Red Sox make JOKE of a signing with IKF!

0:00The Baskards of Boston Baseball Podcasts. Back to folk. Red Sox fans have won to hear it. The Boston Red Sox are World Champion. Game over, series over, and the Red Sox are World Champs again. Yes indeed. Here it comes. Another addition of the Baskards of Boston Baseball. You are listening to the one and only Baskards of Boston Baseball. The Red Sox never ceased to disgrace themselves with how they think they need to build a roster. And we are getting into plenty of that tonight.

1:03I am Terry Cushman, joined tonight by Jeremy Schilling, Doug Acheson. How are you gentlemen? I'm good. I'm good. It's still football season, but I'm getting. I'll be ready Monday afternoon for pictures and catchers next week. Yeah, you know, I'm pretty sure I've pointed this out on the podcast, but you know, somehow Bob Kraft in the in the Patriots front office managed to do their whole rebuild faster than John Henry could. Amazing what happens when you make decisions to actually try to win games. Yeah. When you make impactful signings at spots in your roster that have holes. And you and you put money into those positions, it's amazing what happens. Right. And I'm jealous. They have a new coach too. You know, that's kind of probably made a big impact.

2:04That's huge. Yeah. It's different in football. There's no bigger impact from the sideline to the field that in football. So they just announced that the offensive coordinator Josh McDaniel's wins offensive or assistant of the year. You bring in the head coach and it's just so it's so impactful in football. And baseball with core and I'm a core guy still, although it coming back towards the middle. It's more about the atmosphere in the clubhouse and in-game decisions. And it's really more of a players determining the game, although obviously the players determine football. But I get your point, Terry. Yeah. Core really lost me last year with his management of the kids, you know, platooning them and all that. But what we'll get into that as the season goes. The other thing too. We've got platoon dynasty and steroids this year. The way it looks, but we'll get into it. Before we do kick it into the Isaiah kind of forever signing.

3:04I was just thinking to myself kind of facetiously, I guess. Maybe we should have just signed another player from the 2013 team to be the GM, you know. What would Johnny Gomes do with all this money? I'm pretty sure his negotiation skills would be better, you know, in terms of closing on either trades or free agency. Yeah, what would happen there with Johnny Gomes is the socks would make an offer. The agent would make an offer and then they'd have to wrestle Johnny Gomes and the winner gets their deal. That's how that would go. That guy is crazy. I was a big fan. You know, I know I bag on the platoon dynasty. But man, what a great, what a great platoon guy with Daniel Malva. I like Johnny Gomes as a red sock as a royal the year they wanted. He was on the royals, right? I believe so. He was so annoying.

4:05On my team, I liked him. The minute he was on another team, I found him obnoxious and like the stick was just had run dry with me. I got that. Yeah, I don't know. I enjoyed him. One of the great late inning pinch hitters too. How many, how many go ahead homeruns did he hit that year? At least three or four. He was a big factor. Huge. Yeah, exactly. All right. So somehow we went from Alex Bregman to Isaiah, kind of for Leffer, IKF for short. You know, and he's been kind of a journeyman type guy played for the Blue J's last year. I think he was what he was with the Yankees for a year or two, I think. So he's no stranger to the American League East. But we lost Doug. He's back. There he is. Doug playing a magic act on us.

5:05So, you know, I guess the theory here is defense. He'll improve that a little bit. He was his defensive war last year was 0.1. So not like he's average. That's crazy. He's average. I guess he had that second base, something like five or six defensive runs saved. But he only beats 43% of the league in outs above average, which apparently is a big metric for the nerds when it comes to defense. But so I guess you can interpret how good he is defensively in a few different ways. I mean, is he is he going to be an absolute blunder that Christian Campbell was last year with negative 17 defensive run save? No, absolutely not. But where's the where's the power going to come from? I mean, Anthony, I think they've resided their selves to pitching and defense here and on base percentage.

