almagest

Frank is in there, under the Dick Allen 1972 entry. He deserves more than that. Big, BIG miss not having standalone 1993/1994 entries for Frank's back to back MVPs, and 2014 HOF election.

Your "I ❤️ Getz" club member pack is in the mail.

Yeah, but the changes Driveline is suggesting aren't to "swing harder". They're working on his lower body to naturally gain some bat speed without changing his arm effort. They are also working with him to make contact in front of the plate more often to give his swing more time to accelerate - this one is a bigger change and could result in some bat control issues, but Quero is so good at bat control I'd posit he could drop a few % points and end up with a net gain in productivity if his bat speed goes up.

Quero would need to add 3.5 mph to his bat speed to match Naylor. 6.4 to match Chisholm. 8.4 to match Barger. Quero is really good at squaring up the ball though, so even adding a small extra % to his bat speed would likely help him a lot. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/bat-tracking?sortColumn=squared_up_per_bat_contact&sortDirection=desc

This is great. Really interested to see how this work benefits Quero this season. In particular: I would like a Josh Naylor at catcher please and thanks.

Don't forget #RochHard!

I would assume not that much more interesting to the Sox. We know Jerry values saving money very highly, so I'd guess the rumors we've heard about the Sox asking price on trades being super high was due to what the Sox wanted if they ate half of Robert's contract.

Hopefully out of Acuna, Kelenic, Baldwin and Pereira the Sox find a couple solid outfielders. I'd even be happy with one. I'd guess Baldwin has the best shot, followed by Pereira (just because I know the least about him of the four). I don't think Kelenic will be with the team for long unless we actually DO have some sort of hitting lab that can help players out. I think that's a long shot though. Acuna has pedigree and some MiLB results, but he's been bad for a while across MLB and AAA now. I also don't think he's likely to amount to much more than a backup.

If he has a down season he's probably not moveable. I assume you mean something like he fails as a closer but is still a solid middle/late inning reliever. In that case I don't know if I want to trade him because those guys probably won't amount to much.

I don't think "acquire to flip" and "take a gamble on a guy to upgrade his performance in a bigger role and potentially trade him in a year" are the same. If the Sox can get Dominguez to be a good closer this year and trade him in the offseason or next deadline that might bring some useful pieces.

All of the above.

Seeing Ramos DFAed reminded me - he was third in top Sox prospects by MLB Pipeline in 2023. 4 was Schultz, 5 was Burke. This system was in BAD shape back then.

I agree w/ you on most of this, but I'd bet if we looked into the trade results each time it happened, Ray Ray is right that these "sign a guy to flip him" trades rarely if ever work out. The best case is probably the Vargas trade.

If Caleb starts off well next year I'd say go all in. That might also be when I pick one up. I'm also gonna get a Murakami jersey even though it's probably a bad idea, but I also bought a Carlos Quentin jersey right before he broke his hand, so I'm used to it.

I got my son one in 23. Luckily he'll outgrow it soon like he did with his Lauri Markkanen jersey

Didn’t want to start a new post just for this, and this felt like the best existing post

Average WAR for the 10th pick in the draft is ~5.5. Clayton had 19.5 bWAR/18.2 fWAR. He would be a great outcome for Carlson.

If the median outcome is Royce Clayton that's a pretty good trade chip, or super utility defense guy. I'd be content with that outcome.

He was putrid hitting on the White Sox but still had value because of his defense. Still don't like getting rid of Valentin for him, even though Valentin was just about done.

It's really hard to fix, as you're rebuilding a significant timing mechanism in their swing. Burger had the same issue but he made it work for a while. I think big leg kicks are hard to fix for a similar reason. Dansby Swanson is a comp for Carlson on the high end and I wouldn't mind that at all.

Or you just keep him. Not like he's blocking anyone and I'd be surprised if they get 1.5 WAR from their center field options now. Or you just buy him out and try to resign him on a prove it deal to make it more attractive at the deadline, or let him go be someone else's problem.

I'll gladly eat my words if Acuna figures out how to hit, but the org is absolutely not in a better place with a guy who can't hit in AAA and a bullpen arm with control issues in A ball.

I'd rather them pay the $2 mil. These guys are likely just 40 man dead weight.

No idea why you pick up the option if this is the return. A best-case bullpen guy and a 4th outfielder? Bleh.