51 minutes ago, Chisoxfn said:

I presume they really wanted good vet catcher(s) around the young pitchers but also around the Sox young catching prospects. They also probably knew Stassi and Maldonado were on their last legs but had the attributes they wanted so they doubled down in that direction. Hopefully all of young Sox catching prospects are spending a lot of time with them around the defensive and mental aspects of the game and at same time - I hope our various pitchers benefit from the experience they bring.

Probably overselling all of the above - but given how bad the stench from the outside was (and presumably even worse internally) - I can live with it, but I do agree with you - why everyone wrote off Lee vs. hey give him another few hundred AB's and lets see didn't make sense. I would imagine Lee will still get plenty of AB's (it isn't like it is that hard to replace the  2 catchers they have).  

If the team allows younger players the chance to play regularly to assess future value, 2024 can be successful.

If we see what we have the past three seasons with over the hill veterans given priority in playing time over young players on the active roster, the Sox will waste another year.

26 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

They couldn't have gone into '24 with Lee as the 26-man back-up. He looked seriously exposed last year. Not Adrian Nieto exposed, but exposed, nonetheless. 

I rather have Lee as a third active catcher than Sheets or Moustakas. Let Lee back up first base a game a week, catch 2-3 games a week. Release one or both veteran catchers if they can no longer play at even a minimal MLB level. 

20 minutes ago, WestEddy said:

...And now the feed is gone. No GameCast. 

The tech running the Gamecast feed thought it was broken seeing so many Sox runs come through so they are rebooting it. 

15-3 now heading to bottom of the 9th.

29 runs last 2 games.

Is Mendick going to make the team?

1 minute ago, CentralChamps21 said:

Is Mendick going to make the team?

He's one of the few vets I actually like, so sure. Keep him around.

5 minutes ago, CentralChamps21 said:

Is Mendick going to make the team?

I'd be surprised if he doesn't.

Shewmake has made a few nice plays at third. I think he's still in the running for the backup IF job. He's certainly been getting just as many looks as Mendick.

Clean bottom 8 for Hill.

Korey Lee caught the full game, which is notable mostly because it's unusual in ST...but also because it allowed him to hit an RBI triple to score Sheets (single) in the 9th. 

Shaw fumbled a swinging bunt to allow a leadoff runner, who came around to score (IF single, E1 on the throw, WP, RBI groundout). 2 straight Ks to wrap things up.

Sox win 15-4. They have discovered the One Weird Trick to fix your run differential (hit a million XBH and score a billion runs).

But to their credit, there was also plenty of the grindy FAST stuff too...they took the extra 90 whenever available, advancing on every PB and defensive fumble. Fletcher (IIRC) hustled to reach on a K and ended up scoring afterwards.

Solid defense the whole game (a bunch of double plays and CS), solid pitching aside from Fedde getting hit in one inning and Touki laboring in his.

3 minutes ago, Autumn Dreamin said:

Shewmake has made a few nice plays at third. I think he's still in the running for the backup IF job. He's certainly been getting just as many looks as Mendick.

Clean bottom 8 for Hill.

Korey Lee caught the full game, which is notable mostly because it's unusual in ST...but also because it allowed him to hit an RBI triple to score Sheets (single) in the 9th. 

Shaw fumbled a swinging bunt to allow a leadoff runner, who came around to score (IF single, E1 on the throw, WP, RBI groundout). 2 straight Ks to wrap things up.

Sox win 15-4. They have discovered the One Weird Trick to fix your run differential (hit a million XBH and score a billion runs).

But to their credit, there was also plenty of the grindy FAST stuff too...they took the extra 90 whenever available, advancing on every PB and defensive fumble. Fletcher (IIRC) hustled to reach on a K and ended up scoring afterwards.

Solid defense the whole game (a bunch of double plays and CS), solid pitching aside from Fedde getting hit in one inning and Touki laboring in his.

Thanks for the recap. Nice to see some better baseball preseason or not.

17 minutes ago, Autumn Dreamin said:

Shewmake has made a few nice plays at third. I think he's still in the running for the backup IF job. He's certainly been getting just as many looks as Mendick.

Glad they are playing him at third, as he has only played 2B / SS during his collegiate and professional career to date.

Would be really nice if Shewmake and DeLoach can start the season, or spend significant time during the season if productive as reserves in a solid rotation for playing time.

Hill looks to be a nice RP signing this year so far.  If he has a great year he can bring a prospect at the deaadline. Cant be worse than Bummer last year.