6:11That's the formula. It's not often that there's a signing or a trade or a move that you can see, like set something else up or this is where you plug him in or here's a role that we can we can envision. I don't get this move at all for a team that doesn't want to spend to spend $6 million on an average defensive player and a below average offensive player with no pop. It's just I don't know how to analyze this. It makes no sense. So one thing we know for sure is that we're not going to get a right handed bat. Obviously, there's no free agent slap, but we're not going to trade for anybody at this point. And so I know Terry you joke about it, but it's very real. It's there is going to be multiple platoons at multiple spots on a team that at least pitching wise is set up and a young core and should be set up to compete. And I think it's what's going to hold us back.

7:14There's another side of this whole thing. And that is that I believe that by the deadline, the Red Sox will again be under the second threshold. And I know they did it last year with the Devers. We just watched for people that are basketball fans. We just watched the Celtics literally give away three players to get under the tax apron. And what I know about Henry, what I know about the goals of this organization at the end of the day, because it's more about money than it is about winning. Unfortunately, is this these players that they're amassing one year deals on or big contract or a big contract. I mean, if somebody said something and they can justify this is a clubhouse issue, just like they did with Devers, they're going to move on from a big contract guy. This is not a team that's taking winning seriously or and here's the alternative and then I'll turn it over to you guys. They did and they they executed on their planet such a terrible level that they're just left scrambling for a body to put in the 40 man and have be available at key spots.

8:21And that if that's real, that's even more pathetic than not going to win. Yeah, I agree. They're just trying to fill spots now with just anyone. It seems like and you know, they're not even worrying about how he fits, you know, and it's like maybe an over correction with the fielding. They know they're not, you know, they know that they don't have anyone that is actually a good fielder right now in the infield. And you know, but it's just a guy that seems like he's just going to have an absolute non factor in this season at all. Right, he's going to be pletuning, but he just seems like a signing that's just going to get forgotten, you know, maybe he gets moved in another move in another trade. I agree, Jeremy, they're probably going to move to get under the apron right to get under the tax and it's just. I've said a lot on here that I still, you know, I don't hate this roster and I think we're still, you know, a good team, but it's just. That can also like, Breslow can be bad in this front office can be horrible and both things can be true.

9:26Right, and we have good pitch and staff, but you know, we have some pictures like, but like Bayo that rely on defense behind him is not going to strike out a lot of guys. You know, that was our problem last year, our true problems last year, you know, fielding and home runs and they haven't done anything to fill those two spots. You know, and every move that they've made is just a sideways move. If not a down move like this one, so it's just, you know, it's just, it's just, you think it's going to get better and it's just they just keep disappointing. Looking at his savant chart here, what percentage of the league has higher exit velocity than him? 98.5%. I looked at the chart that when you sent it in the war room, but I don't remember the exact number. My guess is 98.5%. It's 99%.

10:26Not not exaggerating. 99% of the league hits the baseball harder than Isaiah Connor Falefa bat speed. 98% of the league has faster bat speed than IKF, which is helpful to league full of guys that can throw a hundred miles an hour by the way, but go on. 98% of the league has a higher walk rate than IKF. This is a trash signing. It is a trash signing. And the other thing too is, and I don't know what to believe, but earlier today they said. The red socks are still in on Isaac Paratus. Now normally I'd roll my eyes and say, probably not, but it's been such an erratic offseason. Maybe it is true. I didn't expect Ranger Suarez, for instance, at that time. And so if we're, we're still after Isaac Paratus, why are we spending six million dollars on a trash baseball bat with barely above average defense?

11:38I don't get it. And let's say, okay, you do get Isaac Paratus. When are you going to play Marcelo Meyer? Like, where, how does he fit now? Well, this could be a product of his of his injury history. I mean, it could be a depth piece that is there and he's going to play. I would assume he's going to be on the big league club and he's going to make the team at six million a year. And it's just one of the, he may not play a lot, but with, with stories, injury history, Marcelo Myers, injury history. I mean, that whole upside of the infield is going to be, I mean, at any moment, it could, it could turn quickly. And maybe he's the insurance. Now, I do want to say one thing. I literally called on the very first recording that I was on. I'm not the only one with regards to the roster in 2026 that Meyer would be our third baseman. I never took any of these other options seriously.

