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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Apr 27, 2021 23:51:05 GMT -5
First, it's not as bad as it seems. Verdugo looks like a coin toss to make the All-Star team as a reserve. Kiké has been a tick above average as a starting MLB CF, and when you add his ability to play 2B, etc. and his possible skill as a lead-off-the-game hitter ... given his contract and his clubhouse fit that's a real asset. Renfroe and Cordero may seem like two starting black holes, but between them they've started 30 times in 24 games. That's 1.35 regulars, which is to say it's a hole in LF and one at 4th OFer. They've just mashed the two roles together.
Next, both Cordero and Renfroe have options left and cannot reject them because of service time. That gives them a lot of flexibility in finding the best two guys for these roles, in both the short and long run.
Finally, as Cora has pointed out, there's no point in sending anyone down until May 4 when the AAA season begins. But that's just until the end of this road trip, five more games. It seems clear that both guys could benefit from playing every day in a non-pressure situation. But who do you call up? Here's a full depth chart for the rest of the year: Status Starters 4th OF options, 40 man Cordero Chavis* Renfroe Wilson options, no 40 Duran Munoz no options or 40 Santana Puello Chavis is listed because he'd fill Gonazlez's role playing mostly 2B and 1B, making Marwin the primary 4th OFer.
They can DFA Brewer and/or put Mata on the 60-day IL (absorbing the costs in service time and $ towards the tax limit) to clear 40-man space.
Right now, Duran seems very unlikely. That could change in as little as a couple of weeks, of course, but a couple of months seems more realistic. And clearly he's the hope for the starter in the second half, which leaves them with a lot of talent for the last spot.
Also looking ahead, Wilson would be coming off his AAA season if not for COVID, had an excellent AFL stint the last time he played, and shouldn't be counted out for the 4th OF spot late in the season if there are injuries or busts. Puello is here mostly for rash-of-injuries depth, but I can also see him playing into consideration for 4th OF in those circumstances.
In the short term, Santana might be ready within a week or two of the start of AAA. Adding him as the regular LF as soon as he's healthy, and has had the equivalent of a rehab stint, seems very likely. And he can also be in the 2B mix, and bat-wise he'd be competing with Arroyo for that job.
But what do until he's ready? It seems like the simplest thing would be to option Franchy, select Munoz, and give him a shot at regular LF. The second guy is much tougher, as arguably Chavis needs regular PT nearly as much as Franchy and Renfroe. The best option seems to be to keep Renfroe and play him only against lefties, trying to get him straightened out that way. When Santana is ready, he replaces either Munoz or (more likely) Renfroe. This scenario may end up eventually losing Munoz, but there's hopefully a small window between his being good enough to trade and bad enough to clear waivers, where you'd lose him on a waiver claim.
If Santana takes the job, there's still a roster spot for a straightened-out Cordero or Renfroe, or both if Santana takes 2B and Arroyo seems like the least useful guy. It's basically 4 guys for 3 spots. Arroyo's floor seems to be good backup MI, and his ceilling second-division 2B starter, so he'd have a bit of trade value.
It would seem as if someone else would have to go to fit Duran in, but given all this useful talent, and figuring that they always expected to add Duran midway, I think that the plan my well be to go back to a 13-man staff to accommodate him.
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Post by philsbosoxfan on Apr 28, 2021 1:19:17 GMT -5
And when the beans reach final tally, Duran will out-WAR the other 7 combined.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Apr 30, 2021 15:16:10 GMT -5
From the game thread" The interesting thing is that we were thinking of these offensive additions as bridges to help us be a mid-80s win team. On a mid-80s win team I think they are fine, but if this team sustains their success and becomes a mid-90s team and playoff contender then they are going to stick out like a sore thumb (like they are right now). The good news is that we'll have options to fix it if we do sustain at the mid-90s level. We can either go into the minors with Duran or go shopping in the market at the deadline for an offensive addition. Yes, Munoz, Santana, and Duran are in house options. Everything you said I totally agree with. The players signed in the off season, cost, and length of contracts (1 year plus an option or 2 and 3 years of control) were all signed to flip for prospects in a bridge year. The 16-10 record leads an AL that has no clear favorite, so I would expect a transaction (with AAA/alternative site) sometime soon as there have been 0 other than COVID and 27th man. Cordero clearly needs to go to AAA and work out his mechanics there. Santana switch hits and Duran is left handed, so both could fill Corderoâs role. When I started this thread I was forgetting about Munoz's injury.
