Rays top prospect Wander Franco is on his way back to the United States for precautionary tests on the bicep injury that forced him out of the lineup in the Winter League, according to John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The Dominican League reported news of Franco’s discomfort last week, but it seemed like a minor injury at the time. Coming back stateside certainly adds a note of concern, but that’s still not much to go on. For the time being, it’s safe to presume the best. While we await further updates, let’s check in on the Rays division rival…
- There’s some concern that Andrew Benintendi won’t be able to regain the form that made him a top prospect before his debut in 2016, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. Boston’s left fielder slashed .290/.366/.465, good for 4.5 bWAR as a 23-year-old in 2018. He’s backslid since then, culminating in an injury-marred 2020. More than the .103/.314/.128 line he posted in just 14 games this season, the concern is that Benintendi no longer registers the sprint speed he booked early in his career. Speier provides some disquieting quotes from talent evaluators who don’t see Benintendi developing into the star many expected. There’s not much chance of Boston exploring a trade with his value at an all-time low. For now, the 26-year-old should have plenty of leash to build back his value in 2021.
- Before he was the manager of the Boston Red Sox, Alex Cora mentored Dustin Pedroia in the early stages of the second baseman’s career. Now, as that career appears to be nearing an end, Cora is again nearby to lend an ear, writes Chris Cotillo of Masslive.com. Cora won’t reveal anything about Pedroia’s plans for the future, but he did speak glowingly about the impact he has continued to have on the team, even if he hasn’t been healthy enough to contribute on the diamond. It’s largely expected that Pedroia will announce his retirement before the 2021 season, but nothing has been made official.
Put Bene in CF, where his tepid bat won’t hurt you much; ya, he’s no JBJ, who is? Sign Springer for LF. If you want more OF depth, I’m sure Atlanta (Inciarte) or Colorado (Desmond) will give you some prospects if you take on their respective contracts.
BE BOLD!!!!!
Springer is a better fielder than Benintendi, no?
Dunno. It seems everything you read has George moving to a corner. But you could be right.
I’d keep Springer in CF for a year and give Beni a chance to bounce back and see the trade value in a year. Then maybe Duran will be ready and move Springer to a corner.
AB may have been a CFer in college but has anyone else noticed in a small sample size, how lousy he’s looked there in the majors, especially at home? Moreover, his arm is a huge drop off from JBJ’s and the team will see an ugly difference if he’s put there full time. AV on the other hand seems more adept there but I worry about him getting hurt chasing balls in both directions. Best move is to resign JBJ. Forget the bat from 2020 and just be happy with that glove and arm continuing to patrol CF. It’s easy to have picked on JBJ’s bat but if the team or us fans are honest, he carried himself fine when you add everything up. I’d love Springer leading off but I see him in left replacing AB in my fantasy lineup. In the real world however, unless Boston is willing to blow up the payroll again having reset the tax base, the team needs to save $$ for pitching. With Bloom in charge who sees the team leading the majors by far in payroll in 21? They will pay but not insanely so like in the past.
I don’t know if Springer can stay healthy enough for CF. It looks like the Blue Jays are going to sign him.
The Red Sox should shed payroll and start rebuilding with youth. See if AB can rebound and play center though they may put Verdugo there as well. It wouldn’t be wise to keep Bradley. Great player for a contender but the Red Sox are WAY away.
Fenway has the largest right field of any mlb parks. Verdugo should stay in RF. Someone like Pillar can platoon with Benintendi in CF, and the Red Sox can sign someone for LF (preferably a left handed batter as the RS have gotten very right handed).
