The Roman Empire: Boston Red Sox 2025

https://i.imgur.com/yeC4Q7K.jpeg

THEY’RE READY. But are they?

https://i.imgur.com/1M6MVEO.jpeg

Where/how much does Ceddanne play?
Can Trevor Story make it through a season?
Will they actually play Yoshida in the outfield?
Is this Casas’s last year on the team?
Will Garrett Crochet be great, or merely good?
Will I ever stop booing Aroldis Chapman? (No.)

All these questions, and more, answered in this thread!

Ceddanne’s swing decisions have been excellent in spring training. He’s like a different hitter in that respect. Going to create some difficult decisions.

We’ll see. Didn’t he hit over 300 in spring training last year? Really like him but we looked for the same last year and it didn’t quite play out.

I didn’t see those ABs but I’ve been paying attention this time and he really does not chase and miss, it’s wild.

Ceddy (R) would look to be a lock for CF. Putting Duran (L) in LF and Abreyu (L) in right. But whither the Roman Empire? Whither Yoshida? Two too many OFs by my lights, with Ref a cheap backup rightie and Campbell able to play out there too.

Kcam is marked for the infield I think but I could see him in a utility role. It’s genuinely shocking to me Abreu is still on the roster. Ofc, trading Duran solves a lot of problems. I would guess Anthony won’t be on the Opening Day regardless? Passan says the whole Devers shitshow is for due to management really wanting to clear a path for Kcam.

What’s almost more interesting to me is Mayer cos Story can opt out at the end of the year, which he could do if he has a good year, and would be the least messy solution going.

🙏

ESPN had a pretty lol piece on the Red Sox incredible training methods for delivering a golden generation of hitters… that boiled down to “they take a lot of very fancy BP.”

There were some interesting nuggets in that Passan piece but that is pretty fair actually. It’s not really that different from what most teams do but it was framed like Boston had cracked a secret code

I was kind of surprised seeing people talk about that article like it was the gospel, but I don’t think Passan has seriously covered the team for years so it’s a big deal.

I think the initial bat speed training program was introduced by Chaim when he overhauled the minors.

I need this yesterday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iCBiPLXnjA

https://dnm.nflximg.net/api/v6/2DuQlx0fM4wd1nzqm5BFBi6ILa8/AAAAQZOYARZDvYxYORTO_fRGQD8uWL-XshmwGW6VTLHJ-tfRmIdz_rHh2Uw6C-GJBw2b9awjVi5Ijn4ffz_L0wXOC-JK6KO8TCmZga3jJvseplfs4v97G_mWWZeCoJ1FKHx8PTnahITMDxBSFpFrzsYxh2un.jpg?r=b8c

lfg

Connor Wong is so photogenic

He’s got a face made to be superimposed over a horizon at 50% opacity

This top 5 fucks IMO. From the bad site:

Cora is leaning toward a top five in batting order of Duran, Devers, Bregman, Casas and Story

Kristian Campbell has made the opening day roster!

pretty expensive DH they got in the lineup with Devers

It's not my money

The BoSox invented the expensive DH.

I think they would handle his fielding at third fine if he didn’t cop an injury 2/3 of the way through every season and limp to the end of the year while his production falls off a cliff. It’s what it is. Mishandled by the org imo.

It’s genuinely shocking to me Abreu is still on the roster.

i for one am quite happy he was on the roster today

I don’t mean it in a Wilyer is bad way, I mean it in a Roman Anthony is coming way. My actual preference to trade OFers would be Duran before Wilyer any day btw because Duran is 29 this year and his legs aren’t going to last forever.

I wrote about the last time Wilyer carved up the Rangers here: Post by Roman Anthony gets on his horse (gyac) from Jack Morris Pitching to the Score, David Eckstein Doing All the Little Things: The Baseball Intangibles Thread on ILX - Jack Morris Pitching to the Score, David Eckstein Doing All the Little Things: The Baseball Intangibles Thread

another hat trick for devers. now 0-for-19 with 15 Ks. i'm told he has yet to hit the ball out of the infield

Yeah we know

Chris Davis' record is in jeopardy.

Imagine enjoying this

never forget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DkiP5fZZlU

Hey Shasta I’m not sure why you’re gloating over this, feel free to post somewhere else though. Not sure why anyone would be enjoying Devers of all fucking players struggling, not when he shares a clubhouse with two cheats and a woman beater.

Really fucking fun.
https://i.imgur.com/yTMaUib.jpeg

i am no more gloating about this than i was when mentioning that the pirates keep getting walked-off

Didn’t say you were

ayo, Devers' struggles are not immune from critique. I wish him well, but if being paid $25M+/yr to roleplay as a fetid turd circling in the toilet for 5 days straight, it's fair game to get called out imho.

