I hope Devers is back too. But that still will leave a guy without any MLB quality skill occupying a roster spot on a team with the resources to do better. Every game matters, and a better player may not have made the difference last night, but it was a one run game, every AB was important. And they gave away (slight hyperbole) 3 of them.
A 33% k rate is miserable, but plenty of guys have made careers with K rates over 30% or around it. Joey Gallo, Chris Davis, What kills Bobby is that he doesn't walk as much as the successful guys who strike out that much, and he doesn't hit as many XBHs, either. That said, his career K rate (36%!!) would have been tops in the league if he'd qualified last season.
Are you actually saying Dalbec is getting an unfair shake?
Insane?
Is that true? I’d guess Grissom opened a spot for Valdez, not Dalbec. And I think the emergence of Rafaella means Refsnyder doesn’t get a spot when he comes back, unless they decide to send Abreu down.
Yes it's true.
Winckowski said he's been dealing with the discomfort in his ankle since last year. Is it possible he just didn't speak up in a way that would have led him to see a doctor and have it evaluated months ago? Devers too. He said his shoulder has been bothering him for at least a couple weeks, getting progressively worse until yesterday when he decided to shut it down. If he's not telling anyone about it, or insisting it's not a problem, what can the medical staff do? They're not mind-readers and they're not giving guys full work-ups every day. If the player doesn't speak up, it's on him, isn't it?
Re Baseball Ref, Rafaela played in 80 games at 3B in the minors, 76 at SS. He also played some 2B, no First. OF of course. What a versatile kid. I didn't know he was from Willemstad, Curacao. like Kenley.
Last report I saw had him taking live BP last Sunday, with Cora saying he might start playing games in camp within 7-10 days (so soon, apparently). With the team leaving Ft Myers for Texas and then Seattle, it's not really a surprise that the media is no longer watching him all that closely.
I know he was swinging the bat when the Sox broke camp, and is getting his time in at extended spring training at the Fort. I like the time and care they're taking, even if it means we don't see him for a few more weeks.
Saying it wasn’t a priority makes it sound like something they were going to do, they just ran out of time while they were taking care of everything else. They had time to sort out a RHH back up to 1B/3B, and it looks like they just went with the cheapest option in keeping Dalbec.
Except that he isn’t being stashed in Worcester, he made the opening day roster. That speaks to a lack of planning, especially if Devers’ shoulder has been a problem for a few days. He’s the best option they have at this point, but that’s because they didn’t improve those roster spots.
It wasn't a priority because they liked the flexibility of being able to option him in Worcester. That's a hard thing to replicate via free agency and not exactly the easiest thing to trade for. The injuries to Grissom and Refsnyder are why he's on the 26-man presently.
The inference was that after 2.5 years, it's unlikely the same coaching staff now thinks they have a magic fix for him - i.e., he is what he is.
I get that the options are a good thing. But at some point you just have to say that someone is simply not a major league player, and all the options in the world don't make up for the fact that the guy is a1B who can't run and can't hit and can maybe play a D+/C- at 3B.
According to Pete Abraham in the link below, Grissom is now participating in Baseball activities, will join the team at Fenway for the home opener and then head out for a rehab assignment. If all goes well probably mid-late April.
The bolded just isn’t true. Dalbec has had success against LHP in his career.
So trade Yoshida and re-sign a 39-year-old DH that can maybe play a passable 3B a few times a year just to avoid another year of having Dalbec on the shuttle? And that's really all it is, is one more year of Dalbec hanging around unless he finally figures it out. That seems a bit of overkill to me.
Well, I imagine it would be Vaughn Grissom at third, but I take your point.
As others pointed put, it's possible they'd put Rafaela over there some as well. O'Neill to center, Abreu to right. Point is, the team has options should Dalbec prove untenable.
You'd be boosting the defense at 2B with a modest decline in CF defense. Hopefully Devers is back in short order.
If I understood correctly, O'Brien said on the Opening Day broadcast that Grissom is back doing full baseball activities, but is more or less starting his Spring Training now. It sounds like the plan was for him to stay in extended Spring Training for the duration of the west coast swing, meet back up with the team in Boston for the Home Opener, and then go play some number of rehabs at Portland and Worcester to get a few dozen competitive at bats. So that sounds like a debut for the big club in the last third of April — barring any additional setbacks. As you say, closer to May.
Turning down that option triggered a $6.7 M buyout from the Red Sox, so the net benefit to him would only have been $6.7 M. Instead he got the $6.7 M plus $13 M from the Jays.
You're right, it is on management. The only way Bobby should have sniffed the Boston roster should have been a capable MLB backup going on the IL or paternity list or something. That capable backup could have been procured this spring. Someone who's completely unable to hit RHP is not a capable backup because you can't control when you might need them and "once a week against a lefty" is a useless waste of a roster spot. Consistent ABs vs lefties is not a thing that exists.
Perhaps you should rend your garments so he doesn't go on the DL.
How about two guys going on the IL? Because that's exactly why Dalbec is on the roster right now. You really think he makes the OD roster if Refsnyder and Grissom are healthy? Ahead of Valdez or Rafaela or Abreu?
RFsnyder when he's active, other than that I think Reyes had been reported to have been working out at first.
Yes. But the point is that if JT was "desperate to come back" he had a way. He wasn't desperate to come back.
SoSH is like an evil version of Black and Scholes when it comes to contract options.
Reyes played more games at 1B during spring training than Dalbec (9 to 8). Refsnyder did not play 1B at all. Ref as a possibility at first has always seemed to be a SoSH thing rather than reality. Reyes is the back-up 1B without Dalbec on the roster. When/if everyone's healthy, I envision the bench to be Reyes, Refsnyder, McGuire, and one of Abreu/Valdez/Rafaela.
Yeah, RFsnyder's played 36 games at 1st with 27 starts. I could have sworn he played a couple of games there last year, but B Ref shows that he last played first in 2020.
https://nesn.com/2024/03/red-sox-outfielder-playing-new-position-to-increase-versatility/
