mvp 78

The 2003 offseason was interesting for sure for the Sox due to the crunch at DH/1B/3B. They had Millar, Giambi, Ortiz, Mueller and Hillenbrand all fighting for 3 spots. The opening day lineup was Millar 1B, Hillenbrand 3B and Giambi at DH. Hillenbrand had basically a fulltime role playing 50/50 1b/3b until he was moved in May. Ortiz was stuck in a timeshare with Giambi at DH until June.

Crickets.

I'm fine with that.

DD goes from "desperate" to "no plan" in the blink of an eye. Funny how that works around here.

Depleted farm? It was still top 10 according to Baseball America. 9. BOSTON RED SOX 2011 RANK: 17. 2010 RANK: 5. IMPACT TALENT: The most impressive Red Sox prospects are position players who haven't yet proven themselves at higher levels: 3B Will Middlebrooks, SS Xander Bogaerts and C Blake Swihart. Most of their top minor league pitchers regressed in 2011, though the organization was happy with the progress made by RHP Anthony Ranaudo. DEPTH: No large-revenue team has invested as much in the draft as Boston, which spent $44.1 million on bonuses from 2007-11. The new draft spending limitations that go into effect this year may hurt the Sox more than any other club, as almost all of their best prospects (Middlebrooks, Swihart, Ranaudo, OF Brandon Jacobs, 3B Garin Cecchini, RHP Matt Barnes, OF Jackie Bradley) were over-slot draft signings. 2012 ROOKIES: C Ryan Lavarnway has nothing left to prove offensively in Triple-A but no clear path to playing time in Boston. SS Jose Iglesias could take over as a starter as soon as he shows he can handle quality pitching, which he has yet to do. RHP Alex Wilson could give a reworked bullpen a boost.

I'm sure this will be revisited every year until JD is no longer a Red Sox and Hosmer is no longer a Padre.

Teams generally don't have an emergency catcher sitting on an MLB bench.

With year round conditioning, ST is basically a company retreat where you hang out with a bunch of younger people you won't see after you leave and you spend more time golfing than actually doing work.

I don't like "Porkchop" and I definitely didn't like when people were calling him "ham sandwich" (cuz his name looks like porchetta).

@nickcafardo Will Sox trade Leon to make room for Swihart? @alexspeier This is a question scouts following the Sox are mulling, at a time when Swihart has looked excellent. Sox are thin at catcher behind Vazquez/Leon/Swihart, which might encourage Sox to keep all 3. But, Sox have multiple 1Bs, LFs, and Cs in front of Swihart, making role unclear. Either Nick Cafardo reads all my posts or others clearly agree with me.

For Porcello, location is far more important than velo. If he can stop leaving pitches in the "hit me" zone, he'll be better than 2017 easily.

I don't like that bench. I'd rather Sandy's spot be utilized by another super utility guy like Lin or Holt. It just gives you more options.

The single most maddening thing about watching the 2017 Sox...

It does when there are only 25 people on a roster.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2018/02/27/red-sox-planning-more-aggressive-approach-plate/IvhnEH6O9BE6UFYuRI58oM/story.html The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier runs through some troubling numbers for the Red Sox’ offense from 2017, observing that the team’s lineup was startlingly ineffective in hitters’ counts. Boston took an abnormally passive approach at the plate last season, per Speier, and while they were among the game’s more productive clubs in 0-2, 1-2 and 2-2 counts, they ranked in the bottom third of baseball in 3-1, 2-0, 2-1, 1-0, 0-0, 1-1 and 0-1 counts (by measure of OPS). The Red Sox ranked last in the American League in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage in 0-0 counts, he adds. Speier spoke at length with principal owner John Henry about the trends, which did not go unnoticed by ownership or the front office and may have played a notable role in the organization’s coaching overhaul. Notably, Speier adds that new skipper Alex Cora saw his Astros pounce on the first pitch with regularity and with great success in 2017.

@jcmccaffrey In his fifth Grapefruit League game, Swihart is now 6-for-13 with four doubles and a homer. Bye Sandy.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/juiced-baseballs/ Dingers for everyone!

At this point, the Yanks are really no different than the Rays or Orioles to me. There is only one X factor in this "rivalry". https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=12161&position=SS

People take this place seriously?

It would have came with the qualifier that JD and Stanton are injury risks and can't be counted on.

Sox players that can hit 20 HRs: Mitch Xander Devers Betts JBJ Beni JD Hanley (could hit 20 off the bench)

Moving Betts to 2b and putting Beni in RF is legitimately a nightmare scenario. Betts can move to 2b when he hits his mid 30's.