Soxprospects.com has the following
Rotation
RH Nathan Eovaldi
LH Eduardo Rodriguez
RH Nick Pivetta
RH Tanner Houck
SP Acquisition ♦
SP Acquisition
Bullpen
RP Acquisition ♦
RP Acquisition
RH Matt Barnes
RH Ryan Brasier
LH Darwinzon Hernandez
LH Josh Taylor
RH Phillips Valdez
RH Austin Brice
Lineup
C Christian Vazquez
1B Bobby Dalbec
2B Acquisition ♦
3B Rafael Devers
SS Xander Bogaerts
LF Andrew Benintendi
CF Acquisition ♦
RF Alex Verdugo
DH JD Martinez
Bench
C Kevin Plawecki
LHH Acquisition ♦
IF Christian Arroyo
UT Michael Chavis
UT Yairo Munoz
I would add Pillar and a left handed hitting outfielder, trade Chavis, two starters, a closer, and one setup man.
As a Braves fan you guys can have Inciarte … Maybe you guys would be able to use him better than the Braves have … However .. he is still one of the best defensive CF going
He was suggesting the Red Sox could take on Inciarte if WE sent prospects, not the other way around. He has 1 year left at $8 million. I’m sure a deal like that could be worked out but for 1 year, $8 million in relief, the Red Sox aren’t going to get much in the way of prospects. I’m just fine with keeping him for that final year and using him as a defensive substitute rather than sell prospects for teams to take him.
I would rather see the sox sign Pillar for 2-3MM.
At that price, there’s little pain but the team sold high on Pillar and bringing him back reminds me of Pearce. If we can balance out the roster better, I’d prefer Moreland who if given a chance can try to teach Devers how to play first. It’s apparent no one ever showed him how to defend the hot corner.
I agree on Moreland. At 2-3 MM each they can afford both.
Resign Pillar !!!!!!
Arroyo is Chavis, but a better fielder and fewer strikeouts. Chavis gets traded and Moreland is the left handed batter off the bench…
This article cites Beni’s decreasing sprint speed. I think Boston goes with Verdugo in CF who combines great jumps with above average speed
Just wrote that in part but I worry about his health playing in the middle.
Should’ve used the money to just keep Betts if we are throwing money at springer….
Pedroia-it’s a shame injuries shorten great careers. Love him or love to hate him, I don’t wish that on anybody.
Just wish Pedroia would channel that competitive energy and become a coach on Cora’s staff instead of sitting on the sofa in AZ.
Give him some time. He just spent the last 14 years of his career playing professional baseball and essentially spending 6+ months of each of those years away from his family.
While I understand what you’re saying, he actually hasn’t played for the past 3 seasons.
He may not have played in major league games during that time but he spent a significant portion of it trying to rehab his knee injury to get to the point where he could play again. Don’t discount that time away from family doing that just because you didn’t see him on the field.
Bene for Kingery and an exchange of prospects on lower levels. Both get change of scenery and help solve problem spots for each organization if they rebound .
Kingery is affordably under control through 2026. Benitendi is a free agent after 2022. Unless the Red Sox throw in one of their higher tier prospects, then no way the Phils do a Kingery+low level prospect for Benitendi+low level prospect.
Benintendi bulked up and lost his way, a victim of the long ball craze.
I don’t know that it was bulking up or simply trying to change his swing to lift the ball more. Either way he would have been better served sticking with what worked for him than trying to turn himself into something he’s not.
Same issue, King, agreed. He used to remind me of Mike Greenwell with better wheels, but not sure what to think now. Hoping AB gets back on track.
A forgotten man. Greenie opined early on in the PED aftermath that he deserved the MVP over Canceco in 88 or 89. Just a reminder of how cheating has hurt sports. He deserved the MVP that year in retrospect and would be remembered more had he received it. The same thing has prevented some players from being enshrined in the HOF. Looking at a Dwight Evans stats however and they get buried because he never won a HR title or batting trophy. He was though just one of the best hitters of the 80s. I’ve said before, compare his stats before and after a reporter wrote about family health situations he was up to then dealing with privately. Throw in after fully recovering fro getting beaned by Nolan Ryan in 78 as well.
I watched Dwight Evans his entire career and he definitely deserves to be in the HOF!!!! For fans not old enough just check out his stats.
