Michael Conforto accepted his $18m player option & is off the market.
View: https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1721575839287140787
View: https://twitter.com/JonHeyman/status/1721575839287140787
I'm sure he'd be fine in RF defensively. Overall that's a below average defensive outfield, though, & I'm not sure he's ready to produce at the level of a corner OF offensively. But yeah, his arm shouldn't be an issue.@JM3 - since I think you have a really good grasp on the minor league system, what are your thoughts on Rafaela having the arm to play RF in Fenway. I know that the write up on SP has it listed as a "plus arm; quick release" which to me makes me think he'd be capable of playing out there, but I figured I'd ask someone that I'm certain has watched more of Rafaela in the minors than I have.
I really don't think of Yoshida, Duran, Rafaela as a bad OF, especially if that means the bulk of the resources (money and prospects) can be used to address starting pitching, but again, I'll defer to someone that has watched more of Rafaela.
I'd be interested in Chas, but it depends on the cost. BTV (yeah, I know) has Chas at a surplus value of 48. Roman Anthony, for comparison, is 41.Hard pass on Robert- last year was the first time he's played in more than 100 games in a season (and he ended last year early with a knee injury). If we're looking to make a trade, let's go for Chas McCormick (although, with Baker retiring, McCormick may no longer be undervalued by the Houston manager).
It would seem like only Rafaela would have a good chance at being plus defensively, and even then he probably won’t be as good as Verdugo was this year. Personally, I feel pretty depressed by the idea of having to watch Duran in center and Yoshida in LF again.I'm sure he'd be fine in RF defensively. Overall that's a below average defensive outfield, though, & I'm not sure he's ready to produce at the level of a corner OF offensively. But yeah, his arm shouldn't be an issue.
Sounds like the plan is for a lot of offseason work for Yoshida.“I think if you look at the defensive trajectory through the season, he showed signs of improvement in terms of metrics late in the season, so that gives us reason for optimism,” Breslow said. “I think understanding what a full Major League season looks like, it’s gonna give him a ton of opportunity to prepare maybe in ways that he hasn’t before. Our performance group is working very closely with him.”
But without a set DH like Turner, they could rotate those two players through the DH spot to give them time off their feet with Masataka Yoshida manning the role more regularly. That would allow the Red Sox to pursue a stronger defensive left fielder to strengthen the overall defense.
While it’s an option, it doesn’t sound like that’s the Red Sox’s preferred route for Yoshida.
“We already have a plan,” Cora said at the end of the season about Yoshida. “He’ll show up early (to spring training) like this year, but there’s a lot of stuff that he’s going to do throughout the winter. (Trainer) Kyoshi (Momose) is going over there (to Japan).
Ehh I'm fine with this. I love the prospect of simply seeing Trout in a Red Sox uniform, but he's played 237 games in the last three seasons. And even going back to 2017-19, he didn't play more than 140 games in any of those seasons. He should be DHing at this point to keep his bat in the lineup.Scratch any dreams of a Mike Trout trade off the list.
Perry Minasian says Mike Trout will not be traded (mlb.com)
View: https://twitter.com/ggeiss24/status/1732233018058678561Red Sox are linked to OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Here’s a little rundown: - solid defender, 2 OAA, good arm - can play IF + OF - can hit a good amount - doesn’t K (17.4%) but doesn’t walk (5.6%) - solid contact guy, maybe hits 2 in the order as currently constructed Proj: 3/$45m
This tweet vastly overrates Gurriel’s defense. First off, Baseball Savant only has him as +1 for LF in 2023’ and has him far below water for the rest of his career: -20. And to be clear, he’s not an outfielder but a left fielder, as that appears to be the only position he’s ever played in the OF. His infield defensive numbers are also pretty bad, so he’d only be an option there in a very part-time capacity.
I’d rather pool the Verdugo savings into a Yamamoto contract and roll with the guys we have. The less contact, the less our defense gets exposed.This tweet vastly overrates Gurriel’s defense. First off, Baseball Savant only has him as +1 for LF in 2023’ and has him far below water for the rest of his career: -20. And to be clear, he’s not an outfielder but a left fielder, as that appears to be the only position he’s ever played in the OF. His infield defensive numbers are also pretty bad, so he’d only be an option there in a very part-time capacity.
Obviously the fact that he’s a RH hitter is nice, but he’s not a Verdugo replacement in RF. He’s a left fielder who is probably good enough in the field (maybe) to push Yoshida to DH, but even this is unlikely to be a significant fielding upgrade.
The Fielding Bible 2023 numbers came out recently, and they suggest that Lourdes Gurriel had a phenomenal year defensively. He was +14 defensive runs saved in 778 innings in 2023. That ranks 7th among 333 outfielders in cumulative DRS, and better on a per-game level than some ahead of him. The DRS leader in 2023 is Varsho with +29 in 1,280 innings.This tweet vastly overrates Gurriel’s defense. First off, Baseball Savant only has him as +1 for LF in 2023’ and has him far below water for the rest of his career: -20. And to be clear, he’s not an outfielder but a left fielder, as that appears to be the only position he’s ever played in the OF. His infield defensive numbers are also pretty bad, so he’d only be an option there in a very part-time capacity.
Obviously the fact that he’s a RH hitter is nice, but he’s not a Verdugo replacement in RF. He’s a left fielder who is probably good enough in the field (maybe) to push Yoshida to DH, but even this is unlikely to be a significant fielding upgrade.
He pretty much is, though he was here last year with Verdugo in the O'Neil role, and we still have 3 other LHH OFs, 2 of whom aren't proven at all and could need to be platooned. But as I said we now have Rafaela to cover that.Isn’t Refsnyder redundant now that O’Neill is here?