YourWhatHurts

Moncada would make you stand and trade. It would be a Disastre Personal for you. OTOH if it was Yermin I bet you'd pull guard and give him your back.

Hopefully his bat is back in 3 months and his glove is on the shelf for good.

Their division is garbage. Their pitching sucks both in the rotation and pen but they probably have enough offense and have a good enough defense to contend in that division. They will be crucified maybe if they pull their version of the White Flag Trade where they open up a firesale while still being within striking distance in that shit division.

5 years 70M for Rizzo is a joke Rizzo should just demand a trade after that offer. He won't because he's too classy.

lol what?

Because he's not a good enough player to be on this roster **and** he's incapable of playing the MIF. The 2nd IF isn't going to get many PAs so it only makes sense to have a guy who can fill in on the MIF in the event of injury, aside from Leury who will already see his share of playing time and may be on the field in the event of injury. Players get sat down with days off due to nagging issues all of the time. If someone important is getting the day off, the choice shouldn't be to bring the guy in or else make an unnecessary musical chairs situation if someone else gets hurt. Eaton is already injury prone and there's no Engel to start the year. Yeah, Mendick should be a very easy call. Lamb is useless. Dumb move by the Sox if there's any plans for him to be anything more than depth at Charlotte/Alt site.

Also Williams earned the spot over Hamilton. I'll just say it.

Lamb should not be on the team in place of anyone.

I'm surprised he made the team after a few of his most recent ABs with RISP. That said, it's showcase time for some of these guys, so I see why he made it.

I think Lucroy was preferred, but I think Collins showed the Sox that if they forced Collins out of the picture now it could really come back to haunt them. If they force him out now, then there's a good chance they would have ended up dumping him off in a lower-level trade midseason. And maybe the Sox just think they could have a decent 5 to 6-year player in Collins, and cutting him out of the picture without getting a quality return in a trade (which is likely not available) is just a bad move all around.

I'm sad to see Lucroy fail to make the cut. This is going to hurt our pitching staff. I'm excited to see Collins get a shot. He deserves it. The Sox fucked up not giving him a better opportunity earlier on, but it is what it is. I am very hopeful for him. I think he has a chance, and I think he's a better player than the prospect people having been making him out to be for a long time. More than anything, I am really rooting for Collins to have a great year. If he does, it should prompt the Sox to try to dump Grandal over the winter. Since Collins' ceiling is really a player a lot like Grandal anyway, if Collins could develop into a backup C/backup 1B/part time DH LH power bat, that really helps the Sox out in so many ways going forward. Few baseball-related things would make me happier than seeing the Sox dump Grandal's contract over the offseason and pick up a better C option, even if Collins would be splitting the time down the middle.

"Find out what he can't do, and then don't ask him to do it."

An Engel/Leury platoon in LF could potentially make us just as good as Eloy in LF or even a bit better IF they both play up to their career highs with the bat. The D would be very much improved to say the least. But without Eloy's bat, we really need someone to step up and be a cleanup type hitter. I can only believe it has to be Moncada. If Yoan has a big year with the bat, it will really help out the middle of the order and would allow something like a Engel/Leury platoon to exist comfortably at the bottom of the order without making the offense look like a liability. The loss of power would still at least come with a serious uptick in speed, so that's one thing. Edit: wrong thread

I'm with you. There isn't a chance in hell I'd have given all that money to Grandal. In my mind, he's a nice player to have if he's going to pick up his ABs subbing at 1B, acting as a backup C, and spending the rest of his time at DH. But the Sox already had a DH in LF and another 1B/DH at 1B, and Collins perfect world profile is basically a LH hitting version of Grandal: passable backup C and bat at 1B and DH. McCann was already here and Realmuto was on track for FA. McCann was extendable. This is another of Hahn's bad deals IMO. I do hope that the Sox are smart enough to get out of the last 1-2 years of Keuchel and Grandal while they presumably can. And as far as who is the fulltime C, I am a believer in letting other teams develop your C if you don't do it internally. I'm more than willing to take an offensive liability at C if necessary. Look at the Indians, Padres, etc. a bunch of teams which are good will prioritize catching at that position vs. offense. No matter what, going forward in 2022, I want to see Vaughn at 1B and Eloy at DH. I'd be just fine with making "baseball moves" and relegating Abreu to a backup role or trading him, and I'd do backflips if the Sox traded Grandal and replaced him with a pitching-and-defense-first starting C. It's such a damn shame that the best C in a very long time was a FA this offseason, and he ended up signing for IMO way less than he is actually worth, and Hahn took the Sox out of that conversation entirely. Just compare what Realmuto has actually done in his career and Realmuto's performances on both sides of the ball relative to his peers and what he was paid for, vs. what Bauer has actually done in his career and Bauer's performances relative to his peers and what he was paid for. Or look at the SS market, and the Manny Machado chase and the money thrown around there, and then look at all of the excellent SS out there. The C situation is nothing like either situation, and Realmuto is so much better than the rest of the class it's ridiculous. But he fell into COVID FA and the Sox were out of it because their GM is an idiot. Ugh.

I think we should have about $40M in payroll room or so, but I'm hoping we have at least about $8M or so.

