mvp 78

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.

http://m.mlb.com/player/571918/deven-marrero Ice cold. DFA Marrero!

Since he has options, I'd hold him off until we get an injury in the pen.

@PawSox Brock Holt is batting .345 (10-for-29) and leads the @RedSox with a .472 OBP. Holt has also only struck out twice this spring.

For him, it works. I don't think every hitter is the same. I don't believe you can just plug a guy into an equation and say it would work out. I think Xander would benefit at being more aggressive. For Pedey, it kinda works? His best season was in 2008 when he swang at 15%. The following year, he went down to 7% and never hit 15% gain until last year. His other great season, 2011, was the highest % from 09-14.

Is JD more fragile than Hanley?

Pedroia had a career high swinging at the first pitch % last year! A whopping 15.1!

Would Moreland, JD, Swihart and Travis been all that much worse than now?

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/greenmi01-bat.shtml We don't want them swinging like Gator (46% swinging at the 1st pitch in 96!!!), but Xander swung at a career low 11.8% first pitches last year (previous low was 17.9).

That's all we're really asking for, right? I'll even allow some stupid triple plays and JBJ getting doubled up for no reason a few times if they just don't drop their bats before the pitch is even thrown.

It would be good for Xander, Betts and Pedey who all swing well under league average at the first pitch.

The only change you need to do to add a poll to a new thread: before clicking submit, scroll down to additional options, check the box to add a poll and change the number if you want more or less than 4 poll options after clicking submit, you'll be brought to another screen where you can fill out the poll Easy peasy.

You know, if we didn't sign Moreland, Cobb, Holt, Xander, JBJ and let Hanley's option vest we coulda signed Machado and Harper!

Why doesn't this have a poll option?

Yankees are s***

97: the amount of excuses wacko jacko will make when the Yankees are in third place