Kristian Campbell started doing first base drills before the Red Sox’s series opener against the Braves. Boston has been patching things together at the position since Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago.
“Looking for options,” manager Alex Cora said about Campbell’s pregame work (link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive). “Obviously, we’re getting Romy (Gonzalez) probably by the end of the week or early next week. But just introducing (Campbell) to first base and seeing how it looks. … It can take 10 days, 15 days, a month, two months, but we started the process.”
Gonzalez, a utility infielder, got first crack at the position after the Casas injury. He was sidelined by a quad contusion a week later. As Cora noted, the Sox expect he’ll be back after a near minimal stint. Abraham Toro and Nick Sogard, each of whom were in Triple-A at the beginning of the month, are splitting first base until Gonzalez returns.
The Sox approached Rafael Devers about taking first base reps. He indicated he wasn’t willing to do so, publicly expressing frustration with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow after the Sox moved him off third base to designated hitter at the beginning of the season. Devers has not played a single defensive inning all year.
Campbell has no collegiate or professional experience as a first baseman. He has played mostly second but also has experience at both left side infield positions and all three outfield spots. Campbell has started 34 games at the keystone during his rookie season. He has added 50 outfield innings — 38 in center and 12 in left. While it’s not worth placing much stock in six weeks of defensive metrics, Campbell has not graded well at second. Statcast has him two runs below average, while Defensive Runs Saved has graded him six runs below par. That’s tied with Jake Cronenworth for second-worst at the position (above Washington’s Luis García Jr.).
It doesn’t seem the Sox are planning an imminent first base move for Campbell. They may be reluctant to kick a 22-year-old top prospect down the defensive spectrum as a short-term response to an injury. There’s little harm in seeing how Campbell takes to pregame work, though, and the Sox have another top middle infield prospect looming. Marcelo Mayer is hitting .274 with eight homers at Triple-A Worcester. He could eventually push the scuffling Trevor Story for playing time at shortstop. If Campbell were to move to first, one of Mayer or Story could slide to second base.
Campbell is not hitting like a 1st baseman right now
I’m surprised this article isnt about him being sent down
He was just extended so they will give him a long leash. Especially since he can still net them a free draft pick with first or second in Roy voting if I recall correctly. Maybe I’m wrong and it’s just first. Might as well keep the counting stats at the major league level
Dooper – Campbell gets them a draft pick by playing enough games for one year of service.
@fpg thanks for the clarification.
Campbell will not get them a draft pick just by playing enough games to accrue a year of service time.
“MLB clubs can earn a draft pick after the first round if a PPI-eligible player accrues one year of service as a rookie and then factors into a major award. That means he either has to win his league’s Rookie of the Year award or place in the top three in MVP or Cy Young voting prior to qualifying for arbitration.”
mlb.com/news/prospect-promotion-incentive-faq
@all in the suit. Thanks for the correction to the clarification
The interesting thing with the PPI is you get 3 years to earn it. The first year you need to earn a full year of service time. Then you get 3 shots:
1) do you win ROY
2) top 3 mvp/Cy
3) top 3 mvp/Cy
You just need to check one of those.bkxes prior to arbitration
Dooper – I thankfully can’t view that person’s posts, but here is the more detailed explanation and the source I used..
Bottom line, the Red Sox are prioritizing a draft pick and extra year of service time over winning ….. quite shameful for an organization who repeatedly lies about wanting to win this year.
And also shameful that Mayer and Anthony are being kept in the minors, while Campbell will likely remain in the majors no matter how bad he plays.
overthemonster.com/2025/5/15/24430212/this-is-why-…
“Now, let’s take a look at two very important updates the PPI brings to the equation as described by Chad Jennings and Cody Stevenhagen in the Athletic last month:
Under the PPI rules, teams can earn additional draft picks — high picks, immediately after the first round — by giving elite prospects a full year of service time. Players with little or no MLB service (rookies, basically) who appear on two of three top 100 prospect rankings (MLB Pipeline, Baseball America and ESPN) are PPI-eligible.
Any PPI-eligible player who finishes first or second in Rookie of the Year voting is awarded a full year of service time regardless of when he actually debuted.
For Red Sox purposes, Kristian Campbell represents the opportunity for a draft pick described in the first bullet, and Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer represent the concern of a lost year of controlled service time for the club in the second. In other words, it greatly behooves the Red Sox front office to ensure Kristian Campbell finishes ahead of both Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer in the Rookie of the Year voting.
