Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - Boston Red Sox | Profile & Projection | 614

Episode Date: February 28, 2023

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Oh, it's the Red Sox. I'm Matt Doug Russo, Jr. Hey, welcome to another team profile and projection here on Talking Baseball, where we are delivering you an episode today every day until opening day, brought to you by Seat Geek, Code Talking. Today is a team that you guys ranked as the 21st best team in Major League Baseball, the Chicago Dead Sox. Jake, can you tell us about the Red Sox?

Interesting offseason in the bean. How about, how's your bullpen addressed? Kenley Jansen, we like that. Chris Martin, a little cold play by the socks there, Joe Ellie Rodriguez. We've got Justin Turner, one of Trev's favorite signings this offseason. The Clubot, one of Jules.

Jimmy's favorite signings this offseason, Adam Duvall, Adelberto in a trade, Dick Blyer in a trade. Man, they've got some, Greg Allen, Nico Grudrum, Gujarum, Bramotapium. They got some minor league guys invited to camp

who I kind of like. And their big signing on offense. Yoshi, Masataka Yoshida, projected to have a 388 on basis here by some people, who they lost. Dick Mountain. Hosmer, Jady Martinez, people. Nathan of Aldi.

Wow. Zander Bogarts. Wow. So they lost some guys. Tommy Fam. BPD's Darwinson Hernandez. Connor Seabold, all the guys. So I don't know. A lot of ins, a lot of outs. There's something that always happens at Fenway Park, Trev. And it's hitting. How's the lineup?

They be hitting at Fenway Park. Yo, Shita. let me tell you some about Yoshida. You think you got good calves. Go check out the calves on this dude. He's low to the ground. I like his center of gravity. Bad and lead off, baby.

Let's go. Kike Hernandez at short, Raphael Devers, extension baby dinners on you. Yes, I love the Justin Turner sign. He'll be a DH. Maybe he'll get some third base time. I hope so. That'd be cool to see.

Alex Verdugo. Adam Duval coming in. Tristan Casas. Let's go, baby. And like you mentioned, Adaberto Mondesi comes over from the Royals and Reese McGuire behind the dish Obviously Trevor Story is going to be there

He's hurt right now On the bench, Jorge Alfaro comes over Christian Royal say it Jake Say Bobby's name Say it Bobby Dalback And then my guy sneaky Under the radar bench piece Roth Re Snyder

I like it a lot James The lineup is kind of winning me over Yeah but it's a similar It's a little bit like the Cubbies who we did last episode, but they addressed the bullpen. The rotation is still, I mean, you have Chris Sale. You haven't been able to rely on Chris Sale in a long time as the one, I guess.

Nick Povetta, he's good. I actually think he's like the most reliable guy here. Corey Kluber might be up there. He's on his tour of the A.L. East and he signs with the Red Sox. James Paxson, they signed him to recover from Tommy John, and now he's going to be pitching. So that's up in the air. and Whitlock, who's got a lot of talent,

but also there's not a lot of just, like, pencil women to be reliable the whole way through in the rotation. The bullpen they addressed. That was an issue last year. Jake already told you they got Janssen, they got Martin, they have John Schreiber and Tana Halk,

Cutter Crawford, and they bring in Joelle Rodriguez, the lefty. And that's like a big difference for the Red Sox because last year, Cora had to like, I don't know, just grab bag relievers. Like they didn't have rolls.

They didn't have like, who's got this game? No clue, but he's going to blow it. That's what all my Red Sox fans said. Said, hey, who's going to finish this game? Someone that's going to blow it. And that's, I think, why they addressed it. It is odd to me to address the bullpen and have a rotation that's so, in my opinion, unsure.

Maybe I'm wrong there. But that was what they did. I like their offensive changes a lot. I think they added guys that will give them at-bats, which is kind of what you need to do for the Red Sox, like grind out the at-bats, along-up bats. They didn't really have that that year last year,

but adding Turner and Yoshida, and I think Kossis is a long-at-back guy, the rookie. So I like the lineup improvements and the bullpen improvements. Unfortunately, I think rotation holds the most weight. Oh, and before we do that quick BBD ad break to tell you guys even more about Seekkeek. All of our PPPs, TPPs, our whole preseason package here is brought to you by Seekkeek.

