Sarava

Abreu is just going nuts this year.

Agree. I'm so glad they didn't move him for a quick rental fix.

Obviously Giolito and McCann have a lengthy track record of success together. See 2019. What do we make of Grandal and Giolito? At this point, they seem intent on McCann catching all of Gio's games now. Makes me wonder who decided that. Did Giolito request it? Are the Sox just rolling with something that works? Hmm.

Both guys have been good offensively. For Grandal - I never watched him that closely as a National League player. It seemed weird in the off-season how some sources would call Grandal one of the elite defensive catchers in baseball, and other sources would say he is terrible. You don't generally see a player described at both ends of the spectrum like that. And I think we've seen both sides of that. He is an elite pitch framer. He works well with most pitchers. And defensively, outside of pitch framing, he seems very below average. He struggles with balls in the dirt. And that play ending last night's game was inexcusable. I see talk above about guarantees what McCann will fetch in the market this winter. I think we need to be careful and remember most teams are losing their asses this year, and it's likely spending will be way down. I heard talk there might be a lot of one year deals this winter. I don't think we can say for sure McCann is out of reach for the Sox next year. The idea that trading Grandal would stain the Sox with future free agents is dumb. You're allowed to trade free agent acquisitions if someone else pans out better. Nobody would hold that against the Sox, except possibly that one player. Boo hoo. The problem would be that teams probably aren't going to want to trade for a player with so much guaranteed cash. The world has changed since he signed last November. And finally, the biggest equation in this all, and most of you seem oblivious to it, is Lucas Giolito. Starting pitching is not one of this team's strengths right now, and we have a severe difference in how Gio performs between these 2 catchers. Giolito with Grandal catching - 1-2, 5.66 ERA, 20.2 IP, 23 K's, 10 BB's Giolito with McCann catching - 3-0, 1.85 ERA, 34IP, 52 K's, 8 BB's

Hard to argue with any of this. The Sox probably don't have the rotation depth to make a World Series run. Hope I'm wrong of course. And as much as I hate to do this, if Cease continues to struggle, we may have to give Reynaldo another chance at the rotation.

I'm not against Grandal. He's a good overall player. And I really don't don't like the title of this thread. Being a fan of McCann doesn't mean you 'hate' Grandal or don't appreciate him. But like many other catchers who get played heavily, McCann wore down last year. Getting worn down ≠ getting exposed.

Not everything is black or white. They could consider trading Grandal to make room for signing McCann. I'm not saying they should, but it's an option. McCann handles balls in the dirt better. Right now he's hitting better. And there's that Giolito connection, which is the most important part of this.

Sad news. RIP Tom.

I would think the Sox best path at this point is to leave him down this year. Let him beat up AA and AAA for a month or two in 2021, and call him up by June if he does that.

He's not very good with balls in the dirt either. The Sox should think long and hard before they let McCann walk out the door this winter.

Expectation? To be a #3 or #4 for the Sox for many years to come. That said, if he can become more than that, that would be awesome. I'd love to see him creep in to the #2 or #3 area. But either way I'm excited to have him on our team moving forward. I found it weird the other day that a handful of posters here seemed to really want to trade him.

I hope it's not for Hader

Any word on how far away Bummer is from returning?

Yeah I don't really want Gallo. If you can get Lynn for Stiever +, then fine.

I already didn't want to trade Dunning, and him cruising through 4 innings so far is just enforcing that ? He seems ready to take a spot in our rotation now.

The Sox say no. You don't trade a talent like Eloy. Well, unless you're the Cubs ?

It definitely feels like the Sox put that out there.

Or Vaughn and maybe they consider him ready.

I would do Kopech for Clevinger.

Out of curiosity, what do you consider a proper or overpay for Woodruff? He intrigues me more than Lynn. I can't see them moving him either. Unless they want to do a mini rebuild on the fly.... And I don't want any part of Hader given the price for him.

We're just going in circles at this point. If you think Collins is a valuable trade piece, then ok ?

I'm going to predict the Twins bite the bullet despite 2018, and trade for Lynn. They're in more of a position to overpay for a SP than the Sox are.

Someone posted a day or two ago that Keith Law said Reynaldo Lopez has little to no value. Personally I think he's losing his value in the rotation and it's time to try the bullpen. Collins though...I don't know where he's a valuable fit for any team. The Sox thought so much of him as a catcher that they ran out and signed Grandal this past winter. Scouts have been saying for years he won't stick at catcher. I find it goofy that you think he has high value.

There, now we agree! Even Thompson could be thrown in. We drafted him out of a Texas high school last year, so that likely would draw some interest from them as a depth piece in a deal.

I think Dunning is the only one of the 4 you listed that have much of any value. And now I see why you want to move him so bad. You see a 4th starter in him. Personally I'm hoping Dane pitches well today and he can take Lopez's spot in the rotation. Let's see what Reynaldo can do in the pen.