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I wanted Varsho this off season

I'll add to that . Notice any lefty missing that's still on the team ?

Keep rooting for the Cubs. Traitor !

1. What's done is done. There is no going back. You hated the Kimbrel trade from the beginning . I get it. It ended up sucking in every way imaginable. I just don't understand why you think it's "meh". Just start with the fact Kimbrel was on the team and slated to pitch in a role he wasn't suited for this year. Then ask yourself, is subtracting Kimbrel and adding Pollock on paper something that improves the team, all things being equal, if both are healthy and both live up to their previous 2 or 3 years. That answer is a resounding yes. 2. Joc Pederson ? What impresses you at all about Pederson ? The last good year he had was 2019 when he was 27 with a 3.0 fWAR. 2020 was -.1 wRC+ 86 ,and 2021 was .6 & 94 wRC+ . His last 600+ AB's plus his " good defense" accumulated .5 fWAR total. Pollock was hurt much of 2019 but managed .9 fWAR & 107 wRC+ . 2020 .9 fWAR in 55 of the 60 games played that year & 131 wRC+. 2021 3.0 fWAR & 137 wRC+. In his last 600+ AB's he's accumulated 3.9 fWAR . Over the last 2 years Pollock has easily been better offensively. Defensively from 2016-2021 Pederson is a -18 in OAA playing all OF positions, mostly CF and LF. The most games he has ever played in a season in RF is 39 . Pollock from 2016-2021 is a 0 OAA playing mostly CF and LF . The most games he ever played in a season in RF is 4. I don't see anything that suggests Joc is a better fielder . Just the opposite in fact. In fairness Pollock has rarely played RF but since he's played way more games in CF than anything else the fact his OAA is still 0 is a good sign he can play RF adequately. To take this even further Pederson's sprint speed in 2021 was 26.9 ft./second while Pollock's was 27.8 despite the 5 years difference in age. 3.. You often say you don't see the Sox window extending beyond 2023 when Giolito becomes a free agent so if the Cubs signed Suzuki for 5/$85M the Sox would've had to beat that. So what purpose does Suzuki serve being here so long ,so expensively? The length of time Pollock will be here should give Colas and Cespedes amble time to show their abilities and possibly replace Pollock at a way cheaper rate than Suzuki .

Look I know you wanted Suzuki but let it go, just like you should let go of picking up Kimbrel's option . I agree with you there. I thought it was about pride and would take a few different moves to make that work. But in the end it made the team better defensively and depth wise. Kimbrel,. in a bad role didn't accomplish any of those things. For less cash a better fit ? Like who ? This better fit was what , LH, younger , cost less ,had a good arm,played RF more in the past, doesn't get hurt and could play good defense ? Because that's what you are suggesting.

I don't think it's irrational exuberance. For one, some people, like me, didn't want to move Hendriks to any other role. Plus I thought that the Kiimbrel move was to dump his salary , get very little in return then try to fix RF. Hahn did it in one fell swoop. They traded a guy without a position to do his best for a similarly aged player who fits better as a RF than Kimbrel does as a set up guy. If it the ideal fit ? No, but it's a fit that brings a professional hitter who is still pretty good and increases OF depth and team depth especially in light of the Vaughn injury for the early part of the season. It also reduces Leury ,Vaughn and Sheet's OF roles. So while Pollock may not have the arm for RF he is still probably a better defensive OF than what was going to be trotted out there.

Under

My case for Sousa just got a lot stronger unfortunately by the injury to Crochet. Of course he could suck and be replaced very early but he's almost definitely on the 28 and if he can survive April by looking good then he has a chance to stick on the 26 once May comes.

Shoe fo , shoe fo, shoe fo !

Here's a 2021 look at our new player.

Now the Sox have a bunch of OF Haseley, Pollock, Engel, Robert all real OFers. Eloy, Vaughn, Sheets Leury, Romy, Harrison can all play OF at varying degrees of competence. This kind of gives some renewed hope for a Manaea or Montas trade. Plus now we have to change our grades for the offseason.

Sousa has looked very good. He's lefty. Crick a righty also has a chance to stick at least until the rosters get back to 26.

LOL There are people here who are so high on Vaughn it's like they've been smoking him .

And it was with the Dodgers like some of us thought, though we had a more exotic 3 way trade in mind.

Those are things you can speculate on all day and never know the answers. People here were eager to asee 100 again and sounded disappointed when it didn't happen. Maybe the Sox altered his mechanics or actually got him to dial it back just a tad . I would think it's pretty difficult just to dial it down without som kind of change in his delivery ,When you throw that hard you can't just say OK I'm going to throw 96-98 now instead of 98-100. You would like to think that the people who would impart the best wisdom would be at the highest level but that isn't always true. I don't spin my wheels on things I will never know.

I have no idea what you are talking about ? Criminal ? That's a huge load of hyperbole . His arm wasn't holding up in college . He throws the way he throws and how is the pressure going to hurt his arm ? You think he puts more effort into throwing in the majors or less effort into pitching when he's in the minors ? Would he throw 96-100 up here and under 96 in the minors ? This is just a rant because a young player threw his arm out and didn't spend any time in the minors. There's nothing you can say to prove it was the wrong path or bad for his development or that he wouldn't have been injured any way.

I prefer to look at it from the player's perspective. He had the talent to make the team, therefore, he wasn't rushed. He also got a big league salary on top of his signing bonus, so he's made over $5M in his short career. I think he would actually prefer the way it worked out if he was going to get injured no matter what. This is one I can't call a front office mistake. If you are good enough you should play at the level you belong.

Damn I really wanted to blame Kimbrel but it's not his fault he's still here.

Was Crochet schedule to pitch? Wouldn't it be something if Kimbrel was scheduled to pitch and Crochet wasn't and Crochet took Kimbrel's spot for today's game. That would be the OMG the gift that keeps on giving Kimbrel bad luck jinx.

I hope he's ok but you know me, I've saying for a while hejust seemed like a TJS waiting to happen and I had him included in many fantasy trades.

Si or Soo -sa

Everything is Jake.

Inside is the general consensus on the Sox righties. Abreu is the only one who can pull those fairly often, Eloy like to get his arms extended and hit his Bombs to CF and RCF . Robert seems to be able to hit them everywhere but is taking the Anderson approach to become a better hitter . Sheets likes to get out in front so he's more of a pull hitter which is what I'd love to see Eloy do more often .

I watch the replays of his HR's last year and he definitely likes the ball middle/in and low but he hit HR's on thigh high, waist high and top of the zone too. He also hit a couple of changeups middle away for HR's.

Isn't that how most contact is made ? You make it sound like the batter swings on the same plane every time and only makes contact if the pitcher accidentally throw it there.