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Offer is only available through the end of March. March 31st, that goes away. Code Jomboy preseason, all one word. I think that as we're going to talk about some of these middle tier teams, and that's what I'll call the Red Sox right now, middle tier. Mid. There can be surprises. No, I'm not called a mid.

I said middle tier. Short. I'm shortening it to mid. Okay. Mid-T. There are guys that can change that if they can. if they come out and do what they can do. Brian Beyo, everyone wants us to mention this guy.

He came up last year. He's 23 years old. He has absolutely nasty stuff. He's got to do it at the big league level for an extended period of time. Garrett Whitlock, who kind of was like bouncing back and forth. He's fucking nasty, dude. Like he had better numbers as a reliever, but like, let's slot him in the rotation and see what he can do. If those two guys go all, then now you're looking at, okay, we have Chris Sale, please like return to form, Clubot, do what you can do.

do. Povetta's been kind of like consistently average for them so you can slot them in for some innings at least. But like if these young guys in Whitlock and Bayo can go and do it, then we're talking about a completely different rotation. I agree with you James. That's not proven, I guess

you could say. But there's some ball players. If he watched Bayo pitch last year, and Red Sox fans have said this to us before. We have to mention this guy. And I remember him pitching last year and watching him throw. Like he's got electric stuff. Got to do it through a whole season. and prove you can do it that way.

But, you know, we'd be remiss if we didn't say that about this rotation. There are, there is hope for it. We'd be remiss if we didn't talk about this rotation. Yeah, they lost Evaldi and Waka, who were. The reason I gave them a really bad off-season grade because I said, you know what, they finished last and the ALEs last year, and I don't think they did enough to climb out of the cellar. And they might, they might do it because who knows what Baltimore is going to do this year.

I would have loved him to sign like a Carlos Rodon. Instead, he's with the Yankees. Like, if they put Carlos Rodon into this rotation, then you can start saying, hey, let's go. They didn't do that. Maybe there's different reasons why they didn't. Maybe he didn't want to go there. Maybe they just didn't have it in him.

But I'm not going to throw away this team just yet. I'm like so positive on these things. Maybe I'm wrong. No, Boston, let's go back to the offense. They lost Boghards, which stinks. I mean, that dude hits. That's all he's done. and, you know, he got paid a crazy amount of money.

It felt like they got blindsided. Some people are crazy high on Yoshidi. Maybe that works out. Let's see what he is. Kike was out most of last year. Like, let's see where he's at. Justin Turner had one of the best second halves of any player. Let's see where he's at.

Adam Duval and Mondesey, they bought Low On. You know, if you go back like two years with those guys, you know, they had really big seasons. Kassas, he's a big one for me, man. Is he your break-out? out young first baseman, the big lefty. He's a big boy, man. If he can put that barrel on the bad enough,

it will go, especially at Fenway. He's kind of the one I've got circled for the offense, but at the same time with the Boston Red Sox, the offense is going to be there. They finished third and average last year, six in OBP, like, and it didn't feel like one of their scarier Red Sox line. Yeah, I don't think they had any slug. They were ninth in OPS, so like at low and home,

homers, but ninth and runs. There's a bit of Fenway there. I think their offense is going to tick back up. So let's circle back to the bullpen. I kind of like their bullpen. They've got a few guys you believe in. John Schreiber broke out last year. Kenley's been doing it forever at this point.

Chris Martin kind of underrated. Tanner Halk. If maybe that's where he goes home, just throw that fastball slider. A couple change, kid. But if that's where he can kind of find a dominant lockdown roll. So now you're the Red Sox and what do you need? Five innings.

and it's how often can you get that. And maybe if they can start getting that entrenched, maybe James Paxson can find it for five innings once a week. Maybe Povetta can find it for five innings once a week. It's a little bit of a juggling act, but it feels like this team coming off the Cubs, I like this team a lot better. I think the bigger problem is the AL East

is a lot tougher division than the NL Central. Yeah, we had to judge them that way against who they play. Yeah, I like the offensive additions in like just that bat length and like there weren't any scary at Pats in the lineup last year besides Devers. He was the only guy to hit 20 home runs for them. But Turner's going to grind you down. And that's what your sheet is supposed to do. It's supposed to be like a little Benny, little little muscular lefty guy bat to ball. What's Turner's?

beard and hair situation going to look like in September. That's what I want to know. How big and gross is it going to be? I think he's going to buy into the whole Boston aesthetic and just really, really go for it. He already has in a way. You just think it's going to get dirtier? Yeah. Yeah, dirtier. Because, you know, L.A., like, it's like, it still looks pretty out there in Hollywood,

but in Boston, you just want to be dirty. I think we might get a real dirty Justin Turner there. I don't know where to go with this team, guys, because I did give him my worst offense or offseason grade. I'm looking here. Things have to go right. I'm not going to count them out yet. I don't think they have what it takes to win the division.

