2023 Offseason Moves
- Thread starter Daniel_Son
- Start date
Last time we signed someone out of Indy ball, all he did was hit a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in the majors. And a game winning home run at a Fenway opener, and the winning home run in the first game played after that Patriot's Day game, so.....
Just to clarify, we're not talking about an off-brand jock-itch treatment then?
Rich Hill was signed out of independent ball in 2015, though he had been with the Sox before (and after).
Maybe he can catch on with the Ham Fighters if things don't work out here.
Red Sox pick up a carpenter to join Theo Denlinger, the blacksmith. The homesteaders' village is shaping up.
View: https://twitter.com/SPChrisHatfield/status/1625899806110494725
View: https://twitter.com/SPChrisHatfield/status/1625899806110494725
Maybe they think they can fix him...
Booser turns 31 in May & was pretty bad in AA last season.
19 games, 25 innings, 26 hits, 22 walks. 6.42 ERA kind of miraculous with a 1.92 WHIP. 30 strikeouts in 25 innings, but so many baserunners to the point that isn't even a great strikeout rate.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=booser000cam
Also, can't see the Athletic article, but I assume it references this as part of why he quit baseball to take up carpentry?
Booser turns 31 in May & was pretty bad in AA last season.
19 games, 25 innings, 26 hits, 22 walks. 6.42 ERA kind of miraculous with a 1.92 WHIP. 30 strikeouts in 25 innings, but so many baserunners to the point that isn't even a great strikeout rate.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=booser000cam
Also, can't see the Athletic article, but I assume it references this as part of why he quit baseball to take up carpentry?
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19683025/new-york-yankees-matt-marsh-twins-cam-booser-suspended-50-games-each
Thx. Then my primary concerns are back to being old & wild lol, but no harm in giving him a shot.
Chang signed for $850K.
Chris Cotillo
@ChrisCotillo
Red Sox announce they have signed Yu Chang to a one-year contract.
9:31am · 16 Feb 2023 · Twitter Web App
Chris Cotillo
@ChrisCotillo
Chang gets a major league deal that will pay him $850k, per source. Some performance bonuses in it as well.
9:33am · 16 Feb 2023 · Twitter Web App
Chris Cotillo
@ChrisCotillo
Red Sox announce they have signed Yu Chang to a one-year contract.
9:31am · 16 Feb 2023 · Twitter Web App
Chris Cotillo
@ChrisCotillo
Chang gets a major league deal that will pay him $850k, per source. Some performance bonuses in it as well.
9:33am · 16 Feb 2023 · Twitter Web App
1. With or without Hamilton, they had little depth in minors as far guys who can handle 2B/SS in a pinch at the MLB level. You need guys like Goodrum and Chang (neither of whom take up a spot on the 40 man roster).
2. With the new pickoff rules and larger bases, Hamilton's stolen base ability gives him some added value.
Ward didn’t show that he was scrappy and hungry enough, plus he wasn’t as young.
I know he's unlikely to be much of a factor but damn, what motivates Bloom to sign another guy whose numbers look so wanting and seemingly has such limited upside?
Agree, but Chang is on the 40-man.
Had they kept Ward, they would have had to DFA him (or someone like him) at some point to add another utility infielder.
Why Ward over Ort could be an argument, but they seem to really like the latter, and heck, there’s a good chance they get Ward back and / or he isn’t a big loss anyways. Guys like him, German, etc don’t seem to have loads of value.
He can play lots of positions. That continues to be something the Sox organization seems to value.
The fact that they only need him until Story comes back, at which time he will be DFA'd. Elvis Andrus isn't signing up for that.
Ward's OBP must have been too high for Chaim's liking. Chang with his lifetime .279 major league number fits right in with many of our other signings.
I still think they exposed Ward to the Rule 5 draft in the hopes that he would get offered back. [Except the Nats have him, so that's less likely.] The guys they DFA'd later are the ones they are really saying adios to.
He should have gotten a .400 OBP guy to sign a one year deal after spring training has started that gives him maybe a 50% shot at being a backup infielder on the big league roster.
