2024 Red Sox Spring Training

[Fishy1]

If they decide they just cant stomach Enmanuel's glove, I was thinking Hamilton (or even Sogard?) would be a more likely option to platoon with Reyes at 2b. I would prefer they just run with Valdez at 2b vs RHPers until Grissom is ready. Cant really see a role for Romy G.

As for the 13th bat, I can't see how it is not still Dalbec v. Cron.

I'm in agreement, and would add that unfortunately, I don't think Hamilton's glove is much better than Valdez's. If Hamilton has a future it's purely as a base-stealer.

I think they open with Valdez starting at 2B, without a doubt. He looked much better in September at 2B, and I think the word is he's been acceptable there in spring training. And the bat should play. A 25% K rate isn't great, but he'll take some walks -- I think he has much better patience than the 5% BB rate he showed us last year -- and he hits the ball hard. I think a .240/.310/.450 is his most likely outcome. We could do much worse while we're waiting for Grissom to heal up.

 

[Yo La Tengo]

Not sure where this should land, but I'm still trying to use the Rumors thread for actual rumors, so I'll post this here:

The AL East is wide open.

NYY- lots of news about Cole and Judge. Rodon looked good yesterday but he's made it to 140 innings 2 times in the last 9 years. Stroman is turning 33 and hasn't made it to 140 innings the last two years. Vulnerable to injury with some interesting young pitchers, if everything breaks right and Cole manages to come back healthy, the rotation could be great. The line-up looks heavily dependent on Stanton, Rizzo, and LeMahieu all staying healthy and improving their recent performances (Rizzo does look good this spring and Soto is going to be a force). Is missing 50+ games a year the baseline for Judge? Tons of variability in projected wins.
BAL- two injured starters and a ton of hype about their young players and Burns but not enough is being said about losing Bautista, who had one of the greatest pitching seasons in recent history last year. Replacing him with Kimbrel is a huge question mark and that bullpen cannot meet last year's outstanding performance. Are all these young players going to immediately produce? Tons of variability in projected wins.
TOR- adding Turner (and maybe Votto) could help stem the chronic underperformance of that young core, but I wouldn't feel good betting on it. Gausman has a sore shoulder, so does Manoah. Tons of variability in projected wins.
TB- a glut of injured pitchers and the loss of their best player. They will find a way to compete but this looks like a down year. Tons of variability in projected wins.

BOS- if they added one or two starting pitchers, they'd be right in the hunt. Bullpen should be a strength, line-up looks solid, defense looks greatly improved, especially if Rafaela is the starting CF. The luxury tax was reset and signing Montgomery and/or Lorenzen would only cost money. Offer Montgomery a big one year deal and Lorenzen a modest two year deal. Then go compete for the top spot in the AL East.

 

[bernie carb 33]

I saw that Winchowski had to report for jury duty yesterday. He got the start today. Must have taken the opening arguments in all sincerity. But your honor! Gave up 5 runs in his 3+ innings.

 

[Just a bit outside]

I saw that Winchowski had to report for jury duty yesterday. He got the start today. Must have taken the opening arguments in all sincerity. But your honor! Gave up 5 runs in his 2+ innings.

They let him leave when he told them he was scheduled to pitch today.

 

[curly2]

Bullpen should be a strength

I think "could" is more likely than "should," especially if Houck and Whitlock are both in the rotation. Let's says Jansen and Martin are healthy and good, Winckowski has only proven himself over one year, and Bernardino is not a given to be good. And then come largely unproven guys in Campbell, Slaten, Weissert and whoever opens the season as the 13th pitcher.

 

[Rovin Romine]

I think "could" is more likely than "should," especially if Houck and Whitlock are both in the rotation. Let's says Jansen and Martin are healthy and good, Winckowski has only proven himself over one year, and Bernardino is not a given to be good. And then come largely unproven guys in Campbell, Slaten, Weissert and whoever opens the season as the 13th pitcher.

Campbell had a good 27 game campaign for Seattle last year. And it's pretty much in line with his MiL performance. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=campbe000isa

So I'd put him in the top 5, with Slaten, Weissert and whomever as the last 3. I think they have some options for the whomever, but they're largely balanced against stretching out folks in AAA as emergency starters (Criswell, Murphy). Or maybe they go with one of those guys as a long-man/6th starter until Mata is ready (if he ever is.)

 

[Cassvt2023]

Campbell had a good 27 game campaign for Seattle last year. And it's pretty much in line with his MiL performance. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=campbe000isa

So I'd put him in the top 5, with Slaten, Weissert and whomever as the last 3. I think they have some options for the whomever, but they're largely balanced against stretching out folks in AAA as emergency starters (Criswell, Murphy). Or maybe they go with one of those guys as a long-man/6th starter until Mata is ready (if he ever is.)