If Campbell wins Rookie of the year, the Sox get a very valuable extra draft pick in 2026 between the first and second round, and as long as Anthony or Mayer don’t finish second, they also get an extra year of control over both of them in 2031 when Anthony will be in his age-27 season and Mayer will be in his age-28 season.
However, if Anthony or Mayer pass Campbell in the race for Rookie of the Year, they not only lose the potential bonus draft pick, but they also risk losing a prime season of Anthony and/or Mayer in 2031.
So right now, the PPI (again, that’s the Prospect PROMOTION Initiative) is actually incentivizing even more service time manipulation than we ever could have dreamed of under the old system.”
GaSox – Exactly, which is why I initially wrote that THIS YEAR KC need only play enough to accrue one year of service time, he doesn’t need to finish high in voting for any awards.
That was the reason for my initial post.
1) Any team planning the development or promotion of their prospects around potential multiple ROY players garnering a bunch of draft picks is very optimistic about its farm and prospect development in general.
2) For an organization, winning is never a one year deal. If it were, the ideal plan would be to cash in all their prospects and build a juggernaut. But of course, they have to look to the future. Every team should look at a good prospect and say, “We’re probably better off with more of this guy.” It’s just common sense.
I’m happy they’ve added incentives to promote rookies but I prefer the old system where the top rookies got major league contracts and 40 man rules basically ensured they’d be getting service time. But the MLBPA has managed to somehow take that earning power away from its members and turn it into something that benefits owners. Good job, Tony.
this is speculation from a blog site and not a journalist with actual inside knowledge.
Campbell not hitting isn’t the problem, and at any case, he is doing better than Casas was.
And he will definitely do better than Casas for the remainder of the year.
He will do better than Casas period. Everyone praises Casas, but look at his career stats. He’s just not that good
He’s got a career. ,800 OPS, which is in fact good.
.800 OPS? Don’t see the forest for the trees. How about Casa’s average, strikeout rate, the fact that he’s very streaky and goes cold for long periods of time?
You said “chedk his career stats, they;re not good”
His career OPS, is in fact good. OPS is far more important than BA.
Not disagreeing with you per se, but the importance of one stat over another is not a fact, it is the opinion of the person looking at the stats. OPS is not more important than BA to everyone and BA is not more important than OPS to everyone. People can freely disagree, but no one is “wrong” in their opinion. It’s just a different interpretation.
It’s important, I’m just saying look at the whole picture. He’s been fantastic in one stretch of a season, which wasn’t even that long, and that’s it. OPS is important but it’s not everything. You failed to respond to my other stats and just solely want to look at OPS. Forest for the trees
109 OPS+ for a rookie is pretty darn good and no reason to be sent down hitting like that. The league as a whole is hitting .243/.316/.394.
FYI… More shortstops hit over 30 homeruns last season than firstbasemen and outfielders. Traditional “power positions” are a thing of the past.
YBC – I love interesting tidbits like that, but the over 30 homerun thing was challenged and overturned ;O)
Outfielders with over 30 homers last year:
Judge
Soto
Santander
Hernandez
Shortstops with over 30 homers last year:
Henderson
Lindor
Adames
Witt
Looking back to 2023, there were only 2 shortstops who did it (Seager & Lindor) compared to 3 first basemen (Olson, Alonso, Walker) and 5 outfielders (Acuna, Garcia, Robert, Soto, Rodriguez)
Honestly I think the reason why so few first basemen hit for power anymore is because they are part of a platoon …. especially catchers who are also playing first base.
Xristian Kampbell
What is the point of your post?
Sad – I don’t get it either. LOL!
Well it’s good to know Cora won’t be managing the game tomorrow, although I don’t think it will matter much with Senga pitching.
Today the Sox radio guys were absolutely hammering Bello, insisting he be sent down to AAA to work on his game. It was definitely disappointing to see another mental breakdown, I was hoping he had matured and was over it. If he can’t get his head right, he will never be more than a back-end-of-the-rotation guy.
Sox were very lucky to not get swept, thanks to Atlanta’s bullpen meltdown. Bringing in a curveball specialist to face Devers was crazy.
Let’s hope Raffy can keep the hot streak going, he’s been phenomenal.
At least he’s a team player unlike some other guy who plays with them.
When you slump, they look at other options, hopefully kid gets back into hitting like started off with and get that 2nd fielding under control
It’s worth a try in my opinion, but someone should tell Devers to man up.
