Dojji

ftfy

This is the big reason I don't see an offeseason move at 3B. If we make a move to shore up third base it will be during the season. At the moment we're techincally at least 4 deep at third between Shaw and Sandoval in some order, then Holt, then Moncada. We really need to evaluate what all of these options (or at least the three that are not Brock Holt) can give us this year before we pull the trigger on anything.

Wouldn't mind if that acquisition was Luke Hochevar. If the guys who AREN'T about to be hideously overpaid he looks like one of the better options.

Not too worried about the late slump by Bogaerts, he's too talented to think he can't pull out of it and was showing signs of getting free of it right at the end, far less worried about him than about Shaw.

Home field advantage = one extra day of potential ticket sales of the series goes 7.

The problem at 3B is that we do have solutions that need to be tried before we get aggressive and/or desperate. 3B is the sort of situation that you need to wait and maybe deal with in midseason when there's less confusion about what you have. If we can avoid making a move there and save our ammunition (prospects, roster space, cap space) for more pressing needs, that becomes the right play.

You get the Shaw comps not because of Shaw's profile but because of our reaction to guys who come out the gate strong such as Shaw. There's a certain overexuberance that is very natural for fans that is probably causing us to overrate Benintendi right now, at least in terms of where he is in his development. If I could bring in in an experienced corner outfielder who could play above average left field on both sides of the ball I'd be quite content to bring Beni along more slowly.

Pirates reporteddly shopping Andrew McCutchen. If we could swing a trade without increasing our payroll, I'd definitely be interested in that. I'd be happy to let Benintendi wait in the wings if it meant McCutchen in left field for us.

Completely irrelevant to my point. "But he's super talented, dawg!" is not actually a rebuttal against the idea of the league in general figuring Benintendi out and forcing him to spend a month or two struggling to adjust. If it were, Xander Bogaerts would have had an even better season than he did.

It's too easy to get a bit overeager about guys like Andrew Benintendi. Similar to the miracle we thought we'd discovered with Travis Shaw's early surge this year, great performances by a rookie do not automatically mean his career will be great. We are a little too dependent on Benintendi being a starting big leaguer in his first full season with no hiccups or problems at all. At the moment I'm all for taking some of that pressure off Benintendi because it's clear that while the start was promising, it's still a long way between where he is now and where he needs to be.

Any interest in signing RHP Luke Hochevar? He's been solid in the bullpen for the last 2 years with KC. Looks like a solid middle reliever who might be able to take on setup duties in a pinch

Which is fine. As long as cash poor teams can be in with a chance when their plan comes together, I'd call that good enough from a standpoint of territory.

Personally I expect a sophomore slump from Benintendi.

You guys have let time erase the hype that was surrounding that signing at the time. I still remember the live NESN coverage with the camera pointing at the plane he would be taking back to Japan if he didn't sign. The hype was super intense, as intense as I've ever seen it for any acquisition.

6 posts discussing the Meredith trade are about 5 posts too many. What a forgettable event, we traded a career-average reliever for a backup catcher when we discovered an unexpected problem with the catching staff that we couldn't easily fix internally. If he hadn't come out the gate strong for SD in 06 it would have been just another nothing trade. The rest of Meredith's career is utterly average.

Meredith wasn't exactly an indispensible asset. He had that one great year as a contact pitcher working in the most pitcher friendly park in the league, and beyond that was a pretty average middle reliever. Unfortunately for reality, that one year was enough to get the wangst train rolling about how we shouldn't have given him up for Mirrorbelly, nevermind that Mirrorbelly was a fairly important cog in the machine in 2004 and then again in 2007 and Cla Merediths are a dime and a dozen.

Beckett was. Daisuke was supposed to be.

Let me add this to the mix -- when was the last time a big acquisition of an ace for the Red Sox actually work as advertised? To me, there hasn't been one since the Schilling trade. And as much good as he did for us, Schilling was brought in to pitch behind Pedro and be our #2 starter and big playoff horse behind our ace so he may not even count If he doesn't, that's the Pedro trade itself nearly 20 years ago. And as great as that trade was for ut, there are circumstances behind the Pedro trade that may never happen again in our lifetimes, up to and including the collusion by the league to force the Expos to sell off assets they should never have been forced, or even allowed, to get rid of for the good of the league, all in the name of justifying the move to Washington. If they'd had a choice other than to trade Pedro, would the Expos have dealt him? You be the judge, but I'm saying hell no. So since no big trade, and if I'm honest, no big acquisition of a bigtime supposed-to-be-an-ace has actually worked for this team in 18 years, why the hell are you people so eager to reach your hand right back onto the hot stove AGAIN? This town has proven over and over again that it needs to homegrow its aces. The big move for a TOTR starter works so rarely it's actually baffling to me that people haven't completely walked away from the idea by now.

And Chris Sale could either be Chris Sale or need TJ surgery tomorrow.

There's two ways E-Rod coulr surpass Sale, both distinctly possible. I don't think I have to elaborate what those two possibilities are.

We must revisit it over and over until we get it right.

Being fat is a character flaw in this context (the context of a pro ballplayer being unable to fulfil his contract due to being at an impractical playing weight), especially when you imply that it's the complete lack of self control that is directly to blame as I read you as doing repeatedly over the last few pages. If you feel that's not what you intended to say, feel free to clarify

Not sure what your fascination is with Robertson TBPH. He's decent, but there are others who do what he does better.

That will not get you all three of those men. That might just be enough for quintana alone, however, depending on whether the White Sox are in even the slightest way interested in moving Quintana, of course I will remind you yet AGAIN that there's no indication of this whatsoever..

Yeah I don't know who people are trying to kid slipping Owens and Johnson into every trade. If we don't want them, why the hell would anybody else?