12:38And I don't believe for a second that, that, that the Red Sox had intention to bring these guys back. Or if they, they quote, had an intention like Breggman, they were going to get outbid and they were going to be okay with it. Yeah, I agree. And honestly, I, not that I wouldn't have, you know, wanted someone else, but as it is right now, I would, I would want Meyer to, you know, start to start the season. Yes, he has to. Right. There's no one else in, but I do like starting young guys. I like it in them in there and seeing. You know, you got to do it. Physicians are naturally there to play. I mean, Meyer is not a third baseman. Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. Yeah. He won't be there in two years. That's the thing. Right. It's a bandaid for this. No, I totally agree with that. And this is the first year we should be competing for a world series. The, the core is here. They're all paid. Your pitching staff is absolutely loaded. And, and I'll give credit to Brezlo and I will give a moderate, tiny, wienci bat bit to Henry for spending the money.

13:43But the pitching is not just great. It's deep. And so it makes no sense to build that part of your roster and then have your, your position players have multiple holes. It's, it's, it's anyways. I'll stop. It drives me nuts. Because this is a year we should be talking about being one of the top three or four world series contender by odds in Vegas, which is, you know, how I follow these things. And we're not going to be because that we're not, we're, we are not going to score runs. If they're not constantly putting people on base and creating havoc, we're going to get shut out a lot. Two things. Number one, Marcello Meyer is your best defender in the infield. So if defense is so important, you can make the argument who cares if he's not hitting well against lefties. His glove is going to, is going to improve the defense. So when ground ball guys like Sunny Gray, Ranger Suarez are on the mound. Hey, oh, yeah, he's a ground ball guy.

14:47Meyer can keep the ball in the infield for the most part. And I like him at third two because I think it's a little bit less wear and tear. You know, it's a simpler spot. And, you know, you may as well. We're on the story. So he may as well put him there. He can go, he can go to short when stories. Time is up, whether that's a trade or after the strike year. But, um, so that was number one. What was number two? I didn't mean to go off on a tangent on that one. You think if story gets hurt, they would move my at a short and play. Yeah. At third. I think they would play a much short, like keep them in play. I can't have that short. You're, you're your best up the middle defense would be some form of mayor and Raphael in the infield. You know, I just think that that that's your best at least middle infield defensive combo. Not both range and, and you know, how athletic Raphael is.

15:47That's my opinion. I just, I don't think you can take him out of center field because he happens to be a goalkeeper center field with that covers an insane amount of ground. Right. I know he's the best center fielder in the league, but it seems like our best hitting lineup would be with him that second. And here's another thing. Well, I'll start with a question. Do you guys really believe that. Will your abreu is going to face lefties all year? I mean, that's the plan right now. Base value. That's what they're saying. But. May 15th. Is that going to be the case? Well, who's the right handed outfielder right now? Raphael. Yeah. Raphael. Yeah. So, Raphael is gone. Yeah. It's a confusing. It's confusing because I think he got six million from Seattle about that, which is why you just gave kind of for Lefa. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't make logical sense. So now we have a hole in the fourth outfield spot, probably because you plan to trade one of the outfield, but you never did.

16:50And so now we don't have someone to platoon with a brave. So it seems like he's going to have to to hit against left handed pitching. I want to believe it because I want to see it. Well, Nate, Nate Eaton is going to get the. I'm a Nate Eaton guy. I love it. He's kind of the Swiss Army knife all over the field. I don't know what he's going to look like with extended at bats. So, and look, the bad thing is last year was the year to figure it out because you weren't a contender. We got in the playoffs. That's great. We arrived. The young core came up. But last year was the year to let these guys sink or swim against lefties. So Maya and Abrey, you should have had 150 more at bats against lefties, pending health. And now you're the pitching's there. You know, the core is up. They have experienced. They've played in a playoff series. And now they're in a position based on the inconsistent roster development to be basically maybe forced to hit against lefties.

