mvp 78

Blake Swihart, erstwhile Red Sox catching prospect, on the spring-training experiment to turn him into a super-utilityman: "I pride myself on being an athlete. I feel like I can play other positions. Catcher is my favorite position to play, but if I need to play somewhere else I can. I feel like if I put in work, I can play anywhere."

It'll be interesting to see how Quiroz does in ST, but he's destined for AAA to start the season. I'm not sure they've been playing Swihart at 2b. He's worked out at 1b, 3b and LF from what I've read.

Sounds like Mitch is really happy to be back. http://www.weei.com/articles/column/bradford-why-mitch-moreland-didnt-wait-around-jd-martinez-or-any-other-free-agents Listen to how the first baseman's 6-year-old son responded upon his father landing for another spring training at JetBlue Park. "He's fired up," Moreland said in a sit-down interview Tuesday afternoon. "Yesterday, as soon as I got on the phone with him he said, 'Have any of the guys asked about me?' He's excited about it." "I just told my agent that if we get close, I'm ready to do it. It's just nice to have the security of knowing everybody here and not having to learn a new organization. Being somewhere where my family is comfortable and somewhere that is a winning environment. All of those things factor into something like free agency. This is a great place to be, so obviously, it was my first choice." "I knew I had a good time here. Obviously, all of our conversations with staff and front office were good heading out. I guess the way everything has been going the last few years, you never know what's going to happen. This year has been a prime example of that even more. I really didn't know what to think. Just keep an open mind and let them know I had fun playing being part of this organization and playing for the Red Sox. I would love to come back, but I also understand it's a business. That's kind of the way I approached it. Obviously, when the time rolled around and we started talking a little bit, I was happy to come back. I wanted to be here. "I told my agent, 'Listen, man, I want to be somewhere I'm going to be happy and somewhere I'm going to win.' I loved playing here last year. So when the opportunity came about, it checked all the boxes. I've got to take care of my family. I'm not worried about the market part of it. When I saw the opportunity, with something I was happy with, and my family was happy with, I jumped at it." "I go to the field ready to go every day," Moreland said. "That's what I do. I try and be ready to go when my number is called, whether it's in the first inning, fifth inning, whenever. That's what I shoot for. Last year I was supposed to be part-time and I got more at-bats than I have ever had. I don't think you can look at a scheduled set-up of playing time because we're still two months away from the season right now and there is a lot of stuff that can happen. I'm going to be focused on getting ready to play every day and being ready to go when that time comes here." "I got in yesterday and went and hung out with the guys the first night. I told my wife, "Hey, I got invited to hang out with the guys the first night.' Last year it took me a week before I hung out with the guys. It's nice," he said. "Just having familiar faces and knowing the situation. Everyone talks about how it helps having that comfort level in baseball whether you're on the field or off the field. It makes those adjustments easier. We had a blast, so I'm happy to do it a couple of more years."

@PeteAbe Some #RedSox items: Andrew Benintendi has not yet hired a new agent … Marco Hernandez says his surgically repaired shoulder is coming along well but he will need to ease into baseball activities. … Mitch Moreland is very pleased he signed when he did and isn’t a free agent. If Hernandez isn't ready to go on opening day, does that mean we're getting more Brock Holt?

Our good nutmeg friend told us all last year how horrible Sale would be for team chemistry. Seemed that he did just fine to me?

..................................................................Runs HR's Hits 2b's 3b's BB's Fenway Park (Boston, Massachusetts) 1.026 0.824 1.103 1.156 0.750 0.958 Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri) 0.926 0.809 0.966 1.078 1.207 0.980 A rate of 1.000+ favors the hitter, below favors the pitcher. To think that Hosmer will come to Boston and start mashing for power seems a little silly to me. It makes more sense that he could wind up hitting for a higher average, but it's a tough sell that he starts hitting 30+ HR's. He's very inconsistent from year to year as he has alternated positive and negative OWAR seasons for his whole career. Plus, his glove is kind of s***** and he's not a consistent performer. That's not a guy I want to sign for 7 years. (My first point turned out kinda ugly with the format, but whatever. Sorry all. -mvp)

But he signed Mitch Moreland!