I really don't. But we have expanded playoffs. You're going to hear me say that a lot on these TPPs. Like there are teams that are going to get into playoffs that maybe, well, definitely in years past wouldn't because we added, but teams that are going to surprise us that might just go on a run here at the end, catch fire, maybe make some additions, some young guys step up or some journeymen step up.

Could it be the Red Sox? That's yet to be determined. And I'm not ready to make a judgment on that yet. I don't think so right now. But they could surprise this, I think. Yeah, I mean, I don't see them. They'd have to really outperform expected numbers to not trade some of these pieces.

And the biggest thing is they just feel, planless to me. Like they felt a little planless this off season. They signed a lot of guys that are, you know, one-year deals that you might be able to move. Klobber, Duval. So I don't know. I mean, they got a lot of guys they can move on from if they want to. And how much more in the hunt would they need to be to not do that?

Because, yeah, I don't know what, this isn't their final product. I don't think we're close. to like whatever Himes three-year plan is. I'm starting to wonder what his plan is. I've been saying give him time, give him time, but I don't know, man. Our Red Sox fan, friends, and we have a lot because we grew up in Connecticut, do not talk happily about what the Red Sox have been doing last year and this year. I mean, you trade away Mookie bets, it's never going to be good.

The return hasn't been great either. So it started there. and then we have the Bogart situation and last place finished. But this is like, I feel like this, like when the Red Sox are like this and we're questioning them, it seems like sometimes they go around

into the season and just turn it on and say, what were you guys talking about? I hope for the fans' sake that happens. But right now, I just can't necessarily really get behind them. I like that they have a formula. We have offense.

We should have a bullpill. figure it out in between and the Red Sox can be an issue. I'm interested to see what other help is on the way. Seabold, I talked about Kossis who, you know, if he can be that big lefty threat. I mean, he's projected for 20 homers, 251, 351. Like, if he's that dude, that's a huge step for the Sox. And hey, what, you know, they locked up Devers,

which I came into the offseason and I said, you know, if you're going to lose Bogart, it's like you have to do them. So you know you're going to have Devers. Five years of Yoshita. So you have a little bit of a base in the lineup? I don't know. They need to get off to a hot start. Have we done our first schedule check?

Like if they've got an easy April, that would be massive for this team. And I don't know. I'm super interested to see where the line is. is because I'm saying a lot of good things, but I also, I obviously like the Yankees. I obviously like the Blue Jays. I obviously like the Ray's.

Orioles. And that's a lot of their games this year. Can I give a nightmare scenario? Okay. They open up against the Orioles. Orioles, pirates, tigers. Rays, angels, twins, brewers, Orioles, guardians.

Wow. Sweat by the twins, unfortunately, that one. Is this the same thing that happened? last year the Red Sox were really good because they played not a lot of good teams at the beginning of the year. I think or was the last year was a terrible start but then they got a very good stretch. The Yankees did that

play the easy team's really good start. This is my nightmare scenario. Okay. I feel like this is a team that has a run in them and we're going to be sitting right around you know the beginning of July into the All-Star break and they're going to be kind of hanging on

then they're going to go on this run. And then Hime is going to have to decide whether to add, whether to sell, and it's not going to be a good place for him. He hasn't really, I would say he hasn't made great decisions with the Red Sox so far. And I'm curious to see how he would approach that. If they're right around 500 around the deadline and there are a couple games back of a wildcard, what do you do? It's going to be interesting for Hymn.

I think that is his nightmare scenario. Yeah, I think you're going to start counting teams ahead of you instead of just looking at the number because it's so bundled and close. You could be four games out of the wild card, but there could be six teams above you. I hope the young guys surprise us. That's what I hope.

