The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey was one of many who tweeted out comments from Dave Dombrowski on the Red Sox offseason this morning. Among the notable tidbits, the Red Sox are apparently prepared to send out qualifying offers to some of their free agents, though Dombrowski couldn’t speak to the specifics until MLB releases the names on Friday.
Presumably, this list includes only one name: closer Craig Kimbrel. Boston could look to replace him with in-house options, the top candidates being Matt Barnes and Ryan Brasier (twitter links). If Kimbrel does depart, bolstering the bullpen could very well become a focus of the Boston offseason – especially if fellow free agent Joe Kelly follows Kimbrel out the door.
One player who definitely won’t be receiving a qualifying offer is Nathan Eovaldi – he is ineligible after being acquired mid-season from the Rays. Competition for the right-hander is expected to be fierce after his gutsy playoff performance with the Red Sox. Fellow mid-season acquisitions Steve Pearce and Ian Kinsler are also ineligible to receive qualifying offers.
On the health front, MLB.com’s Ian Browne was among those to confirm that Chris Sale is not expected to undergo offseason surgery (via Twitter). The lanky left-hander needs only rest to be ready for Spring Training. Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald adds (via Twitter) that the team is hopeful that Dustin Pedroia will be ready in time for Spring Training, though that is far less certain.
The catching situation in Boston remains a crowded, but capable field. It is unlikely that Boston will head into next season with all three of Christian Vazquez, Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart on the active roster – but it’s not an impossibility (Twitter link). Boston experimented with using Swihart in a superutility role last season, but it’s unclear whether or not Boston believes that’s a sustainable solution moving forward.
On the whole, Dombrowski is understandably pleased with the current state of the Red Sox and would be happy to bring back the entire squad as currently constituted for 2019, per the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. Thus far, the Red Sox have kept David Price in the fold after he forewent his opt-out clause, as well as Eduardo Nunez, who picked up his $5MM option for 2019. It will obviously be expensive to keep this core together long-term, but as of now, Boston ownership has not mentioned staying under the luxury tax as a priority for 2019.
They are so screwed in the next year or two. Mookie, Bradley, Bogarts, Holt, Moreland, Leon, JD, Nunez, Sale, Porcello, Erod, Wright, Barnes, and Hembree will all be free agents. I think the only players with more than 2 years of control include Vazquez, Swihart, Denver, Benintendi, Pedroia, Price, and Brasier.
Hopefully some of their young players can develop and make an impact in the next year or two. Not sure who though.
Not really. They wont miss or look to resign half the names you mention. They’ll make a strong push to extend some of the key players you named (Betts this offseason). And they have the money to replace anyone with competant free agents. Just like any big market team with deep pockets, they’re never out of contention for long.
Let Kimbrel walk. The Phillies or the Mets or some other big Market team will pay him big bucks. See you thanks for everything you were great but you’re slipping.
Steve Pearce will get a nice contract, he’s gone also.
Eovaldi is gone also. He was incredible for us, but some team will give him number 1 Starter money, but he’s a number three starter.
It would be awesome to make him the Sox closer next year but someone will give him Frontline starter big bucks.
Drugs…you shouldn’t use them. Eovaldi not only doesn’t get #1 starter role or money but he doesn’t get more than 3 years. Bank on it. And if the Sox want him back, he’ll be back. He loves Boston.
You also missed the part where Pearce said playing for the Sox is a “childhood dream come true?!” Also, back in the fold next year.
Yeah, what a ridiculous post. Pearce is nothing more than a role player and wont get more than a 1 year deal between 5 and 10 mill so he will be back if they want him. Eovaldi wont get more than Alex Cobb money which is still a lot but nowhere near #1 pitcher money
You’re kidding yourself if you think that major league players don’t sign with who offers them the most money…..its always about the money!
Loves Boston so I won’t sign elsewhere….I guess you believe in the tooth fairy too!
lol 4 downvotes for being right? i see moreland leaving too. and bradley if he tests the FA market.
@Gary Mets pay big bucks. Good one proper lol there.
“You’re kidding yourself if you think that major league players don’t sign with who offers them the most money…..its always about the money!”
Completely true. They don’t hire agents to get them to the teams they rooted for as children,,,
Moreland is already under contract through 2019. JBJ is under control through 2020. Bogaerts and Sale are next after 2019, then it hits the fan. .