I like it. Plays all over the infield at a league average or better level, has some intriguing exit velocity metrics that suggest there might be more in there offensively.
It isn't expensive. I guess Mondesí provides the high ceiling and Chang holds up the floor.
It isn't expensive. I guess Mondesí provides the high ceiling and Chang holds up the floor.
Haha, yes that would be wonderful. Maybe he should also sign the .279 career OBP journeyman to a minor league deal or give him a spring training invite instead of wasting a 40 man roster spot on him?
Seriously, was there so much competition for Chang that we had to give him a space on the 40 man roster?
I'm saying if Hamilton could be that guy, why are they signing another guy to a major league deal? Wouldn't Chang still be available in a few weeks after some spring training games?
Maybe? The Dodgers gave up a prospect for a guy who had a .283 OBP last year as a 33 year old, and gave him a two year contract extension.
Versatility is great. And so are players who can get on base. Chang hit .207 last year and will likley be challenged at the plate no matter where he plays in the field or how much flexibility he offers them.
I get that not many guys will sign up for what he did. This is perhaps somewhat similar to what the Celtics are facing when trying to sign a veteran who has been bought out for the 15th spot on the roster; better players hold out for better opportunities. (Hopefully, for the Cs, the difference is that someone useful will view the opportunity much like Blake Griffin has.)
But Chang looks like several of Chaim's other signings in that he's so challenged offensively. Yep, maybe it's temporary and in no world is he pivotal or a game changer for the Sox. Just kind of a head scratcher and part of a troubling pattern in my view.
If Chang can actually hit breaking balls, he becomes a really useful player - he had 2 hits in 47 at bats against breaking balls last year.
Plus defense at 1B, 2B & 3B in his career, pretty neutral at SS, & due to the underlying #s, his wRC+ is projected between 86-98 in most systems. & playing for 4 teams in 1 season can't be easy. Seems like really good insurance against Mondesi injury & Valdez not being ready.
Plus defense at 1B, 2B & 3B in his career, pretty neutral at SS, & due to the underlying #s, his wRC+ is projected between 86-98 in most systems. & playing for 4 teams in 1 season can't be easy. Seems like really good insurance against Mondesi injury & Valdez not being ready.
Yeah. The hope here is that Chang plays two times a week until Mondesí is ready to go, and then if everyone is healthy, Chang gets traded to the Athletics for cash considerations. If he plays really well in that opportunity, maybe the return is a AA reliever from the Brewers.
So for April, we'd be looking at something like:
Duvall CF
Kiké SS
Arroyo 2B
Chang MI bench depth
If things are going smoothly, by May, we'd like to see:
Kiké CF/SS/2B
Duvall OF
Mondesí SS
Arroyo 2B/MI bench depth
Chang traded
And then:
Kiké CF
Duvall OF
Mondesí SS
Story 2B
Arroyo 2B/MI bench depth
If everyone is healthy when expected, Chang gets maybe 50 PA for the Red Sox. But the four guys ahead of him on the depth chart are Story, Mondesí, Arroyo, and Hernández, so there's plenty of potential for everyone not to be healthy when expected, and it's nice to have a guy with some upside when that happens. And hopefully Valdez and Hamilton are playing well at AAA by mid-season, making us feel more confident in the middle infield depth on the forty man roster.
Look, I wanted to deal Houck and Duran and Dalbec (or whatever) for Kim. But I can see a case that:
Houck
Mondesí
Chang
Duran
Dalbec
is a better situation than
Taylor
Kim
with less optionable depth. And maybe the asking price for Kim was higher than that.
