Let's Lay Off That Throttle

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

This.

And while we have no idea if he’s lazy, he is clearly not in the best of shape. Call me old school, but that bothers me, not just bc he makes insane money but bc he’s a professional athlete.

I would posit that:

- players of all shapes and sizes have succeeded in baseball and that it's the one sport where good players don't necessarily have to look like adonises (adonii?)

- that a 26 year old superstar who played in 153 games at a fairly demanding defensive position while hitting 33 home runs and leading the team in WAR isn't out of shape, and in fact isn't lazy.

He is definitely no Brooks Robinson and I agree that his defense is a soft spot in his baseball armor. But I don't see any reason to assume he isn't great at defense because he is lazy or out of shape. Some guys just simply don't play a great defense. Casas had -1.0 defensive WAR last year and I don't think anyone would assume that's because he's fat and lazy. So I wouldn't assume the same from Devers either.

I hope we don't start going after the guy merely because he rightly said he wants to win and wants a commitment from ownership to winning. I would think such a statement from the acknowledged best player on the team would be welcomed.

 

[twibnotes]

I like that he spoke out. Just wish he’d lead the way as the best player on the team by talking about his own commitment to improving his game and then leading by example. Maybe he’s doing everything he can to improve his D, but it’s hard to believe given his performance in the field. If he IS doing everything he can, shame on the FO for not realizing he needs to move across the diamond. Seems to me they’re waiting for development that, so far, hasn’t come.

 

[Auger34]

I hope we don't start going after the guy merely because he rightly said he wants to win and wants a commitment from ownership to winning. I would think such a statement from the acknowledged best player on the team would be welcomed.

Also, what he said wasn’t nearly as bad as some of what people seem to have assumed he said.

He was pretty measured and basically said he expected the owners to invest and spend money on the team to win. How in the fuck is that controversial? He didn’t call out any player or position group specifically, just that the team needed more investment and reinforcements to compete for a World Series.

Good for him for doing it too. I don’t care if he played bad defense last year (and none of what he said means that he hasn’t been practicing to improve his defense)

 

[NDame616]

I literally wouldn't care if Vaughn Grissom said to the media he wished we signed more pitchers this off season.

The more people who call out this terrible off season the better.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Also, what he said wasn’t nearly as bad as some of what people seem to have assumed he said.

He was pretty measured and basically said he expected the owners to invest and spend money on the team to win. How in the fuck is that controversial? He didn’t call out any player or position group specifically, just that the team needed more investment and reinforcements to compete for a World Series.

Good for him for doing it too. I don’t care if he played bad defense last year (and none of what he said means that he hasn’t been practicing to improve his defense)

There are some reports, Michael Holley for one, who said that Devers’ translator softened the blow a little bit. Devers was actually a bit more pointed in what he said in Spanish.

I can’t find what what Holley said in print, but he mentioned it last night on Boston Sports Tonight. Apparently his wife speaks Spanish so Holley understands the language well enough and what the translator said didn’t jibe with what Holley heard.

BST is taped at the same studio as Boston’s Telemundo station and Holley asked them to translate. Like he thought, the Telemundo people confirmed that the translator was softening the message a bit.

I’m sure we’ll get more on this story in the coming days. But I don’t think this is over yet.

 

[johnlos]

I didnt say anything about playoff odds; only that Vegas is taking into account the possibilities that teams will add or subtract before the season starts. As to playoff odds, 5% seems low; FG 25% seems high absent a significant move being made. I suspect if we get to opening day and the sox havent added significantly to the pitching staff, well see the totals declining to around the 76-78 we saw before last season and theyll probably be +700 or higher playoff odds.

There are serious issues with the current roster and a lot would need to break correctly for them to still be in it in late August.

Sorry, it was OP that said 5%. To your point, PECOTA has them at 12.6% to Fangraphs at 25%.

Here are the current win total projections across 5 LV sites:

Assuming our only remaining move is to sign a Duvall/Urshela type (what I'm expecting) I still think we'll be in that 79±1 range. We'll see if your 77±1 range is true then.