While I welcome your enthusiasm, this board has a long history of griping about shitty starts fwiw. Iirc it was one of the primary reasons I created this board some 21 years ago tyvm. You should have heard the choice words I had for BarryZeetz back in the day, you may have sprained a finger FP-ing me.

✌️

i wonder if there's reason for extra concern due to his fairly tepid 2024 second half (54 games, 5 HR, .244/.325/.402)...maybe there's some lingering issue.

So that’s definitely a theory. Not sure if you know this, don’t expect fans of other teams to know this but here’s basically the theory rn. To do this I have to give you the backstory.

2024 season - Devers injured his left shoulder on the last day of spring training swinging at an offspeed pitch on the Trajekt. I saw a whole Red Sox series in April last year and I never saw Devers once because they refused to IL him at the beginning of the season.

things I learned about in baseball this week/how i learned to stop worrying and love baseball

Anyway, after this stop start to the season he went off and started hitting - really hitting. Skipped the All Star Game cos he was banged up. All was fine until July, when he fell over making a play in Colorado and hurt his other shoulder.

After this, his production fell off a cliff. Despite repeated insistence that he was fine, he looked like a ghost of himself at the plate and continued to deteriorate. Remember that game where Cole walked him with bases empty? That was in either late August or September and he’d looked like a shell of himself for a while.

Anyway he got put on the IL the penultimate week of the season as the whole lineup died around him, and that was that.

A lot of the speculation about the move to DH is to keep him healthy because he usually finishes the season banged up and not producing. His last home run was in August.

After the season, there were questions about whether he’d get surgery but he didn’t. They just rested him. I don’t know how this works for MLB players, if he could refuse surgery if recommended or even if it was. He showed up at spring training in Fort Myers in January. Hadn’t swung a bat since they finally shut him down in September.

Spring training was sidelined by the whole 3B shitshow but while he was taking ground balls at 3B he wasn’t appearing in ST games, instead he was hitting live BP in the backfields. He only had something like 15 spring training plate appearances and sat out the Mexico trip to stay in Fort Myers getting ready.

The team and Devers both claim that he is healthy. One of the beat reporters say that his MRIs are clean. So the theory is it isn’t an injury, but that doesn’t mean playing through multiple injuries for so long last season didn’t fuck something up. If he was playing most of the season compensating for one shoulder, and then struggling to compensate with two, and then didn’t pick up a bat until spring training, it’s not hard to see where things can go wrong.

There’s also the mental factor but he looks different at the plate. Stance is far more open, his front foot isn’t steady. Who knows what’s going on there? And there’s also the mental factor, but he’s been fighting off pitches and working counts. But he hasn’t made contact for the most part, barely even any groundouts and no fly outs.

Tl;dr I couldn’t tell you, but it’s really difficult to watch and I think the way they handled him has been terrible. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there’s something lingering from last season or something else going on; this organisation is never honest about player injuries.

this is a really interesting situation and also a test of alex cora as a manager

devers seems completely lost but also he's making $30m in each of the next nine seasons, so . . . what do you do? give him a day off? move him down in the order? put him at third and move bregman elsewhere (which would be absurd)?

(i mean 20+ years ago people (understandably) shit on joe torre for his bullpen management -- i'm sure scott proctor's arm still keeps him up at night -- but he somehow made all those assholes play to their potential)

three games ago cora was saying “it’s just two games”. something has clearly been wrong. yesterday he looked like he was starting to catch up to the heater. so maybe he just figures it out. but quite arguably the red sox have dropped 2-3 games because raffy simply wasn’t ready. seems really dumb from multiple perspectives.

Devers' average bat speed:
2023, 73.4 mph (70th percentile)
2024, 72.5 mph (60th percentile)
2025, 70.3 mph (30th percentile)

crochet 6/170 by the way

Stats pointed out bat speed situation isn’t as dire as all that because that average bat speed number is being dragged down by some of the ABs where he was taking half-hearted cuts. Sample size still too small on that.

Jim Rice was talking about what he saw watching him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne9BaCMoa2Y

I think Cora intends to make him play through it. It doesn’t help that basically everyone else started off ice cold bar like Abreu and Kristian Campbell.

And definitely think the fact he didn’t swing at all this offseason is a huge part of it. I don’t get what he was doing in January in Fort Myers if they aren’t helping him get ready - maybe rehabbing the shoulders, and those injuries were worse last year than we thought?

man i love jim rice.

i couldn’t help noticing refsnyder last night getting on top of a fastball a good 3 inches above the zone. he musta kept that back elbow down! it’s funny because most kids are taught to really hike up that back elbow.

xpost Do you remember Cora et al kind of made a big deal about Raffy’s off-season strength and conditioning regimen this year, saying that they basically told Raffy he wasn’t allowed to use his usual guy, and that the Red Sox were going to provide him with team support for that? i guess with the thinking that Raffy’s guy had not been doing a great job and the team guy would get him more in line with where he needed to be. So… how’d that work out??

makes sense about the bat speed.

