Jose Abreu

Why should I want to be friends with somebody who thinks I deserve fewer rights than they do? Sounds like a bad friend to me

I completely agree

Yup. Stroman is extremely into analytics and biomechanics himself, but it hardly gets mentioned

That's valid, but (as you acknowledged) we knew that before he was signed, so if it was gonna be this big of an issue, the signing shouldn't have happened. IMO, his pluses far outweigh those negatives, although I understand why people get so frustrated by them. However, what I don't get is the idea that McCann is some polar opposite. He was at the top of the league in catcher's interference errors and, like Grandal, also dropped a routine pop-up.

Counterpoint: Yasmani Grandal is good and there's no reason to actively seek to limit his role

The idea that everyone on the team hates Grandal's guts and wants him gone is hilarious considering his 2020 season was basically exactly what he always produces both defensively and offensively (maybe add a bit more SLG but his offense was still good). If the Sox didn't know that prior to signing him, that's their own fault.

He actually might because even though Grandal and McCann split time, Perez also only caught 32 games

Cool video of various MLB stars gushing over Abreu

He's all the " scientific" aspects of Trevor Bauer but without the harassment scandals

Very true. I just wouldn't frame it as "likely" like I did in the conversation about him vs Robert and Jimenez. But in the 2024-2026 latter half of our window, I can totally see Vaughn putting up .380+ OBPs with 30 bombs and 35 doubles.

I didn't say best hitter on the team, I said best out of the 3 players referenced (the others being Robert and Jimenez). I'm sure he'll struggle early on, but he has the makeup and approach to make an impact fairly soon

I say this as someone who thinks Eloy is the most underrated current player on the Sox, but IMO it's likely that Vaughn ends up being the best hitter out of those three. I just love his swing and power/patience combo

I don't want to put this in PHT because I'm sure the common answer I'd get is 162 with full stadiums, but how many MLB games do you guys think will be played per team next season? The vaccine trials are hitting snags and I doubt that it will be safe for fans to be in stands. Thus, the owners are likely to pretend that they can't afford to pay players for a full 162 game season and we'll have to enter the same song and dance. At this point I'm optimistic that we get more than the 60+ we got this year, but my question is how many more? Will they just play a full season without fans, despite it retroactively contradicting the idea that they couldn't afford to do more than 60 this year when there was room for ~100?

Now this is something of which people should be asking, "how do I explain this to my kids?"

Move one of the best defensive 3B in the sport to RF for a guy we haven't ever watched play 3B?

Thank you. I really don't get how people aren't realizing this. All I've seen is a lot of arguing over Hinch/Cora, but what is being missed is that Reinsdorf seems to have had a change of heart and is actually running the organization (and the Bulls) as it should be.

No

I am shocked that Reinsdorf is willing to let go of Renteria (who still had another year on his contract) and pay top dollar for a Hinch/Cora given the pandemic and his complaints about his finances. Today's news has made me much more optimistic about the Sox free agent spending.

Yeah, I don't really get that. Maybe people aren't too familiar with the details of the scandal, but Hinch is the one who was bothered by the plan and even destroyed a monitor to discourage them from continuing. It was really Cora's operation. The only move I would be opposed to the Sox making for moral reasons would be if they wanted to acquire an Aroldis Chapman or Roberto Osuna. If you ask me, that kind of character issue is what teams should really be avoiding.

Put me down as apparently the only person who would like this. He should absolutely be the hire.

That's a lot more likely than anything involving Ricky

Still a useful player, but much like Michael Brantley, I'm afraid he can't play RF regularly. Unless of course you want him to DH until Vaughn is ready with the occasional corner outfield start, in which case I could see a fit

Not to mention, is Cease's stock so low that you have to trade 5 years of him and even more for 2 years of Benintendi, who himself is far from his peak value?

He also seems like the kind of player who will age well, even if he's a 1B/DH during those last 3 years