Etchebarren
4 posts
Apr 11, 2021
8:29 PM
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Originally, the plan for this post was to just do a regular prediction of the Opening Day roster, but if we being honest it really doesn feel like there all that much suspense. On the position player side, the only question that remains is whether or not Franchy Cordero will be ready. If he is, Michael Chavis will be optioned. If he not, Chavis will be on the Opening Day bench.I can really provide much insight into whether or not he will be ready, so there not much to add beyond that. Christian Arroyo is out of options, and will make the roster regardless https://www.bostonpetsstore.com/Garrett_Whitlock_Dog_Jersey-30. The rotation, likewise, is set, with Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Richards, Martn Prez, and Nick Pivetta making up the fivesome.The bullpen is really the only interesting part, and there it is basically only one roster spot up for grabs there. Boston has already committed to carrying a three-man bench, which means they have nine relievers in their Opening Day bullpen. I seen speculation that two spots are up for grabs, but that doesn really track to me. I be surprised if the following eight players weren there: Matt Barnes, Adam Ottavino, Darwinzon Hernandez, Hirokazu Sawamura, Josh Taylor, Matt Andriese, Garrett Whitlock, and Austin Brice. Brice seems to be on the bubble for other people,but given he is out of options and none of the other options are slam dunks to be better than him, I be pretty surprised if he got the boot.So, there isn really any intrigue for those 25 spots beyond what their role could look like, but that will fluctuate all year. For that 26th and final spot, though, things get really interesting. The Red Sox currently have three pitchers who could be considered for this final spot: Phillips Valdez, Colten Brewer and Kevin McCarthy https://www.bostonpetsstore.com/Babe_Ruth_Dog_Jersey-7. I pretty comfortable actually narrowing that down even further to cut Brewer out, but he hasn yet been optioned so he still technically in the running.The case for Valdez is pretty simple: He was effective in 2020 when so many were not. The righty, who came in as a waiver claim prior to last season, pitched to a 3.26 ERA over 30 1? innings. Given how bad the rest of the staff was, it would seem strange to not reward him with an Opening Day spot in this group https://www.bostonpetsstore.com/Carl_Yastrzemski_Dog_Jersey-13.However, there is plenty of reason to doubt that performance. By FIP, he was over a full run worse, which is worth noting over that small of a sample. Furthermore, he really doesn have much of a track record of success Darwinzon Hernandez Dog Jersey, and most of his performance came on the back of a changeup-heavy approach that could be looked upon with some skepticism as being able to work on a longer term basis. Throw in a spring performance that has been consistently shaky,and doubt for his spot is reasonable. Brewer could have taken that, but while he been better than Valdez this spring he hasn exactly been lights out, and his track record over the last two seasons has been average-at-best, and often worse.That brings us to McCarthy John Smoltz Cat Jersey, who is the wildcard in this discussion. A former Royals reliever, he signed with the Red Sox on a minor-league deal early in the offseason. As noted by Chris Hatfield of Sox Prospects, he has what known as an upward mobility clause. Basically, on Sunday if McCarthy is not on the 40-man roster the Red Sox have to give every other team in baseball an opportunity to say they will put him on their 40-man. If at least one team does make that declaration, the Red Sox either need to let him go to that team or put him on the 40-man themselves. If no team decides to take him, then he stays with the Red Sox, serving as depth at the Alternate Site. It should be noted, too,that McCarthy has no options, so if he added to the 40-man he has to be on the Opening Day roster.If it turns out that no one does want to add him https://www.bostonpetsstore.com/Jd_Martinez_Dog_Jersey-34, then this conversation is probably moot.McCarthy has been better than both Valdez and Brewer this spring, but we should certainly note that the righty doesn exactly carry a can-miss resum. The 29-year-old is a pitch-to-contact groundball specialist who put up solid results earlier in his career but has been more like league-average by ERA over the last couple of seasons while carrying a strikeout rate under 15 percent. It a risky profile in today game, to say the least. On the other hand, we all know how strange this season is shaping up to be, particularly for pitchers. We are in something of an unprecedented situation with pitchers having not gotten their normal workloads due to the pandemic last summer. As a result, teams are understandably more panicked about the potential for even more pitching injuries than they used to, which means there is a greater argument for keeping as much depth on hand as possible. That is a reason why I could certainly see at least one team jump at the opportunity for McCarthy by Sunday, and also a reason why the Red Sox could consider to counter that by adding him on their own 40-man.But, as I said, this is complicated, and the Red Sox have more to consider than just whether or not they want McCarthy on their Opening Day roster over Valdez and Brewer, both of whom, it should be mentioned, do have options remaining https://www.bostonpetsstore.com/Rafael_Devers_Dog_Jersey-60. If the Red Sox do decide they want to hoard depth and keep McCarthy in the picture, they have to make room on the 40-man, which is easier said than done for them these days. Boston roster isn stacked, but it not as easy to find expendable players to make room for others as it was even just a couple of months ago.
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