Dojji

Anyways... QO and walk: Salty Drew Ellsbury I'd love to keep some or all of these players but I can see the argument about not gumming down our financial flexibility, especially after not doing so helped us win big this year. I'd keep Drew and Ellsbury if possible, but there's sense to letting both of them move on. Resigning: Mike Napoli (3 years, $45M) -- Napoli's type of hitter tends to age fairly well, and his hip wasn't an issue this year. I think he's earned the stability of a proper contract. Signings: Covelli "Coco" Crisp -- proficient hitting from the right hand side, capable of bringing some of Ellsbury's lost speed back, demonstrated as willing to split time both here and on the A's. Willie Bloomquist -- not the flashiest utility guy, but brings some speed off the bench and a crapload of versatility. Kelly Shoppach -- basically a Ross redux, except younger and not coming off a World Series win -- less emotion associated with him ensures he'll be played in his role rather than overexposed. Trades: Bundle Daniel Nava and Dempster somewhere for a decent return in talent. Otherwise, I don't see a ton of wheeling and dealing to do. Roster: C: Ryan Lavarnway 1B: Mike Napoli 2B: Dustin Pedroia SS: Xander Bogaerts 3B: Will Middlebrooks* LF: Johnny Gomes/Mike Carp CF: JBJ/Coco Crisp RF: Victorino DH: Ortiz Bench: Coco Crisp/JBJ, OF Mike Carp, LF/1B Willie Bloomquist, UT David Ross, C *I'm kind of hoping Cecchini comes through to give us some options here at some point, but at this point we're committed to Middlebrooks as the starting third sacker. Rotation: Jon Lester John Lackey Jake Peavey Felix Doubront Clay Buchholz No that's not a mistype. I do not trust Buchholz and never have. I would be looking for a proficient 6th starter type and hoping a bunch of young kids step up, because for all the hate on Ellsbury, the guy i least trust to take his start on time is Buchholz. Bullpen: Uehara Tazawa Miller Breslow Any of about 7 guys could fill out the last 3 spots.

And why the holy flaming buttery hell would the Rays do that?

you too man. I'm utterly bummed because work went all the way to midnight and I didn't even get to watch the last out live. I'm really disappointed.

And Lin's inability to meet the benchmark I listed here that wasn't supposed to be informative? Worth mentioning is that I was saying Lin had to hit .270 at the big league level. Not in triple freaking A. And in the end he couldn't even do that. And if a guy can't top .270 in triple freaking A, against pitchers that aren't ready for the big lights what are his chances to exceed that in the bigs against the best of the best? Not that great.

Can he? He hasn't done it yet. let's just say that I consider that the single biggest breaking point for Bradley. He needs to hit at least .260 at the big league level to bring his other talents to full effect,, and not killing it for average in the minors makes me nervous about just handing him a starting job in Boston. Plate discipline is 2/3 contact, if your contact skills aren't up to scratch your plate discipline won't manifest the way you think it ought to. Again, my comp for Bradley is Dejesus, and when Dejesus hit over .270 he was borderline elite. When he didn't, it was mediocre. It was just that simple. Until Bradley can be effective at the big league level in part time play, I don't want him penned in as the #1 go to option in center. No problem with him being on the 25-man paying his dues and learning on the job, but let's learn from the problems we're having with Middlebrooks -- and don't just GIVE the rookie a job. I'd rather ride Victorino and go looking for an RF or bring in a guy who can play part time at a solid level, like Coco Crisp, to shelter the team from any risk of a Bradley implosion, than just trot him out there as a putative Ellsbury replacement. Have nothing against the kid, I just don't want to give him the starting job sight unseen.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/loftoke01.shtml Ells doesn't quite have Lofton's plate discipline but otherwise is a very similar player.

I'll take my crow with a dish of Chinese mustard.

He turned his career around which is what I thought BH meant

Bradley hasn't hit over .275 above the A ball level.

here ya go

The value has come mostly from getting players to perform up to their talent levels, moreso than roster structure. On paper we're less talented than we were in 2012, but turning around the culture of the clubhouse that Valentine and to a lesser extent Francona allowed to go to pot has yielded a vastly improved product for less money and with arguably less talent to work with. So I'd say Farrell is the difference this year, and his ability to get guys like Lester and Papi to do what they're supposed to be able to do.

Of the names you mentioned, I know I'd take Coco Crisp over Jackie Bradley going forward, at least for the next 2 years. This isn't a team where a player can afford to be playing his way into proficiency. He needs to produce at some kind of level initially. We're seeing that with Middlebrooks, and we saw it with Josh Reddick too. I won't mind dealing with Bradley as long as he's at least somewhat productive, but he's going to have to do something at the plate to convince me he's ready. So far I'm still waiting. Pretending he's ready because we're in a position where we need him to be ready is an example of magical thinking, and it's a major error in logic. I'm not on board. At least you can make the argument for Bogaerts that he's ready to go based on what he's shown in the playoffs. you can't make that same argument with bradley, which is why Quintin Berry is on the roster and Bradley is not.

Honestly, the day fans lose the idea that a player has to hit 20 HR's or they "have no power" will be a great day for sanity, logic, and good baseball talk. If you want an example of a guy who doesn't have enough power to maximize his speed, take a look at a guy like Jarrod Dyson, who's probably nearly as fast as Ellsbury, and actually has decent plate discipline, but because he hits the ball with a wet paper bag, can't return anywhere near the level of offense. By contrast, Brett Gardner is a great example of a guy you wouldn't call a traditional power hitter, but he can definitely hit for enough gap power to maximize his speed, which is all he needs to be valuable. I could be mistaken but I believe that Gardner was second among Yankees position players in WAR this year with 4.1 You don't need the power to hit it out, to make the best use of your speed. What you need is the ability to plug the gap and run. Ellsbury can do that, and consistently, and so can Gardner. Dyson can't, and the difference between the two is enormous even disregarding the HR column.

