mvp 78

@EvanDrellich Red Sox minor league catcher Oscar Hernandez, on Triple-A Pawtucket’s roster, suspended 50 games for second violation of drug of abuse. Sox minor league catchers can't stop juicing.

@SoxProspects Sixth home run of #SoxSpring for Travis, who is tied for the MAJOR LEAGUE lead in dingers during spring training. #SoxProspects His ground ball to fly ball ratio is still not that hot tho.

It was extremely original too!

@ByChrisMason Drew Pomeranz faced 9 batters in a controlled minor league game. 3 hits, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. Threw 48 pitches, 27 strikes. Was feeling good physically afterwards. @ByChrisMason Pomeranz: "That's the first game I've been in in a long time. So that's honestly about the best I could have hoped for. I felt good... I threw 3 today, I'd imagine I'll push toward 4 next time and onward and upwards."

@PeteAbe Brian Johnson through 3 IP: 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K. Ended the third by getting Judge on a double-play ball into a shift. If Johnson can pitch well enough, he has a chance to stick around in the rotation for a while!

Be careful not to choke on your aspirations, Yankee fans.

Oh well.

SoxProspects guys are in camp now. Should be having much more player updates going forward. @SoxProspects Darwinzon Hernandez looks solid in the first. Fastball 92-94 mph, topped at 95 mph. Heavy use. Slider 83-84 mph. Mixed in a mid 80s changeup.

And you think you can do better? Pfffft...

Sorry, that's the lineup I'm going with!

Agreed, this is the lineup I go with: Betts 2b Beni CF Hanley 1b JD RF Xander SS Devers 3B Swihart LF Vazquez C Wright DH

Out until May.

But when multiple injuries happen, I'd rather have Holt on the roster than most other pieces from AAA right now. Chavis isn't even playing in ST yet.

If our depth is so horrible, you gotta stash the guys you can.

If Holt's glove was better, he'd be a no doubt 25 man roster guy. His glove leaves a lot to be desired since there are still question marks about his bat. They already have swiss army knives in Nunez and Swihart.

http://www.maguiresbarandgrill.com/ I had parmesan truffle fries, a bar pizza with jalapenos and black olives, and a Smithwick's.

@PeteAbe #RedSox, once up 7-4, have so far allowed six runs in the sixth inning. Rough outings for Joe Kelly and Robby Scott. Scott may be on the outside looking in since Cora isn't 100% going to carry a lefty in the pen. He wants guys that can get batters from both sides of the plate out.

@PeteAbe Steven Wright went 4 innings vs, Balt. minor leaguers at Fenway South. 4 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 1 K. Then Kimbrel came in for an inning. 12 pitches, 10 strikes, 3 K

Thoughts regarding the Sox' starting rotation should go here. @JMastrodonato Steven Wright said it’s realistic he could be ready to go for the first series vs Tampa but he has to see how he recovers. 63 pitches today. Presumably in five days he gets to 80, that’s probably enough to feel good about him starting Game 4. His knuckleball needs work, he said. Wright is such a huge wild card. He could be great like 2016 or he could be Charlie Zink. ERod is taking good steps to getting back, but I wish he was ready for the first series. Pomeranz just doesn't seem to be a guy you can rely on to go a full season either. This shows why Porcello is kinda valuable IMO. Sale is great. Price could be great, but could also be done for the season after any pitch. Maybe Johnson can step up? At least we don't have the spectre of Clay Buchholz looming over this rotation anymore.

https://www.overthemonster.com/2018/3/22/17150926/red-sox-trade-rumors-brock-holt-deven-marrero As is largely the case around the league every year, most of the Red Sox spots are spoken for and the majority of players in their camp have known for a while whether or not they had a good shot at making the roster. That doesn’t include Brock Holt and Deven Marrero, though, who sure seem to be fighting for the last spot on Boston’s bench. Evan Drellich of NBC Boston has said that Blake Swihart, unsurprisingly, locked up one spot, meaning the bench has just one empty spot remaining. According to Drellich, it seems the Red Sox are shopping both Holt and Marrero in trade talks, indicating that Dave Dombrowski could decide to move whichever player he doesn’t keep. With only one spot left for the two bench players, it’s worth checking to see if other front offices may value either Holt or Marrero more than one would expect. Presumably, neither would bring back a ton in trade, but you never know a player’s worth for sure until you ask. As for which player should be kept, I keep going back and forth and the fact that they could trade the loser may change things. I’ve said on these very pages earlier in the winter that I’d keep Marrero, and the argument was largely because Holt could be optioned and this would allow them to keep as much depth as possible. If Dombrowski decides he’s going to trade whichever player doesn’t make the cut and instead rely on Tzu-Wei Lin as their top Triple-A depth pice — a not unreasonable decision — then nothing matters besides who you think creates more value. Marrero’s glove is obviously far and away better than Holt’s, but if the latter is healthy his bat is much better. I’d lean towards keeping Holt’s bat over Marrero’s glove if the loser is going to leave the organization, but it’s close enough that I could objectively see the case on either side. One part of this that shouldn’t have any effect on this, and something that I’ve seen come up from enough people in the know that I’m assuming it is having an effect, is Holt’s salary. In this new era of baseball with harsher luxury tax penalties that also have baseball ops consequences, salaries around the league are even more scrutinized than they already were. In 2018, Holt is set to make $2.225 million compared to the major-league minimum being earned by Marrero. Choosing the latter and trading the former would result in a $1.68 million savings for the Red Sox, a team that is ostensibly in a win-now window... If that little amount of money is going to make a difference towards which kind of player the Red Sox will be willing to acquire to improve the team in July, then they aren’t serious enough about putting together the best roster possible. If they decide that Marrero is the better player to keep for baseball reasons and clearing a million and change is just a side benefit, then it’s hard to complain. But if the $1.68 million savings is a deciding factor in all of this, I just have no idea what we’re doing here.

@PeteAbe JD Martinez with a wind-blown RBI triple that was more a double and an error. #RedSox up, 6-2. Shooting for a 10th consecutive win, which hasn’t happened in spring training since 1951. Back to back to back

@redsoxstats Marrero is making his push, 8 for his last 21 with 3 doubles. DFA Leon

https://www.fangraphs.com/plays.aspx?date=2012-06-03&team=Red%20Sox&dh=0 Bard's last start: walk walk HR walk double play fly out walk walk strikeout strikeout hit by pitch walk hit by pitch A real thing of beauty... I still remember where I was while this was happening.

He should take a number.