It seems certain that as soon as Santana is ready, they'll select him and option Cordero. Then there's a stretch of time where Renfroe in MLB, and Franchy and Munoz in AAA, are competing for the final roster spot. The more value you can get from that spot, the more you can use Santana at 2B, and ultimately it seems likely that that trio plus Arroyo will be competing for two spots (with Munoz as very much a long shot, of course).
Santana should be able to hold down a regular spot a la Kiké. In that case, you have Cordrero, Renfroe, and Arroyo as candidates for two spots. You're OK if you can straighten out either Renfroe or Cordero to the point of being a solid 4th OFer, since Arroyo seems likely to be an acceptable starting 2B. If you can straighten one of them out to starter-quality OF, then Santana can start at 2B, and Duran's arrival is more a luxury than a need.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Apr 30, 2021 15:23:53 GMT -5
I would bet a Brice DFA is the Santana countermove, for now. They need a spot on the 40 anyway and Brice strikes me as the 26th man on the 26-man roster right now. Might depend on how much they can loosen the reins on Whitlock at this point though, but that 3-man bench has been kind of tough when guys get dinged up.
With Cordero, perhaps they try to work with him in MLB for a little while longer before swapping him out with Duran.
That said, wouldn't bet against them doing something with Wilson either to free up the 40-man spot.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on Apr 30, 2021 16:25:59 GMT -5
I would bet a Brice DFA is the Santana countermove, for now. They need a spot on the 40 anyway and Brice strikes me as the 26th man on the 26-man roster right now. Might depend on how much they can loosen the reins on Whitlock at this point though, but that 3-man bench has been kind of tough when guys get dinged up. With Cordero, perhaps they try to work with him in MLB for a little while longer before swapping him out with Duran. That said, wouldn't bet against them doing something with Wilson either to free up the 40-man spot. The unstated thought here is that they may not need a 9-man bullpen because the starters are going deeper into games than expected, but they've averaged 5.13 IP versus MLB average of 5.09, and rank 14th.
(The Yankees are 22nd, the O's 24th, the Rays 26th, and the Blue Jays last.)
OTOH, a lot of guys are getting less work than they seem to be able to manage, and you're right about being ding-limited.
I agree that ultimately Brice is a goner. Too much can happen between now and Santana being ready to guess what the countering moves will be, though.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Apr 30, 2021 18:28:40 GMT -5
The unstated thought was simply that they don't need a 9-man bullpen, or at the very least can deal with not having one for a short amount of time. Taylor, Brice, and Valdez all last pitched 6 days ago. Sawamura and Darwinzon had breaks of at least that long heading into last night's game. Meanwhile they could've used a 4th bench guy as they dealt with numerous injuries.
Granted this is in part because of the Monday off day but in a four-day stretch they used 4 relievers. They don't need 9, especially when they don't trust 3 of them in any sort of leverage situation.
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Post by Soxfansince1971 on Apr 30, 2021 23:46:40 GMT -5
The unstated thought was simply that they don't need a 9-man bullpen, or at the very least can deal with not having one for a short amount of time. Taylor, Brice, and Valdez all last pitched 6 days ago. Sawamura and Darwinzon had breaks of at least that long heading into last night's game. Meanwhile they could've used a 4th bench guy as they dealt with numerous injuries. Granted this is in part because of the Monday off day but in a four-day stretch they used 4 relievers. They don't need 9, especially when they don't trust 3 of them in any sort of leverage situation. I totally agree that the 9 man bullpen has not been used to the extent that I thought it would initially, because the starters have done a really good job overall. IMO Brice will be kept and Valdez would be sent down as he has options and can be sent down where Brice does not. As both have been “mop up” pitchers, Bloom may preserve depth and elect to send down Valdez. The 40-man roster spot for Samtana may come from a 60-DL of Mata, DFA of Brewer who is not regarded as high as Brice, or trade of a lesser prospects on the 40-man.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on May 1, 2021 22:43:09 GMT -5
