Who Should the Red Sox Trade For?

[dgalehouse]

We have made quite a few moves to get to the team we now put on the field. In my view , it has been worth it. We have an excellent roster. No need to make any more moves to try and create the perfect roster. No need to try and match the Yankees , move for move. Maybe a little tweaking is all that is needed. Let's not go overboard here.

[cp176]

We'll find out if your assessment is right in a couple of Months.

 

 

What assessment are you talking about? It was clearly an observation based on a personal opinion. It would not surprise me at all if DD adds to our current roster. That won't change how I feel about our chances if we don't make any changes at all.

[cp176]

We have made quite a few moves to get to the team we now put on the field. In my view , it has been worth it. We have an excellent roster. No need to make any more moves to try and create the perfect roster. No need to try and match the Yankees , move for move. Maybe a little tweaking is all that is needed. Let's not go overboard here.

 

Agree!

[Kimmi]

Nelson Cruz ? Please !!!!

 

No thank you.

[Kimmi]

Wonder if Cora thinks he should keep players out with the sniffles. I come from a time when guys stayed in the lineup if they were in any shape at all to play. Cora's approach is a new way for me and I question it. Tingles, sniffles and boo boos are resulting in weaker teams on the field. When it gets down to crunch time in Sept., will the loss of a game here or there be what keeps us in the wild card? Maybe Cora's way will give us a healthier team, just a different approach than I would use. I wonder how the players feel about it?

 

Cora's approach, on the whole, seems to be working. That said, I question some of it too. There are times that I think he takes his approach about resting players a bit too far. Then again, you can't really argue with the success the team is having.

[Kimmi]

We have made quite a few moves to get to the team we now put on the field. In my view , it has been worth it. We have an excellent roster. No need to make any more moves to try and create the perfect roster. No need to try and match the Yankees , move for move. Maybe a little tweaking is all that is needed. Let's not go overboard here.

 

I am on board with this.

[Natick to NC]

We have made tiny tweeks like some want again this year the last couple years ...and where did that get this team last year ? Because let's face it JD is a huuuuge upgrade but it's a wash with Stanton ...we need a significant player for 2b in my opinion or it's the wildcard and done .

[a700hitter]

Cora's approach, on the whole, seems to be working. That said, I question some of it too. There are times that I think he takes his approach about resting players a bit too far. Then again, you can't really argue with the success the team is having.

How about his 10 run rule for starting pitchers?

[a700hitter]

He's killing lefties this year (.969), but he has reverse splits over his career:

 

.739 vs RHPs

 

.680 vs LHPs

 

I'd say, no going by the stats only.

What do you think about Wilmer Flores?

[Maxbialystock]

What assessment are you talking about? It was clearly an observation based on a personal opinion. It would not surprise me at all if DD adds to our current roster. That won't change how I feel about our chances if we don't make any changes at all.

 

My one tweak might be to trade Natick To NC, but I don't think we could get much for him.

[Maxbialystock]

How about his 10 run rule for starting pitchers?

 

Definitely a rookie mistake with Wright on the mound--probably because he hasn't seen how knuckleballers can suddenly go flat.

[cp176]

My one tweak might be to trade Natick To NC, but I don't think we could get much for him.

 

 

lol

[Bellhorn04]

Definitely a rookie mistake with Wright on the mound--probably because he hasn't seen how knuckleballers can suddenly go flat.

 

Wrong thread for this, but here we go.

 

I don't think it was a 'rookie' mistake or that he doesn't know about knuckleballers. He played with Wakefield.

 

He took a big gamble trying to get a few more outs of Wright and it blew up in his face. It was a mistake, absolutely.

[jacksonianmarch]

Yeah, but you can’t do that with a knuckleballer. With a guy who throws 95 and has some secondary pitches, you can try to stretch them out a bit and hope that the nature of chance is in their favor. Knuckleballs that don’t flutter are effectively slow pitch softballs.

[jacksonianmarch]

I’m seeing the Sox linked to Canha from Oakland. Not sure why the A’s would want to deal him. He’s 29, pre-arb eligible, able to play all 3 OF positions and is currently right around an .800 OPS. If the A’s think they’re only a year away, I’m assuming they’d like to hang onto a guy like that. I’d assume the asking price is high, but with Beane you never know. A fair amount of the time he’s angling for guys not on the national radar and he’s right on some of them

[notin]

Definitely a rookie mistake with Wright on the mound--probably because he hasn't seen how knuckleballers can suddenly go flat.

 

Alex Cora has been playing professional baseball since 1996 and payed in division 1 college ball before that. Not to mention all the high school ball and youth leagues which probably date back to 1982 or 1983. At some point, he has seen a knuckleball pitcher go flat. In fact, it's a safe bet none of us have ever seen anything on a baseball field he also has not seen.

 

It's possible he just left Wright in because he doesn't believe in burning out his bullpen chasing wins...

[SoxnCycles]

True.

It's also possible that he saw that LeBlanc had nothing.

[notin]

Per MLBTR, the Sox are scouting Zach Britton and Adrian Beltre.

