CaliSoxFanViaSWside

I never said he's prime cut. But he is an athletic guy LH guy with speed, some power in the prime of his career. As far as the most ready guys available to play the position decently he seems the most likely choice if you want to keep Vaughn at DH and Leury as a super sub. Rather Williams than Hamilton.

Not one person has brought up Nick Williams. He has quietly had a nice spring and has been playing LF.

Umm because he's available and about and as good as you could expect to get without trading anyone unless you prefer Ryan Braun.

Before they got Mazara they Sox did talk to Puig and Williams said they came away big fanes of Puig. ( The usual fluff). Abreu said he was surprised had hadn't signed with anyone because he was still young (29 at the time) but admitted he wasn't a fit because they now had Mazara and there was no room. That's all I got.

A earlier in March ago Luba was saying he's available.

As we found out with Eloy you can't have offensive production from a hospital bed. Puig is available , younger healthier power decent fielder. Calling Rachel Luba !

More lots more.

I think you both are nuts. Replace one injury prone guy with an old injury prone who has barely played for 2 years guy? The Sox don't want to pay for another guy to get injured.

Say hello to your new left fielder Ryan Braun .

More to your point he may sacrifice other parts of his game to be a good framer. He has lead the league in passed balls 3 times. If he cut down on passed balls maybe that framing stat gets worse ? Defensive stats especially for catchers are not as trusted as defensive stats for other positions.

I'm not as firm a believer in Fangraphs defensive stats as you.

If Grandal can be a catcher so can Yermin.

I think he'll go beyond that. He's a strong guy, good plate discipline which to me means he also knows the right pitches to swing at. I 'd say he'll top 30 at least a few times but I'll gladly take an Anthony Rendon type hitter.

I love Eloy. I really do. He has the chance to be a very special bat for many years and cheap for a long time. But to be honest in a post a few months back I said if I had to trade anyone from the core it would be him. It's why I also wanted David Dahl or Mike Yazstremski before we signed Eaton. Eloy has not learned his limitations. He tries so hard and wants to be a better fielder so badly . I don't think he is even used to his grown up body yet. He probably weighs 25 or more lbs than he used to when he played RF. Remember that spectacular catch he made in the Futures game 2016. Foul ball, basically an exhibition game . Moncada won the MvP of those games but Eloy was the talk of the games with that catch and some Stat Cast rockets despite being in low A at the time.

Ever ?

I don't know ptatc his curve is looking good . Keeps the hitters off his fB. If he can throw the curve and change up for strikes consistently he'll be very good.

He got to learn to vary the speed of his FB like Lynn does or hide the ball better on his windup. But he also has to have command. Once you can hit the outside corner on a regular basis he won't get hit like that.

He did last spring too though.

I finally figured out why the Sox picked up Billy Hamilton. Without Ian Hamilton we had to get another Hamilton so we could have another Hamilton and Burr .

I don't think some of the regulars will have permanent lineup spots. Eaton will be 2 against righties perhaps while Moncada might be 4th against righties.

Lol stop foaming at the mouth ! How could he have any idea about such things ? Nothing is finalized and only a handful of people could know final details .

He bad mouth's Keuchel every chance he gets because Keuchel couldn't back up his leadership blatherings by pitching well enough to win a playoff game. You see that hate in many of his posts . Grandal is a close 2nd.

Gotta love the fact that Cease and Rodon both came out and threw strikes. Neither walked anyone. If they can do that consistently, the stuff plays and in Cease's case maybe he can then work on hiding the ball a little better . A fraction of a second not seeing the ball can lead to a lot more swing and miss.

Care to explain how you assess that ? Did he cost Rodon strikes ? Rodon didn't walk anyone and I did see a low breaking pitch Mercedes pulled up for a strike call and a K.

Or no LuCroy, Kopech, Crochet, Vaughn, Collins and there's still Fry to consider once he is good to go. Depends on what the Sox do as far as service time goes to start the season.