MAZARA

It's Robert now. In reviewing the stats it's pretty striking how little Grandal and Encarnacion have done so far. McCann has been great again.

Grandal had a slow start with a bad first few weeks but his stats the last 15 games have him with an OPS above .800 and his splits the last 7 are almost .900

As far as EE is concerned, call the kid up and see what Vaughn can do.

Anderson providing a massive spark gave him a clear advantage, but Robert is catching up amazingly quickly.

Moncada doesn't belong in this conversation tbh. Good player, not great player.

Anderson providing a massive spark gave him a clear advantage, but Robert is catching up amazingly quickly.

Can give McCann more of those at bats. Not sure if you want a guy figuring things out in the middle of the division run. Less than 30 games left now.

Moncada doesn't belong in this conversation tbh. Good player, not great player.

I don't like DH'ing Grandal or McCann unless you have Collins up here on the bench. You need a catcher available to suit up in case of injury as you can't sub in the DH as a position player without losing the DH position for the game.

hampered by injury this year. He showed greatness last year and can do that again when healthy. The fact he has produced as much as he has while not 100% is a testament to his greatness.

They had Grandal at first on Sunday. I would prefer to have Collins up over a super pitch runner who can't hit, but maybe it makes sense with the extra inning rule.

Having Grandal play first is something else entirely. If McCann got hurt, you can plug Encarnacion in at first and move Grandal to catch. The DH side is the sticky issue. Remember the Sox/Twins game a few years ago. Mauer was DH'ing the 2nd game of a doubleheader. I want to say Mike Redmond was catching and he took a bat off the side of the head in the 1st or 2nd inning. The pitcher had to hit the rest of the way because Mauer was the only other catcher.

Having Collins or Mercedes up if you're going to be platooning Grandal and McCann at DH makes sense. I like the idea of carrying 3 catchers anyway.

IIRC Yolmer was the emergency 3rd catcher in his previous stints with the Sox so I guess Yolmer being up was part of the reason they figured they could send Collins down. I still don't like the idea.

I tend to agree but I'm just a casual Sox observer and every time I see Moncada he's been mediocre, maybe due to nagging injuries. Robert (and Abreu and Jiminez and Anderson) have been electric by comparison.