17:57And if they're not hitting it, they shouldn't be playing. And they're probably going to have to go through some bumps because the way this thing's built. I just, I'm just trying to, if you look at the roster, like a puzzle right now, just so many pieces don't fit. Either Durand or Raphaelah doesn't have a spot in the outfield if Abrey was playing every day. Yeah. There's no spot for Christian Campbell. That contract is, is an albatross at this point because you've got no, no place to put him. And he's a righty. He's a righty. So you have a lot of incentive to try to make that work. And there's no way to do it. Yeah. I think his biggest problem is what position is he? Well, I think he's an outfielder. I think he's an outfielder. I did. So he has to cares. But the problem is. I don't think he's, he's ready to be that productive at the big league, at the big league level.

18:57I think it's too easy to get him out inside. I mean, they, they totally tore down his swing. And it didn't, he wasn't terrible in winter ball, but he wasn't crushing it either. I don't know what spring training is going to do. And I mean, you have no choice but to send him to Worcester anyway. So that's what's going to happen. But, but there should be a plan for him. He should be in 2026 and every day bat in that lineup. But I don't know how you do that. I don't know how it happens. Tristan Cossis is not going to be ready until at least May. No real shock there. There's no place to put him anyway. But eventually you have to put him somewhere for however long he manages to stay healthy. Oh, he'll start Worcester. He absolutely will. But, um, but yeah. So I just, I'm probably missing another player or two in there. You know, Romy is a decent second baseman. He's probably not as good as IKF, but he's a million times better at the plate.

20:01I mean, he was almost almost a 300 hitter last year. Yeah. And the home runs kind of evaporated once the league figured out the Red Sox were utilizing the tablets. And again, that was all legal. But apparently the Red Sox were doing it better. And all the pitching staffs were far more vigilant against this roster. You know, after, you know, early August. So you didn't really see many home runs from Romy, but he was still punching the ball through the gaps, giving you productive at bats, plating the base runners. So I just, that, that makes the, the IKF move. Another, another head scratcher. And, oh, here's the thing I was trying to get to earlier. This whole front office outside of Brezlo has been there for at least three of the four championships. And I think a lot of them have been here for all four. And I don't know how they just sit there and see these erratic moves and go,

21:03this guy's not a moron. How can they, how can they think this guy? Oh, this guy knows what he's doing. I don't, I don't get it. I mean, I wonder, I want to get back to your, your puzzle analogy, but you wonder and moves like this if he's listening to the support, to the scouts, to the, to the people that are there to give him the data and the information. And to be the type of person that says no to their leader. And because this, this screams to me like he's either isolated himself from the support staff or no one's saying no, and both things are very scary. Because when you have good well-built organizations, you could put different opinions in a room and critically think through them and make the best decision for the organization. With this move, it doesn't feel like that's happened. Yeah. And getting back to your puzzle, I loved your analogy, by the way, Terry. Jay, this is a jigsaw puzzle with a bunch of pieces that just don't match.

22:04Getting back to your platoon dynasty. If a brailleux is going to platoon with eaten, you have a platoon in right field, you have a platoon at second with probably Hamilton and Romy, and you have a platoon at third with IKF and Meyer. And then you always have the catching things, not necessarily a platoon, you can't play a catch every day, but four of your positions are platoon dynasties. I mean, if that doesn't scream how poorly this part of the roster has been put together, I don't know how else to explain it. That is ridiculous. That doesn't even account for the DH issue, because Yoshida is still on the roster. And so even if Cassis goes down to Worcester and hits 380 and in the first month of rehab, he hits 12 home runs and you want to bring him up, where's he play? What are you going to do? You're not going to eat the Yoshida money. You're a year away from that.