It should be Devers moving to 1B. It opens up the DH spot for one of Yoshida, Anthony or Mayer – all three of which would be massive offensive upgrades over Abraham Toro or Nick Sogard.
Anthony and Mayer should not be DHing. Too valuable on the field to be DHing. Plus, if they’re the future, they need on field experience. You got me with Yoshida, though he has no space on this team if either Mayer or Anthony are called up
Not necessarily saying that Mayer or Anthony should DH, just that by Devers moving to 1B it opens up the DH spot to plug in a much better hitter than Nick Sogard.
Gotcha. Makes sense but there’s still a logjam. We can’t really logistically keep Yoshida
I don’t follow Boston, but why is Yoshida not an option at 1B? EverythingI have read is for Devers to take first so Yoshida can DH, but why not reverse it?
I wouldn’t be opposed to it but Yoshida was never a guy they took praise putting in the field
Yoshida had surgery in the offseason. I think he is still unable to throw, but is rehabbing.
Yoshida is also very undersized, and, not very agile when it comes to stretching and picking
First base. It’s not hard. Tell him Wash
It’s incredibly hard
Sean – Sogard tonight playing first base actually ducked instead of trying to catch a good throw from Campbell. One of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.
That’s because he screwed up when the ball was hit, and even though he was already standing right at or just past the cutout area around 1B he still broke to his right initially on a ball hit to 2B instead of breaking to the bag at 1B to take the throw. That’s at least the 3rd time someone has done that since Casas got injured. Whoever they settle on to take over 1B the majority of the time needs that drilled into them, that they need to know where they are on the field and exactly where the line is that they absolutely cannot cross going after a ground ball. All 3 of the guys they’ve played there so far play ground balls like they’re playing a middle infield position.
Ken – Yes going after the ball was his first mistake, but Sogard did get back to the base in time to catch KC’s throw. Everyone is puzzled as to why he ducked instead of catching the perfect throw, allowing the ball to hit the baserunner.
I agree, all three (Sogard, Toro and Romy) have shown their inexperience at the position.
I’m not crazy about the idea of KC playing first base fulltime, he has enough to worry about already with his horrendous hitting. I’d rather he focus on hitting instead of learning another new position, but I guess if it means Mayer gets called up in July then that’s a silver lining.
I think Campbell can figure it out at 1B and possibly be good there. He’s not all that good defensively at 2B anyway. As for his hitting if Cora knew anything about constructing a lineup and putting players in the best spots in it Campbell might be able to settle in better. He should be hitting 2nd, right behind Duran and in front of Devers. A lineup of Duran, Campbell, Devers, Bregman, Abreu as the top 5 would work a hell of a lot better than anything Cora has thrown together to this point. 6-9 would be dependent on who else is in the lineup and how they’re hitting. If Story gets on one of his 2 week hot streaks put him 6th with Narvaez or Wong 7th, Sogard 8th and Rafaela 9th. Right now I’d put Narvaez 6th ahead of Story. But I doubt these moves will ever occur to Cora.
Ken – Maybe I’m a bit old school, but I think whenever any player goes into a deep slump they should be moved out of the 1-4 spots in the lineup.
I do think Bregman should be hitting 2nd between Duran and Devers.
Overall they really need Anthony and/or Mayer in the lineup.
King- i tend to agree with your batting lineup. However, some analyst figure out that over the course of a season the #2 hole in the lineup gets something like 39 more plate appearances than the #3 or #4 spot (you’ll have to take my word for it, I’m looking for the link to where I read that). Therefore, the analyst concluded your best hitter (Soto, Judge
,etc) should get the most plate appearances! Genius, right?
But, I don’t think there is a lot of consideration put into the high/low leverage-ness of those 39 extra plate appearances. I don’t believe that only having one batter in front of you gives your best hitter the most opportunities to hit with me on base. Rather, if he batted third (like for the last 100 yrs) there would be two opportunities to get me. On in front of him.
C’est la vie….they know the game best!
Sad – I’ve written about this numerous times, I believe the analysis you mention is one Bill James came up with years ago.
Yes there’s more PA’s the higher in the order you go … but without question those very few extra PA’s don’t justify the significant reduction in RBI opportunities. It’s absolutely absurd to have sluggers like Judge, Schwarber and Ohtani batting leadoff unless you’ve got sluggers to cover the 3-4 hole in the lineup.