Is that true? I think a guy with speed who gets on base has more value than a run of the mill player with power. The distraction makes all kinds of pitchers miss their spots.
I agree. AB looked like a .290 hitter with 20-20 potential early in his career. A real hitter with instincts. Again, hope he finds his way.
Matz and a mid level prospect for bene? Ok, now destroy me for typing that!
Where is NY going to play another left-handed corner outfielder? Unless Nimmo or Conforto is traded somewhere, there’s no space for AB
I want to trade Conforto a lot. Can give a good return and he is replaceable on the open market most years.
Matz will be non-tendered.
I would take a flyer on Matz but with new money at Citi Field and the need for pitching, I see at most a trade, not a release. Even if he’s not tendered, he’s from the area and if he has to accept less, he’d probably stay in NY.
BTW, Happy Thanksgiving to all of us turkeys out there…..
Real Thanksgiving was in October. Happy day before Black Friday! 😉
Are we still allowed to call it that?
Here we go again, this time with Benintendi . Players have bad seasons on every team. Just when its a Red Sox player, it treated like he’s finished. We heard talk like this about JBJ, and Vazquez, et al.
Benintendi’s OPS+ year by year: 118, 103, 123. 100, 27. Slightly above average, until this year. Yes, you would like to see improvement year to year, but many players have shown erratic stats, until putting it together.
Im not saying he’s on the verge of breaking out, but I am saying its far too soon, based on this year’s stats, to talk about his demise. If ever a year deserves a pass it would be a Covid/Injury season like this year. And again, his 2020 stats are based on 52PAs, kinda unfair to be giving it equal weight against previous 3 seasons, where he averaged 645PAs.
But, I know this place, haters gotta hate. and Red Sox are Public Enemy #1
Actually the Astros are public enemy number 1 but I think you misunderstood what they’re saying… it’s not that he can’t bounce back, it’s that he’s shown a decline in a lot of the metrics they used to judge that he was going to be great. You can definitely pass off 2020 as an injury, shortened year and excise it but he really didn’t look great in 2019 either. I think it’s more he put on weight and doesn’t have the speed he once had in addition to not hitting well. I’m not saying he’s done but I also think for all the hype he had coming up, he’s never really lived up to it and even you have to admit it looks like he’s going in the wrong direction… I suspect he’ll be better than he was last year and be a very solid major league outfielder but I’m not sure I see him being the superstar the Red Sox (and their fans) try to sell him as
I didn’t misunderstand anything. Maybe you misunderstood me.
If you disregard 2020 as you and I both agree, Beni’s OPS+ from 2017 to 2018 is 118, 103, 123. 100. That isn’t a “backslide”. And I’m not sure what “metrics” you want to use, but my OPS+ is a better one than giving his best season and worst season slash lines, as the story does.
“There’s some concern” “He’s backslid since then” “no longer registers the sprint speed he booked early in his career” “don’t see Benintendi developing into the star” “value at an all time low” — These quotes show the writer saying he is in demise. Now look for some positive comments from the paragraph (Save the trouble, there aren’t any).
Let me give you a better example of my point:
This writer, some believe, is showing boorish behavior toward the Red Sox. He seems to abhor Benintendi and his future. If he continues on this path Red Sox fans may consider him a DBag.
There I didn’t say anything negative about him personally. But
do I need to? Understand now?
I think you can discount his 27 OPS+ in 2020, but you can’t completely ignore it. Given his 100 OPS+ in 2019, it does appear to be part of a decline. The 103 OPS+ 2017 is also less than one would expect of the “star” Benintendi was projected to be by Boston and its fans. I think it’s a bit of a homer stretch to completely disregard the comments of Zencka and the talent evaluators who assessments he is reporting. Benintendi is clearly in decline. He is clearly not living up to his promise. He clearly has been erratic at best. That being said, there’s no reason to think he can’t right the ship. The judgment some are passing, however, is that he won’t achieve the heights he was once assumed to attain. This comes from talent evaluators, who I would tend to listen to over you. No offense, but they have the expertise that you or I do not have.