Murphy had a good outing today, 2.1 IP 1 hit, 1bb, 5k. Campbell followed it with an inning and 2k, he hasn't allowed an earned run this spring. Wickowski struggled in his start however.

 

[BeantownIdaho]

Interested to see perspectives....How would your rank each pitcher in our starter roles and bullpen based on spring training results so far?

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

Interested to see perspectives....How would your rank each pitcher in our starter roles and bullpen based on spring training results so far?

Start a thread.

 

[Rovin Romine]

Start a thread.

Or @BeantownIdaho use this one - https://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/2024-rotation-and-bullpen-what-we-actually-have-no-trade-speculation.41289/

 

[Cassvt2023]

Tonight's Lineup. 6:05pm start

Duran RF
Devers 3B
Story SS
Yoshida LF
O'Neill DH
Cron 1B
Rafaela CF
Valdez 2B
Wong C

Whitlock on the mound.

A couple of interesting twists here....

 

[Cassvt2023]

Ian Browne of ESPN reporting that Cora says Rafaela will get some work at both 2B and SS in the coming week....

 

[simplicio]

To me that says Rafaela/Duran/Abreu + O'Neill are all heading to Boston and playing pretty much full time (with Rafaela getting some MI innings so none of them are on the bench too much). Then if someone's sucking/injured when Refsnyder is healthy they go back down.

 

[sezwho]

To me that says Rafaela/Duran/Abreu + O'Neill are all heading to Boston and playing pretty much full time (with Rafaela getting some MI innings so none of them are on the bench too much). Then if someone's sucking/injured when Refsnyder is healthy they go back down.

Ok, in.

I was hoping somehow that Rafaela could just own CF but injuries always have their say and ultimately I’ll bet there’s no such thing as a bad inning (developmentally speaking not outcome wise) at his stage.

 

[LogansDad]

I HATE the idea of moving Rafaela around. Let him play CF and focus on continuing to improve at the plate.

Versatility is great for a backup infielder or 4th outfielder. But the goal right now has to be for Rafaela to become the everyday CF.

 

[simplicio]

That is definitely the goal, but there are so many question marks with all of our OF that I think the most important thing is getting them all AB to figure out what's what. While we had Ref available as the 4th man that could be easily accomplished by starting Abreu in Worcester, but it's more complicated now.

 

[Cassvt2023]

Well if the plan was to trade Jansen and free up some payroll to sign Montgomery and move Houck or Whitlock to closer role, his outing tonight where he gave up two bombs and didn’t get 3 outs can’t have helped his value much for teams that may have wanted to see how he looks.

 

[simplicio]

It's his first appearance of spring, the sky's not falling quite yet.

 

[Cassvt2023]

It's his first appearance of spring, the sky's not falling quite yet.

I didn’t say I was worried about Kensley. And I didn’t say the sky is falling, I’m not one of those guys. I simply said that if other teams who may want a veteran closer that are much closer to WS aspirations than the Sox, were waiting to see how he looked after the lat issues that delayed his ST, it wasn’t the ideal debut to showcase him. If all the accounts that the Sox need to clear payroll in order to add to to their rotation are accurate, and you are a team in transition that has no need for a closer making 16m a year when there may be suitable in house options, and you have a need for an innings eater SP that is still available on March 15th, your hope that he would‘ve showed a bit more in his first outing. That’s all @simplicio.

 

[Rasputin]

I didn’t say I was worried about Kensley. And I didn’t say the sky is falling, I’m not one of those guys. I simply said that if other teams who may want a veteran closer that are much closer to WS aspirations than the Sox, were waiting to see how he looked after the lat issues that delayed his ST, it wasn’t the ideal debut to showcase him. If all the accounts that the Sox need to clear payroll in order to add to to their rotation are accurate, and you are a team in transition that has no need for a closer making 16m a year when there may be suitable in house options, and you have a need for an innings eater SP that is still available on March 15th, your hope that he would‘ve showed a bit more in his first outing. That’s all @simplicio.

Nobody is gonna give a shit about this inning tomorrow morning, let alone when they are making roster decisions.

 

[Al Zarilla]

Ian Browne of ESPN reporting that Cora says Rafaela will get some work at both 2B and SS in the coming week....

Cora thinks he’s Mookie Betts 2.0?