Betts/Bogaerts/Sale extensions will likely encroach on $500M+ JD very well might opt out since BOS front loaded his contract. That being said…..I think only Sale and JD are players that BOS might let walk.
Really? They have the money to replace anyone? Their 2019 estimated payroll is at $205M right now, plus they owe another $12M to Castillo.
So any extra spending comes with a 30% luxury tax. If they spend $260M again (that’s what they spent this year), that gives them around $30-35M to work with.
If they extend Betts at $35M/year (which is the minimum he is due), that gives them $10-15M to work with. Even if they don’t extend him, they can get one good free agent. That’s it, because they have to save some of that money for summer additions.
They have about 41mil coming off the books from Pablo, Hanley and Craig alone.. 8.5 from Pom, they’ll be ok. I say like kimbrel walk, try and bring Kelly back, but DD loves a heavy back end in the bullpen. Pearce will prob get a Moreland type contract 2 years 5-7mil a year. Eovaldi is gonna be tough Someone will pay him.
Sale, Betts, JD, JBJ, Xander will have to get some sort of extensions. Maybe they get lucky and they as a group decide to stick together for a 3-4 year window and sign decent deals to keep a core together.
New England has a tradition of that in other sports. The almighty Brady took less than he could have and has five rings. Bergeron, Chara, Rask and Marchand have never threatened to break up the Bruins and that is in salary capped leagues.
DD does NOT have a reputation for placing ANY priority on assembling a pen. Even this season, the Starters supplemented the pen during the post season.
(Looks over at the current Tigers roster)
Please don’t hold your breath on that last paragraph. DD knows how to win now, not win in the long haul. Not that it matters really because he accomplished his goal.
The current Tigers situation wasn’t just DD it was also an aging owner who wanted to win before he died so DD was hamstrung somewhat. I don’t see the same thing happening with the Red Sox. Only time will tell but I don’t think all the blame on the Tigers falls squarely on DD’s shoulders.
Much of the Tigers roster was broken up after he left.
The Red Sox system is young thus ranked poorly. Most of the good players in the system spent the year at Single A or lower. The system will get better if Casas comes along, Groome comes back healthy, guys like Huock and Mata improves. Flores may one day replace Bogaerts.
There’s a lot of talent. They just need to hold what they have for 2 years which is doable, and extend Betts. Those prospects could also be flipped for parts in between if they build their value.
Thanks for the inside info!
How many times have you seen those youngsters play?
“If all of our crappy prospects stop being crappy our farm system will be highly ranked!”
If you have the MLB package you can watch a lot of minor league games. You’re welcome.
Young and crappy are two different things. Houck is a 1st round draft pick in 2017, Groome in 2016 and Mata, Hernandez & Flores are all international prospects.
Your farm isn’t going to be ranked high when most of them are 18-22 and in Salem or lower.
This is not to mention Chavis who had a solid .840 OPS in Pawtucket and is transitioning to 1B. Its too bad he’s injured and can’t play in the AFL as that probably would help speed up the process of getting him comfortable there. There’s no space in the outfield and he’s not much of a defender.
Dalbec is also promising, though I don’t see his path to the majors being an easy one with Chavis & Devers ahead of him. He had a .836 OPS in a short stay in Portland. But he also had a .945 OPS in Salem and is healthy for the AFL. Will be interesting to see if he can take that next step next season.
The system is not nearly what it was before DD stripped it, but its far from barren. Just too young to be relevant.
Darwinzon Hernandez is an Eduardo Rodriquez clone. Same facial hair, same physique and very similar stuff. meaning really good.. It isn’t going to be easy to stay on top but the Red Sox might be able to do it. The Cherington debacle, Castillo, Craig, Ramirez and Sandoval is about to end and some money will be free to use.
DD was cast out of Detroit when he traded David Price for Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt and traded Yoenis Cespedes for Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa. DD was trying to reload for the future. I blame the owner and the Tiger Managers for not giving Tiger youth much of chance.
Joshuabaron, it’s so funny some people say you’ve got to have payroll flexibility… and then you go off saying all that flexibility is worthless because we have so many free agents two years from now.
Well I’m sure the Red Sox will figure it out. They have a perfect number of veterans and young guys to sustain success.
Same ownership group for the last 15 or 20 years. They know how to get it done, who to hire and what the right decisions are over time.
