Enrique Hernandez extended for 2023, 10M

mauf

Anderson Cooper × Mr. Rogers
Moderator
SoSH Member
By the way, I love the Hernandez signing.

At this point, the Sox have the following players under control for 2023:

C- ??
1B- Hosmer
2B- Arroyo
3B- Devers
SS- Story
LF- Pham
CF- Hernandez
RF- Verdugo
DH- Cordero

Look, that lineup would suck — we all hope and expect Bloom to make multiple upgrades with the money he’ll have at his disposal. But with the exception of catcher, there isn’t a position where he has to bring in someone. That’s worth a lot.
 

jwbasham84

New Member
Jul 26, 2022
132
South Bend, IN
I'd be perfectly fine going into the season with McGuire and Wong/Hernandez at catcher. I mean the perfect example of SSS but McGuire is hitting .362 while playing very good defense behind the plate for the Red Sox. He certainly is an upgrade over Plawecki and seems to be handling the pitching staff pretty well. I don't mind how he calls a game so far either. Seems to be able to read batters and call correct pitches.
 

Petagine in a Bottle

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 13, 2021
11,922
Bringing back Hernandez is a hopeful sign that Bloom learned his lesson from the great Dalbec disaster: don't hand off positions to young guys who haven't proven themselves. Duran whiffed badly in his chance to become the guy next year, and I imagine he's going to have to earn that opportunity back. Going into 2023 with him atop the CF depth chart would've been a huge mistake, and the FA options beyond Judge and Brandon Nimmo are weak. If nothing else, Hernandez is a good defender and a great clubhouse guy. Ideally he'd sit against righties but that doesn't seem realistic; there aren't any viable right-handed OF bats in free agency who I think can be trusted in center. But Hernandez is a fine option for now.

So with him locked up for 2023, the outfield now is:

RF: Verdugo
CF: Hernandez
LF: Pham
Backups: Refsnyder, Cordero
Minors: Duran, Jaylin Davis, Rafaela

Not the most imposing group, but there's time yet to do more.

ETA: The idea of Hernandez playing short next year is nonsense. He's the only viable centerfielder on the roster, and unless this FO is going to splurge for Judge (unlikely) or bet on Nimmo or make a trade, he's the starter there. Shortstop is a whole other problem that he can't fix.
Pham is likely to decline his option, so I wouldn’t lock him in at this point. I’d imagine they may try to resign him, but is that enough power from the OF? Guess it depends on who is at DH/SS/C but that feels like an OF in need of some more pop.
 

moondog80

heart is two sizes two small
SoSH Member
Sep 20, 2005
8,101
Pham is likely to decline his option, so I wouldn’t lock him in at this point. I’d imagine they may try to resign him, but is that enough power from the OF? Guess it depends on who is at DH/SS/C but that feels like an OF in need of some more pop.

If they sign another OF to play full time, do they still need both Pham and Refsnyder?
 

Petagine in a Bottle

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 13, 2021
11,922
Possible, but running it back seems like a pretty risky thing for Bloom to do. Of course, if he thinks the teams underperformance was mostly because of fluky injuries - it may be the most logical move too.
 

Mueller's Twin Grannies

critical thinker
SoSH Member
Dec 19, 2009
9,386
If they take a gamble on him and he produces early, they can move him if the overall season looks like it might be anything like this one. Maybe just give him no more days in the field and a day or two off per week to keep him fresh.
 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

has big, douchey shoulders
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
If they take a gamble on him and he produces early, they can move him if the overall season looks like it might be anything like this one. Maybe just give him no more days in the field and a day or two off per week to keep him fresh.
He hasn't played in the field at all this year.

Having said that, this probably belongs in the 2023 thread, not this one. My bad.
 

Ragnar Danneskjöld

New Member
Dec 1, 2007
27
Okay, I’ll say it. I have this weird feeling that JD might be back, unless the team really think he’s toast. I have a suspicion that he might not be, and that he might take a reasonably cheap 1+1 year deal.
He was so good early in the year. Did he suddenly just fall off a cliff? Maybe not.
He has been terrible. It is also paired with his 2020 performance and age 35.

