Jake

Fantastic defense for all involved there.

Just setting up the Kelenic hero game

Hudson finally providing some validation for the Sox braintrust's obsession with release points and approach angles.

Hard for me to complain too much about Chase's overall level of production at the plate but he definitely looks caught in-between. I think he's got a small dose of what's afflicting Quero which is that the Sox have encouraged him to make some tweaks to find some more power but he's not seeing any benefit from it...while getting some of the downside in the form of added whiff and less bat control.

One interesting thing is breaking pitches at the very top of the zone tend to perform pretty well, much like other pitches on the various edges of the zone. They're aided partly by looking like they will miss high. I think we will see some more pitchers trying to grab strikes with the higher-than-high curveball in particular. But middle of the zone is pretty much always bad no matter what you're throwing. And yeah part of the point of same-handed breaking pitches is that it ends up in a place that you can't possibly reach so it doesn't really matter whether the batter sees it "correctly" since they can't possible make contact without throwing the bat.

I'm not upset with Fedde still being out there given that he was doing fine and the pen isn't exactly deep

Favorite misconception is that the elevated breaking pitches don't move. Usually, they do. Statcast shows that home run ball moved exactly the average amount for Fedde's sweepers. Problem was throwing it right down the middle.

One too many hangers

Quero got gooched there I think

Yeah it might be good for him to start that process sooner rather than later. For the Sox, I see it as basically an inconvenience to have to bring up e.g. Korey Lee just to need to waive him again in a ~couple weeks.

Collisions aren't prohibited by the rule but the runner is supposed to slide if given any opportunity. If runner "unnecessarily" collides, he's out.

I don't seen much point in sending Quero down until Teel returns. Can just ramp up Romo's playing time for the moment.

From MLB: "The catcher is not permitted to block the runner's path to the plate unless he is in possession of the ball." Emphasis mine. Their guidance further notes that runners are expected to slide and to slide towards any lane provided them by the catcher. If the runner is not sliding to avoid contact they are given less of a presumption that they were blocked.

I was under the impression that if you have the ball in your hands you can block to your heart's desire

I've always struggled to anticipate how New York judges catcher blocking rulings.

I guess it's a little difficult to say whether he touched home, but if he did then I think he's safe.

He's safe IMO

Hays looked at the 1B coach kind of like he thought the coach made him do that (which is plausible but I don't know whether it really happened)

I assume they believe Hays is completely healed and just want to be cautious with his effort level. But it also wouldn't completely shock me if Hays might not want to be completely forthcoming for fear of his hurting his market value with a long time spent on the IL.

I know Hays is going to take it easy running the bases due to the injury, but man his gait looks terrible.

You never need to tell Soxtalk twice!

Big Dumper Brooks Baldwin the hero!

He had a 30+ pitch inning in each of the last two starts. Sox philosophy with young pitchers seems to be that once a single inning's pitch count gets that high, you're playing with fire the rest of that game. And I don't know exactly how consistent this is from team to team, but I know the Sox are far from the only ones who are starting to focus on the high-pitch inning as a big injury concern.

In Vargas, Sox have a 26 year old under team control for a long time who is actually hitting. Maybe someday he has to get moved due to his limitations or due to getting closer to eventual free agency, but I wouldn't be making moves based on any of those other infielders until they actually get here. If Billy ever makes it, and I sure hope he does, it could realistically be in Vargas's free agent year. The most optimistic take on Caleb is that he could arrive as soon as next season but for now he's striking out at a 30% clip in A-ball so again I'm not eager to start moving one of the few bonafide major leaguers to make room for him yet. Roch hasn't yet been drafted, but I don't know what a realistic timeline for him will be. I assume the Sox will want to test him at least a little bit at the minor league level in 2027 (what happens after that would depend on the result of the "test"). These things tend to work themselves out. My gut feeling is we won't find ourselves lamenting how the Sox compiled too many good players.

The data on player aging is brutal. I think the data would honestly make it hard to justify giving a long contract extension to a player who you already have under contract through his age 28 season. Almost every skill is on the downslope for a typical player by that age when they aren't juicing. Of course, Mune may not have a typical age progression and/or he starts from such a high point that he's still worth the money even when he's begun declining. That being said, a good agent for Mune would start the conversation at the 14 year, $500M deal given to Vladimir Guerrero at the same age. I'd be arguing that the NPB track record clearly carries over and therefore it would be a bargain to get a superior player in Mune at the mere $500M given to Vladdy. Of course, I don't see another 1B getting $500M anytime soon, but that's what I'd be asking for as his agent. Mune already got a nice big paycheck for 2 seasons so he's not risking ending up on the street or anything if things don't work out on the playing field going forward. So he might as well ask for...the moon.