The Conductor: who should Breslow haul to Boston this winter?
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I'd go in thinking he's going to be the everyday 2B when he comes back unless Grissom really steps up, if everyone is healthy and Vaughn does make that jump before Kim's ready we make a trade mid-season. If he's not interested in that sort of deal I can understand, though any free agent that won't be ready for opening day is going to be looking at something less than an ideal situation anyway.
Absolutely, although they did opt for Paredes who seems to be their immediate Bregman replacement and a ML ready pitcher is Wesneski as opposed to more prospects, so not sure if it's a full teardown or more of a "retool, cut costs" Padres-style offseason for them.
Still, worth checking in on the rest of the players who could be useful in Houston.
Butch Hobson was never a good fielder, he was like Raffi or Bobby Bonilla in that he turned every throw to first into an adventure. But in 1978 he had severe bursitis (if memory serves) in his right elbow. To the extent that he couldn't actually straighten out his arm. But Apex Gerbil just kept rolling him out there to the tune of forty something errors (almost all of them throwing errors). It was so bad that we fans wished that Channel 38 would just add Yakety Sax to the game feed when an opponent hit the ball to third. Seriously, in his five year Boston career he averaged like 25 errors a year. Even if you excluded '78 he averaged around 20 a year. He was god awful.
I think my next move would be a big trade with Atlanta with the aim of acquiring Sean Murphy as a bounceback candidate. Murphy's contract is simply not that onerous, so I don't actually believe the contract is underwater by all that much. I think under the new rules that would become a 4/$60m with a club option for a fifth season at $15m.
Obviously, I'm still thinking about the rumor from the other day, which seemed just weird enough to be true. I'm wondering if there's a way that we could acquire Murphy in a deal that involved sending them either Wilyer Abreu and/or Kutter Crawford for Murphy and a young SP/pitching prospects: they have some interesting ones. For Schwellenbach I guess both Abreu and Crawford go, but what about Abreu for Murphy, AJ Smith-Schawver, and Hurston Waldrep? Suddenly, we have a ton of high-minors SP depth.
Atlanta has a catching prospect they want to promote and they need an outfielder. I think they may also have some financial constraints connected to the RSN mess which would motivate them to shed a deal like this while Murphy still has bounceback potential. The pitching swap is what is in it for us: they should have a stacked rotation with Sale, Strider, and Lopez at the top.
If Murphy bounces back, he's both your catching improvement and a RH #5 hitter to put between Casas and Yoshida, and I suspect both he and Wong would benefit a lot, on both sides of the ball, from a strict 50-50 playing time split. If he doesn't, he's an overpriced glove-first catcher and we acquire another RHH at the deadline.
Is there anything there?
Obviously, I'm still thinking about the rumor from the other day, which seemed just weird enough to be true. I'm wondering if there's a way that we could acquire Murphy in a deal that involved sending them either Wilyer Abreu and/or Kutter Crawford for Murphy and a young SP/pitching prospects: they have some interesting ones. For Schwellenbach I guess both Abreu and Crawford go, but what about Abreu for Murphy, AJ Smith-Schawver, and Hurston Waldrep? Suddenly, we have a ton of high-minors SP depth.
Atlanta has a catching prospect they want to promote and they need an outfielder. I think they may also have some financial constraints connected to the RSN mess which would motivate them to shed a deal like this while Murphy still has bounceback potential. The pitching swap is what is in it for us: they should have a stacked rotation with Sale, Strider, and Lopez at the top.
If Murphy bounces back, he's both your catching improvement and a RH #5 hitter to put between Casas and Yoshida, and I suspect both he and Wong would benefit a lot, on both sides of the ball, from a strict 50-50 playing time split. If he doesn't, he's an overpriced glove-first catcher and we acquire another RHH at the deadline.
Is there anything there?
Technically ... for 1/2 a season. The other half was a reason Bob Montgomery wore his helmet hat and Zimmer wore his helmet head.
Edit. Didn't see similar posts. Also Home dugouts in Oakland and Anaheim were/are 3B, increasing the odds of bopping Zimmer.
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I don’t remember which game was my first ever, but I remember two key things.
1: A chorus of boos whenever Jack Clark came up to bat.
2: Even louder boos when Butch Hobson came out to make a pitching change.
Were these two really so hated?
I mean even when healthy he had a habit of pelting the people in the 1B dugout.
Hobson’s elbow issue was loose bone chips floating around in there that cause excruciating pain and yes, regular misfires. Even after he’d shortened the throw by crab-scuttling his way across the infield with a cocked throwing arm, trying to will sufficient accuracy into his motion.
Bone chips in his elbow. He had no business being out there for much of the season.
Hilarious stuff...Every soft ground ball to 3rd for a charging Hobson was an adventure in '78. Fisk set some sort of games caught record during that era and I distinctly recall my granddad screaming at the TV Goddamnit Zim is signaling for Campbell again, the guy's arm is going to fall off!
Apex Gerbil was Grady on roids. Pedro going ole' on the old codger was one more sign that things were changing.
I remember hearing and reading that occasionally between pitches he would take off his glove and use his left hand to rearrange the bone chips.
But the guy was a solid masher- that’s what was fun about watching late 70’s team. They were top to bottom mashers and would go off and score in bunches pretty much every night. So much fun to watch. Even better than ‘03-‘04. (But nowhere near the pitching). It’s what we need the lineup to be like this coming year….but with the pitching….
On Butch Hobson:
1. I did not know all of that. It's absolutely insane.
2. You guys are all, seriously, freaking hilarious.
1. I did not know all of that. It's absolutely insane.
2. You guys are all, seriously, freaking hilarious.
Ooooooo.... and his last name is Valdez. Are you picking up what I'm putting down?