Payroll flexibility comes from having a bevy of pre-arbitration players making the league minimum to build your team around. It most definitely does NOT come from having overpriced veterans on free agent deals. That’s how you become the Phillies of a few years ago or the tigers of the last few years. It’s impossible to win with 25 free agents making market value, you need players over performing their contracts so players not performing well don’t weigh you down
Barron, please go back to trolling. Your baseball opinions are just so inept.
Ok
You shouldn’t be this negative after winning a WS. Enjoy it. The beautiful thing about BOTH our teams, much to others’ dismay, the money’s always re-invested. Red Sox ownership owns: Liverpool, The Boston Globe, and 80% of NESN (New England Sports Network) They have the cash to retain whomever they need.
I count more properties than the Yanks owners. We’ll one up you tho, when Yanks exercise their right to buy 100% of YES Network, and win the next WS before you.
I hate the Yankees, I hate New York, but it’s not even funny how much better positioned they are than us the next 5 years. And that has nothing to do with revenues – I strongly disagree with the notion that they’ll ramp up spending just because they have more money. All teams willingness to spend now is whether or not they think they’re getting a good deal – there’s no salary floor in MLB.
I was at the parade, loved it. I just hope this can be a long term operation as opposed to the 2013 championship which was followed by back to back last place finishes
Not sure why you got 3 downvotes Joshua Barron. You’re 100% correct.
Now, this doesn’t mean the Yankees are ready win a World Series. But Boston cashed in this season and THIS was the season to do it. They simply got it done.
Trim I’m on board with that 100%. Same thing with the very good Nomar/Pedro age Sox. It was a bad time to be a “very good” team. You had to be perfect. With the Astros, Dodgers & Red Sox this season, this season was a bad season to be a mediocre team, and a lot of teams saw it and threw the season.
This year, there were 3 teams who were strong Vegas favorites to compete for the championship and all 3 made it to the LCS or further. The Yankees were incredibly smart to stay the path. There was no reason to worry about 2018 when you have a slew of young guys outperforming their earnings by a landslide.
I think this off-season is going to be incredibly interesting for Yankees fans (and really anyone that cares about the AL East). Do they go all in now? Get Machado? Or Harper? Or go like Sabathia and Teix and get both? Or do they look over at the Red Sox and say these guys aren’t getting any worse next year and avoid the temptation to bring in a generational talent like Machado or Harper (or even Kershaw if he opts out in the next few hours)? Or do they look at the roster and say, if we add x,y,z we can beat them in 2019. Let’s do it.
We won a big battle for the 2018 World Series. Go Red Sox. But this war is just getting ready to be reignited. Its been a long time since we’ve both been so relevant and as much as the Yankees want to rise back up to the throne, we want to shove you back down.
Best rivalry in MLB!
Yanks/Sox….no one else compares.
Literally a dead body is an upgrade from Moreland
ERod, Hembree and Barnes are not free agents in 2 years. All are controlled through 2021., among other players…
Would love to see the Red Sox sign Wilson Ramos and upgrade the offense at catcher.
Assuming Joe Kelly would be significantly less expensive to re-sign than Kimbrel, why not bring him back to close?
Also interested to see who they bring in to play second……
Joe Kelly is not closer material. He’s barely seventh-inning material. It was nice to see him finish strong but he’s not next year’s closer. I don’t even think another team would make him next year’s closer
A guy who throws 100+ and can mix in an effective breaking ball…………………for one inning at a stretch…………….and a pretty nasty demeanor who proved he can pitch lights out on the biggest stage?????
That dude can absolutely close. What he can’t do, as he has proven, is be an effective starter over the long haul.
It’s fun to speculate……
Joe Kelly has basically the same career BB/9 as Kimbrel (3.7 vs 35.) but his K/9 is HALF (7 vs 14). Kimbrel can get away with a lot of the walks because of how powerful of a weapon the strikeout is for him. Kelly has to rely more on contact, which is dangerous when you’re putting runners on.
Throwing 100mph outside of the zone just means your ball four gets their faster than anyone else’s…..
I seem to remember that Kelly has stated he wants to start again….prolly won’t happen in Boston!
Machine Gun Joe would be a better option at closer for about 10-15 other teams right now, so I would give him a shot
Can you name the 15 for us?
espn.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=REclosero…
You can start with the entire AL Central except Cleveland.
