TheFutureIsNear

Burger, Haseley, Alberto and Seby The fact that Haseley is LH isn’t ideal, but I think he’s by far the best 4th OF on the roster (it’s a really low bar) Burger has the best bat in case of a pinch hit situation is needed against a tough lefty. Can back up 3B and 1B Alberto is the best utility IF we have (again, a low bar)

This board really needs therapy…

Bring your son to the ballpark day with special guests Adam and Drake LaRoche.

I really don’t understand the trepidation of batting Colas 5th. Is batting 5th in a lineup on a team projected to miss the playoffs in April in front of a 1/2 full home crowds really going to be “too much” for him? We need a LH bat in the middle of the lineup and it’s Colas or Yaz…I’m taking Colas every day for that spot. Not to mention that this isn’t a 20 year old kid fresh out of college or anything. This is a 24 year old man that left his home at 19 to play professional baseball (albeit in a lower league). I think he’ll be just fine playing for the Sox, not like this team is going to get any spotlight or media attention. Also don’t see how sandwiching him between 2 of our best hitters is a bad thing, the lineup protection should only help.

TA Benintendi Robert Eloy Colas Vaughn Yoan Yaz Elvis Bench- Burger, Alberto, Seby, 1 of Luery/Marisnick/Hamilton/Reyes (they are all bad options, can’t decide)

Very true that being LH doesn’t help his cause. But I guess I’m also hoping there’s a world where Luery doesn’t make the roster. In that case I’d personally want someone on the roster that can play CF competently. Can’t run out a sub par OF defense every time Robert needs a day off

Is there a world where Haseley breaks camp as the 4th OF’er? Would speak more about our horrible depth, but he might have more potential to be decent than anyone we have

I don’t care what hand the pitcher throws with, no way in hell am I putting Romy in the lineup over Colas under any circumstance. Im not sure there’s valid reasoning for Romy to even make the team, let alone earn a platoon spot. I’d rather see Eloy play RF (and I really don’t want to see that) and Burger DH than Romy get AB’s. If you’re going to start the clock on Colas then just let the kid play. If he fails into a platoon then so be it, but cross that bridge if we get there.

Do people really think an extra 10-15 seconds between pitches is really saving arm injuries? To me that’s a lot more of a mental thing for a pitcher taking his time than a guy resting his arm. If your arm is tired/sore from throwing a baseball the difference between 12 secs and 30 secs for the next pitch isn’t helping anything

I know it’s blasphemes to say, but if Colas is on the team I’d rather see Eloy in RF in short spurts than Sheets. I don’t think having a pulse in RF should give Sheets any value to the team. Sheets’ value is going to be purely pinch hit situations off the bench and I think Burger is making a good case to be the better option in that role. I also think we are flexible enough with the rest of our D that the only real position to worry about covering for is CF behind Robert. Which is why I think it will be more important to carry Marisnick or Hamilton on the roster over Sheets. If Robert goes down again I’d rather not see our outfield D revert back to bad with 1 of Colas/10D in CF and Eloy/Sheets in a corner. And Alberto/Romy can cover the IF backup with Elvis sliding to SS if TA does down.

Burger, Marisnick, Seby, and 1 of Romy/Alberto

I feel like there needs to be some self reflection there by Jose. Wasn’t he supposed to be the clubhouse leader that combats these kinds of problems? Don’t get me wrong, I put a lot of blame on TLR and his staff, but the players should also be able to self police themselves to have a functional clubhouse.

Who would fill in for Robert in CF? Benintendi I guess? Seems like we would need a more permanent solution on the roster given Robert’s history.

I just hope Burger hits well enough to force the release of Luery. Burger, Romy, Marisnick, and Seby would be a decent bench.

Never going to happen, but wish they would just eat the $ and cut Luery. HE’S the 1 that is the clog. Would be nice to have Elvis and Romy both on the roster with Sosa waiting at AAA. Luery is really just in the way and doesn’t contribute anything

Regardless of what the actual truth is (we’ll probably never know), MLB is going to suspend Clevinger a good chunk. This has gone too public for them to turn a blind eye. It would be a PR nightmare. The more that comes out the more this reminds me of the Zeke Elliot situation from a few years ago. NFL was post the Ray Rice fiasco so maybe that was a big influence, but they suspended Zeke more than a 1/3 of the season without any real evidence and a questionable victim

Would have been a nice minor league signing for the SP depth we need.

This is why I just can’t be as doom and gloom as 98% of this board is. Don’t get me wrong, the front office has royal F’ed a lot of things up…but at the core there is still a lot of really good talent in this organization. Things aren’t as bleak as most would lead you to believe. No denying depth is an issue tho.

Could be worse things to gamble on to help the rotation right? Try to recreate magic with the 2023 version of Cueto

Yeah it definitely depends on perspective…personally I don’t view every team that doesn’t win the WS as a “dumpster fire”, that’s reserved for a few franchises. Not teams with a betting line around 84-85 for wins. Honest question- if the Sox win 90 games and make the playoffs but lose in the 1st round would you call the season a dumpster fire result? As far as the 1st part of your post- If an obviously disingenuous man hands you a glass of Kool-aide and you choose to drink it, whose fault is it? I’ve resigned to the fact that the Sox are most likely never going to win another WS under Jerry. Is that ok? No. Is it sad? Yup. But also hard to ignore reality.

If the Sox are a dumpster fire how do you describe the A’s, Pirates, Rockies and Reds? Things went horribly wrong last year and the team finished .500. With a change of manager and hitting coach plus some better injury luck a 10 game swing is definitely a real possibility. Im not delusional enough to think things are going well and this team is a WS contender, but a dumpster fire is a pretty far reach.

This team isn’t as much of a dumpster fire because the dumpster fire that was/is TLR finally got put out. Im not going to pretend like the sky is falling because of the Clevinger situation. It’s unfortunate, but life goes on (for the team, hopefully Clevinger gets what he deserves). I still believe this team is firmly in position to win the Central.

I hate what Hahn has done to this organization in terms of player personnel moves as much as the next, but at this point I’m expecting this board to start blaming him for inflation, the war in Ukraine, and any/all world problems. The idea that Hahn was so infatuated with a back end of the rotation SP like Clevinger that he willingly chose to ignore these types of allegations is bordering on tinfoil hat type conspiracy. It just doesn’t make sense

My point is if there are people employed by the Sox to do background check type work and they gave Hahn the all-clear because there was no criminal investigation then what is Hahn supposed to do? Again, I’m not saying there isn’t blame somewhere, but for people to act like Hahn purposely ignored these types of allegations is a bit crazy and only reactionary to past failures.