Chick Mercedes

The McNeill thread inspired me to make sure that Santa knows that the Sox don’t belatedly for Xmas need any more first basemen, utility guys, DHs, and injuries. If he was still on the fence.

I can’t say I am that familiar with him. Don't we have Legend Garcia for the utility role? This thread made me depressed to consider that number 1, we would ever consider trading guys like Crochet and high end prospects for a utility guy. And number 2, bringing in a utility guy means Legend Garcia is the second baseman.

I can dream

Dad was pumping up his price

16 years old. That’s what Im talking about.

Ill be happy if he’s not 21 years old already.

Small sample size young guy breaking into the game while at second base. No reason he couldn’t play better there if he was willing to put in the work. Basically he hits like a second baseman other than one breakout season. Need more pop at third imo if he sticks there.

At least Hahn finally finds himself pawning the aged veteran for something young and talented. Bet he doesn’t do nearly as well as others have done against him.

Ive felt that way with watching Lynn at times, albeit they pitch(ed) differently. Buehrle too.

He could be worth whatever’s left on his contract around the trade deadline anyway. But the Sox aren’t going to maximize him in a role in order to do that. Quite frankly all they can do is kill whatever remaining value he has by keeping him around, and I think they know that, which is why he is on the block.

And handwringing over handwringing

Agreed. WTF

It wouldn’t prevent other talent from signing. But it is certainly an expensive backup, so you have to wonder what their intentions are as far as starters. If as a plan B they are searching for bridge players to guys like Cespedes/Rodriguez/Montgomery/ Sanchez instead of top talent today that they may have missed out on. Usually backups are signed after the starters. There was no rush to do this. I am hoping they are just showing a money is no object approach? But that’s a leap of faith. My best bet is that Kimbrel is traded for a Segura type, and they have a bridge plan in RF

Well for one, it would be a luxurious signing just for that. Which the Sox are not known for doing. And two, what’s the rush? The order is off. A lot of little questions about why this was done and when it was done ratchet up the anxiety for many fans.

To expect people to welcome a player signing who plays in the event that the frontliners are hurt, is not fair to expect. People would be happy about Garcia signing after the holes are plugged with real ballers. Which again, a Garcia signing probably wouldn’t even happen in that event. Which is the gnawing fear. That it possibly means the Sox aren’t optimistic that the real ballers are arriving. A Garcia signing just to cover for injured front line players is something a team does where money is no object. Usually nominal type utility guys are brought up for that stuff. It’s fairly easy to find nominal backups.

And people call me gloomy. But the injury history is def real. I don’t think a FO will outlay millions up front based on forcasting a lot of injuries though. More to it than that Id reckon. To specifically address the contention however, one might think a Garcia signing after a Semien and RF signing would be a luxurious Yankees type spree

Let’s reverse engineer this. If the Sox signed Semien or Escobar, and an everyday legit RF, would Garcia still be signed here for 3 years? Gotta believe things are not real optimistic in the war room, based on this signing.

FWIW Fegan relayed what the Sox told him. Fact of fiction or something in between, you decide.

Spent it for a guy that’s gonna play a lot. Why he plays is the big question. And why they think here in Nov that he’s gonna play a lot. Maybe they expect continuing to fail this winter. Maybe trading Kimbrel is their only best remaining plan.

Maybe. Id say the Sox degree of pressing need is an order of magnitude higher.

Do they need a right fielder and a second baseman?

One can say the timing of it doesn’t matter, but they don’t appear to be prioritizing more important things. This is the kind of stuff big time clubs do later

Males me nervous that he was brought back in as a hedge against failure to acquire other players. Like, are they going to allow failure?