And lest we forget the realities of the new offensive era, that .824 looks to be somewhere around a 120 OPS+, at least by eyeballing the other sox players.
It's definitely cherry picking a little, but only a little. Because it's not like we're saying, "If you only take his best 40 games..." or anything like that. It's simply that he obviously made some adjustments, got used to MLB pitching, and has been smacking the crap out of the ball ever since. I am willing to bet that his numbers the rest of the season are much more in line with what his numbers have been the past two months than they will be to his first month's numbers. Maybe not quite as good as these past two months, but close. The guy is a good hitter.
Defense seems slightly improved…. And some of his most recent memorable flubs have been rockets that IMO even good Olerud/Mickiewicz would have had troubles with.
A 1000 times no for me. If his defensive doesn't improve, he's a DH. We already have people who are penciling in Raffy and Yoshida for that position.
I don't see any reason to think he won't improve his defense. To at least my eye-test, he's noticeably improved his footwork and glove work catching throws across the diamond and I imagine he'll continue to improve there. He likely will never be vintage Olerud but I don't think Kevin Millar defense at 1B would really cost the team. Worst case scenario (and ideal scenario) is they can bring in a good defensive corner IF to give Devers and Casas both occasional breaks and play some close-and-late defensive replacement there. For the remainder of this season, Turner seems like that guy and wouldn't mind seeing him again in '24 in a similar role
I agree that his defense is likely to improve. Many of the mistakes he's making can be chalked up to indecision which might just be a lack of confidence or a concern over making the wrong choice. He's paralyzing himself by overthinking. If he can get past that, and experience can only help there, he can get to passable.
I don't really pay almost any attention to other teams... but if Casas continues his post- April trajectory, how does that project into the full season and where would that put him in RotY talk? Also... is Bello actually a rookie or did he have his status bumped because of time last season?
Bello threw a few too many innings last year and is not a rookie any longer.
Duran also put in the work to make material changes to his defensive approach: his jumps are much improved, and he's talked about trying to track the ball when it leaves the back, sprint to his spot without looking for it, and then look up when it's time to catch the ball.
I believe Turner has a player option for next season and that's fine for '24. I'm hesitant to extend Casas "ASAP" based on what we've seen to date. He definitely seems to have figured some things out at the plate, the next test will be how he adjusts to the adjustments that pitchers will make to him. He really hasn't had to do that yet. Defense...Of course he can improve and looks a bit better, but I'd want to see this play out on a more consistent basis.
I'm not trying to pick on you, but isn't every deal ever OK if the numbers make sense? In this case, I think the numbers making sense to take that risk for a guy who is already under control through 2028 and as of today, has a negative WAR on the season (and yes, I'm bullish on him too), would mean a contract that is so club friendly that accepting it would be agent malpractice. Sure, you could ask, but I just don't see a common ground, and everyone here lost their shit when they lowballed Xander.
The terms seem reasonable, my biggest sticking point would be when it's offered. Same for Duran, if they both continue on a positive path, lock them both up if you can. But let's give them both a bit of time. As much as Bloom gets roasted here, I think this is a large part of what his vision is.
I mean sure, but then what's the point of this conversation at all? & how did what you say differ from what I said?
You’re welcome.
He actually has a better wRC+ this season against lefties than righties, largely because while he strikes out against them a lot, he also walks against them a lot. Maybe that's a weakness because he isn't putting the ball in play much against LHP (about 50% of those PAs are K or BB), but I don't think you need to platoon someone who's bad split is an OBP-heavy .760 OPS in this day and age.
Olson is one of the best defensive first basemen in baseball. Even if Casas develops as a hitter he'll never be that.
Yep. Also, he's been in his own head for a lot of those AB's. I see no reason that won't get better.
RE: bolded
Yoshida has 144 in low, 128 in medium & 117 in high.
In the past 30 days he's hit 297/366/545 with 6 HR and 15 RBI. So if that's "lately," I also kind of doubt that .911 OPS is sustainable the rest of the season. That sort of clip, all season long, would make him the #4 player (qualifying) in the AL.
Honestly I think he’s going to be a looooong fixture no. 5 hitter clubbing 30hrs with an .875-ish OPS for the next 5 years at least. He’s got all the attributes of an advanced hitter. Defense is ehhhhhh hopefully will get better (think it will….) but I’m beyond confident in his batting skills.
I was thinking the pace of the past 2 months or so.
https://www.masslive.com/redsox/2023/07/smiling-triston-casas-lets-red-sox-teammates-know-hes-thinking-of-them.html
Of course he can because he's always been an adequate defensive first baseman coming up. This is what SoxProspects said about his defense: "Confident picking out throws in the dirt. Soft hands and surprisingly fluid actions. Moves well enough for first base. Potential solid-average defender there."
I liked this at the end:
.907 OPS since 5/1 and projects out at 29 HR pace if that was a 162 game sample. BABiP Is.341 during that same period. Likely high for him…. I don’t know how to assume a “normal” BABiP and then to extract numbers but HR’s are excluded which is where most of his SLG numbers will be…. I don’t see many 2B or 3B out of him…
