Red Sox sign Masataka Yoshida
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
Could be. AC also mentioned Arroyo, but Kiké seems most likely. I suppose you could put Devers at 3 and Yoshida at 5 if you wanted to try a lefty at leadoff, but you really want Devers at 2.
AC might elect to go L/L at the top, too. Who knows.
Story could be a choice to lead off if he's back in the second half.
2B Story R
3B Devers L
DH Turner R
LF Yoshida L
CF Duvall R
RF Verdugo L
SS Kiké R
C McGuire/Wong L/R
1B Casas L
That's a pretty attractive lineup.
2B Story R
3B Devers L
DH Turner R
LF Yoshida L
CF Duvall R
RF Verdugo L
SS Kiké R
C McGuire/Wong L/R
1B Casas L
That's a pretty attractive lineup.
Not a bad lineup at all. I read (forget where) the Red Sox are projected to have the 4th-best offense in the AL. Unfortunately, the three better offenses are also in the AL East. The success or failure of this season, IMHO, will come down to pitching.
Seems like Cora has been throwing Verdugo's name around a fair amount, akin to Cora challenging Kiké in '21. Maybe (vs. R):
RF Verdugo L
3B Devers L
DH Turner R
LF Yoshida L
CF Duvall R
1B Casas L
SS Kiké R
C McGuire L
2B Arroyo R
And (vs. L):
LF Yoshida L
SS Kiké R
3B Devers L
1B Turner R
CF Duvall R
RF Verdugo L
DH Dalbec R
2B Arroyo R
C Wong/Alfaro R
RF Verdugo L
3B Devers L
DH Turner R
LF Yoshida L
CF Duvall R
1B Casas L
SS Kiké R
C McGuire L
2B Arroyo R
And (vs. L):
LF Yoshida L
SS Kiké R
3B Devers L
1B Turner R
CF Duvall R
RF Verdugo L
DH Dalbec R
2B Arroyo R
C Wong/Alfaro R
About a half an hour ago during the NESN broadcast Monaco and Merloni were discussing the topic of Cora not committing to Yoshida as his lead off hitter and followed up by saying that he will be leading off tomorrow.
There are 15 teams in the AL so they’d have to be pretty awful to rank 16th.
Which is why I am super thankful for the new balanced schedule. 24 fewer games against those guys this year. I know this isn't a gambling sub, but I was super happy to grab the Sox regular season wins over 77.5. I feel like we are still operating under the idea that we have 76 games against the East.
The 3 AL teams that would probably be projected ahead of the Red Sox offensively are the Blue Jays, Yankees & Astros.
I would be pretty surprised if the Orioles or Rays were projected ahead of the Red Sox & very surprised if they were projected ahead of the Astros. Red Sox were 3rd in the AL in runs (& in the AL East) last year, just ahead of the Astros.
Last year, the Sox were the 4th best offense in the AL (4.54 runs per game), behind the Yankees, Jays, and Astros.
Oops, the dumb #s I was just looking at included the post season so the Astros had dipped from 4.55 to 4.51.
Not to belabor the Pivetta discourse, but a big chunk of our so-so Fangraphs projection has to do with them projecting Pivetta to get 171 innings at a 4.42 FIP clip (one of the lowest marks on the team). If you were to swap those innings out with, say, Houck (whom they project for 26 innings as a starter) or Bello (103 innings), our overall projection (8th in the AL) looks like it could be a win or two better, which puts us more like 5th or 6th in the league.
We're dealing with projections, so it's academic by nature, but the equivalent would be if Fangraphs were to project Zach Thompson to throw the most innings for the Blue Jays, Bryse Wilson the most for the Brewers or Deivi Garcia the most for the Yankees. There's a million ways it could all play out, but that seems like one engine where we might exceed expectations.
Just golfed a ball out for a game-saving three run homer for Japan, that makes me think he might take great advantage of the Pesky Pole...
Reminded me a bit of Damon's salami in the Toilet in '04. Can't wait to watch him in Fenway.
And Verdugo just gave Mexico back the lead.
And Verdugo just gave Mexico back the lead.
View: https://streamable.com/ak7fag
Japanese TV CALL of the homer
View: https://twitter.com/redsox/status/1637998295011164161?s=46&t=4A_L8qoKOnofphlcF4_qlQ
Japanese TV CALL of the homer
View: https://twitter.com/redsox/status/1637998295011164161?s=46&t=4A_L8qoKOnofphlcF4_qlQ
Suffice to say that the WBC has done nothing but build my excitement for this upcoming season. Yoshida has been absolutely incredible for Japan.
From age 29-33, here’s the hitter I want Yoshida to be: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/olerujo01.shtml
Nm…totally missed the pinch runner.
In any case, he’ll be playing against the US tomorrow night in the WBC final.
In any case, he’ll be playing against the US tomorrow night in the WBC final.
I would just like to say that he will get well deserved praise for his home run, but that walk that led to the game winning double was an A+ professional at bat. Would have been real easy to get overzealous and chase some slop there.
While I really don’t care about the WBC, it has been awesome to see Yoshida do so well in games that are more competitive than ST games. He appears to be legit, and looks like the Sox got themselves a star.
I think that he'll be dressed today. Not sure if he'll be playing but it may be worth checking out the game just in case.
Nevermind - I think that I was wrong. Misread an email.
Nevermind - I think that I was wrong. Misread an email.
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Turner has a higher OPS but it’s a really tight race. Both have been tremendous. Have to think it’ll depend on whose team wins tonight unless Ohtani or Trout go Superman or something tonight.
I mean.... this is an amazing crack. It's gives ya tingly loins thinking of that with Fenway's RF
View: https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/1637998295011164161
View: https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/1637998295011164161
Totally agree about the walk. Huge situation, tons of pressure, and he was in complete control of the strike zone. Very impressive.
No strikeouts in the tournament is crazy too. I know the pitching isn't exactly stellar (especially when you're not facing Japan), but still.
At about the 15-16 second mark this clip looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. As Yoshida runs toward 1st, the other 5 guys in the frame all have their eyes fixed on the flight of the ball.
I agree with many others in this thread that it wasn't just the results he had in the WBC, but the process. The quality of his at-bats were A+. Laying off pitches just outside the zone, spitting at breaking stuff out of the zone and putting great swings on pitches in the zone. He looks like he has the skillset to be very successful hitter in the majors.
Additionally, all the reports about his subpar defense seem overblown. He looked more than competent. I m very excited to watch him this year.
Additionally, all the reports about his subpar defense seem overblown. He looked more than competent. I m very excited to watch him this year.
I hope this tournament quieted the outdated notion that the pitching isn’t as good in Japan. The pitching is different, yes. More splitters, fewer sliders. Maybe high velocity is a bit rarer. But there are a lot of great pitchers over there.
So his final WBC numbers are 9 for 22 with 2 HR, 13 RBi in 7 games. 4 BB, 1 K. .409/.531/.727 for a 1.258 OPS.
It's still too early to tell, but I think he might end up being a better hitter than Rick Lancelotti.
It's still too early to tell, but I think he might end up being a better hitter than Rick Lancelotti.
I agree and even the idea that high velocity is rarer may not be accurate either. So many of those Japanese pitchers threw 100! The Japan team threw way more 100mph pitchers than any other team in the WBC. I know those are only Japanese born players but many guys with fringe control and high velocity go over there too. Robert Suarez is a good recent example of a guy with high velo who went over there, improved and returned to throw his high 90s heat in MLB.