Yeah, I would have moved KC out of #4 a week ago. Don’t know that it would make a difference, but he doesn’t need the pressure here. When he whiffs on three straight fat strikes, without a swing, he isn’t in the right state of mind to succeed.
Wait – Yeah it’s really maddening how inconsistent and contradictory Cora is. So many times he’s tried to justify decisions by claiming they were made out of concern for the player, but where’s the concern for KC’s well being?
4-for-51 with just one extra-base hit and 17 K’s to just one walk …. it doesn’t get much worse than that. Where’s the day off? Where’s the moving down in the lineup? It’s affecting all aspects of his game, including his fielding.
Thank God Raffy and Duran came through last night, just like they did so many times last year. Of course it helps the Braves pen truly sucks. LOL
FEVER……FINALLY… someone that gets it…
Duran 1st / Devers 2nd…. is an open invitation to the opposing Manager to bring in a lefty to face them in key situations late in game. Simply putting a righty in between them eliminates that obvious move for the opposing Manager.
Cooper – Exactly!
Ideally it should be Duran/Bregman/Devers/Story or Campbell/Abreu
I’d put Bregman in cleanup and Campbell 2nd when he starts hitting again, but the analytics folks believe that’s too low in the lineup for Bregman.
But as we all know, Story and KC haven’t earned that cleanup spot …. not yet anyway.
Who knows, the way Narvaez has been hitting maybe he will make a good righty cleanup hitter. LOL
They put the fat kids at first base for a reason…
Fever,
At least he didn’t lose the ball in the lights like DJ did for the Yankees last year when he played 1B. Now that was…something.
You tell em, Mr. Tellez.
Tigers, I remember in Little League they put the worst player in right field since there were so few left-handed batters at the time.
let – From my experiences the “fat kids” always played catcher because they made a nice target and didn’t have to run or move too far, and the worst fielders always played first base because it’s the easiest position.
Didn’t you ever watch Bad News Bears? LOL
Right field is harder than left field in the majors because you’ve got to try and keep runners from going to third base which means long throws from the outfield.
A left fielder never has to throw to first base, except in the rare instance when they are trying to double up a runner.
Acoss – Wow, I didn’t hear about that one. Sounds like DJ’s contract can’t end fast enough!
But he signed to be a 2nd baseman! He shouldn’t be willing to accommodate and help the team by moving positions
Devers did infield drills at 1B too. Also according to Cotillo. Why is it news that Campbell did and not that Devers did?
It’s MLBTR writers, what do you expect?
And the bigger news is that Raffy is a big baby
I expect you to delete your account Mr. Karen.
No clue what you’re referring to…
Perhaps they agreed to stop talking about it. They both took their public hits and now they can just move on. Plus, it’s not like Devers will never play in the field again.
Apparently you are wrong about that, because he is already playing in the field, albeit in practice.
The linked article didn’t indicate that Devers took 1B drills.
Based on the rundown last night Raffy is continuing to do his best to make them think he’s allergic to being near 1B
This team is getting tough to watch
The entire bullpen decided to melt down together, apparently.
Hban – Let’s look on the bright side, they avoided another one-run loss.
BB Bernardino
Let – He’s been solid this season, but like the NESN guys said the more robotic pitching changes the greater chance one of them won’t have it.
Cora makes way too many pitching changes, he overmanages.
Swan – I watched every play tonight as usual. There is so much wrong with this team. 3 outs on the basepaths. Both Bregman and Sogard made unofficial errors. Signs being missed. Rafaela trying to bunt despite Hamilton having the base stolen.
At some point Henry has to realize it’s not the players, it’s the manager and coaches.
It is mostly the same problems as usual. There is too much swing and miss for a lineup that doesn’t really scare anyone and is that thin. The lack of baseball IQ at the plate with runners on is frustrating. There are far too many situations with men on that you can clearly see hitters not even attempting proper fundamentals at the plate to move runners.
Defensively this team should be miles ahead of the last three years, and for some reason, it is not. The emphasis/reliance on defensive flexibility leads to mediocrity. Finding new and exciting ways to play people out of position has gotten old and has still not worked after years of doing it.
Our pitching, for years, has performed nearly exactly how we should all expect it to, and no where near what this front office seems to think it has. It is fine for a team that doesn’t have aspirations to go deep into the playoffs. There simply isn’t playoff quality in the pen or a deep quality rotation and for that reason this team simply cannot expect to string consistency together for long winning streaks or avoid losing streaks. Pinning your hopes on known damaged goods for a discount over and over again probably shouldn’t work out. Surprise, it hasn’t worked out.
