Poll: Who Will Play the Most Games at Shortstop for the '23 Red Sox?

Who Will Play the Most Games at Short for the '23 Red Sox?


  • Total voters
    321

AlwaysSomewhere

New Member
Mar 28, 2020
11
I am tantalized by Andrelton Simmons on the free agent list. He is the same age as Jose Iglesias, and at no point in their lives through 2021 would anyone have doubted Simmons was a better ball player. They have been similar batters over their careers (below average but not useless), and the metrics think Simmons has been an all-time great defensive shortstop. He had multiple Gold Gloves and down ballot MVP support. JAWS ranks him similar in his career to Omar Vizquel and Dave Concepcion. Simmons had some mental health issues in 2020 (he was not the only one), was shaky but not useless in 2021, and had a lost 2022 with the Cubs. He was ready to start rehab games from a shoulder injury in August, but they had other infield options and released him. I can find no reports or rumors on him since, but if he can still play defense, there might be another squeeze in that tube of toothpaste? I bet he would work cheap and might take a minor league deal.
 

chawson

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
4,662
I am tantalized by Andrelton Simmons on the free agent list. He is the same age as Jose Iglesias, and at no point in their lives through 2021 would anyone have doubted Simmons was a better ball player. They have been similar batters over their careers (below average but not useless), and the metrics think Simmons has been an all-time great defensive shortstop. He had multiple Gold Gloves and down ballot MVP support. JAWS ranks him similar in his career to Omar Vizquel and Dave Concepcion. Simmons had some mental health issues in 2020 (he was not the only one), was shaky but not useless in 2021, and had a lost 2022 with the Cubs. He was ready to start rehab games from a shoulder injury in August, but they had other infield options and released him. I can find no reports or rumors on him since, but if he can still play defense, there might be another squeeze in that tube of toothpaste? I bet he would work cheap and might take a minor league deal.
I think the issue with Simmons at this point is his bat. The Iowa Cubs were DHing him once per series last summer just to get him back up to speed, but he hit .173/.244/.187 in the majors and .133/.220/.200 in AAA.

He’s “only” 33 but it looks like he’s toast.
 
Last edited:

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,745
I think the issue with Simmons at this point is his bat. The Iowa Cubs were DHing him in AAA once per series last summer just to get him back up to speed, but he hit .173/.244/.187 in the majors and .133/.220/.200 in AAA.

He’s “only” 33 but it looks like he’s toast.
Also an anti-vaxxer still, I believe.
 

chawson

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
4,662
Hooooooly shit that's good. This is how Kim posted a 5.1 bWAR/3.7 fWAR season in 582 PA of league average-ish offense.
Yeah, it's nuts. That Joey Wendle is +12 in about a third of the innings Kim did kind of explains our interest in him.

With Devers at third base, whose defensive upside is average, finding a good defensive shortstop is paramount — if for no other reason than to give Brayan Bello the best possible shot of excelling in the rotation.

Bello gets a ton of ground balls to the left side of the infield. How many? Last year, Bello induced ground balls to SS/3B at a rate of 5.1 percent of his total pitches. That's higher than all but five MLB starters (Framber Valdez, Wade Miley, Hyun Jin Ryu, Bruce Zimmermann, Martin Pérez). It makes sense that all of those guys are soft-tossing lefties, but they all have fairly low strikeout rates. Bello combines his grounders with an above average whiff rate.

Houck, Martin, Joely, Sale, Winckowski and Schreiber all get a ton of ground balls that way too. All of which is to say I'm skeptical the Sox go with Andrus or Iglesias, at least as the full-time guy.
 

Harry Hooper

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jan 4, 2002
34,402
The Herald reports that Dalbec will see action at SS in spring training, thanks to the injuries to Story and Mondesi plus Devers and Hernández off to the WBC.

LINK
 

pokey_reese

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 25, 2008
16,253
Boston, MA
He certainly looked passable at 3B when I saw him there, but mainly with steady hands and limited range, certainly not exciting. Maybe it’s canard that a SS needs to be athletic, but I feels more like a perfect marriage of short-term desperation and a (small) chance for Dalbec to increase his value rather than any indication of what might be true during the regular season. I can’t imagine they even want him to be the third or fourth option…