I don't think that's true. He's fast and his defense has certainly improved over the debacles we saw from him last year, but outside of his insane start this year, he's been really bad.
The MLB trade calculator values Casas at 28.3and Duran at 23.2. Not that that means too much, but Duran has reasonably good value. It’s not unreasonable to pencil him into a 2025 lineup as a cost-controlled CFer.
That's an elite first baseman! The problem is that he seems to be perpetually getting hits when nobody is on base. Not really his problem there... but as has been pointed out, he tends to K when there are. I suspect that's likely just random. He's going to be a middle of the order bat for years. Consistent 30 HR .850+ OPS. Defense will improve.
Observation matches stats. .905 OPS with bases empty, .544 with men on. 33 K in 109 PA with men on (30.2%) vs. 22 in 93 with bases empty (23.7%)
Yes, but where's the cause for concern with Casas? Again, his April sucked, but everything else he's shown in Boston has been average to great.
(Moving this from the 2023 Starting Pitching Thread)
Think he’s referring to the league as a whole; guys like Abreu, Conforto, Correa, Xander, Benintendi.
The starting pitching is really encouraging, and while I enjoyed the run of having CHRIS FUCKING SALE back, let's see what we really have in Bello, Whitlock, Crawford, and Houck. If Schreiber can come back, that would really help with the bullpen, and I can't wait for Story to return.
Agreed about the starting pitching, but I wonder if Paxton can hold up. Bello looks as though he's found something, and doesn't pitch with the same anxiety he did when first coming up
Yeah, it’ll take a 10-12 game winning streak somewhere along the line to do some leapfrogging.
Not at all. I dont know much about Reyes's fielding reputation (is he a typical good glove, no bat guy?), but, by way of recent example, the whole team seem to be a little better stitched together while Yu Chang was the regular SS.
Considering Duvall is still not up to par and Story isn't playing at all; you have a 1,2,3,4 hitter and everyone else is a 8-9; not conducive to consistent offense. And the #4 guy has had a lot of bad games, including last night.
Sure, but we’ve been dealing with that for nearly the entire season and the O held up. Until recently. We really need guys to get out of their respective funks and hit.
Why does that mean something is “brewing”? Seems like Devers was probably just pissed after a frustrating night, no?
Those totals include some extra-inning runs. The offensive output is even weaker than the raw numbers.
True, but it's the third time in recent days that someone refused to speak after a frustrating night. The "something" might simply be frustration ... rewrote my post
This is where Justin Turner takes them all go-karting or something to relieve the stress. Or Casas invites the team over and makes them dinner. (Obligatory Casey Stengel joke about '62 Mets -- "it was Throneberry's birthday, but we didn't get him a cake 'cuz we figured he'd drop it.").
What time did they actually finish the game last night? I was asleep by that point, I imagine he wanted to be too.
All this is true, plus if they get Mondesi and Story back, they'll suddenly have one of the better middle infields in the game.
The challenge is that (a) we still need to hit and Mondesi and Kike aren’t good at that, and (b) if w ever see a Mondesi/Story middle IF it might me mid-August and we’ll already be 10 games out of the last WC.
Sure. But....what do you suggest as the alternative? (I brought this up because of the question of Boston's defense, and suggested that this setup will help them tremendously defensively)
At a minimum, get Yu Chang back at SS ASAP.
Play the best defensive SS you have at the position (Reyes). Kiki can play 2b, Arroyo is the backup (or vice versa). The downgrade in offense from Arroyo to Reyes doesn’t seem terribly significant to me .
Because Yorke's development is the priority, especially when it's not at all clear that he would be a significant improvement for a team with only a marginal chance at the postseason.
He’s only half a season at AA after a poor prior year (likely injury related ). He’s still too green. Maybe this time next year (if he’s not traded)
I can kind of understand your thought, but in the minors the priority is ALWAYS their development, and the team is able to allow them to focus on improving the parts of their game that need to be improved, while not really worrying about wins/losses/results. I think you see it more with pitchers, who are sometimes told "anytime is is X-X count, your throw X-X pitch" while they are in the minors and stuff like that, but it is true with hitters as well. "Hey we want you to focus only on swinging at pitches you can hit the other way this week" and stuff like that. I enjoy looking at and citing minor league numbers as much as anyone, but there is almost always more going on there that what we are able to see on B-Ref or Rotowire or whatever.
My understanding is that this is typically not done because those "lumps" can shatter confidence and cause a player to regress. The thinking goes that they get to the majors and get exposed, then determine they need to try new things or work on mechanics (which may not be broken) or start pressing or one of a million other things that cause them to go into a tailspin. Whereas incremental progress allows a player to get comfortable at the current level, perform well and be confident about the next step. I have no idea if that is *actually* true, but I think that is the rationale.