It’s difficult to know because based on how he looks at the plate and in general it really looks as though he didn’t do anything which again makes me think his shoulders must have been incredibly fucked up.

This is the problem with guys playing through injuries.

from january:

The Red Sox have also made efforts to change up Devers’ offseason training program after he wore down in the second half last year and finished the season on the injured list with nagging soreness in both shoulders. The revised program included a week-long stay in Boston so Devers could work with head strength and conditioning coach Kiyoshi Momose and an early arrival at Fenway South.

“He was here a few weeks ago,” Cora said.” He was here for a week training with Kiyoshi and all that. That’s a big step, to get out of his comfort zone and come to Boston. I think the weather was great around that time, it was only like 25 degrees when he was here.

“He’ll be in Fort Myers early. He usually goes to Tampa and now, he’s not doing that. Next week, he’s gonna be in Fort Myers.”

For now, barring an addition of someone like Arenado, Devers is expected to once again man third base for the Red Sox (though they’re clearly open to a large-scale infield shakeup). Improving his defense has always been a priority and is once again one as spring approaches. New infield coach José Flores will travel to Fort Myers to get an early start with Devers soon.

After three-plus months off, Devers is healthy.

“The most important thing is that the shoulders are in a good spot,” Cora said. “Baseball stuff, he hasn’t done much. He hasn’t swung or thrown or whatever. Now, that’s the reason he’s going to Fort Myers. We’ve got plenty of time and he’ll be ready.”

I think it doesn’t help that Cora damaged his relationship with him too, I don’t think this is about him DHing, it’s very much more about his lack of buildup and the reason they need him to DH is to prevent things like the injury shitshow from last year right?

xp just a very bizarre situation all around. At the very least Breslow and Cora lied for months, including to Devers himself. Sean McAdam reported this a few weeks back:

Facing question after question one afternoon shortly after Alex Bregman was introduced with great fanfare, Devers provided one stoneface “No” after another when reporters asked about his stance on surrendering third.
He wasn’t playful. He wasn’t coy. He was angry, and he didn’t do much to hide it. It didn’t help that whenever Devers spoke with Red Sox management over the winter, he was assured that speculation about Bregman or Nolan Arenado was just that, and owed more to the media pushing unfounded rumors.

on top of all that it is just wild to me that they would let Raffy hit in the No.2 spot day after day when he is CLEARLY not ready. either cora et al know he's not ready and let him hit there anyway, or they actually do think he's ready... both options are like fuckin yikes.

I think Cora wants him to play out of it and not destroy his confidence further?

Feel like the fact this is the first time the team has expectations in a while is adding to this. The most beloved guy in the clubhouse is struggling, almost everyone is pressing, it’s a lot going on. Hopefully the off day today they can find some time to relax, hopefully Casas has his stash with him or something. I was looking at the David Ortiz slump referenced in Pedroia’s laser show rant and Pedroia straight up says…” It’s 60 ABs.” And he was right, Ortiz had a huge May and finished the season with an OPS+ of 137.

Mookieproof otm, Cora needs to earn his money here.

aww man how happy raffy looked after hit #1. a really nice moment.

Re Ortiz slumping — recommend reading this Bill Simmons chestnut, a classic of poor prognostication, bad BoSox fan takes, bigoted assumptions about players from the DR, and even a bit of Sports Guy sexism. Kinda wild that this guy was handed the keys to his own kingdom.

https://www.espn.com/espnmag/story?id=4223584

(not surprised but) damn that is truly awful

i'd like to say he was the worst (and in many ways, he totally was -- none of these other guys crowed about watching porn or 'pulling the goalie') but now whenever i go to espn it leads with STEPHEN A. says this

followed by FORMER NFL PUNTER says this; followed by, scraping the absolute bottom of all the barrels, MAD DOG screams in the loudest possible voice this

but also that's his fault too

a recent ESPN front page was for about 48 hours seemingly devoted to Stephen A saying he would slap LeBron for a thing LeBron would do to him.

I think I’d forgotten just how bad Simmons was back when he was given free rein.

aww man how happy raffy looked after hit #1. a really nice moment.

“It was more for other people than for me,” Devers said through a translator. “I knew it was going to come, but I also received a lot of texts from people worrying about me. I was okay.”

my dad forgot that i’m 6 time zones away from him so he called me when raffy hit that double, rousing me from deep sleep i thought somebody had died fml

https://i.imgur.com/eAyl49s.jpeg

He’s so happy talking about the team being happy for him

https://streamable.com/3q8sm2

my dad forgot that i’m 6 time zones away from him so he called me when raffy hit that double, rousing me from deep sleep i thought somebody had died fml

Not the same--no time zones involved--but my dad, who like me was not a phone person and basically never called, once called me (immediate thought: "Dad? Can't be good...") to ask if I knew the address for getting onto Wheel of Fortune.