The unstated thought was simply that they don't need a 9-man bullpen, or at the very least can deal with not having one for a short amount of time. Taylor, Brice, and Valdez all last pitched 6 days ago. Sawamura and Darwinzon had breaks of at least that long heading into last night's game. Meanwhile they could've used a 4th bench guy as they dealt with numerous injuries. Granted this is in part because of the Monday off day but in a four-day stretch they used 4 relievers. They don't need 9, especially when they don't trust 3 of them in any sort of leverage situation. I totally agree that the 9 man bullpen has not been used to the extent that I thought it would initially, because the starters have done a really good job overall. IMO Brice will be kept and Valdez would be sent down as he has options and can be sent down where Brice does not. As both have been “mop up” pitchers, Bloom may preserve depth and elect to send down Valdez. The 40-man roster spot for Samtana may come from a 60-DL of Mata, DFA of Brewer who is not regarded as high as Brice, or trade of a lesser prospects on the 40-man. To put Mata on the 60-day IL they would need to call him up to the MLB roster, and he would begin accruing service time. That's not going to happen. So the players on the 40 whose roster spots are shaky are Brice (no options), Brewer (already optioned), Wilson (already optioned). Meanwhile, the offense needs a shot in the arm and the only guys on the 40-man who could potentially come up, Chavis and Araúz, are pretty redundant with what they have (the infield isn't the problem). If they want to try Chavis in left again, then that's one thing. But to add Santana or Duran to the roster, they need to remove guys from the 40-man anyway. So why wouldn't you remove the clear worst RP so far in Brice? I think he's just as likely to clear as Brewer would be. To me, you keep Taylor and Valdez over Brice because the former is your second LHRP and the latter is pitching very well. Optioning Valdez to keep Brice on the roster makes no sense to me.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on May 2, 2021 2:56:21 GMT -5
I totally agree that the 9 man bullpen has not been used to the extent that I thought it would initially, because the starters have done a really good job overall. IMO Brice will be kept and Valdez would be sent down as he has options and can be sent down where Brice does not. As both have been “mop up” pitchers, Bloom may preserve depth and elect to send down Valdez. The 40-man roster spot for Samtana may come from a 60-DL of Mata, DFA of Brewer who is not regarded as high as Brice, or trade of a lesser prospects on the 40-man. To put Mata on the 60-day IL they would need to call him up to the MLB roster, and he would begin accruing service time. That's not going to happen. So the players on the 40 whose roster spots are shaky are Brice (no options), Brewer (already optioned), Wilson (already optioned). Meanwhile, the offense needs a shot in the arm and the only guys on the 40-man who could potentially come up, Chavis and Araúz, are pretty redundant with what they have (the infield isn't the problem). If they want to try Chavis in left again, then that's one thing. But to add Santana or Duran to the roster, they need to remove guys from the 40-man anyway. So why wouldn't you remove the clear worst RP so far in Brice? I think he's just as likely to clear as Brewer would be. To me, you keep Taylor and Valdez over Brice because the former is your second LHRP and the latter is pitching very well. Optioning Valdez to keep Brice on the roster makes no sense to me. Cora told the press tonight that Santana will need at least two weeks in the minors, which puts his arrival as late as May 20. So I think the discussion of associated rosters moves may be premature; there's a lot of Brice vs. Brewer data yet to come, just for starters.
However, I think there's a solid chance they option Franchy on Monday and recall Chavis. He wouldn't play LF; he'd play some 1B and 2B instead of Marwin, who would take Franchy's LF duty until Santana arrives. Marwin's xwOBA was .329 ten days ago (MLB ave is .327) and has only dropped to .308 with his current slump. He'd be an improvement, and more importantly it would give Franchy an opportunity to work on stuff without pressure.
I think that if Munoz were healthy he'd be the guy getting the call over Chavis, and I think that when he gets healthy, and if he's performimg well, you select him and option Chavis. He then stays on the roster until either Franchy fixes himself or Duran is ready. The point where you expand the bench back to 4 is when both Munoz or a resurrected Franchy and Santana are on the roster; I'm not sure it makes sense to have Chavis as the 4th guy instead of having him play regularly in Woostah. And of course if you do add both, it ultimately makes the Brice v. Brewer question moot.
And, BTW, what's the downside of starting Mata's service time clock now that 15 days of the season have passed? So he end up some year with 5.150 years or so instead of 5.0; that doesn't change when he's eligible for free agency. It would add about $500K to the MLB salary against the tax limit, but that seems unlikely to matter.
