He was limited to 15 games during the 2022 season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on an attempted pickoff play in April. He played in only 35 games in 2021 because of left hamstring and left oblique injuries.

But his right side has remained injury free!

Good heavens, he's 27 already? My parents and their generational cohorts always warned me that the older you get, the faster the years go by, exponentially so, but I paid them no mind...

I really like this pick up for the Sox. Hard to believe this is all the royals could get

I really like this pick up for the Sox. Hard to believe this is all the royals could get

I think he's a FA after this year, so the upside is limited for the acquirer. I agree it's a nice little move though. Could be a big improvement over what Boston had, and if he gets off to a good start, maybe they can figure out an extension.

Boston acquired Mondesi for Taylor. In 2018, Taylor was the PTBNL in the trade of Deven Marrero. In 2012 Boston drafted Marrero in the first round.

But his right side has remained injury free!

Not quite:

Dating back to the 2018 season, Mondesi has appeared in only 40% of the Royals’ possible games, missing time due to a right shoulder impingement, a groin strain, a pair of left shoulder subluxations, a left hamstring strain, an oblique strain and, most recently, a torn ACL that wiped out his 2022 season. Both the left shoulder injury and ACL tear required surgery.

Those injuries on the left side may have prevented him from playing enough to incur more right side injuries.

If they can just keep him on the IL they can protect him from getting hurt.

So is Mondesi the final piece of the puzzle?

The final piece of the 2023 puzzle, putting a possibly actual ML SS on the roster. Granted one has to wonder whether his 95 leg injuries have reduced his defensive capability but I guess the Andrus/Iglesias asking price was "too high."

Taylor has been pretty good in his 102 ML IP but he missed pretty much all of 2022 and is turning 30. He does have 3 years control left so I guess that's nice. He's not exactly free, slated for $1 M this year.

i'm pleasantly surprised at this trade, we need someone to trot out there. it's my opinion that little should be expected from k. hernandez and story from here on out, they don't have profiles that project them to be in baseball into their early 30s, let alone contributors. this team needs everything to go right to be above .500 this season, maybe mondesi wins the job, stays healthy and plays good defense. that's a huge upgrade for the sox ss outlook.

So is Mondesi the final piece of the puzzle?

Mondesi is that piece from 2 or 3 puzzles ago that you found under the furniture long after after you threw out the rest of the puzzle.

To be serious, I like Mondesi and I hope he stays healthy. Boston's track record of keeping oft-injured middle infielders healthy is not great, so I'm not sure this is the solution to anything for them.

Mondesi really only has to stay healthy until Story returns. Doesn't have to be the whole season.

Mondesi really only has to stay healthy until Story returns. Doesn't have to be the whole season.

Story’s surgically-repaired arm may be more suited to 2nd base these days.

Boston's track record of keeping oft-injured middle infielders healthy is not great, so I'm not sure this is the solution to anything for them.

I think "oft-injured" ballplayers get injured often no matter where they play.

He's not exactly free, slated for $1 M this year.

A team could have 214 or so players making $1M per year and still be under the cap. That pretty much free.

Mondesi really only has to stay healthy until Story returns. Doesn't have to be the whole season.

So...2024? In all seriousness, what you just said is the same as "Mondesi really only has to be healthier than he has been at any point in his career". His career high in games is 102, I will be amazed if Story is ready to go before game 102.

I like this trade. Look, the team is probably going nowhere in 2023, anyway, so I'd rather they try Mondesi at SS (27 years old, costs them almost nothing, only one year contractual commitment), and see if he can stay healthy. Even if he gives them half a healthy season, it's fine. Josh Taylor is a fungible reliever - and, again, had nothing to do with the next time the team will be truly competitive in a few years.

Also: in order to put Duvall on the 40-man, the Red Sox today DFA'ed...Matt Barnes. I guess either they think he is completely toast, or that his salary over the next two years is enough that nobody is going to pick him up, and the team has a handshake agreement to bring him back on a minor league deal this spring and see if he get it together.

I said this before, but I have no idea what a fair price for Mondesi would be. Upside is a power/speed plus defensive shortstop, which is impossible to find. Downside is last year, where he came up lame on a routine pickoff throw.

I'm sad the Royals never got to see a full season of the upside.

I'm sad the Royals never got to see a full season of the upside.

He only missed one game in 2020, downright Ripken-esque!

OK, Villageidiom is not getting NEARLY enough credit for #7 and #11....I guffawed at my desk yesterday, and came back this morning and chuckled again at both.

Well played.

I've always hoped Mondesi would break out - and I hope that he has a nice season in Boston if only to reset his clock a bit to guarantee a few more years of opportunity. He's a fun player to watch when healthy.

And so it begins - Bloom says Mondesi may not be ready for Opening Day.

And so it begins - Bloom says Mondesi may not be ready for Opening Day.

I mean, the one thing that unites the Red Sox organization and its fans right now is the commitment to being unprepared for Opening Day.

I mean, the one thing that unites the Red Sox organization and its fans right now is the commitment to being unprepared for Opening Day.

I don't remember ever seeing so much begging and pleading in my inbox on a practically daily basis trying to get me to buy tickets. Are they actually going to get punished at the gate this year?

Are they actually going to get punished at the gate this year?

Yes, I really think they will be. Just based on anecdotes and a general sense, fans are not pleased.

A team could have 214 or so players making $1M per year and still be under the cap. That pretty much free.

Hence the use of the phrase "not exactly free" to represent "paid a bit more than the minimum." And if Taylor stays healthy, he might well earn -- gasp -- 2/3/4 million in future seasons.

Health aside, I don't love the trade for the Royals. The Red Sox get all the upside, in return for a very replaceable player.

24 & 25 - On top of the fans not being pleased by the dismantling of the '18 team, they really never bounced back from Covid the way other teams seemed to. Even the good run in mid-summer had a much thinner crowd in the bleachers, and it was a lot easier for visiting fans to start cheers. The city in general (being full of doctors, research scientists, and pharma types as it is) has been much more cautious than any other place I've visited since restrictions lifted, and I know a couple season-ticket holders who, even if they weren't upset about the team's direction, just got used to not freezing their butts off in April/early May (possibly related: they're doing a season-ticket-holder presale for those first months right now, a thing I don't remember in the past).

Anecdotally, for most of the past two years, there have not been a lot of shirts/jerseys with current players being worn in the stands - still a lot of Betts, and even the Boegarts ones really only started to replace them late last year.

I don't think it will be truly ugly, but it will certainly seem that way considering that attendance is something this ownership group has been able to take for granted for thirty years. Like, they mostly leave me alone, compared to how I still get a bunch of emails from the Nations after seeing three games there in 2021 and the Chicago teams after a visit last summer (with the White Sox actually calling me on the phone repeatedly).

Didn't Adalberto used to be known as Raul, Jr? When did that stop happening?

Didn't Adalberto used to be known as Raul, Jr? When did that stop happening?

According to wikipedia he went by Raul Jr from 2015-2018.

Didn't Adalberto used to be known as Raul, Jr? When did that stop happening?

He was not Raul Jr., Raul Jr. is his brother, and he played in the Brewers system. He did go by Raul as well, just not "Jr.". He changed his name to end the confusion (also his dad was arrested, I wonder if that was a factor). He says his friends have always called him Adalberto.

According to wikipedia he went by Raul Jr from 2015-2018.

And famously made his ML debut in the 2015 WS.

And famously made his ML debut in the 2015 WS.

He clearly wasn't ready for a year or two after that.

After 2015, the Royals were so in love with The Process that they made a lot of silly moves.