Mycheal Givens
Ken Giles
Hansel Robles
Drew Steckenrider
Robert Gsellman
Kirby Yates
Will Smith
Thats 11 for sure and I could argue at least 5-6 more.
Nah, I’d add Cleveland too. I’d take Kelly for Allen.
Add Sergio Romo and whoever’s closing for the Marlins. That brings the number to 14.
Pedroia gets first crack at second base. If he can’t go, we’ll see what happens then.
The Sox aren’t about to let the core of the team get away….they’re just not like that…..(to be fair, they have the resources to make sure it doesn’t happen). DD, who apparently John Henry has man-love for, will be allowed to retool on the fly…..
MLB is far to accidental to predict a repeat next year….but they’ll be in the hunt. They’re still young; OF’s younger than most rebuilding teams, Devers is 22 etc…….lots of core pieces….
Yes they’ll make it happen again next year. Like you say they’ll be in the hunt. Big reason for Success this year was their alternate Approach at the plate. Nice job hiring the right guys. Ownership knows how to get it done.
Giving a QO to Kimbrel seems like a major mistake. He would most definitely accept it.
Lol he’s going to get at least 60M over 4 years, more likely 5/80ish or more.
Dombrowski doesn’t really need to do much. I think getting Pearce back to be a bench bat and (if needed) platoon with Moreland would be great, and they either need a lefty reliever (Wilson/Miller) or their star closer back. The former would be much cheaper, and they have enough talented arms to ride it out, especially in the regular season. They have to be a bit careful, cause imagine what they will have to pay Mookie in the next few years…
I do not understand the Red Sox obsession with Blake Swihart.
He’s out of minor league options and you can’t just cut him. Plus he could take off at any time and be a stud so you don’t want to give him away for a double A minor leaguer. He’s just a guy who’s right on the verge of either crashing or succeeding.
Agreed.. pedigree isn’t a reason to get a player.. just let go of swihart. Any player might because the next later bloomer but you tie up roster spots for a redundant player.
Tie up a roster space? He’s not an embarrassment at multiple positions including as a third string catcher. What more do you want for a 25th man?
You don’t understand why an organization likes a young, switch hitting, catcher, with a possible plus bat, and plus arm?
“If you could read their (the Red Sox) mind love…what a beautiful story it would tell…”
…he’s just a “rainy day people”……
No plans to get that trophy fixed?
Pearce makes the most sense to keep. Mooreland, Devers, Benetendi all LH bats, and Pearce can play those positions, tho, admittedly, without much skill. I wouldn’t want him at 3B or LF 6 days a week, but as a fill in……and I think he actually plays a pretty good 1B, important since most throws from their IFs are adventures…..
I thought he played very good 1B in the playoffs. There didn’t seem to be a huge dropoff from Moreland at all.
Dombrowski knows his stuff. He built the Marlins from an expansion team to the 1997 World Series Champion. Then, with the fire sale after the 97 season, along with draft picks, he acquired many of prospects that would be big pieces for the 2003 championship run (Derrick Lee .from the Padres; Brad Penny from the D-Backs; AJ Burnett from the Mets; Dontrelle Willis from the Cubs; Mike Lowell from the Yankees; Braden Looper from the Cardinals; etc.)
I think he’ll figure out what needs to be done with the Red Sox moving forward.
Then he will leave with an old core of unmovable players..: again.
He was following ownership’s desires in Detroit. He’s not the only one to give a long contract or two that bombed back then.
Uh, he left Miami for Detroit before 2003. Somehow it looks like he left them with a nice core of movable players considering that after they won the championship, they were able to trade all of those players from 2003 through the 2005 offseason for more prospects.
I’m sure the Sox will be fine.
I’m not sure why you would want to give an $18M qualifying offer to Kimbrel. Brasier was pretty good and was a closer in the minors before being called up in September. Pomeranz is gone. Hanley Ramirez’s $22M is off the books now (still paying for that Sandoval deal though). Eovaldi is gone (I’d like to see the Sox resign him for 3/45, but I think he will fetch more than that).
Joe Kelly is interesting cause we are paying him to be a starter (when we traded for him and Allen Craig he was a starter). I think Pearce is gone even though I love his story. We have Sam Travis who has been waiting to play and could be a good fit to platoon with Moreland this year.
In arbitration I could see Mookie getting $15M. If he keeps it up he could easily be a $25M per kinda guy (Trout/Harper money) but he’s in Arb for the next 2 years.