Chris Sale is a clubhouse cancer! Despicable! http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index.ssf/2018/03/jason_groome_chris_sale_pushed.html#incart_river_index When Red Sox top pitching prospect Jason Groome got a text from an unknown number last winter claiming to be from Chris Sale, he thought one of his friends was pulling a prank on him. Groome checked with a mutual friend. The number did indeed belong to Boston's ace starter. Sale, who lives in Naples, found out that Groome was living on his own in Fort Myers and figured he could use a workout partner. "It's not like I'm going to teach him anything profound," Sale said. "Just like hey this is your first year down here and in the organization, I live down here, and I've got a guy I work out with and kind of show him what it's like to put work in in the offseason." Sale has worked out for years at a Naples gym called Beyond Motion where part of his training includes Pilates. The core strength and flexibility that Pilates promotes is a nice compliment to the rest of Sale's offseason work. He thought it might work for Groome, too. The 19-year-old lefty had never done Pilates before, but was willing to try anything Sale suggested despite being a little nervous at first. "I grew up watching him and he asked me to work out so I was really pumped up that he even went out of his way to arrange that," Groome said. "It was just so cool to be a part of his offseason." Groome worked out at JetBlue Park on Mondays and Tuesdays and then spent Wednesdays doing Pilates at Beyond Motion with Sale and sometimes Rick Porcello. Thursdays and Fridays were back to lifting sometimes at Beyond Motion and other times at the park. Groome was well accustomed to the Red Sox strength program, but Pilates was something completely different and harder than he imagined. "The first couple sessions I guess it didn't live up to the hype and I guess in my head I was like 'Oh that isn't too bad,'" Groome said. "But then after the first two it really, it hurts but it works in a very good way. I noticed it because I would go in there some days sore after squatting the day before, and I would wake up the next morning and not be nearly as sore as I was on Tuesday morning." Having Groome as a workout partner also pushed the competitor in Sale. While both are 6-foot-6 lefties, Groome has about 40 pounds on Sale. "It's always nice for me to have someone to work out with pushing you and keeping you in check," Sale said. "He's a lot stronger than I am. You've got a guy 10 years younger than you, lifting twice as much, it'll stroke your ego and motivate you a little bit, too, so it was fun though. I think we both got something out of it." The offseason workouts with Sale put Groome in a good position for a healthy 2018 season. Last year, his first full year in professional baseball, Groome missed a large chunk of time due to two separate injuries. In his first start of the year for Single-A Greenville he suffered a mild lat strain and missed a month and a half. When he returned in June, he made three starts in Short-Season Lowell and 10 starts in Greenville before a forearm strain ended his season. Groome had been receiving regular treatment on his arm and elbow from the training staff, but after a start in late August, he didn't feel right the following day. He told the training staff and with just a month left in the season, they opted to shut him down. Despite the injuries and a 5.69 ERA over 14 starts, Groome, Boston's 2016 first-round pick, still ranked as a top 100 prospect in baseball and the top overall prospect in the Boston system in all the preseason projections. Groome took three months off from throwing following the forearm strain and didn't pick up a ball again until December. But over the past three months, he's been on a regular schedule and hasn't felt any issues with his arm or lat muscle. "Besides being hurt, I just look at that season as a big learning season for me," he said. "Just going into my full season and just finding my routine once I got back to being healthy but just learning was the biggest thing for me last year and especially with my body. Knowing when my body has had too much and when to take off. It wasn't an unsuccessful season last year, I can say that." An offseason working out with Sale helped put the injury-riddled 2017 season behind him. "I put in a lot of work this offseason so I feel like my body is right where it needs to be at," Groome said. "I'm just ready to get after it this year."

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2018/03/01/we-need-to-talk-about-alex-cora-using-the-word-slacks/ The key from Cora is that he’s going to let the veterans lead and see where that goes: “I think you give them the space,” Cora said in a sit-down with NBC Sports Boston. “Obviously, we’re going to have some rules. Dress codes, and who can be in the clubhouse, all that stuff. … I will get the veterans or the core of the team in my office. Tell ‘em what I want from them, and then they meet and they’ll come back with a set of rules that they feel it’s appropriate for the team, and then we’ll discuss and we go.” That dress code led to this comment from Cora: “I signed with the Dodgers in 1996, and that was an organization that from Double-A on every trip, it was a [must to wear a] sports coat on the road,” Cora said. “Have to wear a collared shirt. Slacks on the road … it was very clean. So I know it’s different now. I know that what for me is a dress shirt for another guy is not.

It's big that Holt still has an option remaining.