Vulture

Liam Hendriks had a quote in a recent athletic article where he said it’s better to be below average than to be average. I think this is what he meant. Might be better off throwing 89 mph than 98 when everybody is throwing 98

Williams/Engel platoon is a better in house solution. At least you’ll get good defense

At this point, I think I’d have to go: Eaton/Madrigal Grandal Abreu Anderson Moncada Vaughn Robert Williams/Engel Madrigal/Eaton

Probably because it makes no actual sense to play Vaughn in left. There’s already a spot for him at DH/1b

Is it too late to sign one of those NPB or KBO guys?

That’s the only guy I could think of but I didnt want to say it.

Why would the giants give up a .900 ops guy with several years of control currently at league minimum, without demanding a haul??

How’s a guy with ruptured pec going to retain strength in his shoulder?

I’d think going after a player on a team with an excess of players would be the way to go rather than paying for a building piece from a rebuilding team

Even the worst hitter in the lineup who hasn’t played to his potential, Williams, has done far better at collecting hits at 25.4% of PA compared to Grandal at 19.5. Grandal is the last guy you want at the plate with runners on base while fifth spot sees more runners on than any spot in lineup.

Grandal is perhaps the worst option possible for fifth spot in order. Hopefully Robert and/or Vaughn hit to extent that doesn’t happen. Since 2019 he only has had a base hit in 19.5% of his plate appearances. Compare to 25.7 for Eloy or 31.6 for Anderson. That isn’t going to bring many runs home

If there were a better free agent available at the moment I could see your point here

No we need a regular

.733 between ages 23-25. Still better than Leury and it’s not like improvement after age 25 is unheard of. He was rated a top forty prospect by multiple sources not that long ago

I’m not crazy about Vaughn in left but all the scouting reports on Vaughn say that although he’s slow he has good agility and body control, so maybe it’s not the worst idea. Of course that was related to play at first, but maybe he won’t kill himself out there

No they wont. Engel should be pushing Eaton for playing time and serving as fourth OFer. Leury’s a utility infielder

5th hitter on average bats with most runners on base that’s why I slot in Eloy there. That would theoretically be enhanced further by following Moncada, Abreu and Anderson. It’ll never happen so it’s kind of pointless but that’s how I’d do it.

The issue is the high risk of injuring himself or a center fielder. I think most can otherwise live with his poor defense

All about maximizing runners on base for your best average hitter who doesn’t walk. He’s being wasted at lead off when you have other batters than can get on base at same clip. Almost a quarter of his at bats guaranteed to be with bases empty the rest come after the worst hitters in lineup. Since his walk rate is barely 5% that means he’s getting base hits in close to 30% of his plate appearances. Wasted in lead off spot when those hits could be driving home runners. Better off with grandal there since he only gets a base hit in less than 20% of PA which doesn’t do much good with runners on. Anderson at fourth spot would result in a chance at hitting every time up behind three hitters who can put up .350+ OBP

If he’s at his .360 obp level of play probably. I’d actually go: Eaton/Madrigal Moncada Abreu Anderson Jimenez Grandal Vaughn Robert Madrigal/Eaton But considering Anderson isn’t probably leaving the top spot Abreu, Moncada and Jimenez at 3-5 is probably next best option. 5th spot in order on average actually gets the most runners on base

Vaughn was the best player available. Blows my mind that people still don’t see he has the highest upside at the plate of any Sox batter

It was a good trade but Quintana averaged almost 4.5 WAR a year with the Sox

We can’t lose to the kkkardinal fan base!

perhaps even more unpopular, trade Abreu. We already got peak production from him. Vaughn and Eloy are the future of the franchise

Yeah and he openly threatened to start using it himself if the league did nothing about it. Shortly after his spin rates increased unnaturally and he went from pretty good to one of the best overnight