Out of curiosity what do you think the "serious issues" are? I'm on the record as saying we are a big market team and the window is open starting in 2024, so I'm all for spending up to the luxury tax to add a pedigree SP. But I'm not sure I know what serious issues we have that haven't actually been addressed already.

 

[8slim]

It is absolutely mind blowing to me that we have gone through a progression where fans were entitled for wanting the FO improve the team, then the media was stirring shit because the FO wasn’t improving the team, and lastly the fucking players on the club are dicks for wanting the FO to improve the team.

What on earth is the deal here?

 

[Auger34]

It is absolutely mind blowing to me that we have gone through a progression where fans were entitled for wanting the FO improve the team, then the media was stirring shit because the FO wasn’t improving the team, and lastly the fucking players on the club are dicks for wanting the FO to improve the team.

What on earth is the deal here?

Stockholm syndrome….but the best part is that these dozen or so posters have convinced themselves that the people complaining are actually the real villains. “Constant negativity” “chicken littles” “mouth breathers” “WEEI callers” etc. Not only
Is it incredibly insulting but apparently the owners pocketing money and talking about the “Fenway experience” are the real heroes? It’s backwards as fuck.

I remember when Eric Van posted here and he was roundly panned for being an over the top, out of control optimist (among other things). If he posted now he’d probably be criticized for not understanding ownerships plan

 

[8slim]

Stockholm syndrome….but the best part is that these dozen or so posters have convinced themselves that the people complaining are actually the real villains. “Constant negativity” “chicken littles” “mouth breathers” “WEEI callers” etc. Not only
Is it incredibly insulting but apparently the owners pocketing money and talking about the “Fenway experience” are the real heroes? It’s backwards as fuck.

I remember when Eric Van posted here and he was roundly panned for being an over the top, out of control optimist (among other things). If he posted now he’d probably be criticized for not understanding ownerships plan

I suspect a lot of it is just contrarianism. Basically, if the majority of people have a certain perspective, and one thinks they’re smarter than most people, then those people must be entitled idiots and one should assume the opposite viewpoint.

 

[jbupstate]

I suspect a lot of it is just contrarianism. Basically, if the majority of people have a certain perspective, and one thinks they’re smarter than most people, then those people must be entitled idiots and one should assume the opposite viewpoint.

JFC. Enough already. We get it. You guys have been right the whole time. Team and owners are the worst ever. Anything positive is bad. We should all be miserable about the situation.

 

[CR67dream]

Everybody fucking stop.

The main problem around here is that people don't listen to each other and talk past each other more often than not. It's fucking ridiculous and never ending. At this point it's not even worth the trouble to participate in, never mind moderate.

One of the biggest issues that people can't seem to differentiate is that it's OK to be pissed at the ownership for a lot of reasons, but to also think that this year's Red Sox team has quite a bit to look forward to. Jesus Christ. No one is putting forth the idea that ownership has had a good five years.

Thank fucking god there are baseball games this weekend.

 

[8slim]

JFC. Enough already. We get it. You guys have been right the whole time. Team and owners are the worst ever. Anything positive is bad. We should all be miserable about the situation.

See that’s not what I believe at all.

It’s late February and I’m already getting irrationally optimistic about the team, as I’ve dome every year since I became a fan in the 80s.

By opening day I’m going to think that there’s every chance that Houck and Whitlock will finally put it all together and toss 175 good innings. That Yoshida’s going to have a strong full season. That Story’s going to regain the form we saw in Colorado. Etc.

I want the Sox to be good. To win games. Baseball is great and I want the spring and summer to be entertaining.

I said nothing about wanting to be miserable or any of that nonsense.

However, there’s nothing positive or optimistic about shitting on Devers or denying that this offseason has been a mess. We all want the team to overcome that though.

 

[Auger34]

See that’s not what I believe at all.

It’s late February and I’m already getting irrationally optimistic about the team, as I’ve dome every year since I became a fan in the 80s.

By opening day I’m going to think that there’s every chance that Houck and Whitlock will finally put it all together and toss 175 good innings. That Yoshida’s going to have a strong full season. That Story’s going to regain the form we saw in Colorado. Etc.

I want the Sox to be good. To win games. Baseball is great and I want the spring and summer to be entertaining.