William – Yep you covered it all.
My biggest concern outside of the obvious (Cora) is the coaching staff. They are giving bad advice, especially Dillon Lawson (fired mid-season by the Yankees) and Driveline.
FPG- why aren’t we better? There will be 100 reasons posted in this thread in the next 24 hrs. Like many of you, personally, I want to blame Cora. I think he’s a very big part of the problem.
There are a few glaring on-field deficiencies, that have to be addressed.
I want to take it one level up. I am convinced that the overarching, undying devotion to Analytics is strangling the life out of the players.
Henry is true believer. The Red Sox have perhaps the largest Anaylitcs Office in baseball. They recently fired scouts in order to hire more analysts.
Bill James believed that all players were interchangeable, and thus Red Sox “position flexibility” theory was created. The analyst believe in the three true outcome theory and thus we have a “swing for the fences all the time” hitting approach. Moreover, the deep dive study of underlying pitching metrics is so baffling, it leads to the 17th best ERA in baseball with a staff that should be far better.
Analytics is a tool. I don’t deny their usefulness. Where I draw the line is the use of Analytics to deny the humanity of 26 baseball players. Ken Rosenthal recently said that the “modern” GM looks at players like robots.
In order to take a leap forward on the field, I think the Sox need to take a step back from the Analytics off the field.
You covered about all of it. More examples…
How many Sox players have been thrown out at second on wall balls? I remember three off the top of my head. Those are stupid mistakes that often only visiting players make.
Story has to be “placed” on the IL. Take one for the team Trev and make up some back injury. Take your 2-106 slump, sit down and let Mayer take a shot.
This bullpen… man. Anything that can be done to blow up an inning, they’ll find a way.
A baseball coaching staff just sits in the dugout and the players ultimately determine the game. But there is this lingering lack of leadership that’s showing during games. Bad baserunning and situational hitting have been terrible for the team this year. I cringe when they get a guy on second w no one out. And they stopped stealing bases over the last 20-25 games. That seemed to be working at the start of the season. I liked when they would just push the action and pressure the defense.
This coaching staff is mostly crap and it starts at Cora. The worst off season move they made was extending him.
It’s only May and all that. And I usually try to stay rose-colored-glasses positive because I love the team. But wow. After watching how the well the Tigers play and how they dismantled Boston in that last series … the Sox have some serious holes in their philosophies and their team.
swan – Great post!
Minor correction, Cora wasn’t extended during the offseason …. he was extended July 24th of last year. The reason I bring it up is because that makes it MUCH worse, them rushing to extend him before he would inevitably lead the players to yet another second half collapse.
And I like how the players responded to his extension, losing 20-7 to the lowly Rockies!
Sad – Great post!
I am a “big picture” guy, and like you said the over-reliance on analytics is killing the team …. too much data for the players to absorb, and too much data not being used properly.
How many statistical analysts does it take to run the Boston Red Sox?
300 ….. 1 to update the data every day, and 299 to give John Henry the impression that they will actually help the team win.
Sad – KC is benched again tonight, very interesting. Cora wanted to protect him from having to face Senga?
Seems strange to give the kid another breather, he had last Thursday off as well. That’s three days off over a 5-day period.
Hopefully he’s not having a mental breakdown or something, his facial expressions were looking pretty bad over the weekend.
Really hope Cora didn’t screw up the kid by throwing first base at him. I was in a similar situation once many years ago, I was already doing the work of 3 people and my boss asked me to learn a 4th job. It was the tipping point for me.
I stopped watching. Call me a bad fan but it’s depressing… I only watch parts and when I do, they lose. Cora needs to go. No excuses to lose games with this roster. He used to be the best too, but his good managing days are over. Fire Cora and promote Varitek
Totally agree that Cora needs to go. He’s been failing at nearly every facet of managing possible this season. There seems to be a serious lack of leadership, communication, etc.
There is no chemistry with this team .
Starts with the zhit manager, who hasn’t been able to put it together with all the talent they have .
Been saying this for the last 4 years
He’s nothing but a cancer and will leave a stain on the Red Sox brand for years to come. Shouldn’t have been signed in the first place after he was caught shaming the game.
I understand signing him again because he was that good in 18 and 21 but why sign him this past offseason? It was clear they needed a new direction.