Of course, putting Brewer on waivers may be unlikely to matter as well. But if you're keeping Brice on the 40-man because there's been a pitching injury (i.e., you'd be getting down to 13 pitchers by optioning Bazardo), then Mata to the IL starts to make sense.
Final thought: did Sawamura sign a deal where he can't be optioned? It seems unlikely. Unless he's pitching much better than Brice, that may be the easiest way to get down to 13 pitchers. I still think the guy has great stuff, but he may need some extra experience with the MLB baseball and so on.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on May 2, 2021 10:21:55 GMT -5
That's not a terrible idea on Chavis given how often Gonzalez is playing. If he were just the LHH platoon guy that wouldn't make sense but he's getting more run than that.
Re: Mata, your logic makes sense if you assume he's making the team out of spring training next year. That's extremely unlikely, and in fact I bet he spends most of 2022 in the minors as well. By putting him on the roster now, you're letting him get to free agency one or even two years sooner. While Austin Brice, Colten Brewer, and Marcus Wilson are on the 40-man, that's not a good decision. It's not about him ending 2021 with 0.150 (or whatever) versus 0.000, but about whether he ends 2022 with 1.150 or something closer if to, if not literally, 0.000.
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Post by manfred on May 2, 2021 10:24:32 GMT -5
My question is: if in all this discussion of OF, Wilson is never really an option... why keep him? This would be his moment if there was one.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on May 2, 2021 10:27:54 GMT -5
My question is: if in all this discussion of OF, Wilson is never really an option... why keep him? This would be his moment if there was one. Needs playing time. Would be like saying they need a pitcher why isn't Groome an option. He's basically got half a good season in AA. That said, he now needs to show something in AAA to keep the spot.
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Post by foreverred9 on May 2, 2021 10:40:49 GMT -5
That's not a terrible idea on Chavis given how often Gonzalez is playing. If he were just the LHH platoon guy that wouldn't make sense but he's getting more run than that. Re: Mata, your logic makes sense if you assume he's making the team out of spring training next year. That's extremely unlikely, and in fact I bet he spends most of 2022 in the minors as well. By putting him on the roster now, you're letting him get to free agency one or even two years sooner. While Austin Brice, Colten Brewer, and Marcus Wilson are on the 40-man, that's not a good decision. It's not about him ending 2021 with 0.150 (or whatever) versus 0.000, but about whether he ends 2022 with 1.150 or something closer if to, if not literally, 0.000. Does there get to be a point where they DFA Mata off the 40-man? Would another team be willing to hold a 40-man spot in 2021/22 for a 24-year-old pitching prospect in 2023 with only 1 option remaining? My guess is one of the lesser teams would, but that seems like a lot to hold for a player who hasn't proved to be healthy.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on May 2, 2021 12:05:02 GMT -5
He would get claimed, no question. I mean, they've held spots for lesser prospects who were performing poorly in Portland.
Here's a thought - at what point do you 60-day Brasier? Is there any chance he's back before, say, June 1 if he wasn't even throwing off a mound a week ago?
Here are the 60-man spots being held by players who aren't active:
C Wong - optioned, ideally not an MLB player in 2021 but maybe later if there are injuries C Hernandez - optioned, not an MLB player in 2021 probably IF Chavis - optioned IF Araúz - optioned (ideally gets a season of PAs in Worcester but can come up if needed) IF Potts - optioned, not an MLB player in 2021 OF Wilson - optioned, potentially not an MLB player in 2021 (but ideally would change that with his play) OF Rosario - optioned, not an MLB player in 2021 SP Houck - optioned SP Seabold - optioned, potentially an MLB player in 2021 (just behind Houck for those honors) SP Groome - optioned, not an MLB player in 2021 SP Mata - optioned, long-term IL, not an MLB player in 2021 RP Brasier - MLB IL RP Brewer - optioned RP Bazardo - optioned
The issue is that of the Other 14 Guys on the 40-man, they've got 2 IF, 2 SP, and 2 RP who are actually MLB depth. They're going to have to create a spot for Santana in a couple weeks, and Eric's right there'll be more time to gather data, and that they probably can't wait that long if Cordero doesn't turn it around. And you figure they make a spot for Duran mid-season if all goes well.
The lack of depth is also in part what happens when you expand the active roster to 26 but leave the reserve list at 40. That's one more guy active and one fewer in reserve.
