Dominikk85

James had a great start but let's not get ahead of ourselves. His success is mostly driven by babip, he doesn't walk, has an average contact rate but a bit but not plus pop, projections all have him like around 80-90 wRC+. Now I do think he did improve some, his k rate went down and his power went up but he is also a 30 yo coming of a career year so I expect regression. Also fangraphs framing metrics have him consistently below average there (no value for this season yet though). I'm fine with him as a backup for another 1-2 years and you obviously ride his hot streak as long as it goes but he is nowhere near the player grandal is. You do have to make a decision on collins though. Sox have enough guys at 1b/dh and imo you either have to give him backup catcher for like 40-50 games a year and DH stints on other days or you trade him as long term it makes no sense to carry a 3rd catcher/second DH on the roster.

Mazara doesn't look great but the price was not huge either. Walker is a nice prospect but at best he is going to be a 4th outfielder unless he takes a big step forward.

Sox definitely do a good job beating up the bad teams. That sounds easy but often losses against bad teams are costing a playoff spot. The sox still struggle against good teams and have trouble scoring against good pitchers with plus stuff but they are doing a good job beating the teams they should beat.

good ab by eloy not getting himself out when pitcher of course is semi intentionally walking with first base open

Mariners DFAd dan vogelbach. He has hit 29 Homers last year. This year he hasn't hit the ball well with just 2 homers and like a .100 batting average but he still walked a ton like he always does and has actually improved his K rate so he had almost as many walks as strikeouts. His babip also was under .100 so that should come back up albeit it wasn't just bad luck and he actually did hit the ball badly as his EV and LA shows. Still somebody should pick him up, at least he walks a ton and has some power potential.

Maybe give him an opener against good opponent if that first inning woe continues? Against the tigers he must find a way but against better teams you could save him facing the top of the Lineup once with an opener.

The problem is the sox only have two guys who really can go more than 5 and if Rick pulled every starter that was in trouble in the 4th or 5th that would burn out the pen pretty quickly. This is losing games but the sox are already 6th in bullpen innings in the AL and the only good teams ahead of them are the Rays and As who have much deeper pens. A quicker hook would win more games but the sox don't really have the quality pen depth behind the top 3 guys do do that consistently and they also don't have the starters except keuchel who can give them 8 to give the pen a breather. Rick certainly makes some mistake but the way that pitching staff is constructed including all the injuries you simply need to sometimes just hope the best to squeeze out another inning.

If course GMs use projected WAR or their own version of it. What else would they use?

If vaughn hits enough for a 1b he hits enough for a DH, on average I think 1b even hit a bit better than DH. So I'm not worried he hits enough for either position.

Vlad was ranked the top prospect in baseball. War or not that means people expect him to become a star. He has a weakness in his profile (too many grounders like hosmer) and his body has gone the wrong direction but he is like 21 and people still expect him to get better and become a star. Changes are needed though.

He definitely is an asset and in his prime at 27 but he also has bad plate discipline and is a questionable defender. Now baez is pretty similar but he is an elite defender while tim has not so much to fall back on if his babip dips.

How is he working on defense with no minor league this year? He can take fungos but overall he is too advanced to really benefit from cage work and fungos and having no minors is a lost year of development. The good thing is he doesn't need much development and is a finished product so he should still be ready next may or so. Don't think he is called up albeit really with a first baseman service time plays less of a role as first basemen in their late 20s are not that expensive usually.

It is a bit risky as the kopech situation could happen (TJ and 1.5 years of service time lost) but those guys are not 19 but 22/23 and playing AA and AAA and losing a whole year of development at that point hurts. Also with pitchers service time often plays less of a role because they often break before they are free agents plus the tigers already get them through 2026 so I think it is a good decision to give them experience now.

Yeah but he also walks like 20%

Mendick most definitely is a lot slower than madrigal. Nick isn't a burner but mendick is a below average runner Longenhagen gave him a 45 and sprint speed confirmed that at a below average 26.9 which is slower than eloy (27.7) and only a bit faster than Jose (26.6). Mendick is very slow for a middle infielder.

Mendick is a fine backup but madrigal makes more contact, runs better and is a better defender.

Many of them have been old and washed up, not many premium free agents age 26-29 have been signed by the sox, many have been older guys or mediocre older guys who have a big year. Dunn was the big bust of course (even though his final 3 years had been ok albeit not great at around a 110-115 wrc+) but other than that there weren't many good guys in their prime signed.

Iglesias would be a good option to trade for the sox after the injuries to madrigal and Garcia thinned out the sox IF depth. His bat obviously won't stay this good but he is a good defender, makes contact and seems to have made a little power jump from a no power guy to 11 bombs last year and while he has hit no homers this year he hit tons of doubles and his exit velo took another step forward. Don't think he is super expensive either as at 30 years of age he won't be part of the next Os window so he wouldn't cost any of the sox top 9 prospects plus he has a club option for 21, which means in case he is good you get him another year and if he is bad he is gone for free making this super low risk financially. I would like that deal. Sox shouldn't sell the farm but they have no middle infield help coming up so having Iglesias for 20 and 21 would be a nice insurance and while he is not a stud he is an upgrade to mendick and leury especially since he can play a good shortstop too.

Btw decision making is clearly part of Baserunning but madrigal doesn't have the reputation of being a reckless guy who just runs wild. A guy of his stature doesn't get drafted 4th with questionable decision making, all the reports said he is a mature guy. He was just a young guy being a bit overanxious in his first games, I think he will be a quite smart baserunner.

At this point of the season running into two dumb outs can put you at the very rear rather quickly even behind super slow guys who just jog station to station so I would not read that much into Baserunning stats that early especially for guys who even missed time.

Of course the royals would have been bad even without the injuries:)

Looked up some stat ranks in the AL by the sox. As of today Hitting Bb%: 7.2 (12th) K%: 24.8 (11th) Iso: .163 (12th) Wrc+: 105 (5th) Babip: .317 (1st) Pitching K%: 23.2 (7th) Bb%: 9.0 (9th) Hr/9: 1.28 (9th) Fip: 4.3 (8th) Era: 4.26 (9th) Overall pretty middle of the road albeit with 8 playoff teams that could be enough. Hitting bad k to bb rate is no surprise of course. Babip could regress but I expect power to get better with tim back and EE and jose getting better in the second half which they often do albeit it is not guaranteed at their age. Pitching is probably about right albeit there are guys who could improve or get healthy again.

Really anyone slides headfirst though. It is dumb but players are doing it all the time because they think they can avoid a tag better. I think even trout still does it on SB attempts despite having hurt his thumb before that way.

He obviously isn't a star player but it is hard for 1b men to put up great war numbers, he was ranked 6th in war in the AL among 1b men last year. This year his start was not great but he usually gets better later in the year and while he has some cold streaks he usually delivers you your 115-125 wrc+, 30 bombs and 100 RBI with a decent average and that is all you can ask for from your 1b. Obviously he is no miggy but he is a perfectly fine winning team first baseman. Of course at some point decline will come but then the sox hopefully has vaughn filling in and I would be very happy if vaughn delivered the same stats that jose delivered so far over his career (.292/348/512) with 30 bombs and 100 rbi a year.

For a one year deal team greatness doesn't matter though. Sure a ring would be welcome but pitchers aren't judged by wins anymore and basically you just need one year of good results.