It all comes back to what dirt Cora has and is holding over Henry.
The pieces are there. It’s simply a case where this manager cannot get results out of the roster. Bobby V was a great baseball mind, but, couldn’t run the Sox. I’m not going to say Cora’s a great baseball mind, but, again, he can’t get the results.
He doesn’t inspire the players.
Heck, even tito lost his grip at the end there and needed a change of scenery.
I think if this team is mired at .500 at the AS break, Cora needs to go. Kick him into analytics if you don’t want to fire him.
He got the results in 2018 and got a lot out of them in 2021. He was smart then. Now, we just need a change of scenery. His time here is done
This team is worse than last year’s team, yet we have a better team on paper
See someone willing to try. Take a lesson devers
Tang – Is KC an unathletic 9-year veteran with an .857 OPS who has never played anything other than 3B?
KC has played every position except catcher, pitcher and first base. He’s willing to look as bad at first base as he has at second base and other positions, good for him. He’s 22 and locked up through 2034, he’s got nothing to lose by trying first base on the fly.
Noted Devers.
Conversation went well.
“You put on a glove breslow”
this ain’t the solution.
Impartial observer here.
Fire Cora. Let’s have another mlbtr poll.
Who should replace Cora?
Trade Devers and his contract to Toronto for next to nothing, just salary relief.
Start fresh. Ditch the weird selfish egos.
Big Papi.
I don’t think any team will take on that contract unless Devers is willing to play 1B. Vlad will need time at DH too as he ages.
YBC – I’ll bet you an extra-large tomato pie (with 3 toppings) at Pepe’s in New Haven that Devers eventually plays first base ;o)
@FPG That sounds delicious! I haven’t been there in years. I agree that he’ll come around to it eventually.
YBC – You’ll be happy to know Dugie hasn’t gained any intelligence since leaving the Yanks.
He airmails a throw to home despite having no chance to nail Duran, thus allowing Devers to take second base.
And he tries to score from 2B on a base hit to Duran, getting thrown out by a mile and actually laughing about it. Would have been bases loaded for Ozuna.
I’m so glad he’s not on the Sox anymore.
Fan – I’m with you on the Cora part, I’d prefer Tek or Ross as manager.
Ain’t gonna happen during the season though.
Tek. Couldn’t agree more.
Never expected this to THE year. Which is why I was so adamant about bringing up all three and not signing Bregman. He fits nicely no doubt but will he stay? Probably not. Probably gets offered more years from Yankees or Dodgers etc. next year. Best case scenario is Cora gets fired. Then it might have been worth it. Still very interested and invested in seeing how this team progresses but they certainly are not a playoff team at this point and they may be in too deep of a hole for it to matter if they turn it around mid summer. The talent we’ve got in the minors from A-AAA is elite. Need to start pushing them through and figure out what exactly we’ve got. Either that, or start brainstorming how to trade some of them. You could argue that winning more of the 1 run games we’ve lost would make this an entirely different story, but if you’ve watched this team enough, you know that they are just not playing like a contender. Losers lose 1 run games, often. Cora is a loser.
Also, why are we trying to manipulate Anthony’s service time? We are a big market team and he’s the best player in AAA. If he comes up and plays like a superstar then he’s gonna get paid. What does that extra year really do for us? I get it when Tampa does this. But come on. Gtfoh with that kind of mentality. Bring the kid up. Send Rafaela down. Leave Campbell at 2nd. Trade some prospects for Hoskins and a reliever. Or do nothing and give the kids a chance and figure out what we need for next year and beyond.
For some reason the preference is to be somewhere in between being terrible and disappointing.
Sean – As long as they *appear* to be in the WC race through August, they will sell tickets and have viewers …. there is no incentive to truly compete for a division title.
And with the expanded postseason format, making the playoffs is a LOT easier than it was 5+ years ago.
Sean – With regard to Anthony, it’s always about money with them. They care most about retaining team control for their players, even the ones who aren’t that good (ie Rafaela).
Sean – The irony of it all is ownership stated they weren’t going to try contending until 2026 at the earliest ….. clearly it was their desire to sell more tickets this season that caused them to lie about this being “the year”.
SOUPER news about CAMPBELL!!
For a rookie to play 2nd, cf, lf, and now 1b is pretty wild. If story gets hurt they’ll make him play ss too. Young players need consistency and balance. They got this kid running around the field between half a dozen positions
Mr.Bing- couldnt agree more!!!