.6 FWAR worth around 5M. Monthly stats trending worse all year.

11 HR, 115 wRC+, BABIP in line with career norms, walk percentage flat to down, Exit velo down from 92.1 to 89.6 Year over Year.

I really don't see the reason to bet on this guy. I don't think you can risk giving him a qualifying offer either.
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2008
11,305
By the way, I love the Hernandez signing.

At this point, the Sox have the following players under control for 2023:

C- ??
1B- Hosmer
2B- Arroyo
3B- Devers
SS- Story
LF- Pham
CF- Hernandez
RF- Verdugo
DH- Cordero

Look, that lineup would suck — we all hope and expect Bloom to make multiple upgrades with the money he’ll have at his disposal. But with the exception of catcher, there isn’t a position where he has to bring in someone. That’s worth a lot.
Not that this is going to be the lineup in 2023 anyway, but I don't see why that lineup would suck, assuming health. That looks like 6-7 guys who should hit around average, 1 who should hit well above average, and 1 that I don't really know what to expect, but I'd assume Wong or McGuire wouldn't be great hitters over a full season. So overall somewhere around an average lineup, which considering that lineup would cost around $70m or so isn't bad at all.
 

Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat

has big, douchey shoulders
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
He has been terrible. It is also paired with his 2020 performance and age 35.

.6 FWAR worth around 5M. Monthly stats trending worse all year.

11 HR, 115 wRC+, BABIP in line with career norms, walk percentage flat to down, Exit velo down from 92.1 to 89.6 Year over Year.

I really don't see the reason to bet on this guy. I don't think you can risk giving him a qualifying offer either.
I’m really not saying that I’d bet on the guy. I just think it’s not totally out of the realm of possibility.
By the way, 2021 actually happened, and might be considered as part of the equation.
 

catsooey

New Member
Jun 27, 2019
161
This signing just reminds me of the Renfroe trade. It’s an ok signing, but I can’t get past the fact that it always feels like we’re trying to climb out of a hole that we dug.
 

Niastri

Member
SoSH Member
Not that this is going to be the lineup in 2023 anyway, but I don't see why that lineup would suck, assuming health. That looks like 6-7 guys who should hit around average, 1 who should hit well above average, and 1 that I don't really know what to expect, but I'd assume Wong or McGuire wouldn't be great hitters over a full season. So overall somewhere around an average lineup, which considering that lineup would cost around $70m or so isn't bad at all.
What if you add Judge and Bogaerts for about $70 million? We would still have about $30 million to plug holes before the luxury tax.

I think they may just try to plug holes in the pitching staff the way they have the last few years, hope Sale, Paxton, Pivetta, Whitlock, (drek), and rookies like Bello can make the starting rotation passable.

For the bullpen they throw spare parts and rookies behind (they hope) a resurgent Barnes and Houck and call it a contender.

Judge makes too much sense for the Sox not to make a big offer, even if they get beat out for him, they make the Yanks go bigger in dollars or years than they would like and potentially give them troubles during the middle of the decade by bidding up Judge's contract.
 

scottyno

late Bloomer
SoSH Member
Dec 7, 2008
11,305
What if you add Judge and Bogaerts for about $70 million? We would still have about $30 million to plug holes before the luxury tax.

I think they may just try to plug holes in the pitching staff the way they have the last few years, hope Sale, Paxton, Pivetta, Whitlock, (drek), and rookies like Bello can make the starting rotation passable.

For the bullpen they throw spare parts and rookies behind (they hope) a resurgent Barnes and Houck and call it a contender.

Judge makes too much sense for the Sox not to make a big offer, even if they get beat out for him, they make the Yanks go bigger in dollars or years than they would like and potentially give them troubles during the middle of the decade by bidding up Judge's contract.
Then it's probably the best lineup in baseball, especially if that means the bench includes Arroyo and DH was a Pham/Franchy platoon, actual functional useful depth, which they haven't really had much of in a few years.