Pickles

He's in the OD starting rotation. Believing anything else is a delusion.

This is all true. And inversely, Ortiz has the first half of the season at AAA to hit enough to demand Mateo's job. It works both ways.

Yes, I'm well aware that Red Sox fans are insufferable douches. That doesn't change the fact that a contending team is going into the season with a bat as poor as Mateo's penciled in to an everyday spot. The Red Sox are no outlier. I could surely find more examples.

I think the only thing you can say for sure is that Elias has so far valued him more than other teams were willing to offer for him. Now what that means exactly is open to endless debate.

Yes, this is the "math" aspect of it.

Are the Red Sox a contender? Wasn't it you that started a thread about their addition of Adalberto Mondesi as their starting SS? Doesn't Mondesi have virtually the same career OPS+ as Mateo?

You could be right. I'm assuming too. But two succesful seasons I think is quite different from one in terms of how a player is regarded. IMO, of course.

We don't. It's an informed assumption.

He has to establish his value. If he puts up another 3 WAR next year his value will go up significantly. It's not dissimilar to Mullins. Mullins value was up in 2022 vs 2021, even though his year wasn't as good, because he had established a baseline that teams were comfortable with. Mateo, rightly, has yet to do that.

IMO, he deserves a chance to do what he did last year. And if he repeats his performance last year, as someone else pointed out, it would be very difficult to unseat him as the de facto every day shortstop.

I don't understand the math but I get the concept: You can't lose if you don't give up any runs. But yes, the difference is small enough that isn't all that important.

Not to be too pedantic, but saving a run is actually a little bit better than scoring a run.

I mean it just goes to show his value. Most teams have a guy that hits like Mateo in their lineup. Almost nobody, and to my mind absolutely nobody, has a guy that can pick it like Mateo in their lineup.

Mondesi moves the needle? LOL. He makes Adam Frazier look like Roberto Alomar.

What isn't accurate? That the shift devalued the range of middle infielders? Just because everybody wasn't Ozzie Smith in the past doesn't reflect on that at all.

It would have taken Mullins. And that's a pass for me.

We'll have to see what prospects went back to the Twins, but he was a better single pieces than any of the ones floated here by our side.

Yeah, we weren't topping that.

Well, it was a conditional. As in he was an asset there some of the time. And his arm undoubtedly was useful some of the time. But yes, overall, he was a below average defender.

Regarding the bolded, it is all relative. Every major leaguer is an "athlete" even the fat ones. What he's saying is less athletic guys have been able to get away with playing in the middle infield of late with the increased shifting. Odor is a good example imo. Without the shift, Odor is not a 2nd basemen. With the shift, because of his arm strength, he can play there and even be an asset. Middle infielders, particularly 2b, are going to have to start to prioritize range over arm strength with the new rules.

At this point I hope he morphs into Joe Freakin Morgan just out of spite.

If he was healthy and there was no serious committment I wouldn't be against it. But you could literally say that about a couple dozen guys.

This is to honor a long-time and much beloved poster and moderator here. It is not in reference to the actor.

I'd prefer Profar over Frazier if Profar could still play the IF. I don't think that's the case anymore.

Ha! I'm giving a little cursory look into it right now.