So now with Eloy out I am thinking about Blackmon, not some scrubby bench type that is at best an equal to, and probably a downgrade from, Adam Engel, who shouldn't be out all that long. But of course he is making some money, and while a team like the Rockies (or some other team for some other player) might be convinced to eat a little in a trade to improve return, they're not going to eat the amount that the dorf will want to see (because he's a cheap prick). So what, if anything, is reasonable? It seems like the COVID vaccines are probably going better than what the league probably planned for. I think there should be at least something available beyond where we are at now.

Even though Abreu's a leader, Eloy is the better bat going forward, so Eloy should be higher priority. This isn't going to be an issue until 2022 now. But for 2022, Vaughn should be the 1B, Eloy the DH, and Abreu can get ABs as a 1B and DH when those 2 get days off, and if Vaughn proves good enough in LF to stick there once per week, then Abreu can get ABs when the LF gets a day off with Vaughn going to LF. I would rather try to get Abreu enough ABs to keep him somewhat happy, but whatever the case, Eloy's bat has the potential to anchor the middle of the Sox lineup during their run, and that has to take a higher priority. Same with Vaughn at 1B and in the middle of the order. I think Abreu will be amenable to some lesser playing time here, just because of who he is. He could even maybe get some PH opportunities on days we don't start our UT player(s) to help rack up some appearances. Edit: I will also add that if this team could stand to lose Frank, Robin, Buerhle and Jack McDowell, they can certainly deal with losing Jose in a trade, if necessary. As long as KW keeps his b**** mouth shut about it this time.

WAAAAAAAAAAY too many people have voted to continue giving Eloy a shot in LF. In the wake of the injury news, this should be well past the point of being a "no brainer" decision. Literally, Eloy couldn't even get through a ST in LF defensively and he already cost the Sox about 1 year of control in his prime, which they will pay for, and also, he added another physical obstacle to overcome in order to achieve his maximum potential with the bat, and another reason to doubt his physical ability to get there and stay there. Enough is enough.

??? That Arenado deal was many times more expensive than Blackmon's deal. And Arenado was also coming off of a bad year. Blackmon is still Blackmon. Remaining: 21.5M in 2021 21M in 2022 (player option) 10M in 2023 which can reach as high as 18M based on performance (player option) That's 52.5M guaranteed and could go to as high as 60.5M IF both POs are exercised OTOH Grandal is owed 18.25M from 21-23 which is 54.75 so as of now it's a bit higher Regardless we're talking about a couple of guys who aren't far from being DHs. Blackmon is a better fit for this team by far right now. Of course if this deal could be done with the Rockies picking up some money in 2022 and 2023 that's even better.

IMO try to trade Grandal for Blackmon, kicking in a lower-end prospect or two if necessary due to the amount remaining on Grandal's deal. It's some immediate salary relief for COL. Or maybe Grandal + Ruiz for Blackmon. C Lucroy / Collins 1B Abreu/Vaughn DH Abreu/Vaughn LF Blackmon RF Eaton ...and it actually makes us a better team than we were before. Grandal lovers would certainly disagree.

The Sox don't really need to give Vaughn a full season of everyday ABs, but if they choose to, I would take him LF over Eloy. It wouldn't be pretty but I think he'd probably prove to be a much better athlete and much more capable out there. The Sox are the ones that loaded their roster with 1B/DH types. I wouldn't have done that in their shoes but whatever. Regardless Eloy isn't safe out there.

It's sad to think this guy is like at least 1 if not 2 steps down from players like Schwarber and Carlos Lee. Even Manny Ramirez could play without hurting himself.

I think this has to be done. Eloy is a LF of the future the same way Coby White is the PG of the future. Sometimes you have to just admit it's not going to work and move forward. If Eloy is disappointed by such a decision, well, you can't say he hasn't "earned" it with his play.

I think something needs to be done about the guys that fiddle with their ass for like 20 seconds before throwing the pitch, and the other guys who have to take a zillion practice swings, step out, rub their bat down, etc. But I don't like the idea of adding balls or strikes, and there still needs to be time for players to take a breath or think. I think a more appropriate penalty might be that after X number of instances, a manager loses a challenge, or something like that. Then you have that issue with Sergio Romo where his leg falls off between pitches or whatever happens to him on the mound. He diddles around for a while. Ultimately there's a point where you have to call that an injury and you need to take him out if he can't safely throw a pitch.

I think that they should start airing delayed condensed games on TV. Take out all of the stuff, just go from pitch to pitch, show contact, cut it if it is foul, show plays made on fair balls, etc. and you can watch the whole game very quickly. This would be a great thing for fan interest because they could probably binge watch a whole week worth of games in a couple hours on the weekend. For a 162-game season, that I think would make it easier to follow what is happening for a lot of people. The problem is that MLB wants to sell the adspace on TV. Live, they want to sell concessions and souvenirs, etc. Baseball is different things for different people. Go to a game, tailgate before and maybe after, and turn an entire day into a fun experience with the game the center of it. The length is fine for those people. If you're relaxing or working and you can work with the game on without it distracting you, the length is often very nice. I don't have a problem with the length personally. I wish the made it easier on me to watch the game details quickly when it is necessary or convenient. I also dislike the focus on eliminating P and defense little by little, giving more advantages to the hitters and constantly taking more away from the P and defense. And the people who just can't stand the length of the game can fuck off and go watch something else. Baseball has always been a very popular sport here and there are enough people who will follow it even if it is longer. My main concern isn't "revenue." Manfred can go fuck himself.