 

Interestingly, they also say the Rangers might be reluctant to deal Beltre, valuing his leadership and that they reportedly want him back for 2019.

 

This sounds like posturing to me in order to get a better haul. They can deal him for prospects and still re-sign him in the off-season...

[Kimmi]

We have made tiny tweeks like some want again this year the last couple years ...and where did that get this team last year ? Because let's face it JD is a huuuuge upgrade but it's a wash with Stanton ...we need a significant player for 2b in my opinion or it's the wildcard and done .

 

Several things:

 

1. JD > Stanton

2. We could get the significant 2B upgrade that you want, and it could still be wildcard and done.

3. We don't have the resources to get the kind of significant upgrade that you're looking for.

4. No worries. As we stand right now, our team has as good a chance as winning the WS as any other team.

[Kimmi]

How about his 10 run rule for starting pitchers?

 

I'm with the majority on this, Cora should have removed Wright sooner, especially before pitching to Cruz.

[Kimmi]

Wrong thread for this, but here we go.

 

I don't think it was a 'rookie' mistake or that he doesn't know about knuckleballers. He played with Wakefield.

 

He took a big gamble trying to get a few more outs of Wright and it blew up in his face. It was a mistake, absolutely.

 

Agree. He made the wrong decision, IMO. However, the implications that Cora doesn't know what he's doing because he's a rookie or that he can't see what seems so obvious to us, the expert fans, is out of line.

[notin]

Agree. He made the wrong decision, IMO. However, the implications that Cora doesn't know what he's doing because he's a rookie or that he can't see what seems so obvious to us, the expert fans, is out of line.

 

I love mvp's take on this.

 

"But he's a rookie manager and I've been watching the Sox for decades."

 

Like Cora is somehow witnessing his first MLB action this year...

[Kimmi]

I love mvp's take on this.

 

"But he's a rookie manager and I've been watching the Sox for decades."

 

Like Cora is somehow witnessing his first MLB action this year...

 

LOL That's a great take.

 

MVP forgot to mention that he's also coaching t-ball (I believe), so Cora has nothing on him.

[notin]

LOL That's a great take.

 

MVP forgot to mention that he's also coaching t-ball (I believe), so Cora has nothing on him.

 

And I coach my daughter's softball team, so I guess I'm Cora's equal as well.

 

Or am I his superior, since I am not a rookie coach?

[Kimmi]

And I coach my daughter's softball team, so I guess I'm Cora's equal as well.

 

Or am I his superior, since I am not a rookie coach?

 

You have my vote, but according to a few on here, girls softball doesn't count. Sorry.

[moonslav59]

What do you think about Wilmer Flores?

 

Honestly, I don't know much about him.

 

His .599 vs LHPs this year is likely a blip. For his career, he's .803. That's a lot better than Nunez (.687), Holt (.722) and slightly better than Devers (.798).

 

His defense looks decent by his UZR/150 numbers but not his DRS numbers:

UZR/150/ DRS

2B +2.5 (+15.2 this year)/DRS career: -8

3B -2.2 (+0.9 this year)/DRS career -20

1B +5.2 (+0.4 this year)/ DRS career -2

 

I'm interested depending on the cost.

[notin]

You have my vote, but according to a few on here, girls softball doesn't count. Sorry.

 

To be fair, I would say it doesn't count either. But then I don't think any of our experiences playing high school baseball are relevant to anything that happens on an MLB team...

[notin]

Honestly, I don't know much about him.

 

His .599 vs LHPs this year is likely a blip. For his career, he's .803. That's a lot better than Nunez (.687), Holt (.722) and slightly better than Devers (.798).

 

His defense looks decent by his UZR/150 numbers but not his DRS numbers:

UZR/150/ DRS

2B +2.5 (+15.2 this year)/DRS career: -8

3B -2.2 (+0.9 this year)/DRS career -20

1B +5.2 (+0.4 this year)/ DRS career -2

 

I'm interested depending on the cost.

 

The big issue I have with Wilmer Flores is that he is another part-time Swiss Army knife player. He's like a switch-hitting Brock Holt, but a lesser version. I think with Holt, Nunez, Lin and Swihart, the Sox have versatility covered.

 

If the Sox cannot get a player better than Brock Holt or Nunez any deal is a waste of time and limited resources...

[mvp 78]

LOL That's a great take.

 

MVP forgot to mention that he's also coaching t-ball (I believe), so Cora has nothing on him.

 

When I said "I've been watching for decades" it was to make fun of other posters for basically saying that their decades of fandom have given them the experience to be qualified to be a MLB manager (this is a recent reference). Same can be said for my remarks about my extensive coaching (maybe a not so recent reference). There have been a few posters in the past who have lauded their "scouting experience" when all it really was was watching high school baseball. To me, that's not "experience".

[mvp 78]

You have my vote, but according to a few on here, girls softball doesn't count. Sorry.

 

Tough call. I'd have to go with:

 

Teeball > Girls Softball > Mens Rec League Softball > MLB > Mtv Rock N' Jock Softball Challenge > High School Baseball