The year I was hooked is hard to say. I was into it in the early to mid 90's, then I hit a period of personal depression where nothing was any good ever and I couldn't get myself up for anything, and my loyalty to the team was among the casualties. I still liked the Sox, but seek out opportunities to so much as listen to the games? Eh. The fact that the teams weren't all that good and a lot of the players I'd liked (Boggs, Clemens, Gator) had moved on didn't help. Nor did the fact that none of the rest of my family are fans in any meaningful sense -- Dad is sort of kind of a little bit of a Padres fan, and he's pretty much it. I didn't exactly grow up with cable (we're out THAT far out in the sticks, but Dad wouldn't pay for it) which meant my exposure level was minimal as well. I missed almost the entire Pedro era simply because I had no idea that the team was getting good again. It was actually 03, when I was in college and had access to campus cable, that they got my attention again. You can imagine how well that ended, but I sort of started hovering around the edges again. Didn't pay a ton of attention in the 04 regular season, but by the ALCS they were breaking my heart again. I didn't even watch or listen to Game 4 or Game 5, figured I'd save myself the heartburn. Which is a pity because I learned afterward that I missed the two most defining games in Red Sox history. When I realized they were still around in game 6 I felt guilty and turned on the radio -- which was the first time I'd even heard that Schill had been hurt (or was even on the team, if I'm honest). That game made a die-hard of me. It was like a switch went on and I realized I was listening to a game for the ages. And the umpires actually got the two major questionable calls right? Even though it hurt the Yankees? In favor of the Sox? Wow. More games like that, please. And of course, the last 5 games of the postseason were pretty much textbook modern Red Sox. Everything was awesome at that point. I just wished I'd been around for the bad times, because I know to this day that that series wasn't as special for me as it could have been because I'd been tuned out all season.

Jackie Bradley Jr will be lucky to be 50% of Ellsbury. I don't think people realize the level of innate talent Ellsbury brings to the table. His speed is a generational tool, and unlike the overwhelming majority of speed guys, Ells has enough power and plate discipline to maximize it. That's not an easy combination to find. Sometimes it's worth taking the hit now when you're in a contention window -- and I honestly think we're in one for at least the next 2-3 years, especially with our ability to reload in a hurry when the situation calls for it.

I think that hit tool is an overrate, and if you look at Dejesus' numbers at his peak, they're what I'd expect that player to be doing. Over what Dejesus used to be, Bradley has few advantages. I think we forget that at his peak, Dejesus was one very solid centerfielder, even if his best playing years were lost playing on an obscure team in the middle of nowhere. If anything Dejesus had the advantage in contact and plate approach, and that's even without considering the lineups he hit in where there wasn't a lot of protection or support. I'm sorry if not every prospect is a bona fide instant supahstahhh, but them's the breaks. If we get Dejesus out of Bradley, we're doing pretty darned well for ourselves. Personally I think Dejesus is a really good comp for Bradley -- and an optimistic one, and I'm comfortable standing by it.

Not by all that much. Ellsbury is not exactly an OBP chump. Losing the dynamism of that speed is a lot bigger a blow than it looks on the surface. An extra .020 OBP isn't going to make up for it. Again, replacing a guy who can do what Ellsbury can do with David Dejsus is not a trade-off. It is a straight-up downgrade, and will need to be compensated for in other areas if we don't want to see an overall team dropoff. Not trying to insult Bradley with the Dejesus comparison by the way. I actually really like what Dejesus was at his peak and wouldn't mind too too much if we had a guy like that manning center for us for the next several years if that's the level he advances to. But that's what I see as Bradley's ceiling based on the observed skillset, and IMHO he needs to improve his plate approach, and more specifically his contact rates (cutting down on strikeouts) to get there from here. No matter how advanced your approach is, strikeouts are wasted at bats, and if you do that once in 6 times or more, it's going to be hard to get on base as consistently as you need to.

It's nice to know that this is an organization that can realize when it's going wrong, and have the humility at the top to turn it around and get things right. You'd be surprised how rare that can be.

Ellsbury is younger than any one of Schilling, Pedro, Lowe, Lowell, and Cabrera were when those decisions were made. JBJ still has some things to prove as far as I'm concerned, especially offensively, and he could be an adequate CF and still represent a major downgrade since he's not anywhere near the basepath monster Ellsbury is. I think people are hoping on JBJ more because he represents an alternative to a guy like Ellsbury who has flaws that displease them, than because of any evaluation of JBJ's own skill. I think that's extremely dangerous thinking and as likely to run a team into trouble as a stay-the-course mentality right now. At the moment, I look at JBJ and see David Dejesus, unless that power comes through at least a little bit more. At his peak Dejesus was a very proficient centerfielder, but I'm not throwing Ells overboard for David Dejesus.

Indeed. Most Yankee fans I know will admit that it was one of the most captivating and dynamic sporting events in American history.

Absolutely. The defensive mistakes and lack of character shown by the Cardinals in this world series has been shocking -- not what I expected at all.

Or the two New york teams, both of which objectively have a reason to go looking for a top shortstop this offseason.

Don't think it does. The argument would go, "X has been fantastic, but Y has been that little bit better." but yeah, I'd have a tough time choosing one or the other. Hopefully Ortiz makes it academic in game 6 with 7 RBI's or something,

It's hard to imagine Jon Lester pitching two bigger games in his life than the two he just pitched most recently. I doubt we see him again this year but ya never know.

Just curious what the consensus is. We have two VERY good candidates, and I'd be hard pressed to pick one of them