South Side Fireworks Man

I would hope it will be Robert after he settles in for a month or so, but I'm with you that the best candidate to start the season would be Grandal, even though Ricky probably wouldn't even consider him. I don't like Anderson leading off. Moncada seems like he would be a decent choice, but as another poster mentioned he apparently doesn't do well leading off for some reason. I'm surprised you mentioned Grandal. I didn't think anyone else would have thought of him to lead off. Great minds think alike, I guess! ?

Is Kevin Pillar still available? I'd rather have him than Maybon, that is if they're intent on replacing Engel.

Reminds me of Lastings Milledge. Formerly high regarded prospect that never lived up to the hype.

Don't want.

I'll believe it when Not_Steve_Cishek tweets it.

Could be. I just remember I didn't care for him at all when he was managing the Sox.

I remember LaRussa sucked as a manager his first couple of years with the Sox. Basically he learned on the job and became a better manager.

That's what we all hope.

I can accept that maybe for the most part in-game strategy decisions don't ordinarily amount to more than maybe a difference of a couple of games in the Win/Loss column. But extremely poor decisions like repeatedly batting your worst hitter fourth or constantly having your better hitters sacrifice bunt, etc., can make the difference between a contender and an also ran. Also, a good manager vs. A poor manager can be a critical difference in a playoff game.

I'll take Harry and Jimmy.

Sox still lack depth, except at Catcher (and some are eager to trade that depth away).

Hey Harry!

I wonder if he can play a decent Right Field? ?

By the way, what ever happened to the poster @Cubano? I always enjoyed reading his input on Cuban prospects.

My baseball hero.

Well, there's a real scoop LOL! Yes, Steve, it actually does make a big difference, depending on what they give up.

Probably better defensively too.

That's just planted to get Castellanos to sign with the Sox already. ?

Career .313 OBP & .766 OPS. Color me unimpressed. Just sign Castellanos.

Kevin Pillar, the 31 year old with the lifetime .296 OBP and the .701 OPS? Would he be any improvement over Adam Engel, or even as good?

Yeah, but no sense not filling the holes that are easily filled now.

Agreed. They've got a long way to go before they're finished with this offseason.

That's why good teams build depth.

Right. And if Collins looks bad, they can always try to re-sign McCann.