I said nothing about wanting to be miserable or any of that nonsense.

No one believes that. We are all fans of the Red Sox and want them to do well. Some fans have the capacity to believe that ownership has spit the bit. Some apparently don’t.

There are things to be optimistic about and look forward to. I am looking forward to things but think the team will be mediocre at best.

 

[HfxBob]

No one believes that. We are all fans of the Red Sox and want them to do well. Some fans have the capacity to believe that ownership has spit the bit. Some apparently don’t.

There are things to be optimistic about and look forward to. I am looking forward to things but think the team will be mediocre at best.

The one truly objective source of opinion on the team is the projections. The projections say they're roughly an 80 win team. The projections basically say the offseason efforts of the Red Sox front office have not budged the needle for the 2024 team.

 

[Rovin Romine]

However, there’s nothing positive or optimistic about shitting on Devers or denying that this offseason has been a mess. We all want the team to overcome that though.

Nobody shit on Devers. His play is what it is, and so his stats are what they are. He hits the ball well, he fields the ball badly.

 

[Rovin Romine]

Thank goodness we now have WAR to help us evaluate a player's total net contributions.

Nobody is saying Devers does not make a net positive contribution. Nobody is remotely saying that.

In the old days, the conversation would have just acknowledged that Devers is really bad on defense. Because he is. Metrics would be considered. Numbers would be posted. Discussions would be had about their accuracy - about what was being measured and how. The conversation would have discussed other players who were bad defenders and what the prospects for improvement were. It would have considered moving Devers to other positions and how that might affect the roster overall. There'd be differing opinions in there, and some scoffing, but it would have been adult talk about actual baseball issues. And I know that because we had that talk re: Beltre, and Youk, and Hanley, and Ortiz.

But today. . .today there is cadre of partisan posters who must, in every conversation, in every thread, yammer on and on and fucking on about ownership. Totally deaf to the fact that nobody (not even Chawson) is wildly excited about how the team's done the past five years. Totally deaf to the fact that everybody here wants to see the team do better and hopes they will - show me one person who wants a repeat of the past 5 years.

Those posters are the equivalent of that monomaniacal guy you go on a trip with who just complains and complains and complains - no matter how many ways you try, no matter how much you point out particular things to talk about, you can't just get them off their hobbyhorse. Everything relates back to it. Everything. I'm genuinely uninterested in naming names, because anybody can get in a rut, and I believe nearly all those posters can contribute if they got out of theirs.

But you know what? It can just stop.

It needs to stop if we're going to talk about the Sox and baseball.*



*And for the reactive child-minds out there, let's carve off a few things for you, no. . .I'm not calling out anyone personally. No, nobody keeps a book on who says what. No, my saying this does not mean I'm somehow secretly arguing "ownership is good," and you need to respond to defend your manhood because you've somehow become personally invested in this concept. No, I'm not saying the business of baseball and roster-building isn't a germane topic for the board generally. And lastly, I'm not saying that Rafael Devers is some kind of puppy-killing shit-bag of a human being, who deserves all the scorn we can heap upon him.

 

[absintheofmalaise]

Everybody fucking stop.

The main problem around here is that people don't listen to each other and talk past each other more often than not. It's fucking ridiculous and never ending. At this point it's not even worth the trouble to participate in, never mind moderate.

One of the biggest issues that people can't seem to differentiate is that it's OK to be pissed at the ownership for a lot of reasons, but to also think that this year's Red Sox team has quite a bit to look forward to. Jesus Christ. No one is putting forth the idea that ownership has had a good five years.

Thank fucking god there are baseball games this weekend.

In case anyone missed this.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

*And for the reactive child-minds out there, let's carve off a few things for you, no. . .I'm not calling out anyone personally. No, nobody keeps a book on who says what. No, my saying this does not mean I'm somehow secretly arguing "ownership is good," and you need to respond to defend your manhood because you've somehow become personally invested in this concept. No, I'm not saying the business of baseball and roster-building isn't a germane topic for the board generally. And lastly, I'm not saying that Rafael Devers is some kind of puppy-killing shit-bag of a human being, who deserves all the scorn we can heap upon him.

