BamaDoc

Think Jirschele has a bright future. Saw Remillard 4-4. Looked and saw he is 29. Never played in majors. May not fit with us but can't help but hope he gets up for someone/us sometime. That close to your dream after that long........ Maybe we have division wrapped up early and he can come up Sept.

Knights get the win!

https://www.mlb.com/prospects/stats/affiliates?teamId=145&date=04/02/2023 Sorry for my dereliction of duty. Will try to do better.

Why was Lynn pulled?

I am not advocating for this but to answer your question of who else can be the dh/1b, the semi-obvious answer would be Grandal to keep a left handed bat in the lineup. I could especially see this early in the year while we learn if his health/bat has returned. Who knows, he is as likely to require full rest vs playing a less demanding defensive position.

Anyone else notice that the added "thickness" from last year seems gone. He looks in shape.

I assumed you were getting the WS version of these pitchers so I didn't think Seaver was a $5 but anyway Buehrle: bulldog, durable, dependable Wood: no one lately has seen a knuckle ball. Anyone injured, he covers lol. One year had 49 starts. Hell, he could probably be your bullpen. Hoyt: bulldog, versatile Garcia: here for big games Fernandez: bargain at $2

Tommy La Stella released. Not sure how his health is after bilateral achilles but could be had for the league minimum. Might be worth spring invite?

In simple terms, an injury can create an inflammatory process and swelling. In the case of a bulging disc, if it pushes on the nerve it can create issues. The nerve exiting by the disc is made up of millions of nerve fibers which include pain sensors, sensation,hot,cold ,the ability to know where your limb is in space (proprioception) , movement etc. Depending on which fibers are being squished can cause those fibers to not work correctly. When you rest, you are hoping for the inflammation to decrease. The same for nsaids and oral steroids (the anti inflammatory kind of steroids not the PED kind). An epidural steroid injection just puts a much higher concentration of medication as close to the inflamed area so hopefully it works better. You are correct that if you do exactly the same activities as before there is a higher likelihood of the process repeating itself. You could try to prevent that by changing the mechanics of how you move/lift etc and perhaps trying to strengthen muscles around the spine to give it better support (core exercises) If you have to have surgery, minimally invasive can be a good way to go depending on what you’re trying to fix. Some problems require bigger fixes. One of the biggest advantages of MIS is less disruption of surrounding muscles and structures so a less painful and faster recovery. This is all without seeing his scans, examining him,and talking to him. Remember that even with MIS there are risks of bleeding,infection,damaging the nerves and or surrounding tissue, being put to sleep, possibly turned over after asleep if going through the back etc etc. The ten minutes to fix is perhaps just the surgeons part but even that may be an underestimate. Any surgery creates scarring inside which can recreate many of the original problems . There is an old saying, minor surgery is any operation you have. Major surgery is anything done to me. Again this is all simplified. I am glad he feels a lot better now and is very active. I hope he bounces back but hope they are careful with him. He certainly is at higher risks for issues but I admire his efforts to get back out there.

From the interview,he sounds like a guy with a huge desire to try and help the team and gutting it out like Abreu. Sometimes someone has to step in and protect the player from himself.

Ok as a doc and guy who has also dealt with severe back issues, I will add a few things. One, listen to the interview. The guy was truly trying to help the team and gave and is giving his all. We can disagree in hindsight on his decisions but I can't disagree with the effort or some of the thoughts behind his decisions. RE backs and surgery. In most instances, surgery is the last option. You try to rest it and rehab it which is pretty much impossible during a season and worse as a catcher. It was not mentioned in the podcast but he probably had (or should have had) epidural steroid injections at the level of the disc bulges. I lived on LESBs for about 30 years while playing significant golf and working until they quit helping. Originally, they were amazingly helpful. One a year made everything better but no two backs are the same and no surgeon can guarantee an outcome. Many back surgeries are a coin flip and some people do get worse after surgery. If you talk to someone about to have their fourth operation, they all say "I wish I never let them do the first one". So avoiding surgery is worth trying. Backs are very different outcome wise from necks. Very few professional athletes have back surgeries and return to previous form. Being a world class athlete is hard lol.