I don’t care how many rookies you want to throw out there, but, they play one position!
It’s a skill and a craft. They need to learn, hone and master those skills
Sad – You are right on the money!!!
He didn’t even get a chance to work out his issues at 2B.
Do you know where KC was a year ago?
Playing High-A ball in the Sally league ….. good grief, talk about rushing a prospect.
Bing – Exactly!! They are really taking advantage of this kid, it’s disgusting.
Do you know where KC was a year ago?
Playing High-A ball in the Sally league ….. good grief, talk about rushing a prospect.
Forcing him to learn first base now while in the midst of a horrific batting slump is the epitome of “panic move”.
Drill salesman. First base, a good place.to.sell drills?
Who woulda thunk it…..
Or maybe they just needed a vacation…. after a short stop in Miami…..
Patrick Wisdom is playing in Korea. Can he opt out? He’s doing decent there. Good exit velocity and hard hit rate.
I would think Duran could play 1B.. He has played infield in college and his first year in the minors. 2B/3B/SS.
Mother of God, just put Devers’ name in the lineup card at first and suspend him without pay if he refuses to play. He can’t be any worse than the stiffs they’re running out there now. It’s downright embarrassing. The look on Crochet’s face after Sogard ducked out of the way of Campbell’s throw said it all.
draker – Have you ever seen a fielder intentionally duck to avoid a throw like that?
I sure as heck haven’t!
Some people have speculated he thought Crochet was behind him planted to catch the throw …. I don’t see how that was possible.
Is Sogard another Fear Strikes Out?
I have an idea, since management continues to put imposters at 1st base, perhaps they can put cardboard cutouts of fans with happy faces in the empty seats.
Get a real left-handed first baseman. Perhaps Anthony Rizzo?
This team is awfully hard to watch
Cappy – The attendance manipulation by the Red Sox is hysterical.
I’m very familiar with Fenway, I can tell by the camera shots approximately how many thousands of empty seats there are. They are counting tickets that are allocated as freebies with promotions such as the Fenway Fest and NESN360 free ticket deals even though people aren’t actually using them.
This team has bigger problems than who is playing 1b. Maybe start with a new coaching staff
Dog – The whole organization is messed up and it starts at the top. Unless Henry brings in someone like Lucchino or Dombrowski, nothing will change until Henry himself is replaced. His infatuation with Cora is killing the organization.
Fever: agree with you 💯 on that. Unfortunately I think Cora has more say than the GM or President of Opps in this club .
Campbell! Now there’s a team player! Trade Devers to Seattle for some pitching
B – so trade a guy who is destroying the baseball, BA .285, OPS .900, OPS + 151, because the organizational is dysfunctional and he called it out?
Cool
Let’s get some pitching from the Mariners
Sad – Raffy since April 1st actually has an OPS of 1.008 which is 2nd-best in MLB to only Judge.
Raffy has picked up exactly where he left off last year before the injury got to be too much.
Like the Red Sox players said, they love Raffy and have his back. They don’t care about the off-the-field stuff, all they care about is winning and Raffy helps accomplish that.
Man I think Rhys Hoskins would look good in a sox uniform! Sox haven’t lost much at first, Casas was all about his potential and well the reality is he stunk it up before he got injured. To me, he looked like a different player… like out of shape and not ready for the season. I would find a first baseman that will replace Casas for good. I did have high hopes for him, but I don’t think he is going to figure it out.
The Red Sox are a reflection of the Manager. Also, pretty questionable calls? It’s just about every single game, where these “pretty questionable calls” surface.
Sunday once again was a perfect example. Bello struggled through 4 innings, yet in inning #5 it took 3 walks and two Hits for a total of 5 consecutive guys reaching base for Cora even to get someone up in the BP….. he basically lost the game right there.
This was after 2 consecutive games of him pulling Bello at 4 and 2/3 innings…. so what changed his thinking? Where is the consistency with his thinking? The answer is simple…. he is clueless.
Amazing the Manager Monday night knew to have someone ready in the 5th inning if he felt Dobbins was in trouble instead of waiting till the lead was gone before finally getting anyone up????
Tuesday Night……Once again, Sox Bullpen when used properly, is actually not as bad as they have looked. You manage the game to win that game and worry about the next game tomorrow.
Its getting harder to defend Cora he seems to mismanaging this team ALOT..from pitching decisions to daily lineup even player relationships..might be time to let him go