Stop with the name-calling, insults, and general overall snark. You have baseball points to make and they are good ones. Please leave this sort of personalized rhetoric on the sidelines.

 

[Trapaholic]

I am sure this has been mentioned on this board, but I thought about something again recently.

In 2022, one of the frustrating things as a fan was the fact that they straddled the luxury tax threshold and did not get under that number. At the time, this was a big deal because I, and others I am sure, assumed that resetting the payroll to get under the luxury tax number was a huge priority. In my mind, this was the main roadblock to being an aggressive spending team.

I have not done much research on this, but I don't think the FO explicitly said that if they got under that threshold, they would then spend more because they were not going to get dinged with the tax bill.

On the flip side - it seemed so obvious that the luxury tax bill was the main reason that they were not making any long term moves on free agents.

This goes back to the communication and setting expectations. Call me entitled, but I think it is a fair expectation for a team like the Red Sox to be at that luxury tax threshold year in and year out. Again, I am just a guy on a message board. Now players on the team are expressing their frustrations, and in Jansens' case, it sounds like he was sold a false expectation. That is flat out bad business and an organizational failure.

 

[MikeM]

It’s amazing what signing Montgomery would do on the field, in the Clubhouse, and for the fan base. A rare trifecta of positives

My MLB interest in 2024 has basically spent the last month degrading down into a routine of checking the bookmarked transaction page first thing in the morning after brewing my wake up cup of coffee, looking to see if the Montgomery signing happened, and then shutting my mind off to everything baseball when it hasn't until the following morning when i click into that web page again.

To the point I just now saw and noticed those Devers comments as somebody who sits at a PC 18 hours every single day. Good for him.

 

[HfxBob]

When you think about it, John Henry, for all the good things he has done for the Sox, has also been a stubborn, "line in the sand" guy from the get-go. The first instance of this was with A-Rod, when he could have closed the trade for an additional $12 million or so but refused. Fortunately, that time it worked out.

 

[absintheofmalaise]

When you think about it, John Henry, for all the good things he has done for the Sox, has also been a stubborn, "line in the sand" guy from the get-go. The first instance of this was with A-Rod, when he could have closed the trade for an additional $12 million or so but refused. Fortunately, that time it worked out.

Oh good. This is being regurgitated for the millionth time. Kudos to you for reaching into the past and bringing up the A-Rod saga. We've exhausted every other angle.

Every business has a line in the sand and the Red Sox, like every other MLB team, is a business. That line is different for every team and we , as fans, don't like the fact that the line the Sox have is not the same line that we the fans have. In baseball that line for players is sometimes the salary and sometimes the years. Sometimes it's a combination of both.

We all say, "It's not my money", but it's the owners money and they all have that line that won't be crossed. That line is how they became successful before they became owners to be able to be able to buy a MLB team in the first place.

I know we're all bored because not much is going on with signings, but Spring Training is here and, thank God, there is baseball being played.

 

[RedOctober3829]

View: https://twitter.com/chriscotillo/status/1762249510628077970?s=46&t=IVL2VrlFgLlpc3mjGGto8Q

 

[SoxJox]

I think we're slowly discovering the throttle is to a 2-stroke go-cart.

 

[TomRicardo]

Oh good. This is being regurgitated for the millionth time. Kudos to you for reaching into the past and bringing up the A-Rod saga. We've exhausted every other angle.

Every business has a line in the sand and the Red Sox, like every other MLB team, is a business. That line is different for every team and we , as fans, don't like the fact that the line the Sox have is not the same line that we the fans have. In baseball that line for players is sometimes the salary and sometimes the years. Sometimes it's a combination of both.

We all say, "It's not my money", but it's the owners money and they all have that line that won't be crossed. That line is how they became successful before they became owners to be able to be able to buy a MLB team in the first place.

I know we're all bored because not much is going on with signings, but Spring Training is here and, thank God, there is baseball being played.

Ok, then it is everyone's right to say "Fuck that guy" and not pay to watch the dog shit product he put out.