And a happy thanksgiving to you too.
You quote “star” as if I said it, Its only a quote from writer, exaggerating what peoples expected of him. No one in Boston is talking about Benintendi as a star, only here by the writer.
Youre going to “discount” 52 PAs. Whats your attrition on that 20 PAs off, maybe 30? WTF does that mean? As far as “talent evaluators, name names. Until the whos and whens, of these so called evaluators, my ‘talent evaluators’ are as good as theirs.
And don’t forget his second half OPS+ in 2018 wasn’t very good either. He frankly hasn’t been the same player since ASB 2018 unfortunately
The troll, Bleach Injector, is back. Talk baseball or get out.
you’re joking at this point, right?
It doesn’t work that way. Now go learn about paragraphs and the enter key.
You’ll never need the enter key- you can’t come up with more than a fragment of a sentence at a time.
I never misunderstood you. You’re just looking at this through a very pro-red sox lens and I’m not… the writer makes some valid concerns that things like speed aren’t there and he’s had a rough couple seasons. He never said it’s absolutely impossible he’ll ever be good or his career is over… just that he might never turn into the star that was once promised. Which honestly if you’ve watched him play you already kinda knew… I’m sorry the writer didn’t put more positive comments into there so you can feel better…
Also Red Sox fans thinking your dbag pretty much means you wrote/said something kinda sorta a little negative about the team and didn’t praise them for being so great at everything. I’m exaggerating, but not by much…
What are you talking about? Everyone in Boston was calling him a star… do you remember when they drafted him? There was so much about Houston taking Bregman and how lucky Boston was that it let benetendi fall to them. Then he was a #1 prospect. He was definitely very hyped as a big upcoming star throughout his minor league and early major league career. Again, minus 2020, the guy is a very solid average to slightly above average major league player. I’m by no means saying he terrible or his career is over because one shortened season didn’t go well. BUT I also don’t think he’s half as good as Boston fans try to say he is. Personal opinion…
“do you remember when they drafted him? There was so much about Houston taking Bregman and how lucky Boston was that it let benetendi fall to them. ”
Are you kidding? Fringe, fly by night fans perhaps, like every team has, but not major ones who follow a team and have for years were happy Bregman went before Benny. Look it up and see Boston picked Bregman few years before and what’s not a widely known thing, is he was given the “grand show” by Boston in some kind of attempt to sway at signing when they drafted him way down and tried signing to an over slot deal.
What does always seem to amaze me is attacks from ignorance that are made often on this site, generally when they seem to know little of the history. saw Greenwell’s name posted earlier.. Greenie retired as a fair defensive LF with much better numbers than many of today’s players can hope to put up, was still putting them up when he retired young rather than play for anyone not Boston.
Boston did draft Alex Bergman…..in 2012 in the 29th round out of high school….wow, what ifs…..if they only offered him enough to sign…..
Greenwell finished second in the MVP voting to Mr. Steriod himself Jose Canseco.
Interesting dennyd…. Agree with this nonsensical article. Did Beni NOT do anything nor contribute to win a WS in 2018? Pretty recent too, no? Hmmm… Wasn’t “washed up” and “fat” then was he? Two years later make him worthless and on decline? LMAO.
Will look into that in the future with this “writer,” but of course, that’s always been the case on this website. People here love to ban Red Sox fans on their own team rumor pages etc. Question is, WTF are rival fans that hate Boston and their teams here? Don’t even get me started with new yawk rumors either, lol. Good forbid, you call them cheaters or roiders. Then again, with baseball, it’s all relative, lol. Fact is, the Red Sox have been the MOST SUCCESSFUL MLB TEAM in the 21st Century with 4 WS Titles, hence, the hate/jealousy/envy. All par for the course, sadly. Go Sawx, Championship City to infinity!!!!!
