Jake

I think it's hard to say from here what should be done with Colson. This isn't a case of a guy going to a new level and playing horrifically. He had a disappointing year last year, but it was nothing like this. So you know it's not a case of him hitting a wall that he doesn't have the talent to break through (in the sense of: we know he has the talent to strike out less than half of his plate appearances in AAA). If you buy that, then the question is why the huge regression? Health? Yips? Some other kind of mental issue? Change in swing/mechanics/etc.? Hard to see from my perch here on the internet which of those things is going on. Things like a demotion could make some of those problems worse while potentially fixing some others. As for Teel, I'm not pushing the panic button. But this is why you put him in AAA rather than break with the team. You're going to get scouted and people are going to try to exploit your weaknesses. See if he can work through it. His brief time in AAA last year was just so-so anyway. Quero is a similar case and similar reasoning for keeping him in AAA to start the season, but you can see how his game was always bound to be a bit less boom or bust. But he may well see his numbers decline soon too (if he keeps up the 1.000 OPS for very long, I guess we'll find out just how patient the Sox plan to be).

Have been scratching my head about how it is that Korey Lee had a such a great spring and was immediately relegated to a platoon role. Thaiss doing his job pretty well made me inclined not to complain much but Lee continuing to hit still makes me wonder. Weird miscue at home plate today notwithstanding

Very different end results, but I thought Martin looked horrible in his first outing. I'm not going to call this one good, but he at least has gotten a few swings and misses and found his four seam shape again. Optimistically, I hope he's learning his own arsenal a bit better. Downside of all the tinkering he does with his pitch mix is it can leave you without a good idea of what you should be throwing.

Thinking further on this, Martin's 4-seamer also has a lot less armside run than usual today. Makes me wonder if he had been working in sinkers in the past but they weren't distinct enough for Statcast to pick up on it. Today's sinkers have near-identical spin rates to his 4-seam which would make it more likely that they get mistakenly grouped together.

I definitely had the feeling of "accepting this job is a serious hit to anyone's credibility." But I'm okay with him so far, you're just not going to look brilliant if the team stinks. And I assume he might learn a few things along the way.

Taking a peek at Martin's pitch metrics... He's continuing to go with a very changeup-heavy approach but also mixing in a sinker that he can't throw for a strike. That said, nothing he's throwing has been in the zone much today and he's been fairly wild in the zone too. Velo is down about 1.5mph across the board. His 4-seamer has 5 inches more induced vertical break than his long-term average today; in other words, a ton more rise than normal. Very different pitch. It's really the only pitch that hasn't hurt him today, despite lowered velo. You could see as that nightmare inning went on he started to realize that pitch was one he could trust more than the others. Overall, the *average* exit velo given up by Martin today is unremarkable but he just can't throw a strike so he's given up some very hot contact when it mattered. Hope he can take something useful from the outing (and that the dip in velo is because of the cold).

I'm not totally convinced they're much better than the alternative, but seems like they wouldn't be the exactly the same either. So...who knows? Hitters need help and this would be a fun innovation to embrace if it gives hitters a few percentage points boost.

Really feel like Colson might be cooked. Hope that it is ultimately a mental issue that he might be able to rally back from.

Lots of foul balls (which is counterproductive when they are above the zone and he could be taking for a ball)

From my research last year, Vaughn has a very high rate of swinging at high fastballs, not a very high rate of missing them, but rarely gets a positive outcome

Sox and Angels have equal xBA today, but Angels have 8 hits to our 2. Would be nice to get a friendly bounce or two soon.

Likely to be a lot of games like this throughout the year. No hitting, pitching keeps it tight, but isn't quite good enough to hang on

Brutal luck to start this inning

I'd prefer Baldwin to start at SS, fwiw. Also, who came in to relieve Thaiss at catcher in this game? Because the wheels are falling off back there.

Of the 4 members of the rotation, it's hard to for me to understand how it wasn't more deserved by any of the other 3. But I guess it doesn't matter

Lenyn had some pretty rotten batted ball luck last year and has been looking hitterish for a while now. I thought his play last season earned him a spot on the '25 squad but it seems like he's making his case in the spring too. Not sure where he'll play but we have 3 infield spots unaccounted for...just stick him in one and call it a day.

I'm not necessarily against Taylor as a guy to fill out the roster/organization, but the fit with two other veteran outfielders added in the same offseason — along with the fact you have tens of millions invested into 2 of the 3 positions already — makes this confusing to me. Want Dominic Fletcher to have to earn a spot on the club? Great, that's fine, he really struggled at the dish last year and some underlying metrics are bad. But this kind of freezes him out when you give all these guaranteed contracts to old guys with limited upside. For this last spot on the bench, I'd prefer someone else kind of marginal *like* Fletcher who might give you years of value if he takes advantage of the opportunity.

By now, I really dislike the idea of trying to trade Robert. I would be shocked if the Sox could get a good offer for him right now and the only thing he costs the team right now is money, which is something they shouldn't be tight on. If he comes out blazing hot, then trade him. If he doesn't, try to rehabilitate his value with the knowledge that if he isn't living up to expectation, then the years ticking off his contract becomes a value-add. Rebuilding is all about going for upside. Why sell low on a player who clearly has extremely high upside?

Sox in the past couple years were very much "well if EVERYTHING goes right, then maybe..." and then we say your luck never goes all one way. Then the luck all went one way and it was the wrong way. Now we're in the "doesn't really matter" phase although if things do go well, maybe the Sox could sniff .500 in 2026 if things go very well and they throw a little money at the situation.

Just in case it isn't clear to anyone, his situation is extremely grave. I wouldn't expect us to have him around much longer. Send him your appreciations and such while you can. Heartbreaking

Playing MLB the Show must have biased me because I kinda like Gallo (as a NRI who is more likely than not to never play for the Sox).

MLBPA has been criticized for taking bad deals due to bad leadership. But most recent CBA makes me think it may not be leadership problem so much as a lack of resolve. And adding minor leaguers to the picture is likely to make them even more likely to buckle in a lockout in exchange for a few peanuts to the minor leaguers and fringe guys.

I think last offseason, Getz was making moves like he was afraid the Sox might find themselves in a situation where they have one too many deserving players for the MLB roster/lineup. This offseason, I don't think he's looking it at that way anymore, which is good. Not to say I think we'll find the Sox with too many good players at any point soon...

I'm not always right, but man I hated this deal from the get-go before I even knew we were putting Bassitt in there.

Tiny 210 pound Edgar Quero? Right-sized 190 pound Kyle Teel?