FoxForce2

IMO keeping Leury on the roster 22-23 is a no brainer. The guy may not be the heart of the team, but he's functioning valve,.

Burger is the feel good story of the organization and my hat's off to his play this year. But is he really a second baseman? There are several guys that can play both second and third around both leagues but from what little I've seen of Burger, he just isn't one of them. He isn't polished as a MLB 3rd yet and tasking him to learn 2nd from the ground up would be quite a stretch. Playing 2nd demands a lot more range than third. Would his legs hold up? Does he have the 'knack' for making the pivot and throw on DP's? A lot of question marks there. The 'good problem to have' only goes so far in many instances and his position is capped for the next several years. I'm of the mind that moving Burger in the off season as part of a trade would be a win-win for him and the Sox. Sheets' situation is somewhat different in that he can probably at least play, at some level of competence, a position other than his natural post (first), with that position - RF - being in flux(!) this year and next. By flux, I mean, potential RF for 2022: Engel, Goodwin, Vaughn, Sheets and Cespedes

I've always been of the mind that you just can't evaluate any athlete outside of their era/time. Sure, as fans we will speculate and project a player from this time or that into another era - hell, it's fun. But it's really nothing more than playing Hot Tub Time Machine, Back To The Future or Avenger's End Game and there isn't much validity to go around. Would Cobb have put up his numbers, considering just his split grip alone, (even) in the 1930's? Would Koufax have put up those 3(4) gold-standard years coming off the lowered mound? etc. etc. Obviously, there are numerous Metrics that can be applied to even players from the 1910's that can be adjusted to an overall picture, but the variables are so broad in range that anything approaching a quantitative truth is not doable. Not arguing with anyone on this - just spitballing.

Jackson is probably the greatest 'what if' in the history of the game.

Moncada is still developing at the plate and is evidently working a plate style that is very nearly the opposite of a Tim Anderson way of batting. As to how well this is working out for him and the team is at least debatable. But yes, to even go into the 'bad' quality of this is short sighted and IMO not really to be taken seriously. Moncada has All-Star pretty much engraved all over him and simply because it isn't fully appearing right now/right here comes off as a lot more noise than signal. re: his motivation and the direction of his intent is another matter entirely and I don't have enough insider information to have much of worth to say about the situation. Does anyone else have that kind of info?

If the hip deeply heals over the off season, I don't see why he won't put up Trout-like numbers and performance play over the next 5 years (and beyond.) IMO he really is that good. I don't recall the scout's name that said something to the effect of, "If you love baseball, Robert is a joy to watch play the game."

Brings to memory Hernandez going against Ramirez/Ortiz in the playoffs. Those two actually looked intimidated at the plate. Hadn't seen that before and just showed that the Duke knew he still had something serious to bring, even if only for a moment.

If Robert continues to develop his plate smarts, he'll be joining the Trout/Judge circle as a #2 superhero.

Maybe Kimbrel is working on getting us a 1-run win.

Ruined the football score.

While we're talking about a guy with less than a season in American professional baseball, Cespedes is showing near-immediate MLB ceiling in most facets of the game. The easy comparison is with his brother. One angle of his game that stands out is his field play/range, glovework and composure on defense. These weren't strengths in Yoenis' game who booted and flubbed more than a reasonable percentage of plays. Yoenis' GG was almost entirely due to his elite arm and the use of it in making spectacular plays. The point being that his arm often saved plays that, if he were to have made in the first place wouldn't have had to be saved by his arm. Whether or not Yoelquis has his brothers power bat remains to be seen but his line-drive contact skills are pretty evident. If he's got his head on a swivel and continues to exhibit poise in the field, there is little reason to doubt that he'll be making at least some appearances in RF at Comiskey/GRF after the AS break in 22.

Great to see a real second baseman out there.

ESPN finally on with the Sox game. Nice set of highlights to at least catch up to the game.

New school lineup construction puts a lot of emphasis on the 2 slot. Trout-Judge-Robert. I'd be good with the 3 place for Robert too.

A switch hitting 2 run bum.

I'm thinking the only reason he hasn't been in the 2 slot was they wanted to ease him back into lineup after the injury. Its been said before, but Robert has the ability to hit just about anywhere in the lineup. A real luxury for a manager.

Royale with cheese.

geee - I get to see the Angels and O's on ESPN (or not). There is always Gamecast and this board I guess.

This Liam/Kimbrel experiment might make a great post-grad thesis for a Sports Psychology student.

The Cuban Connection is very strong in SoxLand and Abreu is the Mace Windu of it all. More than a little intangible value in Abreu's game and considering the leap he's made at First, it's easy to see him on the field for the next 2-3 years anyway. MLB historical near-GOAT? errrrrrrrr no. p.s. What's up with listing Ozzie Smith with the rest of the Sox fWAR players?

FNG here and my first post. I just don't see how Burger or even Sheets really fit the immediate 3-4 year window. Unless Moncada falls off a cliff or Abreu sours on him, he isn't moving off third. Cespedes will likely break in as RF mid-season next year (at least as a platoon), and Jose isn't moving off first anytime soon which squeezes the opportunities for both of these guys. Is Sheets really a RF anyway?