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Placeholder in RF until Montgomery is ready

Just to be clear, you think the Sox are going with a straight catcher platoon and won’t regularly have Teel & Quero in the lineup at the same time?

For what purpose?

I think that's we differ - I don't really see Benny being the everyday LF. He just seems too broken and frankly too atrocious out there. I would assume it's increasingly likely we don't see Teel and Q both playing at the same time like we did at the end of last season. Venable doesn't seem to like having both of them in the lineup, and Romo (+ his option flexibility) really makes Lee expendable now. If we assume that ends up being the case, then they won't be carrying three catchers, and you gain another bench spot. You can get a lot of playing time for all those guys you mentioned if you have a rotating DH spot. I don't think this is that crazy to see as an opening day setup: LF - Baldwin/Kelenic/Periera CF - Robert RF - Kelenic/Periera (this works as a platoon) DH - Benintendi BN - Hill (defensive replacement and pinch runner in late in close games + Robert's eventual replacement when he inevitably gets hurt again)

I’m talking myself into Nick Castellanos if the Phillies eat most or all of his contract.

I’m not sure what stats you are looking at, but Mead has been a +.200 ISO guy for almost the entirety of his minor league career despite being well below league average in terms of age. He is a two time Baseball America top 100 prospect who has always been considered to have above average raw power. As a 21 year old in AA & AAA he was on pace for ~20 HRs if he would have had 500 PA’s. These takes on Mead are just flat out wrong. Yes, he has sucked in ~500 major league PA’s across parts of three seasons with a 77 wRC+ to date, but guess what? Young players can get better with reps & time. Imagine having this same conversation a year ago about Sosa when he had a 66 wRC+ in 578 PA’s across three seasons. And Sosa was never half the prospect that Mead was. I’m not guaranteeing a turnaround here by any means, but these are the types of guys you buy low and sell high on and if you like Mead (whom the Sox went out and acquired) there is some logic to the set of moves in question.

He's also owned some very successful restaurants from what I understand. I think in the Phoenix area if I remember right.

I understand what Benetti asked for and why the Sox were not in agreement. Benetti just became too valuable of a commodity to restrict his work to one team. Good for him. Schriff is a relative youngster in his profession. I give him a lot of credit for trying to fill the shoes of Benetti, one of the best in the country who built a local following here in his home town.

If there was one substantive aspect at which Mead was decent, much less excelled, I could see it. But Mead has no power, Ks too much, doesn't walk; and while he's probably a better defender than Sosa, he's still a below par defender. In the minors, his batting average kept him afloat. He just doesn't make enough contact for that to carry to the majors though. Sosa hit 22 homers last season; nothing in Mead's background suggests he can come close to that. If someone wants to give us a nice return for Sosa, then fine; but expecting Mead to do anything is a real prayer. As of now, I like the "have Sosa shag balls in left" idea.

Because you are using a rate instead of actual production? It is an argument over back of the roster players with zero value. If you need to win on Mead, have at it. I will be here hopefully for actual decent players.

Benintendi is always the problem, haha. Maybe you could get playing time for both Sosa and Mead at LF and DH if Benintendi was not here. But then again, Benintendi could also outperform both guys. Quite the conundrum. So maybe a trade makes sense even more due to the roster crunch, even with the risk involved. Benintendi isn’t going anywhere.

It’s wild you can’t admit you were wrong on this one point and continue to deflect and move the goalposts.

100% it only makes sense if there is both a return you like for Sosa and you think there are some ways to fix Mead. But right now, Sosa is not going to get a ton of playing time (baring injury) and unlikely to maintain his value unless you find a way to get him more at-bats (and all for the OF idea, but not convinced yet the Sox are considering it).

I don’t think so either — at least enough value to make it worth trading him.

All for a dude who you hope to be as good as Lenyn? Cool. That's all you and Chris.

I honestly don't think Sosa has any real trade value either. All bat, no D guys only have a market if they are HUGE hitters, and definitely more lefty than righty.

There is no hangup. You suggested that Sosa showed vastly better power in the minors, which is simply not true. You also suggested that Mead (who is a former top 35 BA prospect) is dead in the water because of 500 bad plate appearances in the majors despite the guy you’re comparing him to also sucking in his first 500 PA’s and then somehow getting better.

It was pretty good. The random craziness is a bit unbelievable but I guess that’s why it’s a movie.

I don’t know how accurate Baseball Reference is but they have him earning $887,500 total in his entire MLB career from 1973 to 1982. I’m sure he also made some money from incentives and bonuses as well. He probably made some money from his Playgirl shoot too. 🤣 Obviously the value of a dollar was a lot higher back then so if he invested wisely, he should be fine. I’m sure he has made more money in his second career as a sportscaster than his playing days.

I can see both sides of the argument. If you can get a decent return for Sosa, perhaps it may be worth it to deal him and give Mead more playing time since he can play all the same positions as Sosa and has had success hitting in the minors. However, Sosa actually hit in the majors last year while Mead has yet to do so. If you trade Sosa and go with Mead, you may not get much out of it. Sosa may not bring much back and Mead could continue to flounder. Also, Mead only has one more year of control than Sosa. I guess it would all depend on the potential return for Sosa to assess whether the above risk is worth taking.

Or the Orioles where he got the Cy Young. If he needs the bucks at his age he did some dumb stuff along the way.

I don't know what the hang up on Mead is here, but have at it. I honestly can't wait until we are actually good again so that other people's garbage quits looking so damned attractive.

So the guy who has been healthier and has hit more HR’s due to more PA’s has somehow demonstrated more power than the guy with higher ISO. Got it.

The fact he has a history of actually hitting homers.

Sosa showed a lot more power in the minors? Based on what metric? Age 20 season: Mead = .212 ISO | N/A - Covid Age 21 season: Mead = .208 ISO | Sosa = .131 ISO Age 22 season: Mead = .215 ISO | Sosa = .197 ISO Age 23 season: Mead = .192 ISO | Sosa = .236 ISO And thanks for ignoring the “cashing in on Sosa” and “limited role for 2026” points that are pretty important to the hypothetical.