Chavis is right handed and showed pretty much no splits in the minors and wasn't really all that much worse vs lefties than righties last year. I'm not convinced he's going to be a reverse split player. He hit for considerably more power against lefties but that bb/K is pretty ugly too. He also had BAbip luck vs righties.Dominos are obviously yet to fall, but here’s the Sox depth chart as of this second:
C - Vaz, Plawecki
1B - Moreland, Chavis, (Dalbec)
2B - Peraza, Chavis, Arauz, Lin
3B - Devers, Chavis, Arauz, Lin
SS - Bogaerts, Arauz, Lin
LF - Benintendi, Chavis, Martinez
CF - Bradley, Benintendi, Lin(?)
RF - Betts, Bradley, Martinez, Andreoli(?)
DH - Martinez
Strengths:
- Lots of versatility among INF utility men
- Catching defense
Weaknesses:
- Lack of outfield depth (JDM is a disaster and injury risk out there)
- Vulnerability to LHP
- Redundant utility infielders without options
- 1B platoon
Notes:
- Bloom intimated that Chavis could be the team’s super utility guy. It seems like posturing to me, Chavis is hardly the defensive player Holt is, and two of his positions (3B/LF) are manned by regulars. But we’ll see.
- Chavis had trouble with LHP last year and makes an awkward platoon with Moreland at first base, though maybe Dalbec solves that in the spring.
- Speaking of vulnerability to southpaws, that distinction was true to some extent of Devers, Moreland, Bradley, and Chavis last year. Benintendi improved against them last year but was average overall.
- I doubt John Andreoli will get any meaningful time in 2020, but no one else on the team but Bradley can handle right field for the Red Sox in the case of a Betts trade, and putting Bradley there opens a hole in center that it doesn’t seem Benny can fill. JDM hits like Bonds when he plays the outfield (1.150 OPS) and only like Bonilla when he’s DH-ing (.900 OPS), but he’s a disaster and injury risk.
- Unless they sign one of the few remaining FA outfielders (Puig, Pillar, Dyson, Zobrist, Holt) or somehow have a separate deal lined up, a Betts trade would almost have to bring back a credible right fielder (Verdugo, Fowler, ) or center fielder (Margot, Cordero). Whoever it is probably shouldn’t need to be platooned against LHP.
vs RHP: 271 PA, .266/.347/.427, 10 HR, 28bb/90k, .383 BAbip, .161 ISO.
vs LHP: 111 PA, .226/.261/.481, 8 HR, 3bb/37k, .262 BAbip, .255 ISO.
Thanks to your post I actually just noticed Andrew Benintendi was better vs LHP than RHP last year. The BB/K ratio especially. If he continues to hit lefties as well as he did in 2019 and rebounds vs righties... he's in for a career year. I have a much more positive outlook on Andrew Benintendi now than I did 5 minutes ago.
vs RHP: 427 PA, .265/.336/.428, .335 BAbip, 38bb/97k
vs LHP: 188 PA, .269/.358/.438, .330 BAbip, 21bb/43k