I’d be in favor of moving Story to 3B when he’s healthy and Marcelo’s ready, then Masa gets dumped with a subsidy somewhere amenable to the idea and our IF across the diamond goes Story/Mayer/Grissom/Casas, with Raffy a full time, top dollar DH. Maybe he picks up a 1B mitt and spells our corner guys when handedness and/or specific splits favor it.
Small market teams (AL Central?) usually have an appetite for subsidized castoffs with name recognition and possibilities for a turnaround.
They'd have to eat money in the deal, it's just a question of how much. Likely way too much, right now.
Yoshida. Yoshida. What does it mean?
You do realize we're only about 4 weeks away from the "Should we be sellers" thread.
That's not what people are referencing. As @Rovin Romine and @Red(s)HawksFan point out in this thread, this goes back to last August. Now, perhaps the reasons they also point out are a big part of this; but, given his start, it's well worth monitoring
It is worth monitoring, I agree. But this thread started with people declaring that he needs to be subsidized and dumped to a small market team and that he cannot/will not earn his contract. The potential reasons for his second-half nosedive have been well documented here (as you acknowledge). it’s entirely possible both that he has addressed those issues and that he has simply gotten off to a bad start in a ridiculously small sample size. It’s also possible that he has entered a decline phase of his career or that he simply doesn’t have the talent to excel in MLB over the long term. We don’t know the answer yet and it is well worth keeping an eye on his progress. But that is a very different thing to say than the assumptions that this thread started with.
Which is why it's the job of posters to raise the level of discourse, despite how it started
I believe that @Rovin Romine also mention Pete Fatse recently. I'm not sure if he contributes to this in any way, but I've mentioned in the past that I am curious about his effectiveness with this group. Some folks have pointed to very good overall numbers by the Sox offense these past two seasons, but my eye have seen a wildly inconsistent offense that has been very "all or nothing" for long stretches during the season. Yes it's not unheard of for teams to go into offensive slumps, but the slumps have seemed to have been for several prolonged periods both years. Coincidentally or not, these were Fatse's first two seasons as the team's hitting coach. Just a couple of years ago ( I think 2021) JD Martinez was the credited by Devers for getting him on the right track. That same season when Kyle Schwarber joined the team, he was the one credited with his lead by example influence on the rest of the team when it came to being more patient at the plate. While Fatse wasn't THE hitting coach that season, he was an assistant on the staff. I'm curious to see if we start seeing the same pattern that we've seen the past two seasons and how/if Breslow might respond differently than Bloom.
The thread started with a scenario where Story is healthy and Mayer is ready. I think that timeline gives plenty of room to figure out if this is a small sample blip or a long term decline.
There would be calls to contract the Sox and lure the A's to Boston. Seriously though, I think we all can agree that as constructed this team does have some roster limitations. Everything really needed to break right for the team to contend for a playoff spot, but best case scenarios rarely play out over the course of 162 games, but IMO it's too early to be shoveling dirt on this team. Already many of us are seeing some of the positives that we hoped to see as well as some we didn't expect. Thus far Breslow definitely seems to be a good evaluator of pitching talent and together with Bailey has put some of these new faces in a position to succeed and hopefully can do the same with the rotation. Back on topic, Yoshida's not going anywhere anytime soon. Perhaps his game in Japan might not translate 100% in the MLB, but he's just over a season in and had a strong first half last year. I'm looking for him to turn things around.
I'm not really certain I buy this as a decent possibility though. Yoshida has always had an excellent batting eye and very good bat-to-ball skills - a contact wizard, a mini Soto. Absent some injury, those skills don't typically desert you at age 29.
Name recognition? Who outside of Boston has paid any attention to him, other than to say, "Yoshida? That guy who nobody else valued that highly but the Bosox gave a gigantic contract to?"
His early career stats, his high-ish profile signing and his glittering first-half last year earned him enough of a profile, I think, that he’d generate some intrigue elsewhere — if he came with a healthy subsidy. I could be wrong about this and suffering from Boston-myopia, but I think his arrival would arouse some extra fan interest somewhere.
“His early career stats”? Like his first three months in the MLB, isn’t what you mean? Yes, I remember when we all had Yoshida Fever. From Bangor to Boston to Boise to Beaumont that’s all anyone was talking about for 90 straight days.
yeah…it’s pretty widely accepted that his original contract was a big overpay. And his arrival would add nothing for fan interest..no one give a shit
I was referring to his pretty eye-popping stats from Japan, but go ahead and make an assumption you can then lampoon without inhibition. I was also referring to a deal that would send out a heavily-subsidized Yoshida, and cited his 1st half ‘23 as evidence of untapped potential — which, until the last ten games — was invoked pretty regularly as a reason to remain excited about him.
His eye-popping stats are worthless if he can't hit in the majors. What about his second half numbers of zero power, a lot of ground outs, wearing down during a 162 game season? And his fielding isn't very good. I'm not saying that the guy is done, but your assertion that he was some sort of mini phenom isn't true and even if it is, and someone wanted to grab somebody who had some success when he first reached the bigs, Yasil Puig had more of an impact that Yoshida did in his first two seasons and he's languishing in the Mexican League for anyone to grab.
None of characterizations are news to me or lost on me but you’ll recall two things; mini-phenom is not my phrase but yours. And my scenario was predicated on Story being healthy enough to return to infield action at 3B and Marcelo Mayer being ready to hold down the SS position. That means it’s in the future, by at the very least a few months from now, but more likely a year from now.
I didn’t slam the door shut on him. I said that I hope he makes a comeback and I specifically said “I hope he’s not done” because as a Red Sox fan, it would be good if he at least started to hit with a bit more power.
“Several” is doing some work here. Unless you are including November through four games in March, it’s literally two – and the two at the end of the longest season of his career, his first in MLB and after he began the season playing the entirety od the WBC (for which he was MVP).
You're right. I'd looked at his first half/second half splits on BBREF and OPS was .874/.663. Figuring the season is 6 months long, that would be ~ 3 not so hot months. Actually, he OPS'd .844 in July, so he only did have two poorer months last year (Aug., Sept.). Still, the jury is in wrt his fielding (oh so slow out there) so he's not being used in the field. To justify his salary, doesn't he need to achieve about 3 WAR per season (all offense)? Don't see that happening.