Yes, he was standing up for his team.

Crazy...

So they should overpay him just for shits and giggles?

Edwin has a higher career OPS. Projected WRC Edwin 127 JDM 130 Projected WOBA Edwin 366 JDM 370 Over the past 4 years: Edwin averaged 38 HRs JDM averaged 32 HRs

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-overrated-team-yadier-molina-aroldis-chapman-headline-list-204520263.html Yahoo Sports just came up with a "most overrated baseball players" list and included JBJ. Do you guys think he's overrated? Also winning were Longoria (duh), Odor, Kemp, Hosmer, Addisson Russell, Molina (not sure about this one) and Bautista. Seems like a fair list. The pitchers were Sonny Gray (duh), Bartolo Colon and Matt Harvey.

The only time a player will want to opt out going forward will be 2021 when the new union contract is bargained. Until then, I don't think salaries are going to skyrocket at any point.

Yeah, why pay top dollar if you are the only one bidding? That would be bad business.

If EE is worth 3/60. How is JDM worth more than 5/100? They are basically the same player except that EE is older and has generally been healthier.

If they offer a 1 year contract, can they QO him at year end?

A 5/100 contract is Encarnacion AAV for 2 extra years (JDM was younger as a FA). Makes sense to me. I don't think it's a low ball offer at all, especially when there are no other suitors out there.

How is it a low ball offer if there are no other bidders?

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/02/j-d-martinez-rumors-tuesday.html The Red Sox’ current top offer to Martinez is “in the vicinity” of only $100MM, according to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. That’s quite a lot less than has generally been stated, and certainly paints a different picture of the present state of affairs for the market’s top slugger. While the Sox are still smitten with Martinez, Speier writes, the organization is also not particularly interested in running up its bid when demand from other teams is questionable. The article discusses the broader opportunity that Boston may have on a still-dragging market, given its willingness to move past the luxury tax line in a winter where others are declining to do so. Of course, demand can have a way of forming to fill vacuums, and Martinez and his reps at the Boras Corporation are no doubt hoping that’ll occur over the coming weeks. The Diamondbacks are, notably, still working on creative means of bringing Martinez back into the fold, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag. That could mean broaching the idea of a shorter deal with a big annual salary and opt-out opportunities, Heyman suggests, though the details of any offers to this point remain hazy. Such a pact might ameliorate concerns with locking into another massive, long-term entanglement, though it’d cut down on the upside for the team and would no doubt still require a big jump in payroll (or further creativity in the form of shedding other contracts). Whatever the details, though, Heyman says there’s some added optimism on the Arizona side that the team could have a real shot at pulling off a surprise deal. Remember, if it's coming from Heyman, it's just Boras BS and a ploy to get the Sox to raise their offer.