Agreed. Happy to not have Bregman though, would have been cool cheating asstro style….. LOL. Might think about Stuttering Springer though, he is from connecticut after all and could replace jbj long term if the money is right. That said, Boston has had plenty of “star players” come thru the system. If Beni isn’t one of them, all good. He isn’t going to crumble either, the guy is a solid player overall. Boston already won a LEGIT 2018 WS with Mookie during a NON ASTERISK 2020 WS. Fact is, Mookie contributed very little in that postseason offensively, kind of his pattern, see the playoffs with LA in ’20. Difference is, “no offense” JBJ killed texass. HA HA. Would be fine seeing JBJ stay on for short term/money too. Look for Beni to rebound during a FULL SEASON. Only question is, “when” that will be.
Nice retelling of history there bud but yes there was a lot of talk by Boston and their fans about how great it was to have benetendi over Bregman. I think what you mean to say is the opposite… there were people who would have rather had Bregman but there was so clearly a huge part of the fan base at least that did not.
And for the record I haven’t made any statements out of ignorance. I feel fairly confident I know more about baseball than you do judging by many of the comments I’ve seen you post on the site.
Freaking geeks with their metrics….. has nothing to do with it. It has to do with his approach at the plate and it is between the ears where his problem lies. They tried to make him a leadoff hitter… and made him take pitches to drive the count up and made him passive as a hitter. This is where the problem lies…. since this started in 2019 he was constantly 0-2, 1-2 in almost every at bat. He is a good hitter going into the prime years of his career…. he will be fine if they just let him play without messing with his head.
Why not use your eyes? The game is played on the field, not in a computer. Anyone watching knows since that great catch against the Astros, he’s been far worse than average. Given he’s still young, the question is who is the real AB? I said it before last year, he should have been traded then. To do so now, you’re either taking on a worse contract or another team’s disappointment. At this point, plan on using him in left but continue to inspect the market for options.
You mean to tell me that Benintendi’s best year was when the Red Sox cheated in 2018 and he he was never as good before or after that season? I’m shocked…
It’s also amazing that a Red Sox player having that kind of drop off never even gets a hint of suspicion regarding the known cheating his team was doing, but if it were an Astros player…………………..
Funny, Mookie Betts has never matched his stats from 2018 either…..
Look I hate the Red Sox like every normal person, too. But that’s just a stupid comment. “Never matched his stats from 2018…”? There has been one normal season since then. Never hasn’t happened yet. Maybe they won’t match those stats and then you’ll have a good point. But counting the 2019 season and then this abbreviated bast&@d of a season as “never” isn’t solid analysis.
Every team that wins a World Series, has several players on it that have career years. To discredit every player who had a good season is wreckless. Not every player had a career year that year. So are they just bad cheaters? Get over it. It hasn’t even been explained how they cheated, who cheated, or to what extent. And based on penalty it wasn’t that much.
Betts had an OPS 151 points higher than any of his other 6 years. It is a massive outlier and happens to be the year the Red Sox were punished for cheating while having their new manager that was leading the cheating in Houston the year before. Betts has only had 1 season above 1.000 OPS and that was it. HIs career OPS is below 900. It is very suspicious. Betts is a great player. That year he was an all time player.
Trout has had 6 years in a row with an OPS over .990. He’s never had an OPS as high as Betts had that season.
It doesn’t pass the smell test.
Mookie finished 2nd in mvp voting as a dodger…
3.4 WAR in 2020 vs. 10.6!! in 2018. Hardly comparable, even when adjusted for the shortened season.
Nope adjusted for a full season Mookie has over 9 WAR not to far off I wouldn’t say hardly comparable.
9.061 WAR is “above” 9, just barely. That’s still only 85% of 10.6. Fact is, that 10.6 is territory that only Trout occupied until then. In fact, it topped Trout’s best. That was an eye-popping season Betts has not even nearly repeated. 9 is NOT the same kind of achievement.