I love Marvel, I always have. My kid has Marvel branded, shirts, I spend at least a couple of hours a week creating comic books on Marvel Unlimited instead reading books. What Kevin Feige did with Infinite Saga was amazing. I never thought I would see a comic book movie as good as Infinite War or as Nerdgasmic as Endgame. Lately the stuff hasn't been as good. Sure Loki Season 2 was good and hell I even enjoyed Ms Marvel. I went to almost every Marvel movie in theaters. But there was no way in hell I was going to the Marvels, hell I can't even bring myself to finish it on airplane. Should I have gone see the Marvels because I love Marvel so much? Should I hold my tongue about how bad Feige's last two "phases" have gone? I mean it is Disney's IP. They can make Captain America and Wolverine get into a slap fight while Spider-man says WASSUP loudly into the screen for 90 minutes. That is why Disney is one of the largest entertainment companies in the world.

Absolutely it is a business. A highly lucrative business in which a bunch of billionaires bilk millions upon millions out of people like us due to a misplaced loyalty we have for a regional team. They cry poverty and steal millions from the communities that love them so much. It is a fantastic business because you have a ready made villain to place between the consumer and shit heel owners who are raking in the cash. The players. The spoiled millionaires that actually make the product. The spoiled pieces of trash that have the audacity of asking for fair market rate for the actual value after six years of depressed prices which we, the citizens, have given an exemption to baseball to use. They literally have an exemption to rules all other businesses in this country have to follow.

I love baseball. Hell I like going to wooden bat games in the Cape Cod league. I enjoy coming on pre reddit discussion board devoted to talking about the Red Sox. But I will damned if I am going herald John Henry and the rest of shit birds in FSG as some sort of heroes for putting out a bad team while pretending they weren't going to. That is fraud. Are they going to go to court for it? No. But they purposely pretended they were going make significant changes to this team while season tickets were for sale, just to change up as soon as reality was setting in. Sure, they probably "tried". Called up Seattle to see if they wanted Rafaela or Duran for Kirby. I am sure some things were more serious. But did they know realistically they didn't want to bother because it didn't make business sense. Are there probably some really damning emails in Sam Kennedy's inbox?

Owners have every right to pay as little as they are contracted to do in the CBA. This team still has the payroll of medium size corporation. But they are doing that to a consumer market that has every right to tune them out. There is something to be said if you care about the team how you are nervous about the overall direction because this is how franchises spiral. Hell this wouldn't be John Henry's first franchise spiral, not that I think John Henry is directly controlling the Red Sox anymore (I would be curious if he even has controlling interest anymore post tinkering with making FSG publicly traded).

People thought I was joking that this could lead to the team threatening to move but Fenway is a small stadium and maybe when the charm of Friendly Fenway fades for FSG when they can't get people into the stands, they take advantage of the situation some of the cities vying for an expansion franchise get shut out. And they what will FSG try to extract from the city of Boston holding the Red Sox hostage. If you think MLB would step in, I can see a strong reason they would want to support any franchise extracting as much as possible from the city and state.

Ownerships changes and bad ownership can cripple a team. Look at what Snyder did the Washington Redskins/Football Team/Commanders/Who Cares. He still made billions being incredibly incompetent. Sports ownership in the US is one of the most rigged games for billionaires to make cash. Guys like Dolan fall backwards in vats of cash. When was the last time you heard a billionaire going broke on professional sports team in the Big 4?

It is possible to still love a team and be incredibly cynical towards the people that own them.

 

[DeadlySplitter]

Cotillo implies the max Henry-mandated budget this year is between 206-215 million. EDIT: OK, not quite, just that another 9M this year would put them over.

View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1765799625456234704?s=20

 

[chawson]

Cotillo implies the max Henry-mandated budget this year is between 206-215 million. EDIT: OK, not quite, just that another 9M this year would put them over.

View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1765799625456234704?s=20

Cotillo doesn't know this. They know they won't get the team to confirm or deny a budget either way, so they can speculate away. If Henry responds to refute — in the rival paper — they win.

 

[Benj4ever]

Nobody shit on Devers. His play is what it is, and so his stats are what they are. He hits the ball well, he fields the ball badly.

I thought he had really turned a corner on defense in 2022. He made a bunch of spectacular plays and bungled a lot fewer easy plays. Then last year came and he just stunk up the joint. Go figure...

