2016 Trade and Roster Move Speculation thread

[cp176]

I see your point, but trust me, they aren't DHing Moncada at this stage of his career. The sky's the limit offensively, so they aren't going to risk screwing him up mentally by having him learn a new position. The reason that they haven't shuffled him around as you suggest, is because they want him to be comfortable as his offense develops. They'll likely have him take some reps at 3rd in winter ball and next spring. Why does he need to be better defensively than the guys that you mentioned?

 

Besides, the Sox aren't going to rotate a bunch of guys at DH, as I mentioned earlier & teams don't take players with his athletic ability and DH them at 21. It's unheard of

 

Eddy it sounds like maybe you have seen Moncada. Although it is premature, I think comparing him to the best in the game physically and offensively is not much of a stretch. Once they figure out where they are going to use him, I think that anything he might lack defensively he will much more than make up for on the offensive side. He is my only untouchable prospect. If he had a place to play and was remotely competent at it, he would be changing his address very soon.

[moonslav59]

I see your point, but trust me, they aren't DHing Moncada at this stage of his career. The sky's the limit offensively, so they aren't going to risk screwing him up mentally by having him learn a new position. The reason that they haven't shuffled him around as you suggest, is because they want him to be comfortable as his offense develops. They'll likely have him take some reps at 3rd in winter ball and next spring. Why does he need to be better defensively than the guys that you mentioned?

 

Besides, the Sox aren't going to rotate a bunch of guys at DH, as I mentioned earlier & teams don't take players with his athletic ability and DH them at 21. It's unheard of

 

It may come down to Moncada at 3B and Shaw/Pablo/HanRam at 1b/DH.

 

Or, Shaw/Pablo at 3B and Shaw/HanRam at 1B with someone at DH.

 

If Shaw and Pablo are better defensively at 3B than Moncada, why would we DH Pablo and Shaw so we can play Moncada at 3B?

 

[moonslav59]

Eddy it sounds like maybe you have seen Moncada. Although it is premature, I think comparing him to the best in the game physically and offensively is not much of a stretch. Once they figure out where they are going to use him, I think that anything he might lack defensively he will much more than make up for on the offensive side. He is my only untouchable prospect. If he had a place to play and was remotely competent at it, he would be changing his address very soon.

 

I actually think Moncada is already ML ready on offense or at least very very close.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but that's why I'd like to see him taking reps at 3B or LF sooner rather than later.

 

[mvp 78]

Score one for Jaffe. Hope he's right about the second part too.

 

Word thunderbird...

[moonslav59]

With Pomeranz in the fold, it certainly makes next year's budget easier to work with. We'll probably need one less SP'er now, and should have more money to acquire another SP'er and/or 1-2 RP'ers and maybe a big bat.

[oldtimer]

DD has made meaningful trades in the last week which 1) shore up the starting pitching with Pomeranz, 2)gave us a bridge for the return of Kimbrel with Ziegler, 3)gave us a utility infielder in Hill, when we needed depth and also added to our depth with Martinez. Our meaningful losses were really Anderson Espinoza who could ultimately turn into a top starting notch starting pitcher.

 

We have Kelly as a possible bullpen arm and Benentendi, Moncada, Swihart, Young and Holt to provide depth, especially in the outfield. We also have 3 catchers and 4 if you include Swihart. It looks like we are in a good position going forward into the 2nd half and have trading chips if we need to go further.

[Dojji]

I would like to pick up a rock solid #5 guy, wouldn't have to have electric stuff but it would be nice to get a guy who could do 5 IP 3ER on a consistent basis.

[Eddy Ballgame]

I would like to pick up a rock solid #5 guy, wouldn't have to have electric stuff but it would be nice to get a guy who could do 5 IP 3ER on a consistent basis.

 

They'll give Rodriguez at least a few starts before they do anything else.

[mvp 78]

I would like to pick up a rock solid #5 guy, wouldn't have to have electric stuff but it would be nice to get a guy who could do 5 IP 3ER on a consistent basis.

 

Hey, if Kelly could repeat last year's second half...

[mvp 78]

They'll give Rodriguez at least a few starts before they do anything else.

 

ERod doesn't resemble the pitcher he was last year. Hope he regains his form.

[Dojji]

We can't trust any of the current incumbent guys. Bastard 1 and Bastard 2 have multipled into a battalion of bastards and none of them are worth further time this year. E-Rod is the guy I have the most faith in, but I think E-Rod deserves some time in AAA to get right before we try to force him to be the guy we wanted him to be from the offseason. Buchholz and Kelly I will be happy if I never have to see again in this team's uniform.

