Dojji

Mookie Betts is not the only great right fielder that ever existed. he's the best right fielder we've had in a very, very, long time, perhaps the best we've ever had, but if we moved him to 2B he'd instantly supplant Joe Cronin as the best 2B we ever had, especially if his defense is up to snuff (and it wasn't too bad back in 2014 IIRC) The only reason Mookie isn't our starting 2B right now is Pedey. An alternative universe where we didn't sign Pedroia to that ill advised extension probably sees Betts breaking our all time 2B records wide open on both sides of the ball. And need I add, that as valuable as a great RF is, a great 2B is at least that valuable, possibly more so.

And yet playing a guy who HAS gotten injured ALREADY by playing out of position, out of position AGAIN, just for the grins and giggles (we by no means had to play Swihart at 3B today), doesn't have exactly the same issues? Even your argument that Mookie is valuable right where he is isn't really logical on the face of it, mostly because it's first and foremost an emotional argument built on fear. A comparison between what Mookie provides at right field and what that same offense would mean in a premium position like 2B is absurdly easy to make, and it's a valid argument. What valid argument is there to play a guy who's only just starting to find his stride, at a position he hasn't played in over 7 years, when he's already shown that playing out of position is a high risk move and already had his whole career derailed once by trying to shoehorn him into a far LESS strenuous defensive position? Or would you like to argue that the Swihart-to-left-field experiment wasn't a hugely opportunity-expensive, unmitigated disaster, and that we should be trying it again in a much more defensively taxing infield position, immediately the moment Swihart shows signs of recovering from the sandbagging we gave him last time we tried this stunt?

Dozer is going to cost more than we're likely to be willing to spend. My target is old friend Jed Lowrie. He's currently on the last year of his deal with the A's, who are well known wheeler-dealers and currently despite a good year are at third place in their division and may look to sell off some older top performers, like Lowrie, to suppliment their youth movement He's good on both sides of the ball, especially at 2B. He's old, so he's not going to cost a billion dollars to re-sign if we choose to. He has the utility to play at 3b if necessary, which is a plus as well. And he's hitting well this year. I could easily see Billy Beane straight up dealing Lowrie for Brian Johnson or for a B+ prospect like CJ Chatham and a low ceiling high floor player like Mike Shawaryn. They have a top prospect 2B named Franklin Barreto who looks like he might be ready to take over the position, so they might even be able to make the move without seriously impacting their playoff hopes. They deal the veteran for a decent haul that addresses team needs and move their top prospect into the everyday lineup, they get cheaper, possibly get better, and we get a player who is immediately useful to us by addressing either or both of our biggest infield holes. OAK gets RHP Shawaryn SS CJ Chatham BOS gets IF Jed Lowrie It kind of comes down to what Beane's usually highly restrictive internal budget looks like, and whether he thinks he can buy enough talent to keep up the dogfight with Seattle for the last wild card spot, but I see a deal that could happen here that would be beneficial to both sides. Especially if it freed up salary to allow Beane to make another move that he felt would improve the team and increase his playoff chances

No it really, really isn't. if Betts was a full time OF in the minors, it would be, but playing a guy at a position he last played in high school is demonstrably more insane than putting a player who came up through the minors at 2B, and played at 2B in the major leagues in his rookie year, back at his old position to see if he can make it work. I mean there's plenty of good reasons not to do either one, but when it comes to the "playing out of position" argument, Swihart is far more "out of position" at third base than Mookie would be if he did move back to second.

Price is at the top of my list for pitchers I want Leon caddying, even if Swihart somehow steals his job. He's learning how to be more of a finesse pitcher and his confidence is very fragile over the last couple seasons. Want to give him the best possible chance to succeed. Sale, Porky, I'm less concerned about. I think Sale can throw to anyone, and Porky is a durability guy, prototypical 3rd starter who knows how to grind, he can get the job done even when he doesn't have his best stuff. They're both veterans that I expect to be able to handle being hit around a bit. We'll see about Eovaldi, good start today. We'll also see who winds up claiming that last spot, if it's Johnson or Wright, I won't worry about who's catching, Swihart showed awhile back that he could handle Wright if he had to, but if they're still somehow wedded to the idea of Pomeranz in the last slot despite 2 options that currently look more reliable and possibly Velazquez representing a third better option, I'll want the veteran doing the job with him as well, at least until DD finally sobers up and puts the best team on the field, rather than the team he wants to be the best (I hate, HATE HATE it when GMs do that, it's understandable, but it still sucks to see as a fan of the game).

