SCCWS

If the Sox give Lucroy the backup job, I do think there is value in sending him back to AAA. Collins has still only caught 40 MLB games in his career. As long as he isn't blocking a better prospect at AAA, let him work on his defense in AAA for one more year. Catchers get injured , so there is a good chance Collins will get recalled during the season.

I saw where Boston Opening day tickets were $500 for bleacher seats and a minimum of 2 tics. Parking is probably "your first born" https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/2021/03/17/500-bucks-for-red-sox-tickets-opening-day-2021-fenway-has-covid-zapping-robots/4714974001/

Not sure that is true. IT remains to be seen what happens to the casual fan's desire to attend large crowd events. Hopefully fans return to sporting events/concerts etc but it remains to be seen how long before the casual fans returns especially considering the economy.

You can also use a bullpen day + Lopez for a couple of rotations before making a trade. I am sure a good number of teams have questions on their 5th never mind who is 6 and 7. Sox seem to have 5 pretty solid to start. Hopefully the Chicago weather doesn't affect them early on.

Hopefully not a "senior moment"

Latest projection( last week) seems to be early August. He has yet to pitch off a mound which was originally set for January due to neck stiffness and a bout of Covid.

I don't think so. Sale has a full no trade clause.

Agree you should rest Grandal's knees but don't move him to IB. His offense when he is a DH or IB is weak. Let him assist TLR in dugout with drinks and sunflower seeds until he needs to fill a bullpen role. If Lucroy is the back-up, I think it makes more sense for Collins to go to AAA and work on his catching or find another position. Now since AAA is delayed a month, maybe you send Vaughn down and play Collins for a month. If Collins is struggling catching, swap him and Vaughn . If Collins is producing, dump Lucroy.

So far, Leury has had a very good spring w the bat.

We hope so. But it should be noted that in the last normal spring training in 2019, the 3 best AL teams were the Yankees, Astros and Twins. They each went on to win their division.

FWIW---Grandal has had struggles the 2nd half of seasons offensively. I think understandable because he has always caught a lot of games each year. He also has had a career average of around .200 when he has played IB . So his bat is a plus but the "stat people" probably need to work around how many games he should catch physically and what role he has if any outside of the days he does not catch.

Collins has not had a fair chance to hit in MLB. But he also has struggled when given the chance. He was average in AA and good in AAA. So I think it may be debatable if he will hit in MLB if he actually had a position. Maybe if he stayed in the minors longer and worked at his catching he might have latched on here or somewhere else. I think he really needs a year at AAA exclusively catching or converting to another position to see what his future direction should be. Getting crumbs here and there in MLB the last 2 years has not helped.

Agree and even that may take a while once some teams hit cold weather next month.

AAA is delayed a month so that could factor in.

Agree. The poster is the perfect example of a fair-weather fan. He has stopped following the team for years and now is projecting everyone as a star. In reality, some of our stars will have off years and some will be injured more than they play ( similar to most teams). But this is an excellent roster and future additions could be a bonus. It remains to be seen how TLR will impact the team. Spring training is a time for optimism!!!! Lets hope by the All-Star game we are still feeling good about the team.

Maybe Jerry didn't really withhold the info from RH/KW. Maybe TLR told JR and by the time their discussion ended JR had already forgot what Tony told him. Remember JR is turning 85 next week.

Harry: He knew what he was doing. It remains to be seen if he knows what he is doing. It has been 10 years since he managed. We hope he still has it.

Hopefully TLR got his COVID vaccine shot in the 75+ grouping

Agree. Hopefully some media person will ask Tony how he completed his 20 hours of community service.

Unless Tony or the FO don't see Collins as the future at catcher?

If Lucroy makes the team, wonder where Collins ends up? His MLB at bats would be in jeopardy.

Narron was the bridge between Sox and Lucroy. LaRussa was looking for some added veteran experience. Collins needs to impress this spring or he could lose playing time if Lucroy is the primary back-up. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox/how-jonathan-lucroy-fits-white-sox-spring-training-backup-catcher-battle

White Sox would not have matched up anyway. Boston wanted an MLB ready outfield prospect in return. If healthy, I think he is a solid addition to Royals since this looks like more of a salary dump by Boston.

He did play 200+ games in CF which is a difficult CF due to the angles

Another factor is health. Players are more likely to have slumps playing with nagging injuries during a full season than a shortened one.