Travis Shaw DFA’d
- Thread starter soxhop411
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I guess they don't think Casas is ready, but frankly they have nothing to lose. We know what Franchy is right now, a guy who mashes in AAA and cannot hit at all in MLB.
I think it may be more along the lines of the whole offense stinks right now. If they call up Casas, there’s a lot of pressure and focus on him hitting and helping right the ship right away.
The expectations for Franchy will be far lower, while still giving Casas some more time to hit at AAA and the rest of the team to start hitting.
This sounds about right, and I don't think they were ever going to throw the towel in on Cordero before giving him one more shot to see if he can adjust to ML pitching. All things considered, it seems like a pretty good time to do that, given that he's replacing a guy who literally brought absolutely nothing to the table this season.
Mental health addition by subtraction, not having to watch Shore's lead bat trying to get around anymore. But as mentioned, this is a placeholder until Casas can can be moved into a lineup that is hopefully out of it's funk, and be just a piece of that, rather than having expectations of righting the ship being put on him. I don't think Franchy's ever going to hit MLB pitching with any sustained effectiveness, but maybe he can catch lightening in a bottle for short stretch.
Yeah, I think is more about what's best for Casas than what helps the Sox win more games in May 2022. And if this does turn into a bridge year, why not give Franchy another 200 AB? Some guys need a little more time. Nelson Cruz had an OPS+ of 72 over his first 478 plate appearances.
I can't understand at all the logic behind wasting time and at bats with players whose careers should have ended a couple of years ago, so I'm very glad to see Shaw gone. Who knows what we get out of Franchy, but he can't be much worse than what we've been throwing out there so far.
Casas isn't ready "YET" as he is currently in an 0-14 slump. Let him get himself out this funk and then call him up
https://www.milb.com/player/triston-casas-671213?stats=gamelogs-r-hitting-mlb&year=2022
Yup, with an offensive line that was literally the worst possible (pegged the needle at -100 wRC+), there is nowhere to go but up for Franchy.
Also, Casas is hitting .225 with an .800 OPS in AAA right now, so he isn't exactly lighting the world on fire after a hot start. He can still benefit from consistent ABs at that level without forcing the issue, so he should be allowed to.
Also, Casas is hitting .225 with an .800 OPS in AAA right now, so he isn't exactly lighting the world on fire after a hot start. He can still benefit from consistent ABs at that level without forcing the issue, so he should be allowed to.
Yeah, I wasn't referencing calling up Franchy instead of Casas, just them getting rid of Shaw. With the season off to a terrible start, huge offensive problems and a pitching staff made of spare parts held together with duct tape, it doesn't seem like there's any need to rush our prospects to the big leagues before they're ready.
I think Bobby was such a big variable, with the promise that if he played like the second half of last year then there would be no problem, but with how inept he has looked, he has taken a major step back.
Has Bobby been so bad that they are willing to give Franchy 80% of the starts against righties?
Has Bobby been so bad that they are willing to give Franchy 80% of the starts against righties?
Here's to Camden Yards solving a lot of our offensive woes, at least for this weekend.
Agree on the comments above about Casas -- bring him up when he's ready to play every day. Doesn't make sense to sit on the bench (unless it's the last couple of weeks in September and you just want to give him a taste heading into next year). In the meantime, I'm eager to see Franchy 2.0.
Agree on the comments above about Casas -- bring him up when he's ready to play every day. Doesn't make sense to sit on the bench (unless it's the last couple of weeks in September and you just want to give him a taste heading into next year). In the meantime, I'm eager to see Franchy 2.0.
As I recall, both Xander and Devers were rather abruptly hustled up to the big leagues to fill a glaring need. In Xander's case, 2013 started in Portland, Pawtucket in June, then to Boston in August culminating in a World Series that October. I have always wondered whether too much time is spent in "development". Obviously some players can rise to the challenge.
After moving their left-field wall back this offseason, Camden has some of the lowest park factors for offense so far this season. Remains to be seen if that stays that way, but based on data so far I wouldn't count on it.
Both Xander and Devers hit better at higher levels at a younger age than Casas. And they didn't lose an entire year of minor league ball to Covid shutdowns.
Of course if Casas hadn't missed the entire year to a covid shutdown, he would have been at the same age/level as the other 2. Is that somehow his fault?
The other 2 also didn't entirely skip over A+ like Casas.
edit: They also didn't get jerked around due to the olympics. Regardless, the sox have been fast tracking Casas for awhile.
I'm OK with giving Franchy one more chance, although hate 1st base is still so bad we're trying him there again.
Feels like this is probably Franchy’s last shot. Asking him to play some first base won’t make things easier for him, but let’s hope it works out.
It's not his fault, but it's a reason to give him extra time to show he can actually hit. He's had good minor league numbers so far, but nothing about them screams, "can't miss prospect."
The strange thing about Cordero last season was how streaky he was. A 7-game hitting streak in April, hitting in 4 straight including his only home run in late May before getting sent down, and between those a putrid, monthlong 4-for-57 stretch in which 3 of the 4 hits came in the same game. Maybe there was something mechanical going on in that stretch, that he might have worked out in the minors.
Even homer Will Flemming said Shaw's bat looked slow yesterday, though Bradfo suggested the Sox would wait until they had to make the call at 45 days from opening day, when they would have had to commit to picking up his whole contract.
It's a pretty stinging indictment of the Sox that they opened the season with essentially just Shaw, Arroyo, and Plawecki on the bench to support a starting lineup that has JBJ and his lifetime 86 OPS+ (43 last year!) and Bobbly Dalbec and his 500 lifetime PAs in the MLB.