I remember 2016 a little too well to be excited about throwing Swihart to the wolves at a new position. He's showed massive improvements behind the plate. I want him there first and foremost. It's useful to his utility that Swihart CAN play third base, I could see him doing it on an emergency basis a few times in a given year. I do not want Swihart to become our starting 3B. First of all, as raw as Devers is, how raw do you think a guy who hasn't even played the positions in at least 5 years would be over the long run. Yeah he made a few good plays today, but I'm talking about consistency over the course of the season, which is a different thing from showing up to play for one game once in awhile. Devers can make good plays too, but because of inexperience he makes some stinkers too. Swihart is a good bet to have that problem even worse, simply due to experience and lack of comfort playing at the big league level. I mean for comparison's sake -- they stuck Kevin Youkilis at second base one game in 2005 because Graffanino got hurt and there was no one else. Anyone seriously think Youk would have made a great 2B just because he played there once and didn't screw up? Of course not. It didn't hurt Swihart at all that he can do it in an emergency, but I feel the need to emphasize, "in an emergency." TBH I'd actually rather revive a crazy old idea of mine and move Mookie Betts to second base. At least Bets has actually played the position at the big league level before and for multiple games at a time. He played the last half of his rookie year at second because Pedey got hurt, and while he was below average, he wasn't so bad he couldn't make up for it with his bat. With Pedey out of the way, if we're considering ideas as crazy as Swi to 3B, moving Betts back to his old position is significantly LESS insane, especially because an outfield of Beni-JBJ-JD puts 3 players at familiar outfield positions as well.

Oh and for the record, after an abysmal start to his season he's actually pretty close to reaching the benchmark I just set him. Since June 1, Swihart is hitting .259/.317/.362/.680, which actually makes him our best offensive option at catcher. If he can get his batting average up into the .270 range and bring his OBP over the .330 mark for the rest of the year, and he's already shown us he's at least theoretically capable of that, the overall offensive package is going to be quite nice and he's going to be able to make a case to fight Leon for starts and keep earning field time

I honestly hope Swihart sticks around at this point. He's a good utility catcher, and that's valuable. If he can play the corner infield positions and back up behind the plate and hit a little, that's a little too useful to walk away from lightly. I could see him playing a role on a team similar to Matt LeCroy where even if he's not the consensus starter, he manages to make himself useful. I could also see him start to earn a job for himself starting at catcher if he continues to hit. Sandy Leon is a decent starter, but you know what else he'd be? A fantastic David Ross style backup to mentor a guy like Swihart whose biggest weakness is technique, and to caddy some starter who isn't confident throwing to an offensive guy. I was a total Swihart skeptic, mostly because I didn't think he would get a chance due to 2 competent young incumbents ahead of him. He's getting the chance thanks to Vazquez' injury, and he's showing enough that Christian Vazquez had better watch his tailfeathers. Vaz isn't playing so well that he couldn't wind up back in Pawtucket next year if Swihart continues to hit like this. At this point Swihart has to be in consideration to start taking time from Leon as a catcher, if only because Leon hasn't shown the ability to be a fulltime starter and Swihart is showing progress. Worth mentioning as well, that a lot of catchers who wound up being very good at their jobs, only came into their own at about the age Swihart is now, including Jason Varitek, Jorge Posada and all of the Flying Molina Brothers. Swihart has gone from the outside looking in to possibly solidifying himself as the team's second catcher, and he has plenty of opportunity for the rest of this season (by the time Vazquez is back in the lineup, we'll probably have expanded rosters to make room for all 3 catchers) to prove that this run of success is the real deal. Obviously I wish him the best of luck. If he succeeds this team just got enormously better, going from a satisfactory tandem at the most key position in baseball to possibly even an elite one. If Swihart can just get to the level offensively that he's already shown us he's capable of, roughly equalling his 2015 numbers, combined with the notable improvement in his defense, he's probably the best catcher on the team. If he can get his offense up into the .700-.750 range and hit a few over the wall, then he's already the best starting catcher we've had in awhile. That's very achievable with a bit of luck given the man's skillset.

Swihart would not have to improve very much offensively to earn an expanded role for himself on the team with Vazquez out. If Swihart is not traded at the deadline, and Vazquez is not expected back until September, I would be fine with letting Leon and Swihart fight for playing time. I think Swihart has at least some chance of winning that competition in an offense-loving team like Boston, but to do so he has to improve in the areas where Leon cleanly beats him right now, in defense and in the confidence of the pitchers throwing to him. If he can do that, then Leon goes from a satisfactory defense-only catcher to a fantastic set of training wheels for a new starter.

There is absolutely nothing to suggest that he would not be just as resurgent in Boston as he is in Milwaukee. Except that he just might have better lineup protection in Boston. He had a slump. Slumps happen. I dont remember too many people utterly giving up on Bogaerts even though he had a very similar slump that year, and without the decent defense to cover himself

Normally I might agree with you about giving Pablo another chance, but after the performance he gave in 2016, in which he clearly gave zero damns about his health, played for a whole 2 weeks, blew out his belt and injured himself making a routine play and was then completely gone... I think at some point you just have to conclude that that guy can not be counted on to take a starting role on your team until he re-earns your trust. Certainly he should not have been the starting 3B in the offseason plans considering what a trainwreck he made of himself in 2016, requiring a pretty surprising showing from Shaw to give us anything approacing respectable production from third base. When your starter screws up so badly that it takes a guy who was in your plans as a backup first basemen having a surprise year as a starting 3B to cover for him, you have to adjust your thinking to account for that. If the fault lies with not having a viable backup, then the fault lies in trading Shaw, who the very worst you can say about the 2016 version was that he looked promising in a backup role.