23:05Durand's still on the team, he needs at bats. Roman Anthony's going to get more at bats than anybody on the team. Like honestly, I'm honestly just lost as to what they're doing here. Seems like Brazil only knows about pitching. Fair point. Well, maybe it's all he cares about, I don't know. That's an excellent point actually. And I think Alex Cora is comfortable with the platoon dynasty. I think it makes him feel smart. It validates him as one of those managers that likes to mix and match. But I don't think it's going to play. I don't think it's going to play in this division. They got, I mean, the Orioles got more explosive over the winter. Yankees brought back Belinger. The Blue Jays added.

24:09We're not a complete team. And we're flirting with the second luxury tax threshold. You should have a very streamlined roster at that point. And one of my fears is that we're going to need to do a rebuild from the rebuild. I mean, you've already killed. You've killed Myers value for now. You've absolutely obliterated Christian Campbell's value. You know, we don't have a big three anymore. We have a big number one. And that's Roman Anthony. That's all you don't have value, Terry, to your point. Cassis has absolutely no value. Marcelo Mayer has some value, but it's suppressed. Christian Campbell, no value. Yoshida, no value. They're overvaluing the ran. It's crazy. So your point to have a team that's over the second luxury threshold.

25:09And to have that many players that you can't move for anything of value. It's just crazy. And the other thing about a brave that concerns me is he does disappear at times, even when he's only facing lefties. He'll have a brutal three for 36 streak or something. Who? A brave? Yeah. So now you want to add, you want to add lefties into that. You know, because he only faces righties. I think I misspoke him a minute ago. So I just feel like you could destroy his value. Like, I'm resigned now to the idea that he's going to have to be a platoon guy because of the way he was managed. If, you know, 2023 was a wasted year, but it would have been a perfect year to develop him into an all-around hitter. And so I just, I feel like you have to platoon him.

26:11And I'm fine with him being jock Peterson 2.0 at this point. I mean, I, you're just going to lose a lot of games watching him strand base runners. Well, he tries to figure out lefties. And I don't think he will. So, and I think the leash is going to be short on him. I think they'll give it six or eight weeks and then he's going to get platoon. Nate Eaton, somebody has to platoon with Yoshida as well. You know, Yoshida can't hit lefties. He's still going to, I know of course, hyping him up, saying, you know, he's healthy now. And he's going to, you know, he's going to have a big year. But he's going to still be dribbling the ball the second base, you know, in streaks. And, you know, base and lefties isn't really a good idea there either. So, it's just, it's just a mess. And there was so much housekeeping to do when the season started. You know, you needed to trade an outfielder. You needed to trade to ran or abray you. I would have been fine either way, but one of them had to go. Um, Bresla values both of them, you know, well and above what their value actually is.

27:19And now it's just a bigger mess. It's just a bigger mess now. So, I don't. I really believe, you know, if we're not in it, you know, by early August, I think this could be it. This could be it for, for Bresla. And it could be it for Cora too. I disagree with the Bresla part. I think Bresla has done a great job from John Henry's perspective. I think he's moving the Devers contract, getting some of these younger players to sign away their arbitration eligible years and their initial free agent years. So, if you're right on guys like Raphaela and Anthony, you're going to save a substantial amount of money by those deals. Obviously, the Campbell deal doesn't look great, but I don't, I don't necessarily believe that Bresla is at any risk. I think the guy that they're going to scapegoat is frankly Cora. Well, he'll have if I'm right about Bresla, he'll have to go.

28:22No, no executive is going to take a job, you know, and have to keep Cora, a guy who has far too much influence. I think that's going to be a mandate for someone taking the job. But I just look at the moves like we needed Ranger Suarez. Don't get me wrong. But we needed him instead of Sonny Gray. And I just think from an optics standpoint, there's going to be so much failure on this roster this year. I don't know how Bresla survives the optics. Like Ken Rosenthal just this morning is like the Red Sox have to still make a move even after I KF. And I don't think they will. I think they're done. Do you think like if one goes, they'll send them both? I think Cora could probably finish out the year. And, you know, it's a weird situation because let's say I'm right.