Casas postgame interviews are back, we are #blessed

Talks about trying to get into a zen state of mind at the plate, says he spent time with Devers when both were slumping (“because misery loves company”), Bregman and Story have been trying to calm him down through this slump.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6t4VYSiAkfV126vDEK7YMK

Almost as though…small sample size and the game is played by humans.

Separately (too lazy to update Casas thread until he starts really hitting), Cora said that he had a talk to Casas yesterday about his approach in Spanish because:

"He knows when I talk to him in Spanish, it means something,
," Cora said. "And he felt like
he was actually being aggressive. And I was like, 'You look passive at the plate.' So just let it eat."

Incredibly dumb, I love it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anFi4gAzu3c

i guess devers is okay now

Can’t believe victory lapping over a minuscule sample size was premature

First home run since August yesterday btw

started the season 0-21, one week later he's at .263

"what happened next?"

"hahaha.. mvp?"

"laser show."

Casas next please. 🙏 TH are you going to be in place to watch the show tomorrow?!

Triston Casas is a frequent and amusing presence in the show with too many memorable quotes to list. One standout scene involves Casas encountering Duran having car trouble outside the park after a game, and after keeping his teammate company for a while, Casas attempts to call a tow truck while opining that baseball players play baseball, they don’t fix cars. Then, moments after the words leave his mouth, Duran gets his car to start. …

loll

Am highly anticipating this

Stupidest ugliest walk off I’ve ever seen in my life

Houck? Two-uh (innings pitched)

lol

It might be that Tanner Houck is not actually very good idk.

Really dispiriting start to the season after so much optimism earlier on. Bregman not an upgrade at third so far. Bullpen has probably been, against all odds, the best part of the team?

Whatever happened to Kutter Crawford? Guy disappeared into Area 51. Something very curious about a team where seemingly every player comes to Spring Training injured.

He’s working his way back. I wonder if it’s that the org prefers to avoid surgery for players or the players themselves do. I think they should definitely be sideeyed for their handling of injuries, seems like guys are rushed back before they’re ready too often.

Devers 2025

Home: .977 OPS, 166 WRC
Away: .391 OPS, 19 WRC

and that’s including going hitless his last five games at fenway

he's a streaky one!

xp his stance looks to have his foot moving around a bit at the plate, Pete Fatse needs to work on some stuff with him imo. Honestly when he struggles it kills the whole lineup. 4-44 they said. At least some of the cold guys are starting to get going now. Maybe that’ll take some pressure off him.

as a team the sox are hitting .178 on fastballs that are 95+

the only team worse is who you think it is

Per Savant, Devers and Casas are the guys who hit fastballs well. Casas at least hit one out last night. Devers…I have no idea what’s going on with him. He’s been a significantly above average if not elite fastball hitter for years.

Story hasn’t hit the 4-seam fastball well (again per Savant) since, uh, 2020.

Duran hit 4-seamers really well last year but no other year ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Bregman hasn’t hit 4-seamers well since 2023 but at least he makes up for it with plate discipline and being a difficult AB.

That’s really it - your guys who usually feast on fastballs have been cold/struggling, others who can contribute are too young (Kcamp) or solid hitters in general (Abreu), and then Story and Bregman just…can’t hit them anymore I guess?

Again you can get by with Bregman because of the other qualities he brings to an AB but Story really needs to feast on bad pitching cos otherwise he’s kind of toast at the plate.

Jim Rice’s hilariously awkward but well meaning input on Duran vs fan incident in Cleveland probably shouldn’t amuse me as much as it does

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvvB_-mPQSI

Really makes me marvel anew at how Jackie Robinson endured what he did

Casas stretchered off after falling awkwardly over the bag, looks really bad, had just started to turn his awful start around too. Fucking devastating.

Season ending surgery. I am devastated for him. Wanted him to have a big year so much this season and it’s been fucking brutal. Ngl this has killed so much of my current interest in the game. Just so fucking sad.

Cora:

For now, though, the Red Sox are left picking up the pieces of a shocking, devastating injury to one of their most talented young players and rallying together to support him as he awaits surgery.

“The kid, he enjoys this," Cora said. "He likes showing up early. We hate that but he loves it. He enjoys cleaning those shoes and staying here until late. He loves baseball. This is what makes him feel comfortable. Right now, he’s not gonna have it for a while but knowing him, knowing his family and knowing the support system that he has, he’s going to be back and he’s going to be good again.

“These guys, they work so hard to post, to have big seasons and all that. He did an outstanding job in the offseason to put himself in that situation. Didn’t start the way he wanted to but he was going to play and play a lot. Now, we have to focus on the rehab after the surgery. Hopefully, get him back stronger than ever and ready to go next year."