almagest

Didn't you and others spend most of the season complaining about how the Sox wouldn't have lost so many games if they didn't make these exact kinds of moves, for players with extreme negative value? But now you're ok with losing that many because the Sox can save 5.25 million by signing an ancient Jose Abreu, who might rebound from a stretch where he was the least valuable player in baseball, solely because he's hitting a couple dingers against low level competition in PR? I don't really care if Vaughn stays or goes, but if there's a binary option only I'm taking Vaughn over Abreu 100% of the time. If we're being realistic, then I'd just give Elko a shot for league minimum, because while he might be awful, the FA options in the Sox range are also all awful and he's likely still gonna be better than Abreu.

Seems like it, yeah. Hopefully Fuller recognizes that you can't turn everyone into a big power hitter and doesn't actually have a one size fits all approach even for guys like Nishida. I doubt he does, though. Sounds a little like he and other hitting coaches caught the flak for the Orioles collapsing down the stretch due to relying so much on very young talent. Honestly, even if he's 100% everyone must lift the ball and hit for power, that's still a billion times better than the Sox current approach, which seems to be "hit the ball straight into the ground and get seriously injured running to first base".

Vaughn is the 0.2 WAR 6 million dollar first baseman. Abreu would probably be $750k, yes, but for that you'd be getting a -1.7 WAR first baseman (which he managed in only 35 games) with an OPS+ of 4 and wRC+ of 0.

There are better ways of spending 6+ million than a 0.2 WAR 99 wRC+ first baseman. Jose Abreu is absolutely not one of those ways. I cannot believe people here are seriously entertaining this.

Second highest reaction count!

Man, learn to take a joke. Or just say what you actually mean if you can't see the joke inherent in Nicky Lopez being anyone's favorite player.

Your favorite player was Nicky Lopez?

Jose Abreu is my favorite player of the last 10 years. He is also 100% washed up. We saw it in Houston. Him beating up on lower level competition doesn't change that. I can't believe an option has been presented that makes Vaughn look good, but... please just keep Vaughn if this is the alternative.

The Vikings disguise blitzes well and offer many different looks, but the improvement in Caleb last week against the blitz was huge. Could be a good sign for next week:

Oops, you're right. My bad

Slater has hit righties very well in his career, which is a weakness for the Sox, and he had a slight rebound (though without much power) in Baltimore after a concussion sidelined him for most of 2024. He's worth taking a flyer on and see if he can put together a decent first half for a lotto ticket, or at least make this team somewhat more competent against righties.

https://x.com/kalynkahler/status/1856782094879314360

Found this on Reddit and verified myself. Nice to (hopefully) put another narrative to bed.

Players throw (and are expected to throw) way harder now too. You can't throw 95-100 for 250+ innings a year unless you want pitchers to throw every other year only because they need TJS after every season.

I'd be fine with that, if they think his value at the deadline or next season will be higher than it is now. I'd say at the deadline it could be, assuming he stays healthy and continues his dominance. I doubt it would be with a year left. I also think there's a difference between "they don't want to trade those players" and "they will not trade those players for a player like Crochet". I think it's more of the latter.

We've heard no one is trading top end offensive prospects so I'm guessing it'll be a higher end pitching prospect and some lower level hitting prospects. If that's the best they can do, then fine I guess, but they absolutely need to develop those hitters and there's no acceptable excuses if they can't.

I am increasingly less impressed with Ryan Poles. Claypool and Davis were terrible moves, but at MINIMUM should've indicated to Poles that he did not have the culture guy in place that he thought he did. Both players had concerns, both regressed big time on the Bears. Waldron I pin more on Flus, but Poles is responsible for Flus.

I can see why you'd want to keep Crochet - we finally have someone who could be a top tier ace again, which hasn't happened since Giolito for like one season. Our trade record under Hahn was ABYSMAL, honestly setting the franchise back by 5+ years when you look at what he traded (Semien, Bassitt, Tatis in particular, using these assets in trades for JAGs like Samardzijia, Shields and Kimbrel, plus getting little sustained value from the Sale, Eaton and Quintana trades). We have been terrible at prospect development. We just "finished" a rebuild where basically everyone we acquired busted. A part of me wants to hang on to Crochet and enjoy him being one of the best left handed starters in the league, and not deal with the potential disappointment of a failed rebuild again. We can't afford to be gun shy, though. This team just needs way too much talent to have any chance in the future, and they're not going to sign premier free agents. They have to amass as much talent as they can, and figure out how to develop that talent internally with a high success rate.

Personally, I preferred baseball post civil war:

Bears released Nate Davis

I am never talking myself into believing a Bears OC hire is a good hire ever again, especially when so much comes out about how that guy stinks.

No. Fields would often just tuck and run if his first read wasn't there. We also saw Fields for three years. We know what he is, and what he can/can't do. Williams is through nine games. He deserves a little time. As for the rest - what I posted addresses a good chunk of the long holds. There's almost nothing there, whether its because the play timing is off (could also be Caleb), receivers aren't putting in enough effort to block or run their routes, receivers aren't winning in time, or the personnel usage is bad and you have guys running routes they can't win. It is 100% true. Look at what Eberflus said after the Colts game. Right away, his focus was on the interceptions. We also saw Fields be very, very cautious with Eberflus. It's even in his stupid HITS system acronym - T is about 'The ball'. Caleb needs to be allowed to make mistakes.

This post (and thread) adds a lot of clarity on how/why Caleb is holding onto the ball - often, he's progressing in his reads and hanging in the pocket, but nothing is open. Lots of coverage sacks.

That's why I said it's not going to happen. I'm just stretching to see how it would be possible in theory land.