Autumn Dreamin

Can you imagine? ? You start warming both a RHP and LHP to potentially relieve your starter depending on how the inning goes, and now they both have to come in. The first guy in HAS to face three batters because he's NOT allowed to get the third out. Do inning ending outs just get waved off because the inning can't end until the second RP comes in? Intentional walks to meet the minimum, and then you just hope the second guy in can wiggle out of it?

Yerado Ciofani, LHP: https://www.milb.com/player/yerardo-ciofani-820864 No real details yet, but it is official.

Seems unnecessary to make a rule change for something that happened 24 times across 2430 games to potentially save 3 minutes per instance.

Carlos Perez today in winter ball: 2-4 with 2 HR, 6 RBI, and a BB. Still more walks than Ks, OPS hovering around .800 after slowing down for a bit. He seems to slug more when starting at C maybe? 3 HR in the last 10 days or so, all when starting at C. He also presumably called a decent game today, as his pitchers gave up 0 runs on 1 walk and 6 hits (all singles).

This is pretty fun: The Sox' prospect team will face off against the Cubs' on March 15.

Lance Brozdowski on Drohan's changeup: Full tweet: https://twitter.com/LanceBroz/status/1732496773032108329

I remember Red Sox Twitter being a little surprised he wasn't protected.

Finally, the signing we've all been waiting for:

My lord I despise Cleveland

4 IP, 1 ER, 3 K for unheralded depth SP option Johan Dominguez in LIDOM today. He has a 2.84 ERA through 5 outings (15.2 IP).

Luis Patiño, current 40-man inhabitant, has yet to give up a run through 9 IP in LIDOM. Today was his second consecutive 3IP/0ER outing. He just turned 24 last month and is a former top prospect...wouldn't hate hanging onto him for a longer look. Carlos Perez still has more walks (11) than strikeouts (8) in winter ball through 117 ABs (.308/.384/.410). But as is often the case for MLB/MiLB catchers in winter leagues, he's not getting much time behind the plate (just 4 games at C out of 29 total).

It actually got worse with the Dodgers, he just had great BABIP luck that masked it: CWS Lance: 5.19 FIP, 10.8 K/9, 3.20 K/BB, 2.1 HR/9 LAD Lance: 6.16 FIP, 6.6 K/9, 2.14 K/BB, 2.3 HR/9 Whatever they tweaked to try to make him better against lefties just got him crushed by righties instead. It took Lynn 278 ABs vs. RHH to give up 10 HR as a Sox (3.6% rate), and just 129 ABs to do the same as a Dodger (7.7% rate) despite a less HR friendly home park. But he had much better luck on the balls that stayed in the ballpark (his BABIP dropped by nearly 100 points to an unsustainable .232), so he avoided the "big" homers en route to giving up more overall. Hopefully the Cards have a different plan than LA, because his contact profile there wasn't encouraging at all for a guy whose biggest problem is the long ball: GB%: down 6.2% FB%: up 7.6% K%: down 9.7%

Per Pipeline: They have him at 60 Fielding/55 Arm.

Carlos Perez is slashing .338/.413/.463 through 19 games with Bravos de Margarita in Venezuela Winter League with 9 BB, 5 XBH (2HR), 23 RBI, and just 3K. I do think there's a decent approach/bat in there.

Johan Dominguez was on the bump in LIDOM again yesterday. Scoreless with just 2 baserunners through 3, but then gave up a single to Junior Caminero (Pipeline #6) and a HR to Franmil Reyes. Final line: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 K, 1 BB. Luis Patiño, who got into a handful of games with the Sox last season but may or may not stay on the roster with Rule 5 decisions coming, also pitched 2IP scoreless and got the W. Obviously, it's much easier to pitch well when you're backed up by offensive and defensive brilliance from a veteran two way superstar...

Game 3: GDD vs. SUR (Gameday) No Burke or Montgomery for the last game of the season, but Ramos is in and maybe an arm or two. Live stream here: https://www.mlb.com/video/live-fall-league-gdd-vs-sur-90015

He was expected to move quickly because of his age and experience, but I don't think there was a "priority" to rush him up after his relatively long layoff from baseball. His contract incentives for making the majors run through 2025. And the 3 inning outings are again an AFL quirk rather than reflecting some change in overall strategy or thinking he's better in short stints. He definitely could have gone longer in that last outing, but most AFL innings are mapped out in advance because you're managing the workloads of 30 guys across 5 orgs. GDD rarely scheduled anyone for 4 IP (and never scheduled anyone for more than that), because Red Sox pitcher #4 still needs to get his work in even if Dodgers pitcher #3 is cruising and could stay in. There are a handful of guys on other teams (like Tiedemann) who went deeper into games...but then they only get 4 starts. There just literally aren't innings available to have guys pitching deeper into games and getting the full six weeks in, regardless of capability or their full season plans.

If you mean because he pitched out of the pen, it's just a matter of the schedule. Most AFL SPs are penciled in for a start/week, but for the last few weeks there's been fewer games to go around so you squeeze guys in where you can. 4 of his 6 appearances were starts, including the one before this, and the other two were piggybacks to accommodate for off days.

Cousin got his last outing of the Fall League out of the pen, and it was a good one to end on: 3 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 4 K (3 swinging) on 38 pitches. The one run was a solo shot, and it was his only baserunner as he retired the next 8 in order. He looked much more confident with his stuff today and was more efficient thanks to staying ahead in counts.

Marlins hired Skip after 2022, and presumably he brought in his own guys. The Angels are similarly changing regimes after moving on from Nevin.

Fall League wraps up this week, and the Sox boys decided to go out with a bang: Burke went 4-9 with two 2B, a HR, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored in his two games. Ramos was 5-15 with 2 HR (including a walkoff slam), 1 BB, 6 RBI, and 7 runs scored, earning him the Hitter of the Week title. Montgomery was 4-15 with 4BB and 5 RBI in the regular season slate, then took home MVP honors with a 2-2 (1B, HR) performance in the Fall Stars game. Some highlights: Just three games left, starting with tonight: Game 1: GDD vs. SUR (Gameday | Live Stream) Burke, Montgomery, and Ramos are all in the lineup. Live stream here: https://www.mlb.com/video/live-fall-league-sur-vs-gdd-90010