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on May 2, 2021 12:30:15 GMT -5
He would get claimed, no question. I mean, they've held spots for lesser prospects who were performing poorly in Portland. Here's a thought - at what point do you 60-day Brasier? Is there any chance he's back before, say, June 1 if he wasn't even throwing off a mound a week ago? Excellent idea re Brasier ... you may have spotted one of those "why didn't anyone figure that out?" roster moves that only seem obvious in retrospect. Even if he's ready a week before he's eligible to come off, that's nothing, it's just like being forced to option a guy and going with the next best guy for 10 days (which is why they changed that to 15 days for pitchers only).
Re Mata, if he spends all of 2022 in the minors as seems very likely, I'm fairly certain his service time clock stops. It's 6 full years of MLB service time (a "full" year currently defined as 15 days less than the actual schedule), accrued over as many years as it takes. Guys are sometimes under team control for seven years because their first two years had substantial optioned stretches. In theory it can take 9 or even 10 years if you're an up-and-down guy who's mostly down and then establishes himself as a regular the first year he's out of options. So it's fundamentally different from mlfa. It's easy to miss this because up-and-down guys who are accumulating their ST piecemeal seldom get to free agency.
(Or I've hallucinated all that, but I'm pretty sure!)
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jimoh
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Post by jimoh on May 2, 2021 13:23:29 GMT -5
I'm a little worried about the idea of Santana as savior. He has two seasons of .824 and .857 OPS in 2014 and 2019. But he also also has five seasons of OPS between .511 and .606--naturally years in which he got fewer at bats. I know there are stories about him getting his act together in 2019 and making adjustments (I cite one below). But are our chances of getting 2019 Danny Santana really that good? After his surgery last Fall and his injury this Spring? www.rotoballer.com/danny-santana-2019-season-in-review/710093
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Post by foreverred9 on May 2, 2021 13:57:58 GMT -5
The lack of depth is also in part what happens when you expand the active roster to 26 but leave the reserve list at 40. That's one more guy active and one fewer in reserve. This is a great point. In theory let's say teams had 35 players ready to go for the majors, 25 in the majors and 10 in the minors, and 5 future year prospects. Moving to 26 active members will mean that teams will have to decide whether they will want to keep the depth at 10 or maintain 5 spots for their prospects. It does feel like the Brasier, end-of-the-bullpen player would be someone that gets DFA-d quite a bit going forward. It feels like those players are the most replaceable. Certain teams will value one over the other too, so we could see some arbitraging occur as teams figure out what the true value is of keeping players on the 40-man.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on May 2, 2021 15:14:27 GMT -5
Re Mata, if he spends all of 2022 in the minors as seems very likely, I'm fairly certain his service time clock stops. It's 6 full years of MLB service time (a "full" year currently defined as 15 days less than the actual schedule), accrued over as many years as it takes. Guys are sometimes under team control for seven years because their first two years had substantial optioned stretches. In theory it can take 9 or even 10 years if you're an up-and-down guy who's mostly down and then establishes himself as a regular the first year he's out of options. So it's fundamentally different from mlfa. It's easy to miss this because up-and-down guys who are accumulating their ST piecemeal seldom get to free agency. I think the point we're missing each other on is this: I'm pretty sure if he gets called up and put on the 60-day, he's on it until he gets activated. In other words, presuming he's on it all of this year, I don't think that in 2022 they can option him during spring training just to put him on the minor league IL. He'd have to stay on the MLB roster until, at least, he'd be ready for a rehab assignment, at which point he could be activated and optioned to whatever level he'd be rehabbing at. If I'm wrong about that, then that changes my perspective. For example, I do recall it being reported that he got hurt days before the deadline to option an injured player to the minors - if it had been another week, he would have had to be on the 60-day IL and on the Major League roster all year until he got activated. The thinking is that if you get hurt with the MLB team they need to keep you up so that you do accrue service time. That he got hurt sooner so that they didn't need to keep him up was seen as a silver lining of sorts. Presuming that he won't be ready for a rehab assignment (or optioned to, say, Salem or Greenville to begin pitching again, but not on a true rehab assignment) until say June or July of next year, to be safe they'd presumably want to wait until at least that time this year to promote and IL him, else risk him hitting free agency a year early.
