I'm also not opposed to seeing what Hamilton may bring in trade while his value is high. He seems like he could be a valuable super U guy for a smaller market team who may have a SP that is getting too expensive for them. Even though he probably has less value, I'm also wondering if Valdez may be of interest to a team as their primary DH? He really doesn't have a spot here if Grissom gets healthy and Story comes back strong next year. They seem to like Romy and his speed and positional versatility.
Perhaps because rosters and talent aren't a static thing? Perhaps because months ago the depth wasn't so apparent or trustworthy (a case can be made that it's still not that trustworthy)? A lot can happen in six months. Before the trade for Grissom, who was going to be the starting 2B for this team? The utility infielder? Did those choices inspire a great deal of confidence going into the season? Were people predicting David Hamilton would be putting up a 114 OPS+ as a regular big league player?
You may be right about the bolded, but IMO Hamilton might be fine as your utility IF until you have to play him as your everyday SS. I'd rather see the better defender (Romy) as the utility guy and try to move Hamilton to some who might think he has potential as a 4th OF type. In fact if there was any circumstance in which Hamilton goes back down to WOOstah I might think about giving him Dalbec's reps in RF.
The only thing about this is the handedness, as Romy, Grissom and Story are all RHH. If they could just get thru the 1st couple/few months of 2025, you could potentially have Mayer up to man SS, slide Story over to 2B, and have Grissom as your guy who could play 2B/3B. That would leave 3 potential guys on roster who could man SS in MM, Story and Rafaela.
With the rest of the potential roster still being pretty left handed I wouldn't be overly concerned about the MI being right handed.
Because we're still not sure anyone in the OPs list is actually a starting second baseman.
This is the right answer - patience until we're forced to make these decisions so that we have maximum amount of information and make the best decision.
Hindsight... and Grissom is a talented young guy, he'll have value to us or in trade. What was Sale's value to the team after this year?
Life is funny like this. If we had Sale, this team would have basically no real needs. Maybe we don’t have the high-end talent that some other teams do but there would be no holes in the lineup, you could reasonably expect everyone from 1-9 to contribute on a nightly basis.
Basically these two things, yes. I think the perception of both Hamilton and Valdez at the beginning of the season was that they were potentially useful, but underwhelming as full-time starters for a team with playoff aspirations, and I'm not sure that either has totally shed that label. Hamilton has exceeded the most optimistic expectations already, but it wouldn't be too surprising if he crashed to earth a bit. Valdez, even with his recent good play, is still a guy with a lot of question marks. But with that said, if I'm the FO and some team wants to offer medium-term pitching help in return for Grissom or Yorke, the recent solid play of those two makes me a lot more comfortable making that deal.
Perhaps. In a perfect world, they never make the trade, pass on Giolito, Whitlock starts the season in the rotation. But, hindsight is 20/20, and the early returns on the deal so far seems pretty much like the worst case scenarios. It happens.
Although it's a complete swing and miss through 100 games in 2024, Grissom has 5(?) years of control. If he hits like his MiLB career showed, or even like his brief MLB ABs showed, he's a valuable asset.
Of course - you wouldn't exercise it unless he shows it's worth exercising. But it was there as a potential value.
I am of a different mindset... I think Mayer is the one who is (or at least should be) nearly untouchable, and it isn't entirely due to his (excellent so far this year) performance on the field. From the day he was drafted (and even before that) one of the things that has set him apart is his personality and especially his leadership. Everything I have read about him screams "leader of a franchise" not just "franchise player".
Totally.
To me people are seeing more good in Grissom's MLB numbers than is actually there. The first 4 weeks were great. But he slumped badly for the last 3 weeks of 2022. 2023 wasn't great and 2024 has been horrible. The StatCast stuff shows he is well below average in hard contact and exit velocity. Somewhat remarkable to me is that he hasn't hit a home run in his last 220 MLB PA's.
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very well thought out post @nvalvo. I’m glad I started this thread and love reading others thoughts.
This is how the organization should look at it regarding Story. He’s played 94,43,8 games in the first three years of his contract. Guys entertaining their age 32 season that can’t stay on the field typically don’t start being able to stay on the field. They should really look at him as sunk cost and anything he gives them going forward is a bonus.
I'm interested in who will be the better player here between Grissom and Yorke because I don't think it will necessarily be Grissom at the plate.
If we had Chris Sale right now, there would be a spirited discussion on this board about which frontline starter Breslow should be going after to take Sale's spot when he inevitably goes down in August or September.
It's an interesting comparison, with a ton of the difference riding on Yorke's greater present in-game power compared to Grissom's projection and on defensive value: i.e. Grissom might be a SS, but probably is just a decent second baseman, while Yorke is probably a decent second baseman, but might be a left fielder.
I think this somewhat undersells Grissom. He was 21 and in A+ ball, got promoted to AA, and then to the majors with ATL, where he OPS'd .792, mostly as a 2B.
If Hamilton demonstrates consistent performance for the next ~5 weeks why would they trade him?
I agree that they shouldn’t really count on him too much but generally 32 year olds who can’t stay on the field have some sort of recurring/chronic/career altering injuries.
Doesn't it ultimately depend on the teams they're trading with, though? I mean, sure, you generally prefer to not deal from the big league roster when trying to bolster it for a stretch drive to the post-season. But if a team prefers Hamilton to, say, Yorke and is willing to give up a better player that will help the Sox immediately, do you turn that down just to hang on to Hamilton? I'm not so sure, particularly with the number of middle infielders they have when all are healthy. But perhaps I'm speaking from a biased perspective because I don't trust that Hamilton will sustain what he's doing at the plate (and I hate his defense).
The Sox either need to start trading 2B or losing them for nothing. Story's coming back next year, Mayer's taking over SS (knock on wood) in the next year or so and Grissom, Valdez, Hamilton, Yorke and Romy can't all play second at once, and it's not prudent to spend 10% of your 40 man space on one position.
