I have this funny feeling we'll be seeing Kike at short tonight. Cora just loves him some Keekay.
I hope that this is a last, somewhat desperate attempt to get him going in the hopes another team will be willing to take him on by the trade deadline. Either way, his days in Boston have to be numbered. Doomsday for him is either August 1 or the day Story is activated.
If it's between the two, I think I prioritize Chang over Arroyo at this point. Chang's ability to play SS is a big plus, and there's sneaky power there that Arroyo doesn't often get to. Meanwhile, Arroyo's chase rate has climbed up to near the tops (worst) in the league.
Jarren Duran is hitting a totally respectable .278/.325/.417/.742 against LHP this season, is 26 years old and has a really good chance at being a very good starting CF here for the next 6 seasons. Hernandez is putting up a .257/.313/.338/.651 and should have been jettisoned weeks ago.
This is really Kike's best role IMHO. He might be a bit better than "break glass" at 2B, but same idea. His primary position is CF at this point.
Since a really rough start I think Enrique has been just fine at SS, with an emphasis on "just." He's had a miserable year, don't get me wrong, but the case for keeping him is that he's had periods where he was well above-average with lots of pop, a very good outfielder who can play the infield. As recently as 2021 he was a 4 win player and an above-average offensive player at positions where a lot of guys don't even hit their weight.
I agree with your post. I'd also add that you're hypothetical 4-5th starter should also bea guy who profiles to be even more effective out of the bullpen when the Sox get to the playoffs.
I am pretty intrigued by Valdez with the bat....but he's pretty brutal in the field. So if they are going to carry him as a bench bat, I'd feel a lot better about it if they had a guy who can play the field....and one of them needs to be able to play outfield/infield which leaves Kike or Reyes as the last guy. Reyes isn't that good in the outfield, but not a disaster. Still doesn't inspire much confidence as a backup CF option or Fenway's RF though. You could certainly hide him in left or in easy right fields like the Toilet. But not sure I'd want to gamble with that configuration. Kike has been a disaster with the bat, but he's a plus outfielder defensively.
That's fair. Keeping Hernandez as the super bench guy in the scenario where Cora isn't tempted to play him at SS over Story & Chang wouldn't be a bad result.
Pared down for the sake of space but as to the bolded, I really hope so. But I've wanted literally anyone up from the minors in place of Hernandez and Arroyo for literally months, and Valdez is probably the easiest move, so my answer is certainly yes.
For the record those weren't meant to be in preference order - just a list of options. I guess I should have done a-d. My real preference is whoever they can get the relatively best return for probably, which is kind of unknowable.
I wouldn't be shocked if we see him 2-3 times in the next 10 games. I think he's already played there a couple of times since Chang's return.
Someone is going to have to be dropped from the 40 to make that happen. The only way I see room for both is if Chang is re-injured or if Duvall is moved.
I’m assuming Duvall is moved. I don’t like Kiké but I’d prefer him in late inning defense moves in CF over Duvall. Hopefully won’t need to get up to the plate though. But yeah…. I like Chang, Arroyo and Story for middle IF.
In your scenario I see Kike' getting more playing time than you're hoping for. Cora has shown a pattern of giving guys days off and at times multiple guys get the same day off. If he's on the team he's going to get some starts.
Yep, the more i read through these posts, I feel like flipping Duvall for a lower end arm is the best move. We have a dearth of plus-defense outfielders, and a surplus of decent-hitting but average to subpar defensive outfielders (Yoshida subpar with Duran/Verdugo about average).
And this is a good point i didn’t address in my post just above. If the manager isn’t going to use Kike as a mostly defensive replacement, then there’s really no use keeping him if I’m Chaim Bloom. Maybe flip him and Duvall for someone who can play a little better defense with maybe a .700+ OPS (aka, the Gabe Kapler role)…not sure you could score that with those two, but if not, someone who can at least give you .650.
I get it…. Yeah Cora will continue to use Kikê as long as he’s there more than he should. I’m sure Cora sees a bit of himself in Kiké.
How much influence does Cora get from above (not God, the FO) when making out his lineup card? Are we sure that it’s only Cora who likes Kike?
In a division like this, head-to-head is where it gets decided. The 8-2s help to swat away some of the rest of the non-division competition.
I agree with this a great deal. Which (along with the fact that it's players with term driving much of the success) is also why I think this year's team is worth investing (buying) in whereas last year's I think choosing not to sell was an epic failure.
Ideally, he's the one I'd like to keep. Probably because of Walter, Mata, Winckowski and Drohan, he is the least well known (meaning there is still a chance he's really good). I don't think the Sox would NEED to give up Drohan for Drury, I just meant that if they had LAA on Zoom and they got a "Drohan and the deal is done; no Dorhan, no deal" response, I'd ultimately (begrudgingly) do it.
Chaim should kick the tires on Rickey. If we're trading Duvall (which seems to be the preference of the board) then Rickey might be a better fit than Kiké as a backup/defensive replacement outfielder; can work a walk, and the larger bases and limited disengagements should benefit his aggressive style on the basepaths.
As a side note, I was always impressed Rickey had a .370 OBP in his one year in Boston despite batting in the .220s. Dude always walked a ton.
They are 8 ahead of the NYYs, who should, by the "last place in the AL East" standards of many here, be immediately trying to trade all of their players for prospects, right after they fire their GM.
Understatement. #1 all time in walks, runs and steals. Crazy to say but he’s underrated.
I agree. He was adequate defensively, and an absolute menace offensively.
LFG
This is great news, obviously, and despite all the whinging around these parts about how he'd never play this year or at SS again, he's planning to be back there and so is the team.
Position players get a maximum of 20 days on a rehab assignment before they have to be activated or shut back down. Shutting down involves at least a two week break (no games at all). If he's starting on Saturday (for example), that would make August 10 his deadline. Sox are home from August 4th through the 13th. Anywhere in that stretch would seem a great time to activate him.