Shaw had a pretty nasty sophomore slump in the season following his rookie campaign. But he was still better than the guy he beat for the 3B job that year, and trading him to try to shoehorn Pablo Sandoval back into the everyday lineup was patently ridiculous -- made even worse by the fact that it exposed a very young Rafael Devers and forced him into the starting lineup a year or so early. we were lucky that Devers managed to get hot in the second half last year and justify his spot in the roster. That did not have to happen. We all remember Will Middlebrooks. Risking exposing a problem position by trading away a guy who was adequate there when taking the year as a whole in favor of the the Incrudible Bulk, now with new belt busting action, with only a guy in AA as depth behind him, was probably stupid no matter how Thornburg pitched.

I'll take a pitcher who's passionate about his job over a workaday clock puncher, even if he pulls a Manny from time to time (Sale was clearly frustrated with the team's loser attitude and ownership's prioritization of cashing in over winning, which is why the jerseys died the death)

I do. Even if you discount the home run factor, which can exaggerate Shaw's value I agree, he's a solid producer of offense at a position where we've needed one for awhile. Even with his inconsistency, which was on full display in his first and only full season in Boston, and has dragged him backward a bit in Milwaukee this year he's been putting up positive numbers on both sides of the ball and is a solid contributing piece to a baseball team. As much as he isn't a superstar level player, if you put Travis Shaw at 3B, you don't have a hole at 3B. We've had a hole at 3B for awhile now, so I winced when he was traded, especially because it looked to me like he was traded mostly to give the Pablob one last chance to earn his contract, which is such a shining example of the sunk cost fallacy that it should need no further explanation from me as to why that was a bad idea. I'm optimistic that Devers will grow into the role of Boston's everyday 3B given time, health and experience at the major league level, but he's not there yet, and until he is, we technically still have a hole at 3B. There's always going to be a regret factor with me around the Thornburg trade un til Devers comes into his own, which will probably take another year or 2.

Thornburg's problem is twofold. He's not making a good first impression, and he cost us a player a lot of us feel we could have used this year and last. Shaw hit 30 dingers last year and is on pace for similar production. He's leading the Brewers into playoff contention and is one of their best hitters. Given the issues with Devers, who is simply young and hasn't come into his own yet I for one am still not 100% over that trade. Patience with Devers will be rewarded in time, but in the meantime, there's some residual bad feelings that get directed at Thornburg because Shaw is no longer in our uni

Phillips is hitting .227 in AAA... if we're evaluating him as a prospect, NWIH he's ready yet. If they think all he needs is some live time to get back into the swing of things, we'll see I guess The guy I've got my eye on right now in the minors is Michael Chavis. If he can shake the rust of his suspension off over the next couple weeks he could put himself in a position to become very useful very quickly At the moment if there's a gap in the infield I'm all for giving Tzu-Wei Lin a good long look. He impressed me last year and I want some time to see if that was a mirage or not.

If Michael Chavis hadn't gotten himself suspended, he'd probably be up here right now. We might see him anyway if things get desperate.

Hate on Price all you want, it's obvious he isn't living up to the hype, but he IS on pace to put up about 220 IP. That counts for something. He may not give the best performances, but he tends to hang in there and chew up some innings. That's often all this offense needs.

He's below average, but he's no Manny Ramirez. If you needed to you could hide this guy in left field without too many problems.

Welcome to a seller's market. There's only a few really terrible teams and at least 20 teams still thinking they have a shot. Deals are going to be hard to find and very expensive when you do.

We treat JD like he's bad defensively mostly because all of Beni, Betts, Bradley, and probably Holt are better in the outfield than he is. It's not that he's bad per se. It's just that we have excellence in the outfield and a slightly below average guy becomes our worst guy defensively. In a word, we're a little spoiled by the Killer B's

Since that "stunt" requires the consent of the player involved, I actually think that it's the MLBPA that would be more against this than the Commissioner's office per se. They do NOT like giving a team a way out of a guaranteed contract and would try to put pressure on the player not to agree.

Meh, Cora's lack of power wasn't a lack of hitting technique. He never had a lot of meat on his bones. His hitting technique was actually textbook, a lot of big swinging power hitters could learn a few things about how to work the count and hit to all fields.

There's a distinct possibility that Lin is better than Phillips at this point in their respective careers I am not excited by the onset of the Brandon Phillips era.

he hasn't practiced at the position in over 3 years now. I think he could probably figure it out, but there's no denying that relearning the position would hurt his productivity and possibly even result in injury. I've speculated about this before too, but at the moment Betts is providing far too much value right where he is for me to be excited about messing with him. That said, if it worked the result would be a brilliantly productive second basemen, there was never anything wrong with his ability to field second base, he was pushed out of second by the existence of Pedroia who's not here right now. It absolutely COULD work, and the upside would be ENORMOUS considering what he can do with his bat. Betts is one of the best offensive right fielders in the game, putting that kind of production at a middle infield position would be a massive advantage, But it wouldn't come without risk, and the team won't likely decide to take a risk of that nature.