I sincerely hope that’s sarcasm
In the history of WAR, 9 is NOT the same kind of achievement as 10.6
9 vs. 10.6 WAR is the difference between excellent and historic, the kind of historic generally reserved for Trout.
Not “hardly comparable” no matter what you say especially in a weird shortened season.
It’s the difference between the best seasons of Trout, Bonds and Ted Williams vs. the best seasons of Utley, Dykstra and Semien. That’s noticeably different to me.
17 times players had a 9.0 WAR and 11 of those are in the Hall of Fame.
9.0 is not too shabby.
10 times players had a 10.6 WAR and 6 of those are in the Hall of Fame.
Definitely better but not a huge difference.
terrible comment
yours is much worse, he’s right.
A+ reasoning, good job!
cmon man. Betts has been consistently one of the best players in the game over the past several years, and Beni has been consistently pretty good since coming into the majors. neither’s 2018 was really an outlier.
Because your comments always bring so much to the table. Remember, capitalize your sentences. You aren’t five anymore.
The troll, Creamandtheclear, AKA Bleach Injector, is back. The one who says meh and ugh are not words, yet still believes he should be schooling us.
I don’t think, I very much know that those are not words. If you don’t want to get schooled, don’t comment publicly with sentence fragments, run-on paragraphs and made up valley girl words. Either up your game or stop crying.
I think you meant, “Either up your game, or stop crying.” They’re both imperatives with an implied subject so you need a comma since they’re both complete sentences. Either that or it’s technically an incomplete sentence and you need to up your game.
Oh look at pinstripes, just another new yawk troll. Never see any turds like that on this website. No worries though, he won’t be banned on here by the mods due to the empireLess state loveboy connection. LOL
Benintendi was never that great, even in 2018. Say what you want about Betts- we got rid of him too.
Winter leagues are in play! Y’all be safe out there, ya hear!? I don’t have Wander slotted in at number one MiLB, currently. All the same, happy Turkey day, bone heads!
Sign a RHH CF (Michael Taylor?) and platoon Benintendi. Hunter Renfroe can handle LF at Fenway…
Pillar
Renfroe strikes out a lot but when he steps into one he can hit the ball a very long way.
The Sox essentially need two Outfielders, one to play one of the spots everyday (hard to say which one because of the fact that Benintendi and Verdugo can play CF or the corners) and a backup who can play CF. Renfroe and Taylor could both probably be had for cheap. We’ve heard Puig’s name linked to the Sox as well and even Marcell Ozuna though i don’t see them spending that kind of money
They messed with Benintendi’s swing, trying to get him to hit for more power. The loss of sprint speed, however, is alarming.
Like Sanchez on the Yankees, he’s probably a good change-of-scenery candidate. The issue is he’s going to make $6.4M in 2021, but he’ll still be arbitration eligible for 2022. He’ll be a non-tender candidate a year on unless he can turn it around.
Beni & Wong – Turnbull.. OR ..Beni & Wong – Faedo & JaCoby Jones
The Red Sox like Wong and he will probably work his way into the team’s plans by mid ’21 or early ’22. Benintendi is not going anywhere after the terrible season he had due to injury.
Turnbull is not very good and the Tigers don’t even know what they have in Faedo yet and JaCoby Jones can’t stay healthy. In this case both GM’s would say no to the other making this offer
You’re absolutely right Turnbull isn’t an Ace by any means; rather young, healthy, affordable, and competent. Sox need young controlled pitching and the tigers desperately need young catching. IMO, Grullon would fit as well.
I vote to give the Duran kid a shot in center, and get some added pitching for Pete’s sake!
Get rid of Benintendi. Never lived up to any hype.
what a great reason to give up on anyone. get rid of all former #1 picks if they dont end up being the best of their classes.
Nice periods at the end of your sentences! What a big boy! Now let’s work on capitalization of your sentences! Your almost typing like an adult!