 

I would not mind at all seeing DD pull the trigger on a trade for Josh Tomlin. Shouldn't cost an untouchable to bring in that kind of guy and he'd finish of this rotation better than the Bastard batallion in all its horrible glory.

[Eddy Ballgame]

ERod doesn't resemble the pitcher he was last year. Hope he regains his form.

 

Yup. Hopefully he got a wake up call in Pawtucket.

[mvp 78]

We can't trust any of the current incumbent guys. Bastard 1 and Bastard 2 have multipled into a battalion of bastards and none of them are worth further time this year. E-Rod is the guy I have the most faith in, but I think E-Rod deserves some time in AAA to get right before we try to force him to be the guy we wanted him to be from the offseason. Buchholz and Kelly I will be happy if I never have to see again in this team's uniform.

 

I would not mind at all seeing DD pull the trigger on a trade for Josh Tomlin. Shouldn't cost an untouchable to bring in that kind of guy and he'd finish of this rotation better than the Bastard batallion in all its horrible glory.

 

Guardians are in first place. Why would they trade Tomlin?

[cp176]

I would like to pick up a rock solid #5 guy, wouldn't have to have electric stuff but it would be nice to get a guy who could do 5 IP 3ER on a consistent basis.

 

this made me chuckle - #1 and #2 and a bunch of little bastards. Brian Johnson just had a great start for Lowell. It's possible that pretty soon he might join the bastard battalion . All kidding aside, wouldn't you think that one of these guys would be able to get us to the sixth inning on occasion anyway.

[Dojji]

I thought that confidently in April. Then somewhat less confidenty in May. Then in June I resignedly determined that surely one of the Bastard batallion has to be serviceable at some point, the laws of probability of them all being complete duds is too remote. By July I was done with the lot of them.

[a700hitter]

DD has made meaningful trades in the last week which 1) shore up the starting pitching with Pomeranz, 2)gave us a bridge for the return of Kimbrel with Ziegler, 3)gave us a utility infielder in Hill, when we needed depth and also added to our depth with Martinez. Our meaningful losses were really Anderson Espinoza who could ultimately turn into a top starting notch starting pitcher.

 

We have Kelly as a possible bullpen arm and Benentendi, Moncada, Swihart, Young and Holt to provide depth, especially in the outfield. We also have 3 catchers and 4 if you include Swihart. It looks like we are in a good position going forward into the 2nd half and have trading chips if we need to go further.

He has made some very timely trades to address the needs of the team. Aaron Hill, Brad Ziegler and Drew Pomeranz is a good body of work mid-season.

[Nick]

I actually think Moncada is already ML ready on offense or at least very very close.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but that's why I'd like to see him taking reps at 3B or LF sooner rather than later.

 

 

I agree with you on Moncada being major league ready offensively but I'm deadly opposed to giving him a look at LF. What's the point? Benintendi is our future LF. Why cloud the issue? What if we do stick Moncada in LF, what the hell are we going to do with Benintendi?

 

Moncada should be a 3B. Yes his ceiling is much higher than Benintendi's but Benintendi's ceiling right now is higher than anyone but Moncada. They both need to be in Sox's long range plan. Things will get really interesting when Devers arrive.

 

Thing I appreciate most about DD is that he is very decisive. He sees a need and goes about fixing it. He is the ultimate FIXER. Ziegler looks to be a nice pick up. I think Koji will blow couple of saves and Ziegler will eventually take over that role as Kimbrel recovers.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Nick

[Dojji]

I very strongly disagree with you. Be educated by the Vazquez-Swihart issue this year. They're promising prospects, but prospects is all they are. The answer to the questuion "Who is our starting LF in 2018, Moncada or Benintendi" could very very easily be "Neither one."

 

Pedroia seems to have stabilized for the time being (I'm still a bit of a Pedroia skeptic only because of age and injury history, but credit where it's due, he's put those concerns to rest for now) so I'm not too worried about forcing Moncada into an heir-apparent role at second base. At the same time though, we have good starting caliber regulars in all 4 infield positions right now and zero of them will be leaving us at the end of the year, and zero of them have enough issues with their performance that they should be in any way worried about being replaced by a prospect. Shaw is the closest thing we have to a weak link but he's been very satisfactory on both sides of the ball at third base and in my mind he is our incumbent 3B, no question. Since it's working, I'm not for messing with that until it's clear it needs to be messed with. So with that said we have to put Moncada somewhere. So of our three potential LF candidates, the first one that's ready, plays left field and we figure it out from there.

Edited July 16, 2016 by Dojji

[moonslav59]

I agree with you on Moncada being major league ready offensively but I'm deadly opposed to giving him a look at LF. What's the point? Benintendi is our future LF. Why cloud the issue? What if we do stick Moncada in LF, what the hell are we going to do with Benintendi?

