Rdsxmbnt

This Red Sox team is really frustrating to watch because there is literally so much talent yet everything that could go wrong has. I feel like if this lineup was healthy and performing that they could put up numbers with the 03,04,07 teams. It's baffling that Gonzalez could go from the best 1B in baseball to what he is this season and in the prime of his career no less after consistently mashing the ball his entire career. Pedroia also has been hit with injuries and is a full .100 OPS points below his normal production over a 3 year period. Obviously our 30/30 offensive and defensive superstar is out, and as is Crawford who before joining the Red Sox was arguably a top 10 player in baseball over the 08-10 period (by WAR). They have great production at C, 3B, and the other corner OF with Nava/Ross. Again with so many guys out or completely uncharacteristically underperforming, it's hard to point fingers as to what went wrong. Can't really blame Cherrington because all the pieces are there for this to be a historic offense. Then the bullpen becomes good and the SP shits the bed. Again Lester/Beckett/Buchholz put up 3.47/2.89/3.48 ERAs last season and now are all over or well over 4.25. How can you possibly plan for that or have a backup plan for that? Again all these guys have consistently year in and year out produced and everyone fell apart this season. This team is so good on paper and had these injuries or performance issues happened to basically any other team in baseball they would be finished. The fact that they are treading water and still alive is a tribute to the depth. I still believe that if the guys get healthy and the key guys start performing that this team could go to the top. Any trades aren't gonna fix it, it's really all on the players at this point.

Ortiz clearly realizes the market wont give him a long term deal. Sox are in a position of strengh and he knows it. We can go to arb again and he accepts great if not draft picks. Ortiz can really only play for 15 teams and none of them are realistically going to give him a giant multi year deal.

Don't really see this stretch of his as ace level. For one he's still allowing a ton of HR and hits in general and his peripherals indicate he should be more at a 4.00 ERA level which seems more appropriate. Plus since I know how much you love to talk about opponent strength, he faced KC twice, SEA, WSH in that stretch and also imploded twice. Nice run but he seems like more of a #3, and still has to prove he can beat good offenses like Texas, Boston, and Toronto.

Might make sense to try to build a package around Doubront to get a number 1 SP. Teams will drool over a guy like Doubront who is young, major league ready, LH, high strikeout numbers. Won't be an ace but is really cheap and productive. Plus add someone like Lavanway and say Iglesias and I think that is a pretty formidable offer.

Crawford and Ellsbury both starting for the GCL sox today, quite the leadoff hitters for that league

Didnt realize how horrific the White Sox roster is. Don't know a ton about there minors but heard it's horrible too. Might as well go for it if youre them

Chad Bradford: Clubhouse source says Youkilis traded to White Sox. Nameplate is gone via twitter

Mcdonald f***ing sucks, doesnt play the wall and would never make a catch like that. Just looks like a bafoon crashing into the wall and never making plays. Also Cook sucks

Loving what I'm seeing out of Morales so far. Hard to argue with his arsenal, 95 MPH FB that he maintained all the way through his outing, change up at 84 (over 10 MPH difference), and good looking curve ball. Definitely a starters repertoire, just a matter of him being able to control. Notably his strike% has consistently been going up the last 3-4 years all the way up to 66% this year up from 55% when he was taken out of his starting role in COL. He was also only given 7 starts in the majors after his solid rookie campaign as a 21 year old before I believe becoming injured and being converted to MR. He was also a former top 10 prospect and obviously the Red Sox would be hard pressed to find a LHP with his type of stuff that could start. Plus he's only 26 so age is on his side. I remain cautiously optimistic but hopefully we've found a diamond in the rough here.

That's his ceiling? That seems like a floor at this point.

Nobody ruined Meredith. He was a fringe MR who benefited from pitching in the NL and in the ultimate pitchers park.

Haha ya wtf was that. Spencer came into the bigs when he was 26, had 67 AB and was never a good prospect...