It's a pretty stinging indictment of the Sox that they opened the season with essentially just Shaw, Arroyo, and Plawecki on the bench to support a starting lineup that has JBJ and his lifetime 86 OPS+ (43 last year!) and Bobbly Dalbec and his 500 lifetime PAs in the MLB.
This is the main problem. There seems to be little to no thought of the bench and of first and right field. Also being surprised that Chris Sale (again) is not going to pitch a full season.
I’m addition to the slow bat, Shaw looked overweight and out of shape. Liked the guy, but he is beyond toast at this point.
I thought Shaw appeared in noticeably better shape this spring but his bat was no more fit for filling out a lineup.
He seemed worth a flyer last season but Shaw’s inclusion on this season’s Opening Day roster despite no discernible improvement only illustrates the lack of creativity in that roster’s construction.
I'm all for not rushing Casas, but his 0-14 slump would fit in well in Fenway.
Welcome to the Franchy era. Be well, Travis.
Well except for the whole part about him having to receive all the throws from the IF.
Because Dalbec was (is) a maybe, and Shaw, in 28 games for us last year, OPS'd .843 with 11 RBI. If not for Shaw and Iglesias, it's doubtful we'd have made the post-season.
So it made sense to keep him on for his age 32 season.
Apparently, 2021 might have been the last he had in the tank, it seems, but I wish him well wherever he goes.
Thank you Travis Shaw! Sorry it didn't work out in 2022, and please kinda-sorta-forgive the douchebaggery here.
I liked the decision to sell high on Hunter Renfroe, and the early returns are good (he’s hitting 212/254/364 for the Brewers; Binelas has a 992 OPS through 17 games in Greenville). I assumed the plan was to move Verdugo to RF and sign a cheap LF/DH type, leaving JBJ as the 4th OF. Maybe I was wrong about that, or maybe they scrapped the plan when Trevor Story’s price fell further than they anticipated.
With the payroll over the CBT threshold anyway, I’m a little surprised they couldn’t add a player better than Shaw or Cordero. But I’ll confess I can’t say who that player would have been — Jorge Soler was available late but ended up getting 3/36 from the Marlins, which wouldn’t have made sense for us.
That was the prevailing wisdom, right? And to a lesser extent, someone should have been signed as a contingency plan for Dalbec in case August was a mirage.
You don't have to sign Freddie Freeman and Suzuki, but crossing your fingers and hoping that JBJ and Dalbec work out isn't much of a plan.
So because he OPSed .843 in 48 plate appearances for us last year, it was okay for us to ignore the .616 OPS in 202 plate appearances he put up for the Brewers in 2021, or the .717 he put up in 180 PAs in 2020, or the .551 in 270 PAs in 2019?
That's the definition of wishful thinking.
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The problem is no one of note was available by the time the Story deal got done. Going through this list, Jed Lowrie is the only guy I see who (1) was available after Story signed, (2) got a one-year deal, and (3) would clearly have upgraded a spot on the 26-man roster.
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-2021-22-free-agents-by-position
Lowrie caught COVID and has only played in 7 games so far, but it would be nice to have him moving forward.
DFA'd after 7 games and 19 at bats, after a shortened spring training. If that's not kicking the tires, I don't know what is. Last year there were hundreds of at bats spent on maybes.
Also, which backup first baseman would you have signed?
I could live with a platoon partner for either Dalbec or JBJ, especially considering the free agent first base pickings were not great. But to have nothing in place in case both players turned out to be offensive holes? IDK, that's not smart roster building right there.
And also we could have signed someone prior to Story, right?
If the Sox didn’t sign Story, they likely could’ve shimmied under the CBT threshold. They weren’t going to jeopardize that by signing a random vet to a one-year deal as Dalbec/JBJ insurance. By the time they knew they were over anyway, options were limited. It would be nice to have Jed Lowrie about now, but I’m not going to ding the FO too badly for that — it’s not like anyone was screaming for them to sign Lowrie five weeks ago. And that’s because I think even the people who were bearish on Dalbec and Arroyo didn’t think they would be *this* bad. I mean, I certainly would’ve figured one of the two would be good for a 650 OPS while you figured out whether one of the prospects was ready or if you needed to swing a trade. That’s not optimal, but I’m not myopic enough to think the FO is going to blow through the CBT to upgrade that 650 to a 750.
So now we’ve got Cordero in there as a placeholder. I like the recognition of the problem, but Franchy should be on a short leash — he’s not likely to be the solution, and they need to start shopping if an internal solve doesn’t emerge in a few weeks.
I understand what you're saying and it's probably 100% correct. But isn't that a crappy way to look at building a roster? "We know that there's a very good chance that we have (at least) two holes in our lineup. However, we're not going to do anything about it because we might go over the CBT threshold."
Like I said, I'm not advocating for an All-Star at every position, I'm just thinking that it might be nice to have a bench player or two that might be able to get a hit now and again. And (assuming your logic is correct, and I don't doubt that it isn't) saying that the Boston Red Sox can't afford a backup outfielder or first baseman, is kind of messed up.
It's too bad the Sox never had Shaw at his most productive. It's too bad that homerun the other night wasn't called accurately due to poor replay angles, not that I think it would have changed the outcome. It's amazing how short an ML career can be.
They can be short but Travis Shaw has been a pro baseball player for 11 years, 8 of those in the Majors. Short maybe, but long by MLB standards.
As what? I mean is there any value to Shaw or the organization to be sitting the bench in WOOstah? Is he worth using a roster spot on?
He'd have to clear waivers (not a big hurdle) then accept an assignment to Worcester. He'd only accept that assignment if he thinks he has no chance of hooking on somewhere else and he thinks Worcester is better than AAA or AA in some other organization. I'd guess there's about a 5% chance of that.