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

I didn’t say I was worried about Kensley. And I didn’t say the sky is falling, I’m not one of those guys. I simply said that if other teams who may want a veteran closer that are much closer to WS aspirations than the Sox, were waiting to see how he looked after the lat issues that delayed his ST, it wasn’t the ideal debut to showcase him. If all the accounts that the Sox need to clear payroll in order to add to to their rotation are accurate, and you are a team in transition that has no need for a closer making 16m a year when there may be suitable in house options, and you have a need for an innings eater SP that is still available on March 15th, your hope that he would‘ve showed a bit more in his first outing. That’s all @simplicio.

No team is going to suddenly lose interest in a pitcher because of one bad spring training outing. If teams were scouting Jansen last night, all they were looking for was signs that he's healthy and throwing freely (no pain, no hindrances). He did that. So he also grooved two pitches that got hammered. Totally irrelevant.

 

[CR67dream]

I moved a post that was mostly focused on the roster, signings/non-signings and the implications thereof, to the Throttle thread, where it is much more appropriate.

 

[joe dokes]

Cora thinks he’s Mookie Betts 2.0?

He's played IF before. I think the idea is that IF they think his hitting can work and IF he can credibly back up an IF spot for a game (or part of one), it's a good bit of roster flexibility. I think I said in this thread or another that working him at other positions likely means he's made the team.

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

He's played IF before. I think the idea is that IF they think his hitting can work and IF he can credibly back up an IF spot for a game (or part of one), it's a good bit of roster flexibility. I think I said in this thread or another that working him at other positions likely means he's made the team.

He’s definitely providing me with the same irrational confidence that I had with the Sox every March through the Pedro/Nomar era.

 

[Cassvt2023]

Today's Lineup for Spring Breakout game:

Anthony RF
Mayer SS
Teel C
Rafaela CF
N Hickey DH
Bleis LF
Yorke 2B
B Jordan 1B
Meidroth 3B

W Gonzalez SP

Nesn and MLB Network @ 1:05pm. Should be fun.

 

[Ale Xander]

I would switch Rafaela and RA but that looks nice.

Reserved tickets just $3 + fees on Seatgeek, yikes.

This is a solid lineup! Arguably more entertaining than the Big Team. Weird.

 

[Al Zarilla]

He's played IF before. I think the idea is that IF they think his hitting can work and IF he can credibly back up an IF spot for a game (or part of one), it's a good bit of roster flexibility. I think I said in this thread or another that working him at other positions likely means he's made the team.

Sure. I was half tongue in cheek there. I see that Rafaela has played all over the infield except for first base and almost as much third base in shortstop. I read that Mookie is going to be starting the season at shortstop for Dodgers. Wow. Both guys listed at 5’9”.

 

[YTF]

I would switch Rafaela and RA but that looks nice.

Reserved tickets just $3 + fees on Seatgeek, yikes.

This is a solid lineup! Arguably more entertaining than the Big Team. Weird.

My guess is that the RA leading off is an attempt to get him an additional AB before substitutions. Probably similar thinking for having Mayer and Teel in the top three slots.

 

[Cassvt2023]

My guess is that the RA leading off is an attempt to get him an additional AB before substitutions. Probably similar thinking for having Mayer and Teel in the top three slots.

This makes a lot of sense. In addition, Rafaela did just play last night.

 

[Merkle's Boner]

Today's Lineup for Spring Breakout game:

Anthony RF
Mayer SS
Teel C
Rafaela CF
N Hickey DH
Bleis LF
Yorke 2B
B Jordan 1B
Meidroth 3B

W Gonzalez SP

Nesn and MLB Network @ 1:05pm. Should be fun.

I am irrationally excited to see that lineup.

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

Three-run jimmy jack for Ceddanne.

https://www.mlb.com/news/ceddanne-rafaela-homers-in-red-sox-s-spring-breakout

 

[bernie carb 33]

I watched Teel play a few games at Univ of Virginia. He is a really good athlete. For UVA he also played a few games in RF to show some versatility. Although he most likely won't leave catcher in MLB, his athletic ability allows him to get up to speed on the basepaths. Connor Wong doubled as an infielder in his early days in the Dodger system, and can motor himself.

 

[joe dokes]

Glob headline:
Crowded field for Red Sox starting rotation thins out with John Winckowski heading back to bullpen

 

[simplicio]

Seems like a good move, I bet John Winck will be a real assassin in the pen.

 

[GB5]

Haven’t seen Song in a week or so, was he reassigned?

 

[YTF]

Glob headline:
Crowded field for Red Sox starting rotation thins out with John Winckowski heading back to bullpen

And y'all are fretten' about the numbers.