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Post by Jimmy on May 2, 2021 19:05:35 GMT -5
I'm a little worried about the idea of Santana as savior. He has two seasons of .824 and .857 OPS in 2014 and 2019. But he also also has five seasons of OPS between .511 and .606--naturally years in which he got fewer at bats. I know there are stories about him getting his act together in 2019 and making adjustments (I cite one below). But are our chances of getting 2019 Danny Santana really that good? After his surgery last Fall and his injury this Spring? www.rotoballer.com/danny-santana-2019-season-in-review/710093I don’t think it’s about him being the savior - it’s that he couldn’t possibly be worse than Franchy is right now.
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Post by Soxfansince1971 on May 4, 2021 8:29:59 GMT -5
I'm a little worried about the idea of Santana as savior. He has two seasons of .824 and .857 OPS in 2014 and 2019. But he also also has five seasons of OPS between .511 and .606--naturally years in which he got fewer at bats. I know there are stories about him getting his act together in 2019 and making adjustments (I cite one below). But are our chances of getting 2019 Danny Santana really that good? After his surgery last Fall and his injury this Spring? www.rotoballer.com/danny-santana-2019-season-in-review/710093I don’t think it’s about him being the savior - it’s that he couldn’t possibly be worse than Franchy is right now. I do not think it is possible to be worse than Franchy right now 😖
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ericmvan
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Post by ericmvan on May 5, 2021 0:03:14 GMT -5
Well, it's only 3 games and 12 PA, but in them Hunter Renfroe has matched his TB for his previous 16 games and 57 PA. 6/12, 2B, 2 HR.
If indeed Renfroe has been fixed, it simplifies things quite a bit. Santana, when ready, either replaces Franchy or the 9th reliever. Ultimately there's a roster spot that's either Franchy or Arroyo, if everyone is healthy. They may trade Arroyo if they feel that Arauz is next year's backup MI.
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Post by blizzards39 on May 5, 2021 0:20:52 GMT -5
How good would Kris Bryant look in LF??? I realize the Cubs may not be willing to pull the trigger yet. There are also the luxury tax implications. That said if the Sox have a home it’s LF and Bryant is a massive upgrade.
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jimoh
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Post by jimoh on May 5, 2021 7:01:06 GMT -5
Well, it's only 3 games and 12 PA, but in them Hunter Renfroe has matched his TB for his previous 16 games and 57 PA. 6/12, 2B, 2 HR.
If indeed Renfroe has been fixed, it simplifies things quite a bit. Santana, when ready, either replaces Franchy or the 9th reliever. Ultimately there's a roster spot that's either Franchy or Arroyo, if everyone is healthy. They may trade Arroyo if they feel that Arauz is next year's backup MI.
As Gregory Santos, traded for Eduardo Nunez because the 2017 Red Sox thought they needed a 3b/UTIL guy, hits the majors, it's fun to think that if any contending team loses its 2b, we could offer them Arroyo, Kiké, Gonzalez, or maybe even Arauz or Chavis (the player would have to be hitting and fielding well at the deadline) for a package including the next Gregory Santos. Sometimes I think this team is designed in part to produce desirable trade targets at the deadline.
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Post by patford on May 5, 2021 7:18:17 GMT -5
Any sensible person went into this season looking at it as a bridge year. Then the Sox won more games than was expected and MLB as a whole does not look imposing. Lots of weird things going on like the A's almost inexplicable streak and the Dodgers looking less than invincible even before May going down. Then you have teams like the Royals in 1st place with a negative run differential and the A's having the best record in MLB while also having a negative run differential. Or look at the NL East where the team in last place is the only team in the division with a + run differential.
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Post by manfred on May 5, 2021 7:51:52 GMT -5
Well, it's only 3 games and 12 PA, but in them Hunter Renfroe has matched his TB for his previous 16 games and 57 PA. 6/12, 2B, 2 HR.
If indeed Renfroe has been fixed, it simplifies things quite a bit. Santana, when ready, either replaces Franchy or the 9th reliever. Ultimately there's a roster spot that's either Franchy or Arroyo, if everyone is healthy. They may trade Arroyo if they feel that Arauz is next year's backup MI.
3 games... against the Rangers and Tigers. Honestly, I’d go the other way and say if he *didn’t* play better against them then there is literally nothing in the tank. But this was about the equivalent of a rehab assignment to AA. Jury is still out.
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