Sox apparently don’t care about the ‘cap’ so there isn’t a need to go completely crazy with cutting costs, but a 3M pay bump for a closer who was incredibly shaky this year makes me cringe a little bit.
Fyi, Trout is making $35M, not $25M. And he was extended a lot earlier. The Red Sox are lucky if Mookie signs on the dotted line for $35M/year, on a five year deal.
Realistically, it’s either gonna be closer to $40M on a shorter deal….or it’s gonna take a lifetime contract (15 years, since he’s only 26yo), with a total of $400M, to bring down the AAV.
Boston ownership has not mentioned staying under the luxury tax as a priority for 2019.
—————
That’s because they’re already over it. So getting under it would involve moving people.
Bring Back Eovaldi! Ultimate post-season performer. The Red Sox must have seen something in him, and he’s proven himself. Good reason to try to get him back.
haha sox can quickly replenish the farm with compensation picks by letting half the group walk
To make another run next year it makes sense to get a top flight SP. I’d use Devers to get Baumgarner. His value is low and his talent is high. His post season experience is outstanding and he’s already proven to be the kind of SP who doesn’t mind relieving if needed. Plus, he can be used as a pinch hitter if games go beyond 12 innings and we run out of bench hitters!! Kimbrel’s money could be used to help with the increases to current players and to resign Eovaldi. Doing closer by committee might not be too bad if the committee has Brasier, Kelly and Barnes. Maybe a hard throwing lefty might be available at a reasonable price to add to the mix.
There must be some value that can be used for players like Pomerantz and our ineffective righty relievers. Steven Wright is guy we should hang on too for his unique pitching style and how that might work in both relief and occasional starts. The other current roster spots seem inconsequential.
For me, a stud SP would really make a big difference and I don’t believe Devers will ever improve enough defensively to justify playing him at 3B. He’s been improving since high school and he’s still the worst 3B in the majors. I think “the miracle happens now” time has past and we must accept that he’s a butcher at 3B. Do we want a butcher who has tons of power, is questionable as to his ability to hit for average and lacks speed and still needs to expand his baseball acumen allot? Kinsler buys us a couple of years to find a guy who can field and hit. We should find someone comparable to Betts, Benintendi, Bradley (now that he hits), Bogaerts, Peddy, Moreland/Pearce who can hit and field.
Devers value has jumped due to the post-season so we should cash in on that. Baumgarner would look great in a Red Sox uniform, just like DeGrom. We need someone at that level. Anything less is wasted money. We do have lots of money dropping off but I don’t think we are on a “balancing the budget’ agenda right now so lets find the few pieces we need and take another run at it. DD looks very smart right now, let’s hope we can say that a year from now. Let’s hope Cora figures out JD should bat 3rd. We can only imagine who would have won the MVP if JD had batted third and had all those opportunities. We’ll never know but for me a .340 power hitter is better than a .280 power hitter.
why would SF even agree to that? Lets put another chubby at 3B. why not trade with the angels and in exchange give them the sunflower seeds on the floor of the dugout?
Cora and the Red Sox won the World Series, and you’re still going on about JD batting 3rd vs 4th. You and Barron almost make it an embarrassment to be a Red Sox fan. Can’t appreciate that they won the whole thing, because they didn’t do it your way..
No jackass I’m talking baseball and you have your head up your ass. Next time write something worth reading. Go check the stats Mr. Cheapshot artist. Your an embarrassment to Red Sox fans because you don’t understand the game. Make a counter argument next time rather than cyber bullying. My excitement for us winning isn’t dampened by the line-up, it’s aggravating to see what it did to JD. I’d like him to stick around. Go back through the box scores and count up the opportunities for RBIs that were given to the 3 hitter instead of the .340 hitter. It’s bad baseball and it’s not my opinion alone, there are thousands of stats to support what I’m saying. Again, I have no issue arguing a point with anyone but at least come armed with facts, intelligence and something more than cheap shots.
Some of these comments are just too much.
Eovaldi is not getting a huge money. Hewill probably get a 3yr/$40mil deal.
Pearce is a great story, but he’s a 35 year old journeyman. He’s not likely to get many decent offers. Probably similar to Freese (1 yr 5 mil).
Kelly had a great postseason but that doesn’t erase his less-than-stellar regular-season. I’d be surprised if many teams even considered him as a closer.