 

[cannonball 1729]

Cotillo implies the max Henry-mandated budget this year is between 206-215 million. EDIT: OK, not quite, just that another 9M this year would put them over.

View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1765799625456234704?s=20

I don't get it - why would Henry's budget parameters not be tied to CBT numbers? That means that if Breslow signs a couple of big contracts with some backload like Bello or a potential Casas deal, he'll have to be like $40 million under the cap or so for CBT purposes in 2029. Unless there's a yearly budget, cap be damned - which makes even less sense.

 

[SouthernBoSox]

View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1768640132356186133?s=46


I think this is the most concise description of my thoughts in the last 6 months. It’s perfect.

 

[Harry Hooper]

View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1768640132356186133?s=46


I think this is the most concise description of my thoughts in the last 6 months. It’s perfect.

That BA article puts Duran in RF for the Sox, which is very odd.

 

[HfxBob]

That BA article puts Duran in RF for the Sox, which is very odd.

And O'Neil in LF. Just have to swap 'em.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

View: https://twitter.com/redsoxstats/status/1768640132356186133?s=46


I think this is the most concise description of my thoughts in the last 6 months. It’s perfect.

I think that this is what most of us have been saying for the entire offseason. The Red Sox aren't a bad team like the Athletics, they're a team that needs starting pitching and some right handed pop. They have the money, they have the prospects (at least we think that they do, maybe all of the other teams think TAM, etc suck, IDK), why didn't they plug those holes?

The 2024 Red Sox aren't going to be a dumpster fire, but they're not going to be exciting either. Calm down, they have some potentially exciting players, but this roster leaves much to be desired. If they just did a little more, I know we'd be in a better position.

 

[HfxBob]

I think that this is what most of us have been saying for the entire offseason. The Red Sox aren't a bad team like the Athletics, they're a team that needs starting pitching and some right handed pop. They have the money, they have the prospects (at least we think that they do, maybe all of the other teams think TAM, etc suck, IDK), why didn't they plug those holes?

The 2024 Red Sox aren't going to be a dumpster fire, but they're not going to be exciting either. Calm down, they have some potentially exciting players, but this roster leaves much to be desired. If they just did a little more, I know we'd be in a better position.

The rotation/depth is woefully thin after the loss of Giolito and his expected 175 innings. It would be criminal not to do something about it.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

The rotation/depth is woefully thin after the loss of Giolito and his expected 175 innings. It would be criminal not to do something about it.

It was thin at the end of last season. It stayed the same when they signed Giolito and traded Sale, but got heroin chic after Giolito got hurt.

At this point, mediocrity is the ceiling for this team, which is a real shame. The players want to win. The manager wants to win. The fans want to win. Ownership seems lukewarm on the idea.

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

Ownership seems lukewarm on the idea.

I don't know that I'd put it that way, exactly. They'd be perfectly happy (ecstatic probably) if the team wins. They just don't want to take financial risks that might increase the likelihood of that happening.

 

[HfxBob]

I don't know that I'd put it that way, exactly. They'd be perfectly happy (ecstatic probably) if the team wins. They just don't want to take financial risks that might increase the likelihood of that happening.

It'll be interesting to see what the messaging is if the team ends up with a worse record this year than the last two.

 

[BravesField]

It'll be interesting to see what the messaging is if the team ends up with a worse record this year than the last two.

My guess is that in 2025 the message will be all about the youth movement. I think the only 2 guys on the team over 30 will be Story and Masa (maybe Refsnyder).

I'm not so sure what else they can market at this point.

 

[bernie carb 33]

Raphaela may have to be the bromide for Sox ailments this year to play IF and CF. Grissom has missed all his ST games. Now O'Neill is having nagging calf problems this week. He played all of 80-90 games for Cardinals last year, about the same over last three years, approaching 95. TO'Neill has played one full season of games total if you group the last three years -- 168. Tedoscar would have been a longer term RH bat in the lineup. All votes have not been counted, so the future is up to O'Neil.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

I don't know that I'd put it that way, exactly. They'd be perfectly happy (ecstatic probably) if the team wins. They just don't want to take financial risks that might increase the likelihood of that happening.

