Red Sox Rumors - Just Kidding
- Thread starter jcormjmac
- Start date
Fair enough. A couple more thoughts... Even if Kim is brought in, I still hope to see Kike' be the primary CF and while occasionally sharing 2B duties with Arroyo depending who's pitching (groundball vs flyball) I'd been leaning more toward Adrus at SS as he doesn't cost assets, BUT Kim assures a really strong MI defense if/when Story returns. Speaking of Story's hopeful return, adding another OF is going to force some sort of move if Kike' moves back to the OF on a regular basis and more so if Rafaela looks ready at some point in the second half of the season.
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He's been an OF since 2018 I believe.
It's not like his bat is something we want to get into the lineup anyway.
It's not like his bat is something we want to get into the lineup anyway.
The fact that there has been no mention of this by the organization leads me to think that the answer is likely no.
I’d like for the team to give Michael Taylor from KC a long look. He’s great defensively, and I’d bet he can hide some of the issues there may be from LF and RF. BTV has him and Mondesi for Matthew Lugo and Dalbec as an evenish trade favoring KC. This would let you move Hernandez to 2B and Mondesi could play SS, so you’d have the following starting (Steamer WAR in parentheses):
C McGuire (1.5)
1B Casas (1.9)
2B Hernandez (1.7)
3B Devers (4.5)
SS Mondesi (1.3) / Story (1)
LF Yoshida (3.8)
CF Taylor (1.4)
RF Verdure (2.1) / Duvall (0.3) platoon
DH Turner (1.3)
That’s a starting lineup that produces 20.8 WAR, a 2 win improvement over 2022 with upside to possibly exceed that by more depending on how Casas and Yoshida perform. When Story comes back, depending on how Mondesi is performing, you can move him to SS and use Mondesi for PR opportunities or move Hernandez to the OF. This isn’t a very sexy or potent team offensively, but if everything breaks right, it is a team that can contend for a wild card spot, which is likely this team’s ceiling anyhow.
C McGuire (1.5)
1B Casas (1.9)
2B Hernandez (1.7)
3B Devers (4.5)
SS Mondesi (1.3) / Story (1)
LF Yoshida (3.8)
CF Taylor (1.4)
RF Verdure (2.1) / Duvall (0.3) platoon
DH Turner (1.3)
That’s a starting lineup that produces 20.8 WAR, a 2 win improvement over 2022 with upside to possibly exceed that by more depending on how Casas and Yoshida perform. When Story comes back, depending on how Mondesi is performing, you can move him to SS and use Mondesi for PR opportunities or move Hernandez to the OF. This isn’t a very sexy or potent team offensively, but if everything breaks right, it is a team that can contend for a wild card spot, which is likely this team’s ceiling anyhow.
If you want to take that playing time in WOOstah from someone else, maybe, but PLEASE lets give a rest to these on the fly, positional tryouts at the big league level unless it's an emergency situation
I would really love this trade, but I’m not sure the Royals would go for it based on their asking price from the Twins. Also not sure if Duvall was signed to platoon, and Verdugo probably should be playing everyday as of now. Would provide a lot of depth for this lineup though.
Taylor doesn't really seem very capable of hitting a baseball. He appears to have lucked his way into a 90 wRC+ last year after seasons of 71, 74, 76 & 76. I would expect him to be right back to the mid-to-high 70s this year.
Elite defensive player, but I have a hard time getting too excited about a 1-way player.
Taylor's wRC+ splits last year have to be some of the oddest I've seen:
Home v L 184
Away v R 96
Home v R 83
Away v L 11
Elite defensive player, but I have a hard time getting too excited about a 1-way player.
Taylor's wRC+ splits last year have to be some of the oddest I've seen:
Home v L 184
Away v R 96
Home v R 83
Away v L 11
Incredible to reflect on the incredible optionality Kike gives the team by being a potential plus glove at 2 1/2 premium positions (CF, SS, 2B), giving them flexibility to fill the team in with the best available/budgetable player.
I hope he can stay healthy enough to justify getting another year or two tacked on to his deal by the All-Star break.
I hope he can stay healthy enough to justify getting another year or two tacked on to his deal by the All-Star break.
What’s the implication on the Tax if we Trade for Kim? or sign Elvis? 10M for Duvall is like 4/5M over what I was hoping for. Feels like going over the budget now would be pure madness. Based solely on the hits to international pool $ and the hit on draft picks.
$10M is if he hits all his incentives, don't know if we know what they are yet. $7M base salary.
