Laika

Arjun NimmalaTrey YesavageRicky TiedemannJuaron Watts-BrownKhal StephenAlan RodenOrelvis MartinezYohendrick PinangoAdam MackoKendry RojasJake BlossJosh KasevichLanden MaroudisJonatan ClaseRJ SchreckJohnny KingGage StaniferSam ShawGrant RogersBrandon Barriera

They would need to go like, 55-35 over the rest of the year to make any noise. I guess it's possible but that's getting close to having to be the best team in baseball for the rest of the season.

I wonder if having strong defenders at 2B is helping out his positioning?

Hard to notice any difference as far as 1B defense goes. -10 OAA to +2 (so far) is a huge and meaningful swing though. I haven't thought about his baserunning at all since the first week or two of the year when he had a TOOTBLAN so I guess that means he has been better on that front.

It doesn't really compute 21st in pitching fWAR but 7th best in ERA 12th in position player fWAR 9th best team in baseball with a +64 run differential? Their ERA-FIP on the team level is -0.72, by far the best in baseball. What's up? Over a full season that would be the best since the 2020 Dodgers. And TBR is a good to mediocre defensive team so it's not that.

Yeah it is an objectively positive development for the MLB team, sadly. Even if Scherzer is just a 4.50 ERA guy who gets through 5 or 6 innings every night, that would be fine.

The AL East might get crazy this year.

I am the only one

Every battle ball that inning by Toronto was over 100 mph Three outs on smashed balls

Rafael Devers To Start Work At First Base With Giants June 17th, 2025 at 5:00pm CST • By Darragh McDonald ... “They’re the men in charge,” Devers said today, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “I’m here to play wherever they want me to play.” You love to see this. I love it here. Baseball is amazing.

HOORAY!

I don't know why this doesn't bug you, lol. It's generally true that good teams can be fine with one bad arm in the pen but it tends to be a replacement level guy soaking innings or a young kid with upside who is struggling. Toronto's backend is uniquely bad. Swanson has a 10.20 FIP and Green's -0.7 fWAR is nearly the worst of all RP in baseball. They essentially play shorthanded every night, two men down unless you want to punt the game.

This rendition of the Toronto Blue Jays has been sewered by relievers more than once: 2020 WC Game 1 - AJ Cole gives up 2 ER in a 3-1 loss 2021 - Brad Hand single handedly makes them miss the playoffs 2022 WC Game 2 - The infamous bullpen collapse. Mayza, Bass, Romano give up 6 ER in 10-9 loss. 2023 WC Game 2 - "reliever" Yusei Kikuchi gives up 2 runs in 2-0 loss. If they miss the playoffs by a game or two this year, people are not going to look back in an understanding way at these innings being given to Green and Swanson

Devers + Sale + Betts for Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs, Jose Bello, Jeter Downs, Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong, Vaughn Grissom say what you want about Devers, and say what you want about $/WAR and payroll considerations, but this trade history looks like what the worst owner in your dynasty league might do on a snap rebuild one year before quitting the league without notice

Green and Swanson in June 10.1 IP 13 ER 4 HR 7 BB 6 K

Looks like some good hittin' to me.

Sandlin has had 4 rehab games so he should be good to go... unless he is not 100% physically Yimi had a bullpen session but no rehab games yet Burr, dunno what he is doing. Paxton Schultz is the obvious swap on the 40 man roster and he should be here over Swanson, for sure. I would say over Green as well. Yeah Nance is one of the obvious non-40 man choices. His projections are better then Green or Swanson, I think. But if they select Nance, he can't just be demoted later if they want. Lazara Estrada and Ryan Jennings are two other non-40 man choices. I think the 40 man roster is at 39.

Green + Swanson + Francis -2.0 WAR combined projections of Green and Swanson are replacement level or below we are at or over the line where giving any of them any more MLB innings, other than in a blowout, is incompetent Schneider has to use them at certain points if they are on the roster so Ross needs to make some aggressive cuts here. I understand having to stick with Francis until a replacement (Scherzer) is ready but the other two, I see no reason for them to still be here.

Because it wasn't intended to be formally/legally binding; because there is no precedent for it and for all we know the CBA doesn't even allow it. It would be a hard to operate provision in a sport where things can change so quickly due to decline, injury, etc. But if it was said it was said. In the world of negotiating contracts that can have certain implications. You could consider it a moral obligation that both sides understand cannot be enforced legally or formally. You could consider it a representation to induce contract, also. I am not saying Devers acted well in all of this but he did at the first instance do what was best for the team. He went to DH, and hit well. The Red Sox compounded this by telling him to "put his glove away" or whatever. And he does not actually have a formal responsibility to "put the team and his teammates first". His contact does not say that. If his employer is going to ignore moral responsibilities, why should the employee Devers live up to his moral obligations? He is paid to play baseball. He continued to play baseball. He was doing his job. All the power to him. I kind of respect him not being a pushover. The line between doing what is best for the team and being a pushover for a s***** organization employer, is pretty blurry.

Boston now has a lengthy track record of doing things like this to star players. Have to think it at least becomes a thought for any free agent thinking of going there. Devers, Mookie, Adrian Gonzalez getting traded a year after signing there. Are there others?

Grant isn't completely out to lunch (this time). If the GM of the Boston Red Sox made a verbal promise that Devers would be the 3B for a long time, he was speaking on behalf of the team. It is valid for Devers to interpret that promise as coming from the team, and it is valid for him to think the moral obligations to honour it should run with the team regardless of who the GM is. I guess that makes mistake #1 simply telling a defender like Devers he is the 3B forever, in the first place. Mistake #2 is taking the inhumane position that since the GM changed you no longer have to honour any of these assurances and moral obligations. Then they made another mistake after signing Bregman, and that was to tell Devers to put his glove away. "You are the DH of the Boston Red Sox". A second false assurance. Yeah Devers doesn't look like a great team player after the Casas injury but I don't know if he is fully to blame. I feel like the organization could have and should have handled the situation differently and better, at multiple points in time. Up until this saga Rafael Devers had absolutely no reputation is a sourpuss or a bad teammate, quite the opposite, actually.

He's pretty close to one He would be SP1 on Toronto

He was good then completely lost the strike zone

Have to think they are debating bumping him for Scherzer next start, assuming Max feels good after his 65 pitch game in Buffalo yesterday

Will Robertson getting called up before we have a bunch of lefties is kinda funny