Yes, wandering bone chips.
Hobson has a whole highlight reel of absolutely fearless plunges into 3B dugouts catching foul popups. At the plate he could also handle any flamethrower's fastball. I recall a monster homer he clubbed in extra innings in Cleveland, off (i believe) Jim Kern.
The one thing I will never forgive Apex Gerbil for is his failure to put Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers into the fucking game. Because he refused to do that Kuhn was able to void the deal. If they had Fingers as well as Soup even AG couldn't have blown out the pen. And having Joe Rudi as 4th OF/backup 1B wouldn't have hurt either.
Zimmer wasn't the manager during the Rudi-Fingers escapade. He took over for Darrell Johnson a month later
Wasn't there a poster here with the username Butch Hobson's bone chips or am I making that up?
The other thing about Hobson worth noting is that he played some QB for Bear Bryant. Obviously a pretty sick athlete.
View: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1059231005824675&vanity=ghostsoftheorangebowl
View: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1059231005824675&vanity=ghostsoftheorangebowl
LOL by the end of that clip, Hobson wasn't even really wearing a jersey at all.
But obviously he was a hell of an athlete. To play QB at Alabama, then to play eight seasons in MLB? That's incredibly impressive.
But obviously he was a hell of an athlete. To play QB at Alabama, then to play eight seasons in MLB? That's incredibly impressive.
I don't think we can ignore the fact that Butch managed the Nashua Pride to an ALPB championship in 2000.
With all the talk of the Seattle pitchers, I wonder what the cost of Castillo and Randy Arozarena would be?
would Castillo and Arozarena for Cassas and Yoshida work for both teams?
would Castillo and Arozarena for Cassas and Yoshida work for both teams?
I believe this was partially due to Butch trying to snort the foul line in between pitches. . . .
Why would Seattle be willing to part with Arozarena?
Honestly, I think that trade makes the Red Sox worse overall, not better.
Every kid in New England could imitate Hobson barehanding a bunt and releasing a side armed throw while sprawling off the ground. Kids’ imitation throws had similar accuracy as well.
I'm going hard pass on Bregman after reading this. Let the MFY's overpay for him...
https://x.com/JLasagna43/status/1867692304305467414?t=seUbgB6bvKawfdC3DXndkQ&s=19
https://x.com/JLasagna43/status/1867692304305467414?t=seUbgB6bvKawfdC3DXndkQ&s=19
Yup. Lots of warning signals with Bregman. He could certainly help the team in 2025 but I want no part of his mid 30s. Fortunately, feels like a low probability event.
As an LSU and Astros fan, I have really enjoyed watching Bregman grow as a ball player, but I would have to agree, this would not be a wise choice for the Sox. Even though he is only 30, his decline has started and, and as noted previously, he won’t be looking for a short term deal.
We can live without another infielder.
We need a stud pitcher and a hard hitting right handed outfielder who can play defense!
He will get 7 or 8 years... I don't want him for 6. I would much rather trade for Arenado for 3. If we're going to over extend ourselves and pay for garbage years, I'd much rather do it with Burnes.
He is an even worse fit for NY as a righty pull hitter, at least in BOS he has the Green Monster.
Good memory, it was 3-days when Rudi/Fingers donned their Sox uniforms. I had forgotten the Sox sat on their hands.
Why didn't Boston just send them some minor leaguers or end-of-roster flotsam with the CASH?
Oakland Athletics’ owner Charlie Finley had ripped the proverbial rug out from under Major League Baseball’s feet, by selling left fielder and first baseman Joe Rudi and relief pitcher Rollie Fingers to the Boston Red Sox for $1 million each, as well as Cy Young Award winner Vida Blue to the New York Yankees for $1.5 million. Since the Red Sox were in Oakland for a three-game series, Fingers and Rudi simply walked under the stands, over to the visitor clubhouse, and suited up
Entering the 1976 season, six of his star players remained unsigned, which meant that they would soon be part of the first class of free agents in baseball history. This meant no profit for Finley – unless he sold them or traded them.
“Commissioner, I can’t sign these guys. They don’t want to play for ‘ol Charlie,” Finley would tell MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, in a meeting later that Tuesday evening, according to the biography Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball’s Super Showman. “They want to chase those big bucks in New York. If I sell them now, I can at least get something back. If I can’t, they walk out on me at the end of the season and I’ve got nothing. This free agency thing is terrible. The only way to beat it is with young players. That’s where I’ll put the money.”
Finley had already lost Hunter to free agency to the Yankees at the end of the 1974 season, after Major League Baseball ruled that Finley had not fulfilled clauses in his contract. Finley reacted by trading Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman to the Baltimore Orioles in the spring of 1976.
https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/going-deep/rollies-three-days-as-a-red-sox
not sure where to put this but:
with rumors of casas being floated (tho, denied) and the need for a proper RHH, added to the $700M offered to soto….well got me thinking.
maybe bres is after vlad jr. he’s not gonna stay in toronto, w rumors he’s turning down extension offers.
casas, abrea? maybe a crawford too? sign that big extension to him ($500M+)?
sign bueler. anthony takes over RF. grissom or cambell at 2nd?
downt beat me up too much. but his age and these other factors have me…dreamjn?
with rumors of casas being floated (tho, denied) and the need for a proper RHH, added to the $700M offered to soto….well got me thinking.
maybe bres is after vlad jr. he’s not gonna stay in toronto, w rumors he’s turning down extension offers.
casas, abrea? maybe a crawford too? sign that big extension to him ($500M+)?
sign bueler. anthony takes over RF. grissom or cambell at 2nd?
downt beat me up too much. but his age and these other factors have me…dreamjn?