So for April, we'd be looking at something like:
Duvall CF
Kiké SS
Arroyo 2B
Chang MI bench depth
If things are going smoothly, by May, we'd like to see:
Kiké CF/SS/2B
Duvall OF
Mondesí SS
Arroyo 2B/MI bench depth
Chang traded
And then:
Kiké CF
Duvall OF
Mondesí SS
Story 2B
Arroyo 2B/MI bench depth
If everyone is healthy when expected, Chang gets maybe 50 PA for the Red Sox. But the four guys ahead of him on the depth chart are Story, Mondesí, Arroyo, and Hernández, so there's plenty of potential for everyone not to be healthy when expected, and it's nice to have a guy with some upside when that happens. And hopefully Valdez and Hamilton are playing well at AAA by mid-season, making us feel more confident in the middle infield depth on the forty man roster.
Look, I wanted to deal Houck and Duran and Dalbec (or whatever) for Kim. But I can see a case that:
Houck
Mondesí
Chang
Duran
Dalbec
is a better situation than
Taylor
Kim
with less optionable depth. And maybe the asking price for Kim was higher than that.
Same reaction. Yu Chang...yay? Honestly, I did not recognize his name from '22.
Feeling underwhelmed by Bloom's moves this off season. In my admittedly uninformed estimation, the '23 roster as currently composed seems solidly mediocre. Hope I'm wrong.
(apologies for re-post)
It wasn't long ago that Yu Chang was a 50 FV prospect just outside the Top 100. Fangraphs prospect guys had him last the #103 prospect in 2019, saying "He does have power though, and he’s a viable defensive third baseman who’d be capable of moonlighting at short or second base if Cleveland needed him to. We like him as a versatile, bat-first prospect who can play all over the place."
If anything, he seems like another guy whose career the pandemic may have derailed. The guy has had 550 professional PAs in the last three years.
2023 ZIPS projection (FWIW):
Andrus: .241/.292/.350, 88 wRC+
Chang: .239/.303/.397, 94 wRC+
Iglesias: .294/.329/.411, 94 wRC+
If anything, he seems like another guy whose career the pandemic may have derailed. The guy has had 550 professional PAs in the last three years.
2023 ZIPS projection (FWIW):
Andrus: .241/.292/.350, 88 wRC+
Chang: .239/.303/.397, 94 wRC+
Iglesias: .294/.329/.411, 94 wRC+
The pandemic had nothing to do with his inability to ever make enough contact to succeed at higher levels. I never understood his prospect status when he was constantly walking back to the dugout having failed to put a ball in play, and that was in AA & AAA 5-6 years ago. As a Guardians fan, there was a lot to cheer about as they won their first playoff series in six years, but finally releasing Chang might still be a top 5 moment for me in 2022.
Seems harsh! The Guardians finished 12-15 games above projections (Fangraphs, BP) last year and nearly beat the Yankees in the ALDS. I'd think there would be many more exciting moments! I can't speak for your frustration with his mL strike out rate, but Chang hit more than twice as many homers as the next-highest shortstop prospect (Andrew Velasquez and Nick Gordon) in AA in 2017. Maybe a few extra strikeouts are a decent tradeoff for a middle infielder who gets extra-base hits?
Chang seems like a Christian Arroyo who swings a bit harder and a bit less. Arroyo can get into trouble sometimes making chasing and making poor contact on pitches out of the zone, and Chang is a little more patient (at the cost of working behind in counts a bit more). Maybe you're right and Chang would have stayed on the same development arc without the pandemic, but Arroyo has made considerable strides over the same span with more consistent instruction and playing time, and they're the same age.
He's not a very exciting signing, but gets pretty good quality contact for what he does hit, and can play a decent shortstop. Andrus is seven years older and projects worse at the plate and in the field, and probably costs at least 10x what Chang just signed for, yet there'd be a ton of Sox fans (not saying you necessarily) who would be thrilled if we got him.
Another body for the outfield. Worchester I would guess.
Red Sox Sign Marcus Wilson To Minor League Deal - MLB Trade Rumors
Red Sox Sign Marcus Wilson To Minor League Deal - MLB Trade Rumors
https://www.mlb.com/press-release/release-red-sox-add-daniel-palka-2-24-23
Another LH 1B/OF invited to camp with the Sox.
Another LH 1B/OF invited to camp with the Sox.