 

Well, before the Espi trade I thought it might take Espi, Beni and Swi to get us a much better pitcher than Pomernaz, but I clearly see Beni as our future LF'er. There's another piece to the future roster puzzle of the Sox: assuming Moncada is better offensively than Beni, what if two or three of these things happen by opening day next year:

 

1) We sign Encarnacion to be our DH/1Bman.

2) Pablo comes back in shape next year and wins back the 3B position.

3) Shaw learns to hit LHPs and continues at a near .800 OPS.

4) HanRam ends up near .850 at season end and does well in the playoffs.

5) Sam Travis rakes in ST'ing.

 

The log-jam at 3B/1B/DH could make it feasible to want Moncada in LF over Beni.

 

I'm with you though: I think Moncada's landing spot should be 3B and sooner rather than later. If some of those above scenarios happen all together, we can trade one of those guys once we are certain Moncada is ready to play 3B.

 

I'm still not ruling out Moncada starting out seeing a lot of DH, until he shows he can play 3B and hit at the MLB level better than the guys on my list above.

 

 

Moncada should be a 3B. Yes his ceiling is much higher than Benintendi's but Benintendi's ceiling right now is higher than anyone but Moncada. They both need to be in Sox's long range plan. Things will get really interesting when Devers arrive.

 

I think Devers is farther away than most may think. I also think he and Swihart will be winter trade fodder.

 

 

Thing I appreciate most about DD is that he is very decisive. He sees a need and goes about fixing it. He is the ultimate FIXER. Ziegler looks to be a nice pick up. I think Koji will blow couple of saves and Ziegler will eventually take over that role as Kimbrel recovers.

 

I think Uehara is a much better closer, assuming he gets the HR bug out of his system. I never feel comfy with a sidewinder as closer, but maybe I'm biased.

Edited July 16, 2016 by moonslav59

[moonslav59]

So of our three potential LF candidates, the first one that's ready, plays left field and we figure it out from there.

 

I'm assuming you mean Young, Beni and Moncada.

[Dojji]

Nope. Beni, Mon and Swihart.

[moonslav59]

Nope. Beni, Mon and Swihart.

 

What?

 

No love for our .846 LF'er?

 

Swihart will be traded or return to catching before he becomes our regular LF'er.

[Spudboy]

How do any of you guys "know" that Moncada is ready for MLB?

 

I suppose you have gone to many of his games and sat with all the scouts who told you so?

 

What a f***ing joke.

[Station 13]

How do any of you guys "know" that Moncada is ready for MLB?

 

I suppose you have gone to many of his games and sat with all the scouts who told you so?

 

What a f***ing joke.

 

on the interwebs, everyone is a GM.

[Nick]

I pay attention to what the experts say about players, starting with DD.

 

I'm smart enough to know I'm no expert so I pay attention to the baseball people.

 

This is a Sox fan forum and I enjoy reading everyone's thoughts, even the ones from smart asses,

[Nick]

Shaw is hitting .220 over last 40 games or so. I'm no so sure that qualifies as "he's doing fine."

 

He's been unnoticeable because everyone else is hitting. DD was concerned enough to bring in Aaron Hill.

[Bellhorn04]

Shaw is hitting .220 over last 40 games or so. I'm no so sure that qualifies as "he's doing fine."

 

He's been unnoticeable because everyone else is hitting. DD was concerned enough to bring in Aaron Hill.

 

I'm one that thinks he's doing fine. His OPS is still hovering around the .800 mark. And his 430 foot jack last night was a pretty key hit.

[Nick]

I'm one that thinks he's doing fine. His OPS is still hovering around the .800 mark. And his 430 foot jack last night was a pretty key hit.

 

Don't get me wrong, I want him to succeed. Just pointing out he's come down a bit. I want guys to just take over the starting position, much like Kiler B's have done. It just makes putting a team together that much easier. This way redundant players can be packaged and acquire high end pitchers.

[Bellhorn04]

Don't get me wrong, I want him to succeed. Just pointing out he's come down a bit. I want guys to just take over the starting position, much like Kiler B's have done. It just makes putting a team together that much easier. This way redundant players can be packaged and acquire high end pitchers.

 

Shaw is certainly not at the talent level of the B's. But he's a guy making 500K who's on pace to have a WAR of 3 or more.

[moonslav59]

How do any of you guys "know" that Moncada is ready for MLB?

 

I suppose you have gone to many of his games and sat with all the scouts who told you so?

 

What a f***ing joke.

 

I said "I think..." not "He is...", so clearly it's just my opinion.

 

I've read from multiple sources that he is very close to ML ready. They could be wrong: I could be wrong.