Not true, since he got here in 2009, as a MR he really has never had any huge struggles and was a top guy pretty much from the get go. As far as his initial transition from starting to MR, his success did basically happen overnight. Line as a SP in the minors (07): 75 IP, 78 BB, 47 K, 7.08 ERA Line as a MR in the minors (08): 77.2 IP, 30 BB, 107 K, 1.51 ERA

See I love Ellsbury but I think he's going to be the type of contract I'm advocating that the Sox stay away from. If it weren't for Crawford I'd be more lenient to sign him but the possibility of having two speed-reliant players on 20mil a year deals long term is very unattractive. If he'd sign for 5 years or less than I'd say go for it but that is just not realistic. I'd actually be in favor of trading him in the offseason for an equivalent SP.

Was going to originally respond in the thread but felt this topic deserved its own. Youk's (impending) departure is pretty noteworthy in the sense that he was really the first homegrown player the Red Sox had produced since Nixon and Nomar. From there the Red Sox were able to reel off numerous all-stars Papelbon, Lester, Pedroia, Buchholz, Ellsbury. However since Buchholz's debut in 07 the Sox haven't had nearly that kind of success bringing up players that stuck on the roster and had a large impact, and notably the team just has not had any deep runs in the postseason since. That spans 08-11 where say Bard was the only real meaningful guy that has stuck. This is also the period where they loaded up on expensive FAs as a result of not having that kind of pipeline. Now I really think the Sox are on the verge of the next era of home-grown raised dominance. They have a guy in Cherrington who didn't get googly eyed at some of the marquee FAs this year, hired a manager who is not a veterans-first manager (WMB over Youk), and produced the deepest bullpen the Sox have had in forever (despite losing the two best pieces) and for once we won't have to overpay for a mediocre MR. Look at the prospects coming up the line right now WMB is here, Kalish is ready to be the RF, Doubront looks like a very consistent AL East #3, then in AAA you have Lavarnway who could very well step into the DH spot next year, Iglesias who could be the SS, Bradley in AA who could soon replace Ellsbury, Barnes cruising through the minors, and Bogearts with the highest potential of any prospect since Buchholz/Hanley. The best part is that all of those guys are within possibly a year away from being on the MLB roster (with the exception of maybe Bogaerts). Considering the core of the old-new era of Gonzalez, Lester, Buchholz, Crawford, Pedroia, Salty, Nava? all have a minimum of 4-5 PRIME years left of their careers, I'd say this is the start of another decade of high quality Red Sox baseball. Finally this all depends on them sticking to what has worked in the past and not tying themselves up to big name FAs and not letting go of prospects for rentals.

Gotta think Bogaerts is completely untouchable at this point especially for a pitcher due 100mil (even if that was also a year away), at least until it's certain he's not a SS. Though I'd move Barnes if it was for a genuine ace since Lester, Buchholz, Beckett (even Lackey), Doubront, are all under control for a while

He probably won't be though, again Greinke, Hamels, Wandy Rodriguez, Jason Vargas, even Felix etc could all feasibly be on the market

Agreed on Lars, he seems like the perfect piece for teams needing a major-league ready corner OF who has decent potential and will be cost controlled for a real long time. Disagree, at least for now, on Britton. His stats to close out his A+ campaign were dam good (25.2 IP, 7 BB, 29 K, 2.10) and his peripherals look out of whack in AA because he walked 6 in a rainy first start (though also didn't allow a hit). Im cautiously optimistic, but I don't think they are ready to make him a MR yet.

Kalish has been hitting real well in his stint thus far at AAA: .394/.487/.818/1.305 4 HR, 6/9 BB/K in 33 AB. Not sure what exactly is keeping McDonald an MLB player at this point as Kalish could very well be the starting RF next season and this is the perfect time to groom him into the majors again. Also Lars Anderson refuses to die as a prospect: .268/.392/.495/.887, good power and plate discipline and still only 24. Though the OF/1B backlog probably makes him more trade bait at this point Drake Britton is also intriguing. A top 100 prospect before the start of 2011 and then had a horrible 2011 and beginning of 2012 campaign. Thus far a 1.10 ERA after three starts while showing good stuff.