29:25And they do they do get rid of Bresla. This is this is four season. 24 or five. No, it's just third season. So the new guy would come in and have what a month of work and then and then probably nothing for a year if there's a strike. So like you said, like if a new GM came in, they probably wouldn't want Cora. Yeah. If a new coach came in, would they want Bresla? Well, probably. I mean, if they're smart, they wouldn't. But I think I think and that would want that job more. As what I'm saying, like if Bresla is still the GM, would you be getting coaches knocking on the door? If they're making two to five million a year, I think they're going to take the job. Yeah, there's always someone that will. Yeah. So I don't get it. Right. Right. Yeah.

30:25Yeah. I mean, you could just go with a safe guy. I mean, you could go with a David Ross type guy or, you know, you could go with an older guy. I always like buck show Walter. I just think he's good for fundamentals and all that. Joe Maddener or Joe Gerardi type guy. I think they've kind of aged out. But I think show Walter is one of those old guys that can still, you know, command a clubhouse and balance the personalities. But those are just a couple examples. Did Skip Schumacher get hired as a manager? I want to say he did. Did he? I think he went to the Rangers if I'm not mistaken. I think they fired Bochi and went with Schumacher. But he would have been a guy would have been interested in and he fits the younger mold as well. But yeah, I think any of those guys would would be fine. But, you know, I spoke a bunch of us at length about Derek Falvie. And I think he would be a great choice.

31:26You know, he, he wasn't in my top three last time around. But I, I think he would have, he would have been good. I mean, built a great pitching program there. Good farm system. You know, he didn't really have the resources for free agency. Like some of our executive had, but I don't know. But just everything, nothing makes sense. And I'm glad we signed Suarez. But man, that's sunny. Great deal. That 20 million is hurting us right now. If you don't, if you don't sign, if you don't trade for sunny gray. That's your Breggman money. And I didn't get, don't get me wrong. I'm glad we didn't get Breggman exactly. But you just, you just went ahead so many more resources there. And he's, he's building this roster like a first time fantasy baseball player. That's what's happening. That's the erraticness. And I just, I don't know what to do.

32:28You guys got some final thoughts. One thing on a, a brand you was with him, Platoon and wanting him against lefties. It's like, with the defense thing, don't we want him in there? Yeah, out there every day. Anyway, whether it's a lefty or righty on the mound. I mean, he's the best right fielder in the league. I don't think we're. I think it's different. He was a short star. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, we don't have a single bad outfielder, really. Yeah. And the worst you have. And I think he's adequate. And I think he'll be better than last year. So yeah, I'm not too worried about it. I mean, he does have a great glove. He's probably got the best arm of anyone out there. You know, he can gun down players at the plate. Not quite like Hunter Renfro did, but. Or Bradley, but still a very good arm. Like base runners respect him. Yeah, definitely. So we'll see, but. All right, Justin wants to hear our Super Bowl picks.

33:29Come on. I mean. This might be the most biased Super Bowl selection of all time. I'll give you a score. Yeah. Give you a score. I think it's going to be. 23 20 Pats. I like that. I like that. I was thinking of a low score like that. I was thinking 2417. Pass. I like, but I do like a defensive touchdown for the Pats in this game. That's my, that's my bet. Terry, what's your pick here, pal? I am going to say. 27 to 20 Seahawks. I knew it. I don't even know. I have no idea. No idea. I'm not going to, I'm not going to lie. I wasn't even 100% positive it was the Seahawks. I'm like, I'm pretty sure it's the Seahawks playing it.

34:29I'm just not a football guy. Super fair weather. But all right. We're going to wrap on that. I can't imagine we'll be back. But you know what? We probably won't even record Sunday due to the Super Bowl. So we'll probably back Monday or Tuesday. Count on that. Everybody enjoy the weekend. Don't be stupid. Super Bowl night. If you're going to get wasted, get an Uber. And don't puke in the Uber either. I Uber Drive, maybe I don't know. Two or three nights a month. So think of us. Everyone have a good one.