Stats

Isaiah Jackson had a 25% chase rate, 76% contact rate, and 108 mph 90th percentile exit velocity this year.

Of the NCAA players that had the largest exit velo gains in 2025, the Red Sox now have Maximus Martin, Adonys Guzman, Henry Godbout and Isaiah Jackson from the Top 11. 🤔

2025 draftees the Red Sox have traded for in the last three weeks:

$496,500 Adonys Guzman (5 PA)
$297,500 Isaiah Jackson (37 PA)
$230,000 Luke Heyman (0 PA)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpt3...

idk, id need to see specific deals. based on estimates for all, my ranking might be alonso bichette bregman schwarber at the moment

at shortstop yes, i wouldn't feel bad about him at second

I like Bichette a lot. He's a peculiar and special hitter. I think he could be able to do some outrageous BABIP-related shit at Fenway.

Trying to find guys in the same vein actually led to a couple of names that have been batted around.

A. Jorge Polanco
B. Bo Bichette
C. Vinnie Pasquantino

it's insane

One of the best ways the the Sox can be very good is if Casas is healthy and playing.

Idk if Breslow will allow it.

He was asked about him, and he was like “I’m glad you asked, because no one seems to be mentioning him….”

Maybe a good place to start: www.amazon.com/Fans-Guide-B...

A lot more technical, but maybe the bible of the stuff: www.amazon.com/Book-Playing...

Jeff Kent's 10 best seasons: 44.8 fWAR
Dustin Pedroia's 10 best seasons: 44.9 fWAR

Kent, MVP, 5x All-Star
55.4 career WAR, 35.8 7yr-peak, 45.6 JAWS, 3.9 WAR/162

Pedroia, MVP, 4x All-Star, 2x World Series
51.8 career WAR, 40.9 7yr-peak, 46.4 JAWS, 5.6 WAR/16

This is why I'm sure Gray's ERA was an afterthought in the Sox deciding to target him, and why ERA is going to be mostly an afterthought in all pitching acquisitions around baseball this winter.

On social media, not so much the case.

2004 playoffs cooked him for good, but my god was he awesome every night.

Crawford's HR issues suck, but has a much better base to work with than Sandoval, imo. 2023-24, his xERA was run lower, K% 3 points higher, BB% 4 points lower, and he's just a far more valuable asset to the Red Sox, 3 years of control vs. 1 year.

I don't know how everyone sees the current pitching depth, but this is how I do. Been seeing people expecting Oviedo to be in the bullpen, which seems crazy. I don't think this whole group makes it to Fort Myers.

They will both be in triple-a developing, both have a lot of that left to do imo

Oviedo came back from surgery with a supercharged fastball

for better pitchers, Garcia wasn't moving the needle at all

if they do something big at the winter meetings, I'll do a winter reset post and discuss these moves, reset the roster, and what i'd like to see the rest of the winter.

I don't think they would have done it if they weren't fine with a two-year thing, but he seems to me like very much an extension candidate now, if they can get 1 or 2 of his FA seasons in exchange for lifetime security.

Oviedo vs. Anthony

Long time Johan Oviedo fan, but he still needs to put it all together. Occasionally looks like a monster, and has lots in the tool chest.

Perfectly fine using Garcia here, I thought he was being considerably overrated. Wouldn't be surprised if Arias gets used the same way this winter.

With Mullins going to the Rays, it got me looking at his page, and made me think his path is basically the worst possible outcome for Duran.

I don't think it's the case, but not crazy to think he needs to at least stall his BABIP, or start to hit more homers.

AL East projected starting rotations by AAVs

$96M - Yankees
$87M - Blue Jays
$70M - Red Sox
$18M - Orioles
$15M - Rays

For each of the last two seasons, Baseball Pro's flagship pitching metric, DRA-, has rated Sonny Gray and Framber Valdez equally. Gray has rated better than every other pitcher who has been mentioned as a trade or free-agent possibility this winter.

I thought the last line of the Breslow press briefing was the most interesting. "If there are opportunities to leverage areas of depth – maybe outfield, maybe some of the starting pitching – to address other areas of need on the roster, then we’ll have to consider doing that."

152 pitchers threw 500+ 4-seam fastballs last year, only Gray's averaged glove-side cut. Only two pitchers had worse results with it, and only two had worse expected results (inc. Buehler). They may just delete those and divvy them up between sinkers and his breaking balls.

Obviously a yearly must-listen guest. The Campbell and Arias comments were the most interesting to me. The Tolle and Early critiques sound very much like what we've discussed since their debuts.