if he’s not going to be the starter I expect Duran to be in Worcester to open the season.

I agree with you... and yet I'm flipping the switch. Duran will deserve enough playing time that he should remain on the MLB roster.

I think something in me has changed over the last couple of years and having had the good fortune to see four World Series titles I’m a bit more interested in players I want to root for.  This feels like the kind of move that five-ten years ago I’d have seen as good forward planning (and it is that) and recognize that it is the call.  But now, I’m a bit less emotionally charged over it.

I don't think it's just the winning, at least for me, as I know some folks for whom that's made them even more cold-blooded about this, but just finding that sort of calculation more hollow in areas outside of baseball. It kind of feels like being impressed with savvy has made a lot of things less enjoyable.

Still, there's also something to knowing just how good winning a World Series feels and how, if championships were distributed evenly, they'd be a once-in-a-generation thing. Is frantically and dispassionately chasing one going to be as rewarding as trying but also enjoying the ride wherever it leads?

Yeah I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s just I’m getting older. I don’t know, to each his own.

I hope vi is right about Duran. It’d be great to have a player with that kind of speed on the roster.

I like the move, and I want Story and Duran in the same lineup, damnit! Speed don't slump...

I watched the Cardinals in St. Louis in the 1980's. Yes it does. Just not as completely.

Haha, I know. Just wanted to pay tribute to Larry Bowa, that was a favorite of his.

Jarren Duran officially outrighted to the minors. Also, hunt down the clip of him scoring from second base on a sac fly.

I like Raffy but I'm not convinced he's the kind of guy you lock up for 8-10 years. Even if you think his defense is passable, he's still a very good but not great player. He's only 25 this year but his inconsistency from year to year and his conditioning worry me too.

A comment on the Fangraph's CF Power Rankings hinted that Jackie Bradley Jr. has either been traded or released, as he wasn't listed on the depth chart. I just spent 10 minutes scouring the 'net for any news, only to find absolutely nada.

A comment on the Fangraph's CF Power Rankings hinted that Jackie Bradley Jr. has either been traded or released, as he wasn't listed on the depth chart. I just spent 10 minutes scouring the 'net for any news, only to find absolutely nada.

I thought I saw that article on the site, but now it's not there. Maybe you found the 2021 one, or a 2022 that they published before it was ready.

I don't see power rankings for any position other than catcher on FanGraphs site. Where you seeing that?

Yeah, someone on FG must have screwed up (and I didn't notice the date). Let's do the time warp again...

FG still has Bradley in the Red Sox depth charts as the starting RF and backup CF, so probably that was some kind of typo.

I haven't been able to watch any of spring training but the pitchers seem to be doing quite well . . . are they just getting lucky against AAA-type lineups, or are they really dealing?

After looking at the projections a little, I think I may have been wrong about Devers. Trying to extrapolate from the value of the Story contract (wins worth ~$7.5 mil now, ~3% inflation), it seems like Devers might be worth something like 7 years/$200 mil up to 10 years, $300 mil (with the deal starting in 2022), I could see the Red Sox doing the low end of that and possibly up to the middle somewhere. Meanwhile, by that same accounting, Bogaerts would be worth (including 2022) 6 years/$160 mil to 8 years/$180 mil. Again, something I could see the Red Sox being willing to do.

Seems unlikely they'll do both, but they certainly could if they felt they were worth it. Hard to say which is the better choice.

I wonder if Ryan Fitzgerald has a shot at earning one of the 28 roster spots coming out of the spring. He had a nice year at AA/AAA last year, hitting .270 .350 .512, playing mostly SS but also getting time at all the other infield and outfield positions. This spring he's hitting a robust .313 .450 1.063. Of course, he's 28 and not on the 40 man, so it's probably a long shot.

I think it's highly likely that Fitzgerald makes the roster. That 28 man roster is perfectly suited to a player like that. From what the Sox prospects guys say he's extremely well regarded by the organization in the 'good soldier" way. He's a slick glove and can field at several positions. He'd be a good fit to cover a lot of different positions in an emergency situation.

Presumably today's lineup is what Gerrit Cole will be seeing in 9 days;

Hernández CF
Devers 3B
Bogaerts SS
Martinez DH
Verdugo LF
Story 2B
Dalbec 1B
Bradley Jr. RF
Vázquez C

I like that lineup. :)

Yeah that is a fun lineup! Bodes well.

Yes, very nice...but can we get Verdugo before the RBI men?

I think I like Verdugo there. He's got enough pop to do some damage in the middle of the order and can get on base and make things happen for Story and Dalbec. I'd rather get the extra PAs out of Devers and X.

Cora likes to stick with positional line ups, right? (Or am I misremembering that?) Only issue I see is if/when X or Devers takes a day or two and the presumed super sub Arroyo is filling in for them, does Arroyo stay at the top of the order? Switch with Story? OF is fairly easy, if Duran is back in MLB, presumably he's hitting enough to replace Hernandez in CF if needed, if he's replacing JBJ then the 8th spot is appropriate, and if Cora likes a Duran-Hernandez-Verdugo alignment, then Verdugo just stays in the 5th spot.

Apparently the plan is what we see above against righties. Against lefties Story would move to second, Devers 4th, JDM 5th and Verdugo 6th.

As for days off, I can't imagine Devers gets too many days off against a righty. If Bogaerts or JD is sitting I assume everyone behind them just moves up one spot and Arroyo plops in wherever he plops in. If Hernandez is sitting and Arroyo is in there I'd bet Arroyo leads off just to keep it simple.

Against lefties when Devers sits again, I assume everyone moves up one and Arroyo plops in somewhere around 7th.