I’d rather sign Andrus to 2 years than trade for Kim I think. I love the idea of just dropping Kim into the roster for the next 2 years but he was a 4+ WAR player last season. San Diego isn’t giving him up for nothing.
So it comes down to would you rather have Andrus, Houck, and Yorke (or more) or would you rather just have Kim? That’s a trade I’d make for a contender, not a WC fringe team.
So it comes down to would you rather have Andrus, Houck, and Yorke (or more) or would you rather just have Kim? That’s a trade I’d make for a contender, not a WC fringe team.
Agreed. Elvis Andrus good player. I read somewhere he wants 2 years and a Scott Boras client.
I'm guessing they've kinda priced themselves out of taking on Andrus at this point, unless they manage to move salary. Factoring in Duvall's incentives, they have about $8m to play with.
I didn't see the Twins rumor, but I think you are right. If they are looking for pitching, I don't think there's a trade to be made. I could talk myself into Lugo and Murphy, but I don't think they'll go for that since they likely want a pitcher that can contribute immediately.
w/r/t Verdugo and Duvall - Verdugo hasn't hit LHP well at any point in his major league career and would benefit greatly from being platooned. Duvall has even numbers overall but had a .620 OPS against RHP last year.
He also had a horrible second half last year. On a positive note, he's hit really well at Fenway in his career but that's probably more of a function of Red Sox pitching than anything else. That said, I don't think there is much in the way of options that can contribute on both sides of the ball that are reasonably attainable. Taylor and Mondesi fill two holes the team has and for about the same, actually probably less, than Andrus or Iglesias would.
My ost would have been better stated "lf they" as I was mostly in agreement with you and looking to avoid some of these flying by the seat of our pants situations.
We are past MLK day though…who is giving Andrus what he wants? I think they can probably wait him (or Iglesias or Profar) out.
The all important MLK Day point of the off season.
Seriously...there are still a couple of teams looking for upgrades at SS including the MFY.
I think that # is a bit suspect. I think it's closer to $15m, especially when you factor in the minimum salary that would come off the 40-man in a corresponding transaction. Who knows, though?
Spotrac has them at $21.8m, but doesn't have Duvall's $3m in incentives & a couple other things & Cots...seems to be on strike.
I know they have IKF, Torres and a couple of other lessers, but thought they were also looking to upgrade.
I think I remember Cashman mentioning something about the position being open this season, but may have misinterpreted what he meant.
I think Boras has floated Yankees/Astros interest in Andrus through channels to try to pretend there's a market.
Worst case the Red Sox could add a 3rd year to Andrus to lower AAV & fit him under or donate Brasier to a needy team or even make it a 1+1 with a player option.
Worst case the Red Sox could add a 3rd year to Andrus to lower AAV & fit him under or donate Brasier to a needy team or even make it a 1+1 with a player option.
I can’t believe we are discussing Elvis freaking Andrus this intensely.
2018-21:
Elvis Andrus: 1728 PA, 74 wRC+
Marwin Gonzalez: 1521 PA, 87 wRC+
Jose Peraza: 1360 PA, 80 wRC+
Yolmer Sanchez: 1238 PA, 83 wRC+
He had some nice garbage time PAs in Chicago but we should really just let the man age gracefully. If we need a light-hitting yet slick shortstop (Andrus can only give you half of that, per DRS), I’m bet the Angels will let us have David Fletcher for free.
2018-21:
Elvis Andrus: 1728 PA, 74 wRC+
Marwin Gonzalez: 1521 PA, 87 wRC+
Jose Peraza: 1360 PA, 80 wRC+
Yolmer Sanchez: 1238 PA, 83 wRC+
He had some nice garbage time PAs in Chicago but we should really just let the man age gracefully. If we need a light-hitting yet slick shortstop (Andrus can only give you half of that, per DRS), I’m bet the Angels will let us have David Fletcher for free.
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He played mostly 2nd base in college and his early years in the minors before they switched him to the outfield... so it is not out of the question to see what he can do in the infield.
No worries, years here have demonstrated that the written word doesn't always translate exactly as it was meant. The lack of tone or inflection of one's voice can also be a factor as can the use of a wrong word.
Thank you. His value is basically because he exists at shortstop which inflates his dWAR - and he has some speed. Last season could very well be the outlier for the back end of his career. I don't want to roll the dice.
Elvis just OK player. Elvis + Boras = pricy. Pass.
but not nearly as free as Iggy would be. We'd be looking at 1 year for less than 4 million, and Elvis has bigger dreams of peace and understanding.
