela needs to move to RF because he's the best defender and in Fenway right field is the most difficult field. His response was "he played centerfield in the minors". Now I point out that Anthony played centerfield in the minors and he parrots the marketing departments take on where he should play despite playing centerfield exclusively in the minors. Absolutely no critical thinking or baseball acumen, just parroting the front office viewpoint. Duran made 2 errors playing CF in 2021, 2022 and 2023!!!! Over 300 total chances and just 2 errors. Then the front office or Cora refused to use Abreu in LF probably because he gets the yips when he's near the fence but for whatever reason he forced Duran after three outstanding years in CF to LF to accommodate Abreu rather than maximizing the defense with Duran remaining in CF and putting Rafaela (modern day Mookie on defense) in RF. Big mistake. Abreu leads the team in OF errors over the last two years when he's been handed the GG. If Rafaela plays RF he's probably a Platinum Glove winner because the right field defenders in the AL are pathetic compared to CF. Boston also wins more games because Abreu's many errors are eliminated. Duran proved he's far better in CF than LF but Abreu is the problem because Cora loves the platoon hitter. He knows his defensive value will be over-rated in RF just like it was when Verdugo played there before Abreu. Those are meaningless numbers because metrics are completely inaccurate when it comes to outfield defense. Duran's step back is factual and it's due to playing LF. Put him back in CF where he had 2 errors in 3 seasons and you'll see it's the position not his skills that caused the decline in his numbers. Also, with two studs on defense like Duran and Rafaela it makes perfect sense for Anthony to follow Teddy, Yaz and Rice as superstar left fielders in the Boston tradition. Again, excellent response. FYI... when you reference Baseball America and Pipeline, you are likely referencing the same source. A couple of front office clowns from the Red Sox provide all the opinions to the two baseball sources. You might as well just turn on NESN because Boston keeps close wraps on all marketing information provided to baseball sources including Baseball America, MLB pipeline, MLB channel and SoxProspects and similar outlets which are local websites like this one. If you have the time, look for original scouting reports before they get changed up by the front office to maintain a constant narrative.