Of course they’d want to win on the cheap. Who wouldn’t? And yes pitching is a huge financial risk.

But that’s the name of the game with sports. Everyone’s body breaks down at some point no matter how well or scientifically they train. If you don’t want to bet on the frailty of the human body, invest your money in something other than sports.

 

[YTF]

Raphaela may have to be the bromide for Sox ailments this year to play IF and CF. Grissom has missed all his ST games. Now O'Neill is having nagging calf problems this week. He played all of 80-90 games for Cardinals last year, about the same over last three years, approaching 95. TO'Neill has played one full season of games total if you group the last three years -- 168. Tedoscar would have been a longer term RH bat in the lineup. All votes have not been counted, so the future is up to O'Neil.

FWIW, O'Neill played in a total of 306 games over the course of the last three seasons. 138 in '21, 96 in '22 and 72 in '23. He also played in 50 of 60 games in '20. While O'Neill did miss a fair amount of time in '22 and '23 due to injury, I suspect that all of the games missed the past two seasons weren't due to injury alone. Part of what made him available to the Sox was that St. Louis' outfield is a bit crowded and IIRC, like Verdugo O'Neill had fallen out of favor with his manager.

 

[Fishy1]

FWIW, O'Neill played in a total of 306 games over the course of the last three seasons. 138 in '21, 96 in '22 and 72 in '23. He also played in 50 of 60 games in '20. While O'Neill did miss a fair amount of time in '22 and '23 due to injury, I suspect that all of the games missed the past two seasons weren't due to injury alone. Part of what made him available to the Sox was that St. Louis' outfield is a bit crowded and IIRC, like Verdugo O'Neill had fallen out of favor with his manager.

His numbers also suffered the last two seasons from an abnormally low BABIP for someone who hits the ball as hard as he does. If he's healthy, he should crush left-handed pitching. He's got a fairly neutral split, but nearly 50 points better OBP against LHP for his career (.300 vs . 350) and a neutral slugging percentage. K rate has been trending down as well. A lot to be excited about imo, if he can just stay on the field.

 

[bernie carb 33]

FWIW, O'Neill played in a total of 306 games over the course of the last three seasons. 138 in '21, 96 in '22 and 72 in '23. He also played in 50 of 60 games in '20. While O'Neill did miss a fair amount of time in '22 and '23 due to injury, I suspect that all of the games missed the past two seasons weren't due to injury alone. Part of what made him available to the Sox was that St. Louis' outfield is a bit crowded and IIRC, like Verdugo O'Neill had fallen out of favor with his manager.

I got the 168 games /3 years from the search deal - CoPilot. That was given to me by my Harvard friend. Search vehicles are what they are. If I dig deeper it shows he has played 100 games+ but one time in his six year career MLB. I hope this year he gives us a jump-start on the right hand side.

 

[jon abbey]

I got the 168 games /3 years from the search deal - CoPilot. That was given to me by my Harvard friend. Search vehicles are what they are. If I dig deeper it shows he has played 100 games+ but one time in his six year career MLB. I hope this year he gives us a jump-start on the right hand side.

Baseball Reference is almost always the best and quickest place to check for this kind of thing, if you don't know:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/

 

[DeadlySplitter]

View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1772789405310193966

View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1772790277180174828

 

[KillerBs]

So the front office thinks this year’s team is so bad it is not worth investing in to try and improve. That is the earliest white flag - wait til next year - in my 50 years of Sox fandom.

 

[DeadlySplitter]

Paging Bob Hohler... where is the extra money going to this year?

View: https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1772790619582210250

 

[Petagine in a Bottle]

What is Cotillo talking about? A short term deal for a starter didn’t make sense for the Sox? How does he explain Giolito?

 

[simplicio]

I think he's saying a longer contract would have come with lower AAV.

Also back when we signed Giolito I'm guessing this type of deal for Montgomery wasn't available.

 

[RS2004foreever]

Pathetic. No defense. None. FSG is going to get destroyed in the press, and on this they will absolutely deserve it.
The guy signed a better deal for Arizona than Giolito did with Boston.