If you are going to follow someone around and harass them for their grammar on every post they make, you may want to make sure that your own grammar is correct.
Benintendi also isn’t the nicest guy from what I hear. But no, I don’t just get rid of players for the sake of doing it. This guy was projected to do much better than he’s done previously. At this point, he’s worth trading to get anything back.
“Getting rid of” Bene at this point is counterproductive, not unlike the Bucs getting rid of Bell, Reynolds; and a hundred other examples I’m sure we can think of.
Let 2021 play out…see which Bene is the real one. A season is organic, not stagnant; changes can be made midstream.
well put
Did you notice how easy his comment was to read? Because he writes like a big boy! You can learn from this!
darkside is doing just fine, creamy. Quiet down and move along…. This is a BOSTON article.
Agree Bob, 2020 was completely lost and while he wasn’t good in 2019 he wasn’t terrible let’s not forget this.
I’m sure Bloom will listen but I expect him to play for Boston next year and this year will be very important for him, I’m sure he knows this. I expect him to play well next year and get back to what he does well make hard line drive contact and can turn on occasional inside pitch we will see.
Solid comment from bobtillman as usual. You’ve been at it for years man, keep it up.
Benintendi has begun regular season play slowly, except in his rookie year. For example:
2017 (1st 8 games) — 7/30 (.233)
2018 (1st 13 games) – 11/48 (.229)
2019 (1st 9 games) — 8/34 (.235)
In 2020 spring training he only had 23 PA/21 AB so that may give a hint to his poor start in the regular season.
Benintendi had a rough 2020 season no doubt. It’s very possible that he over achieved in his 1st year. His performance is not necessarily declining, but just leveling off. We’ve all seen a lot of prospects who are over hyped and don’t live up to the lofty expectations when they reach the majors. Time will tell. It’s still too early to give up on him.
Agreed ctguy. Pretty sure NO ONE in Boston hyped this guy as someone putting up 40-50 HR’s/150+ RBIs a season, a .300 batting AVG, .500 OBP, 20 outfield assists, 30-50 steals and other ridiculous nonsense. The guy has ALREADY CONTRIBUTED to a LEGIT 2018 WS Title. He’s 26 y/o and barely been in MLB for 3.5 years. Calm down critics, he’ll “rebound” and keep improving with adjustments/coaching. Were missing our head coach this past season, lol. Seems obvious our whole roster were barely hitting this past half season, still LED the league in many categories/stats. That just shows HOW GOOD Boston’s hitters can be.
Benintendi is not hyped as a star in any way, shape, or form. This is Speier reaching for a story to write.
It is way to early to write off Benintendi. He was never expected to be Manny or even Damon. I think the Sox would be fine if he ends up being another Troy O’Leary or Trot Nixon. The guy was injured coming into the season, lets at least wait to see him in spring training before hitting the panic button
Benintendi will be okay. Pedroia needs to RETIRE already!!! He has not played in 3 years !!! Enough Enough Enough already! Give him an injury settlement and make him a coach. He is taking up a spot on the roster. I know he was hurt playing the game but it is enough already. He is out of the game 3 years now! Sign a second baseman or let one of the young kids play like Downs or Chavis.
AL34 – I agree, Pedroia has wasted a 40-man roster stop each of the last three years. He needs to retire with his last year salary of $12,000,000 and let another deserving play take that spot.
I also agree that Benintendi will hit and play left field as he has thus far in his career which is a little above average….he is what he is….a complimentary player and not a star. That said he is not the answer is CF. JBJ may be more money than the Red Sox want to spend. Pillar makes sense as a short term fix with Beni supplementing. Munoz can get time in the outfield as well, but I see Bloom only signing a FA to a contract of a year or two for CF.
Pedroia earned every penny by helping the Sox win 2 WS while being grossly under paid.
As for the 40 man spot, there are always 2 or 3 non-roster players that need a spot. Pedey was moved to the 60 day IR freeing up his spot most of the last 3 yrs.