Rounding_Third

ReyLo tonight vs Reds. Hopefully another strong outing.

Definitely a minor concern right now. Whomever earns buc, the others shouldn't be traded unless its an incredible offer. There's a few factors that could make a catcher-by-committee scenario not outside the realm of possibility. I'm not "doom & gloomin", just saying we have good catcher depth, let's keep it until the season plays out a bit.

Hopefully, he's just about done in ST. It's time for Keuchel and Rodon to start appearing and more from Lopez.

Rodon is #5 or is IL/DL'ed or waived. If he's able to stay healthy and effective, I assume he'd still be shut down at some point. If so, it'll be interesting to see how they manage his starts, particularly in the 1st half, to extend him well into the 2nd half. Hopefully, Lopez has a comeback and Kopech can/will eventually start. The Sox will need all 3 (and/or others waiting in the minors) for a 6-8 man rotation in the 2nd half. There'll probably be times when the other 4 need a skip plus a few makeup DH's. If some of that doesn't happen, the Sox are still well positioned to get another SP by the deadline. However, I think they'll be in higher demand and a bit more expensive this year. If their plan starts to goes awry, hopefully they have the foresight to act quickly in the trade market. Hopefully, Cease is stable at #4, too. Still an unknown. The AL Central's probably going to be very competitive, the Sox can't afford to be fumbling around with that #5 for very long.

Now we know why he hasn't pitched yet. Congrats!

Dodger starter, Urias, is a lefty, but a real good one. Hopefully our guys can break out a little bit today. Get some mo going.

Alrighty then

Except for Eaton having a .360+ OBP and then hoping he gets replaced with a minor league player. Head scratcher there! Did I read that right?

Yeah can't decide if I like or not, unexpected for sure.

Except for Grandal, its pretty much opening day batting lineup today including Madrigal. Order seems a little odd but maybe....

I voted for Lucroy for both assuming he shakes off the defensive rust he's show so far. His bat looks great so far. 2 main reasons: 1. It makes mores sense to me that Grandal will rest against LHP more often due to our RH heavy lineup. He has to bat as much as possible against RHP. Therefore a righty buc makes more sense. 2. Lucroy will have best vet chemistry with Lynn & Keuchel in particular. That said, I thing Yermin's having the best ST so far in a really good buc battle.

what about sons & daughters?

Dang, all 4 Sox catchers having nice ST.

was that K pitch the downer? It looked funky and fooled the batter. He stared at Gio going back to dugout

Chucky!

,,and I question whether he's physically prepared for that transformation. If they decide to do it, I think it would take a full offseason and possibly at least a year in the minors. He doesn't have a strong history of a SP.

I think its highly unlikely that Crochet will be converted to starter at any time during this season.

This makes a heck of a lot sense especially the part about out of options. Backs up what Stone had said, too, about options being important with larger rotation. You think it's likely that he'll not be available the 2nd half unless they give him extended rests between a couple of starts? Even if he pitches great, the Sox would surely shut him down, right? That's when Kopech would take over? .

Are you saying that 20 BB = 20 singles?

Those OPS's are HEAVILY bloated with BB's. He walked a lot, great, ho hum. But at the same time, he hit .244, .224. & .234 with pretty ugly K-rates. His Slg wasn't bad over that time but he struggled mightily to make contact. Yermin's slightly better total OPS is based on hits. An OPS matters how it was constructed. My statement of "struggled mightily" is out of context when you mentioned his lofty college numbers. his 1st 3 minors season dropped mightily from college stats.

Not pitching Yermin or hating Collins here. Just saying that placing their MiLB career stats side by side, defensively they average out fairly evenly, some better for Yermin and some better for Collins. Offensively, Yermin has been consistently better by a wide margin. College stats mean very little after draft day. Collins is a perfect example as he struggled mightily for 3 years in the minors before his one and only very good 2019. Then fell back again with the Sox. How is that a "better track record"? If you're going use the term "better track record" at least use their minors stats before college stats. Minors much more relevant and recent. You like to "cherry pick" stats to back your view even when they are much more irrelevant than stats that go against you view.

Dude, yes he's 2 years older and a righty. The rest of your statement is just made up.

Sox media outlets ( &MLB) has totally miscalculated Sox fan interest. MVP 100 has some NY schmuck on at 3pm. More listeners for him than Sox? Really? NBC Chi has alpine skiing profile and IL St vs N IA football. Huh? No wonder Sox fans drink the most! ...with all due respect to IL St & N IA fans!

Don't think that's entirely true. ST can make the difference in specific positional competition such as BUC & #4 & #5 SP this year; including Lopez. Same for AV at DH. If he's incredibly good or horribly bad could easily decide his immediate future. If he's somewhere in the middle, who knows.

Nice to see Vaughn in the lineup again. Giving him lots of AB's is a good sign of him earning his way onto the 26 man roster. 1B, too.