They should extend a qualifying offer to Kimbrel. He’s unlikely to accept and will probably get a four-year deal or one similar to Chapman’s deal. At least we get the draft pick if he declines.
Hopefully they focus on getting Betts, Sale and Bogaerts figured out first.
One would think they’ll check in on J D Martinez as well and get a feel on him.
As far as many of the other young players on the roster, they have some time.
They recognized their peak window as ’18 and ’19. They have as good a shot at another World Series appearance as anyone.
They’re in great shape for ’19 already.
Dombrowski has made solid moves for the most part and he won a WS in a year where he was criticized at every moment. I think this team will be even better on Opening Day. Looking forward to it.
DD you do what you do have a lot of faith in this guy he is a very smart baseball man. I’m sure the Red Sox will be very competitive next year and that’s all you can ask for. In my opinion Cora did an excellent job this year and he is especially strong at relating to his players and getting the most out of them. KD cmon man stop with the talk of trading Devers the 22 year old who oh by the way made no errors in the postseason and only had 4 errors after July 22nd. The Red Sox are not trading Devers it isn’t going to happen.
Not making errors is good. If you are familar with RF (Range Factor – Total number of outs participated in (basically (PO+A)/IP)) he was 11th on the Red Sox!! So, basically he didn’t make errors and didn’t have many plays to make errors in the post season. Things worked out very well for him and consequently the Red Sox. He wasn’t exposed.
His fielding percent during the season was only ahead of Porcello, Kelly and Phillips!! His fielding percentage went from .906 in 2017 to .926 in 2018. True, that is improvement. In four more years he could be comparable to our other starters. I’m sorry, but the facts don’t support Devers as a fielder. I am thrilled he never cost us a game in the post season with his glove, but should we all have to stress every time the ball is hit to 3B in the future? I do appreciate how much you like him but I think you are counting heavily on a magical transition that hasn’t happened so far and seems unlikely to happen based on the history of baseball. Name another 3B that was a butcher then became great or even above average with there glove. Did they play 3B? Now how many butchers never got better? I think you’ll find it’s far more likely he won’t improve and his body type certainly won’t make this easier as he gets older. Someone mentioned Panda in the responses to my first comments and apparently folks outside Boston may see him quite differently than you do. Thus, I say trade him coming off a series where he didn’t embarrass himself.
Also, 4 errors after July 22nd. Nice! Isn’t that a bit of a misuse of statistics? He had 20 errors in his first 80 games and only played 36 games in the second half of the year. He got benched by Cora because of his glove and his lack of hitting so I don’t think the second half supports the idea he’s improving. He’s a cocky kid and I do think the post season gave him back some of his lost swagger but I’m not sure that’s good because it’s that swagger that leads him to swinging at everything. I truly believe he can become a great hitter if he learns discipline but that’s a huge if and in my opinion a risky if.
I remember when Montero (Yankee Catcher) came up and was going to be a prolific hitter. He had the same issues and failed, got traded to Seattle and was never heard of again. There is a good chance he could do the same. We all thought Wil Middlebrooks was going to be great after a year. How did that turn out. Why gamble on a guy when you don’t have to? He could become another Bagwell or he could become the far more frequent scenario, a guy who never makes it in the field and ends up DHing at a young age and eventually loses confidence and fades away. He a Gary Sanchez are both on the Montero track and it will be interesting to see if one, both or neither follow in his footsteps. Big power, too many strike outs, bad defense.
I say sell high and get as much as you can for him then find a long term solution at 3B that can field and hit.
Ok KD here is retort rookie year for Adrian Beltre 29 errors in just a few more chances.
You don’t compare other fielders to third baseman your comparing defense to other guys in the field is not how you compare third baseman.
Devers doesn’t strike out nearly as much as Middlebrooks does, as a matter of fact Devers struck out in less then 25% of his at bats which isn’t bad for a 25% slugger acclimating himself to the big leagues.
In the Minors he was a less the. 20% strikeout guy so his bat to ball skills are there. You advocated Dalbec in an earlier article and that guy strikes out 37% of the time in the minors how is that going to translate to the big leagues?
You don’t give up on a guy as young as Devers just because you think maybe he wont be a good fielder. Beltre had more errors then Devers his first year and things worked out better then OK I’d say.
Maybe you will be right about Devers but don’t pass judgement on a 22 year old kid my opinion is he will be a star and your is he will be a bust reality is somewhere between there.