Can Trevor's story get back at some point? Yes. The Heim part's really interesting, Trev, because I think there's already a little bit of heat on in the bean. And if you're around it, I think there's going to be kind of a go-for-it button. we saw them even last year. They tried to do that weird little retool

where they got rid of Vasquez, but they brought in Tommy Fam and a couple other guys. So if they're anywhere around it, I think there's going to be a dough button. It's just a soft go or a hard go or omen. That I'm, I don't know. A big start would be huge for this team,

and they did come out of the gates 10 and 19 last year. So if you can put that in your rear view, I mean, this team, the rest of the way, was a little bit over 500. I don't know. I don't know. More balanced schedule? They got to play the Central.

Stop, stop. I don't know. While they want us to talk more about Bayo, his first seven big league appearances, all bad, but his September, 27 innings, a 1-6 ERA. I don't know. He found it.

He's got nasty stuff. The stuff looks good and included two starts against a hot at the time, Yankee team. And some bad teams. Yankees have done the, is this guy a starter reliever dance a lot? A ton. There's only one case where it turned out, oh, he's a starter. Louis Severino. The rest has just been like you took way too long to just put him in the bullpen.

seems like the Red Sox need to, how can Whitlock? Like, just fucking put them back there. It's a hard thing to do because you want them to be starters and other teams and people have come out and been able to overcome it. But that dance can stink for a while. It can. It seems like, you know, it's just some guys back there beeping and booping on the keyboard being like, well, he's more valuable as a starter. And it's like, I don't know. Sometimes, bro, just put him, let him do what he does well.

I understand if you throw more innings that you're probably going to end up with more value but in some of these situations where you're staring down the barrel of a tie game or a one-run lead you'd like to have some of your best arms back there and if they prove and they can do it, I agree with you James. Sometimes you've got to let them ride out there in the bullpen. And you know what's tough though is the pitchers don't want to do that.

If they're going back and forth to be a starter or reliever, they're like, bro, the money is it. A four starter is going to make more or even if you're the best reliever, like you might not make as much as the four-starter. So, like, you kind of have to play that dance as well. I'm excited to see that. Play that dance?

What is that? Play that dance, man. I think Halk has two pitches that jump off the screen. Whitlock has a pitch mix, and this is the year. So you give Whitlock one more chance to do it. And if it works good, and I think Halk, he might have even found a home in the time. So, let's see,

what they are. What's the over under for this? Same as the Cubs, I think. Seventy-seven and a half. Same as the Cubs. Yeah. You guys go first. This one's tough for me. Well, what? Under. I mean, the division's tough. I think the Blue Jays are gotten better. I think

the Razor, I mean, I just really don't like their starting pitching. There's this is the team with the most ifs in their division. Maybe not the all Orioles. I don't know. I haven't really thought about that. our audience voted them bottom half so i don't think it's what i'll say they win 78 games

but i'm going to lose on that and take the under i've been uh i've been doing this around the office lately and i've got oriel's fans cover your ears i'm selling my oriel stock a little bit this oh i think they snuck up on teams last year i think they'll be ready for them ready to be wrong on that a lot of youth uh the red sox they won 78 games games last year. Maybe it's the eternal hope of spring training, but I think

there's some things that can click with this. It'll keep them at least around 500. I'll go with the over. Nice. Jakey overs. I'm going to take the over as well. I don't necessarily believe in this team, and everyone knows that since I did say they had a bad off season.

But I do think they're competitive enough to get over 70s. seven and a half wins. But I'll stick with my thought process of you're not going to win a division. Line does seem kind of low. It feels like a low line.

They're wrong. What do they, what did they win last year when they came in fifth? 78. Oh, I'm going to take the over. That's low.

I don't think they got significantly worse than last year. If anything, I think they got better than, ah, Bogart's pretty good. Bogart's JD and Nate, dog jade he hasn't been a threat for a while you just chonklid right there you know what that means what you flip flopped yeah i remembered there in the east i'm a coastal elitist oh my gosh bro

fucking midwest let's go baby i'm your king now you guys take the coasts king and mid yep yeah a lot of resources there i think probably not a lot of plains and farmland yeah good people Can I have Montana? Sure. That's Twins territory. Yeah, I'm good then. I win. All right.

So you're all on over? Yeah, that is too love. That line should have been 79 and a half. We got ice. They like the Red Sox. I'll rake you back. Leave the push open. Leave the push open.

Kids love to push. You know kids. They're pushing. I don't, no, no, no. I remembered what I was going to tell you guys before the show.