I’ll play. Most confident in Eloy as less injury risk as a dh (primarily) and shouldn’t have negative defensive value in equation as opposed to zero as dh. Unfortunately, Grandal has to be my least confident as he is older with natural decline, injuries have maybe caused chronic knee issues (affecting offense and defense) and if comparing to previous avg WAR he has a higher bar to clear. I would be happy with 100 games caught and 2.0 WAR. Prior to last year, he had ten consecutive years with a ops+ over 100.

To be fair, that beats “my leg fell off and I can’t find it”

I was looking at baseball reference and pretty much negatives everywhere

On the Benitendi podcast, Garffein indicated they interviewed Grandal and are releasing the interview next week. Made it sound like it was revalatory/news worthy. Maybe he was dealing with something fixable??? Might provide insight into plans or maybe it is nothing and Chuck was pumping his podcast.

Drury looks like a bad glove anywhere, right handed hitting, only good for short period, now 30, and how do you get the ten million to pay him? Not trying to be a jerk, I am just trying to see the draw. What about Max Muncy? Good glove, left handed hitter, multi position but would put at second, one year left at 13 million and good leader/playoff performance. Obviously would need to trade for him but............

If the Sox spent ten million per on Drury for 2-3 years, I am afraid they would play him over Colas once Colas is deemed ready just because of the dollars. He hits righty and his defensive numbers are pretty poor everywhere. Figure at his age, they don't improve. Don't think Sox are a team with ten million dollar bench players especially with Leury's contract. I would almost rather see if Cueto would take one year and an option around that ten million as insurance for our starters and that assumes we have another ten million to spend which I doubt.

I had blown off talk about Sox and Murphy with Grandal on the team. I hoped/figured that with a full off season, Grandal could rehab and return to 80-90 percent and thus be worth catching 80-100 games and DH/1b 40-20 games. If we were really in on a new catcher, maybe our front office thinks Grandal may be much less available/playable? In his current medical condition and with his contract, I had considered him untradeable.

He is worth a chance. Wish we had taken a couple more. Set up a competition from the beginning. With the cost of pitching, even having to keep on a roster, league minimum arms have some value. If they look good but you have no room, flip ‘em

The problem with the Sox isn't spending but how they have allocated their budget. I was having the same thought process but went a little different and bigger. To Dodgers: TA, Liam, and Gio There is no way Gio resigns with the Sox and Dodgers looking for more SP with Buehler out for the year. This drops our payroll to about 139. From Dodgers: Busch can play second and left handed, Pepiot as you noted, Gavin Stone as a second pitching prospect, and give me Outman as another LH bat who can play any OF spot defensively. The trade analyzer says the return is actually a little light but I would be thrilled and wouldn't do it if LA either. We would get younger and add some LH bats. Probably need another starting pitcher if a youngster isn't ready right away but with the extra ten million and a hole at short could you go bigger and go for Correa with Swanson as fall back? Montgomery would look good in maybe two years possibly at third for Moncada if he doesn't improve?

Busch , Pages, Pepiot, and Outman for TA, Gio, and Liam

As previously noted, his defense and sprint speed stats are now below average. At his peak, he got on base and hit with power and he is no longer doing either. He is aging poorly and may have gone off the cliff. He hit .160 and his walk rate got worse while his always high k rate also got worse. The difference in his k/w rates usually was around 22-23%(k37-w15). Last year his k was 41.6% and walks dropped to 11.7% I am not aware of an injury that he may recover from. I checked his splits and his OPS vs lefties is unplayable at .436. Against RHP his ops was .690. I was looking further and saw against power pitchers he hit .059!!!!! It is a one year sample and nebulous how they pick the pitchers but what the heck. Is it a sign he is aging poorly? He looks like a player in severe decline who should only platoon. I would not pay anything near 10-12 million for him. One million with heavy incentives only if my hitting coaches see something they think they can fix. He should be begging teams.

I see the Sox have 35 on the 40 man roster, not including Clevinger, which would make 36. Anyone looked at the available players and see anything? Figure anyone in outfield or mid infield(2b) that hit left handed or switch, catcher and pitching are all possibles or do we expect the Sox to sit it out??? With new coaches, anyone in KC system interesting? Sorry, I have been occupied and not digging myself.

Felt this was worth mentioning. This is above being a player representative. I figure this does not enhance his likelihood of remaining with the Sox, especially long term. I am not sure who/if we will have a new player rep. The previous subcommittee voted 0-8 on the proposal that became the CBA when they were overridden by the players vote.

Think some of the talk indeed revolved around Turners leaving and Lux moving to SS.