Sox Notes: Hall of Fame, Moreland, Marwin, and More

Wading into water so muddy it's actually just dirt

Eventful days aren’t necessarily good days, but at least they’re memorable. Is that a good thing? To the notes!

Hall of Fame

It’s a shame the Hall of Fame voting process has become so charged. There are a bunch of former Red Sox on this year’s ballot, including some of the best to ever play for the organization. Roger Clemens is the best pitcher in Red Sox history (though I’d take Pedro in any individual game). Boston would never have won in 2004 or 2007 with Curt Schilling and Manny Ramirez who are both on the ballot. Billy Wagner threw just 13.1 innings for the 2009 Red Sox, but what innings they were! Even Shane Victorino is on this year’s ballot which means I’m contractually obligated to show you this video of his grand slam in 2013.

My god I loved that team.

Oh gosh, how’d that get in there? Whoops.

So anyway you’d think this would be a great year for a Red Sox fan to follow the Hall of Fame voting. It would be great to root for the enshrinement of all these ex-Red Sox who had such profound impacts on the game and the team, but, sadly, nope. With COVID there won’t be any Hall of Fame ceremony, which is oddly fine because, with the issues inherent in each of their candidacies, nobody was voted in this year. Not just ex-Sox. Nobody.

But somehow this is really all about Schilling, the headliner of the didn’t-make-it-in crowd. His support post-playing career for things well beyond political parties, policies, or candidates has taken what should be a grand slam election and turned it into a strikeout. Which, when you think about it, is its own kind of shame.

Marcus Semien signs in Toronto

Early in the off-season I wrote about fixing Boston’s second base problem. One of the main targets discussed was Marcus Semien. Yeah he’s a shortstop, but I figured it’s possible the Red Sox could buy him into playing second base, he could spell Xander on his off-days, yada yada yada. It was a nice idea, but it didn’t happen. The Red Sox signed Enrique Hernandez a few days ago and yesterday Semien signed with the Blue Jays for one year and $18 million. That figure probably goes a long way towards explaining why he isn’t playing second base in Boston. You can get a lot in this market for $18 million and while I like Semien a lot and I like this deal for the Blue Jays, this was probably best for Boston to sit out.

Hopefully by next year when he’s a free agent again the Red Sox will have Jeter Downs manning second base, so this ship has probably sailed, but if not, we can certainly revisit this discussion then! #SemienForever

More moves incoming?

Good news! Chris Cotillo of MassLive says the Red Sox are still looking to make some roster edits. Potentially as many as two in specific. First, they’re into the idea of strengthening the depth at first base, which I dig, and second, they like Marwin Gonzalez. Just generally, I’m assuming.

As for first base, Cotillo reports the Sox are looking for a left-handed platoon partner for Bobby Dalbec, which makes sense considering they’re currently counting on a 26-year-old with 23 major league games under his belt and a slight propensity to strike out on occasion. Cotillo specifically mentions old friend Mitch Moreland, who the Red Sox should totally sign just so they can trade him back to the Padres again, and Brad Miller who played some first base but hasn’t played the position since 2018.

Miller is an interesting guy because he’s a lot like Enrique Hernández, but left-handed. Miller has played every position besides catcher and pitcher in his career, and as a left-handed hitter, he’d be a nice compliment to Hernández just about all over the diamond. Miller has also recently posted two very nice seasons at bat, OPS+ing 136 and 120 in 2019 and 2020, respectively. He’s got some pop in his bat, as those numbers imply, and he adds to the depth, well, everywhere, even if you wouldn’t want him at short or center field on anything more than an emergency basis.

As for Moreland, he’ll be 35 next season and as good as he was in Boston last season (1.177 OPS!) he was that bad in San Diego after the trade (.609 OPS). 2020 was still a respectable season for him, and I expect 2021 will be similar with lots of power, not quite as many walks as you’d want, and all the intangibles you can grab.

While a reunion with Moreland would be a feel-good story, Miller might fit the roster better, that is unless they sign Marwin Gonzalez, the other guy Cotillo says Boston has shown interest in. Gonzalez was an MVP candidate in 2017 but that was three years and 312 games ago. Outside of that one season, Gonzalez has been pedestrian with the bat, and that’s even with the platoon advantage in every plate appearance as he’s a switch hitter. He doesn’t have a platoon split, he’s league average against all pitchers, but that has value as he can play all over the field (maybe you’re sensing a theme here).

None of those guys are big mashers at first base, so you’d hope that Dalbec takes the reins himself there, but having some combination of Miller and/or Gonzalez on the roster would make it much easier to get competent at-bats from first base if Dalbec runs into trouble. And if Dalbec doesn’t need the help, both can fill in for other guys who might need a day. Flexibility, man. It’s not to be sneezed at.

If the Red Sox do anything further, you’ll read about it here. And if they don’t, you’ll read about that here as well.

Kike is kinda awesome

This interview with new Red Sox second baseman/shortstop/third baseman/outfielder is pretty great, especially the part where he talks about how he pranked his minor league manager.

Intentional Talk @IntentionalTalk

This was a good one with @kikehndez of the @Dodgers and also @Tsunamy27 of the @Cardinals, actually!

Thanks!

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