 

[bernie carb 33]

Haven’t seen Song in a week or so, was he reassigned?

Song had a rough outing in his first appearance. Then looked good this week with a clean 9th inning. And like you said, it could have been the first of the week, as I think he's only gotten the call two times.

 

[bernie carb 33]

Sox put up a nine-spot in the 1st inning against NYY today. If I remember Story, Devers and Wong went deep. The Yanks pitched Will Warren, but only five of the runs were earned, because of errors. The split squad tied the Bravos on the road 3-3. Dalbec and Reyes got homers.

 

[simplicio]

And y'all are fretten' about the numbers.

This FO doesn't leak, none of us even knew they'd signed Yoshinaru Yamamoto, Kevin Gasman and Clay Bucholz this winter.

 

[bernie carb 33]

Getting ready to roll. In ten days the Sox get on the plane and depart for real action in Seattle.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

Haven’t seen Song in a week or so, was he reassigned?

There was no re-assignment to make. He was in the minor league camp from the start and remains there. He made three appearances in major league exhibition games (2.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 2 K). Worth noting that in at least two of those appearances he recorded the save, which is less indicative of the role they see for him and more suggestive that he only got into those games because every other pitcher scheduled had completed their work and they needed someone to finish the game.

 

[Cassvt2023]

Today's lineup @ Twins:

Duran CF
Yoshida LF
Cron DH
Casas 1B
Dalbec 3B
Abreu RF
Reyes SS
Valdez 2B
Wong C

Pivetta on the bump to start. 1:05pm

 

[NDame616]

Not sure if it goes here, but the Sox announced Bello gets the ball Opening Day

 

[CarolinaBeerGuy]

Not sure if it goes here, but the Sox announced Bello gets the ball Opening Day

I assumed that would be the case, but it's nice to have confirmation.

 

[Sandy Leon Trotsky]

After today it looks like everyone of the projected 5 starters will get one more time through to presumably pump up to 6 innings?
I'm becoming more bullish about Crawford right now..... if that guy can turn into a mid rotation type, that's a huge step for the future. It still obviously only leaves Bello and him as the only two "guaranteed starters" going into the future, but his ability seemed a bit more cloudy, and a "what do we have here?" type of guy as opposed to Bello who seems more likely to have a mid rotation type of floor.
Part of the excitement for me is that NOBODY saw this coming and should leave us a little more optimistic about these mL guys futures than what they're actually doing/showing in their mL games.

 

[LoLsapien]

I'm going to pump up Pivetta here, too. Three pitchers I'm feeling good about taking the ball every 5 days and giving us 5-6 quality innings. One more starter with a track record would look really good on this team..

 

[JimD]

Part of the excitement for me is that NOBODY saw this coming and should leave us a little more optimistic about these mL guys futures than what they're actually doing/showing in their mL games.

That is the fun part, isn't it? So many 'can't miss' studs flame out across MiLB while less-heralded prospects grow to become solid major-league regulars. I know we can never count on that, but it's a big reason that I refuse to join the doom-and-gloom parade who this offseason have been lamenting the lack of top-end pitching talent in the Sox farm system. You just never know exactly what you have.

 

[joe dokes]

After today it looks like everyone of the projected 5 starters will get one more time through to presumably pump up to 6 innings?
I'm becoming more bullish about Crawford right now..... if that guy can turn into a mid rotation type, that's a huge step for the future. It still obviously only leaves Bello and him as the only two "guaranteed starters" going into the future, but his ability seemed a bit more cloudy, and a "what do we have here?" type of guy as opposed to Bello who seems more likely to have a mid rotation type of floor.
Part of the excitement for me is that NOBODY saw this coming and should leave us a little more optimistic about these mL guys futures than what they're actually doing/showing in their mL games.

I think Crawford's peripheral numbers last year had a few people expecting good things from him this year, provided he could get in shape to pitch in more games and more innings per; something he said he did over the winter. It's nice to see a plan, some buy-in, and some results.

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

That is the fun part, isn't it? So many 'can't miss' studs flame out across MiLB while less-heralded prospects grow to become solid major-league regulars. I know we can never count on that, but it's a big reason that I refuse to join the doom-and-gloom parade who this offseason have been lamenting the lack of top-end pitching talent in the Sox farm system. You just never know exactly what you have.

Agreed. Bello was pretty unheralded at the start of 2021 (like in the 30s-40s on Sox Prospects' list). By the end of 2022, he was firmly in the Sox rotation and seen as a bright spot for the future. Maybe someone like Angel Bastardo (age 22) or Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (age 20) makes a big jump this year and enters the conversation for 2025 or 2026. You never know.