Losing ALCS game 5?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2018/02/12/collusion-tanking-debt-and-baseballs-dark-labor-history-resurfaces-in-2018/#46c5419f176e For those that don’t recall, both the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros went about radical roster reconstruction under new ownership. The matter was simple to Ricketts of the Cubs and Crane of the Astros: bloated contracts for veteran players were hampering flexibility. The term “blowing it up” became the term before “tanking” but the idea that stripping rosters down to young players that saw lower salaries would cause a case of sinking in the standings. There’s the side benefit of landing at the top of the draft heap when you lose a massive number of games. In 2017, the Astros won 101 games and eventually won the World Series. In 2016 it was 84 wins and 2015, 86 wins. Not bad. But in 2014 they lost 92 games, 2013 there was 111 losses, and 107 losses in 2012, and 106 losses in 2011. For the Astros, the idea was pain would eventually equal gain, and as the parade in Houston showed, it paid off. The bad thing is, every owner in baseball looks around at what the one team did to win the World Series and says, “We need to do that.” “Our Clubs are committed to putting a winning product on the field for their fans,” Manfred said in a statement to rebut Clark. “Owners own teams for one reason: they want to win. In Baseball, it has always been true that Clubs go through cyclical, multi-year strategies directed at winning. There are larger concerns around what clubs are doing to improve themselves, or rather, what they’re not doing. This “invest in homegrown talent” also acts as a cover. The Pittsburgh Pirates were in a position over the last two off-seasons to improve themselves to get past just the Wild Card. Instead, they held pat, and this off-season traded Andrew McCutchen to the Giants and Gerrit Cole to the Astros. This does not fit the league profile for improving in a five-year cycle. Other clubs have a legitimate reason for down-cycling. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have not only spent large in free agency, but at record levels, have been in violation of the league’s debt rule. That was allowed as part of the sale to Guggenheim Partners, but now frowned upon given that the sale was completed in 2012. And LA and the Yankees both have reasons to get under the Luxury Tax threshold. Not only have changes to the tax penalties made it more painful, by getting under the threshold, the tax penalties for the two who have been consecutive offenders of the Luxury Tax will see the penalty drop to 20% by going back under. That plays into the bumper crop of free agents in the 2018-19 free agency class that features the likes of Bryce Harper, Clayton Kershaw, and Manny Machado. At some point, either that smoking gun surfaces, or it doesn't. If it doesn't, then the real focus on baseball's labor landscape shifts to when the current basic agreement between the players and the league expires on Dec. 1, 2021. If the players are unhappy about how matters have transpired, they'll need to dig in and try and get better concessions in the next deal. If the landscape continues to move toward clubs investing in young, developed talent, then getting players into salary arbitration early might be one matter they could go after. But even if that's not one area they do chase, it's clear that areas where salaries can increase has to be more the focus than the last time. There's little doubting that matters went the league's way in 2016 with the current labor agreement. If they truly want to gain from the increased revenues that the league is seeing, they could upend the mindset put in place since Marvin Miller was executive director beginning in the 1960s. Tie salaries to baseball related revenues that have now surpassed $10 billion. That would mean a cap system more inline with what other pro leagues currently have.

There's just no way. They'd be better off waiting for Harper next offseason.

@bradfo The on again, off again Brian Johnson to the bullpen convo is clearing up. He will pitch a few times as a starter and then most likely spend most of ST as a reliever. He is out of options

https://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2017/12/espns-2017-mls-cup-viewership-20-percent/ I believe that Seattle isn't representative of the rest of the country when it comes to MLS. Seattle Leads All Local Markets for MLS Cup and MLS Playoffs on ESPN Seattle was the top local market for both MLS Cup (7.0 rating) and the entire MLS playoffs on ESPN (2.3 rating). ESPN’s Top 10 MLS Playoff markets: Seattle (2.3), Columbus, Ohio (1.6), Atlanta (0.8), Louisville (0.6), Dayton (0.5), Portland, Ore. (0.5), Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News (0.5), Cincinnati (0.4), Nashville (0.4) and Knoxville (0.4). Top 10 MLS Cup markets: Seattle (7.0), Louisville (3.2), Columbus, Ohio (1.7), Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News (1.1), Raleigh-Durham (1.1), Atlanta (1.0), Indianapolis (1.0), Portland, Ore. (1.0), Austin (0.9), Birmingham (0.9), Memphis (0.9) and Philadelphia (0.9). ***Toronto is not one of the 56 U.S. metered markets. Seattle’s 7.0 rating ranks as the second-highest local market rating for MLS Cup on ESPN networks since 2006. The top-five: Portland – 2015 (7.3), Seattle-Tacoma – 2017 (7.0), Salt Lake City – 2009 (5.8), Columbus, OH. – 2008 (5.8) and Kansas City – 2013 (5.3). Also, people generally just don't give a s*** about MLS. http://worldsoccertalk.com/2017/12/12/man-utd-man-city-viewership-beats-mls-cup-final-18-espn-univision/

If a plan B isn't signed, I believe it's because Desperate Dave didn't think the other guys were an improvement over Hanley.