redsoxfan3

I think Peralta is eligible to come back for the last couple of games for the season and is eligible for the playoffs. I don't think you should look at Iglesias as a "stop gap." He a great defensive player on a team that has plenty of offense around him. He fits really well in the Detroit lineup. A great defender, who does not have to face as much pressure to produce offensively as he would elsewhere. The reason he is not a stop gap is because the Detroit organization is already considering him the SS of the future for the Tigers. Peralta is going to be a FA in 2014, so more than likely they do not resign him. This was a long-term move on Detroit's part. Whether they allow Peralta to play come the playoffs is another question. He is eligible, but actually playing again is another thing. Detroit is probably ready to part ways with the Peralta due to his link to PED's. Iglesias is hitting .293 in 29 games with Detroit. He does not have the power that Peralta has, but the defense is solid. I don't see the Tigers really taking a step back at SS because of Iglesias replacing Peralta. If anything, they are better off because of the defense that he provides up the middle and on the left side of the infield. It was a solid move by the Tigers for their future and a move by us to free up space for Bogaerts and trade for a solid starter.

This umpire is pissing me off.

Speaking of 1B, I am sure other people are aware of this, but what blows my mind is James Loney. Thinking back to last season, Loney played 30 games with us. He hit .230 during that time. I was so glad that we did not resign him to play 1B. This year for the Rays he is hitting .310. He is a completely different player this year.

If he is ready to be signed in the offseason and is actually going to be the best available 1B, then I am all for it. Carp is good in a platoon role. I would rather have someone who can hit 30+ homers at 1B over Mike Napoli's strikeouts. If it comes down to it, I would be okay with a Carp platoon role, but if Abreu can be as good as people are saying he is, then we need to sign him. We could potentially get increased power at SS with Bogaerts and could potentially get increased power at 1B with Abreu. That would be huge.

Just looking at that lineup is a lot better than having Holt or Snyder penciled in at 3B. Middlebrooks has been hitting .435 and has a 7 game hitting streak since coming back. He has been able to produce a lot more than Snyder or Holt were for us. It will be interesting to see what happens when Bogaerts gets called up. I like the options of Middlebrooks and Bogaerts over Holt and Snyder at 3B. We have a real MLB caliber 3B, as opposed to career AAAA players in the lineup. I want to see Gomes and Pedroia go deep tonight. Pedroia is long overdue for a power breakout night.

This is probably an easy choice for anyone to make, but mine is Dustin Pedroia, and he is my favorite by a long shot. I heard about him a little bit after he was drafted in the second round in 2004. I really started to like him when he was in Portland. He got promoted from Portland to Pawtucket in 2005. In 2006, he got promoted to the majors toward the end of the year. If I remember correctly, it was the 2006 year that Pedroia came into Spring Training and was out of shape. I think he hurt himself his first at-bat. I followed his progression throughout his stint in Pawtucket throughout 2006 and was disappointed with the way he hit in the majors that year. In 2007, he came out and won the AL Rookie of the Year and we won the World Series. In 2008, he won the AL MVP. I can't say I knew he was going to be my favorite player after following him in 2005 and 2006, but I must say that I have never followed a prospect as closely as him. The reason he became my favorite player was the way that he played the game. He is a short 5'8. He played with the mentality that no one is going to stop him. After hearing about him coming into Spring Training out of shape in 2006 and seeing the success that he had throughout his rookie year in 2007, that is when I chose him to be my favorite player. It definitely made it easy to continue having him as my favorite player with his MVP season in '08. He is a small guy, he has overcame a lot of doubt, and he plays the game the right way. He will get hurt and still be in the starting lineup the next day (look at today for example). His heart, his leadership, and his hustle are all different reasons why he is my favorite player. I was a second baseman in high school when he was the second baseman for the Red Sox in 2007. He played the same position that I still play, so I did what I could to learn from the way that he plays to translate that into the way that I play. He is a franchise player here in Boston. He is one of the leaders on this team. I can't picture the Red Sox without him. He was my role model in high school, and he is still my favorite player today.

It does sound that way. Napoli was in the lineup, but he was scratched due to an injury. It would have been nice to get Victorino a day off, but I think we have a better lineup today without Napoli in there against Kuroda. I don't know the severity of Nap's injury. All I know is that it is plantar fasciitis.

Correct.

Victorino has been penciled into the lineup in RF. Nava moves to LF, Carp moves to 1B, and Napoli is scratched from the lineup.

Free agents for the Red Sox for 2014: Ellsbury- he will hit the open market, but I think we need to go hard after him. If we cannot resign him, we do have Bradley who is in the minors and Victorino can also play CF, but we would lose a great leadoff hitter. We need to resign Ellsbury. Lester- he has a 13M team option for 2014. His performance the remainder of this season and in the postseason should dictate whether his option gets picked up. I am hoping for a Lester turnaround, but if he plays like s***, it will be hard to pick up the option. This one is up in the air for now. Drew- I think this solely depends on how the team feels about Bogaerts. Drew has came up with some big hits for us and has played pretty good. If Middlebrooks proves to make a solid comeback and Bogaerts proves to be ready, then I think the only option is to let Drew walk so that we do not block Bogaerts. There is always the possibility that Bogaerts is not ready and that he needs more time to develop. We may be able to get a better look come September call-ups. There is no doubt in my mind that I am ready for a Middlebrooks and Bogaerts left side of the infield, but only if it means that Xander is ready. I would be fine with resigning Drew, however, only if that means he is not going to be blocking Xander. Thorton- he has a 6M team option. It probably depends on when Miller can comeback. Breslow, Morales, and Britton are also LH in the pen. So we could have five lefties that could potentially be in the pen if we pick up his option. Hanrahan- we need to let him walk. He had a disappointing year that came to an end with an injury. With Uehara doing as good as he has as a closer, there is no need to sign Hanrahan (unless the team feels the need for a potential set-up role). I would be down for a minor league contract and an invite to Spring Training, but that is probably not going to happen if he proves he is healthy. Another team would probably take a chance on him. Napoli- he is ranked as the top FA 1B. I know it has been rough to watch him strikeout a lot, but he still does have 14 HR's and 67 RBI's on the year. If there is not a better alternative, then I think we need to sign him to another contract. This Abreu guy from Cuba is also another interesting story to keep an eye on. Salty- this is tough. Salty has had some defensive moments where you just wonder what in the hell he was thinking. I am down for signing Salty to another contract, but I would be okay with bringing McCann to Boston and have him team up with David Ross again. Not to mention if McCann or Ross gets hurt, we do have Lavarnway and Butler who will be in Pawtucket to be able to get called up. Who we need to sign: Ellsbury Still up in the air: Lester Salty Drew Napoli Thorton Who we can live without: Hanrahan Who we should try to sign in the FA market: McCann (if we choose to not resign Salty) Abreu (if he is eligible to be a FA this offseason and we feel he is an upgrade over Napoli) Garza, Kuroda, or Santana (in that order, if we do not pick up Lester's option) Only do not resign Drew, if Bogaerts is ready. Obviously look at other OF options if we cannot resign Ells and explore in-house options with Bradley. We do have in-house options to replace Thorton, but it is tough to tell with Morales and Miller's injury history and Britton still being young.

I am not a major league scout and I do not know much about this guy, but I just read an article saying that this guy (if he is cleared to sign this offseason) will be the best 1B on the market. Mike Napoli is currently rated the best FA going into the offseason at 1B. I would love to sign this guy if he is truly going to be a better right handed power bat than Napoli. He is only 26 years old. I don't know much about his defensive ability at 1B, but if he truly is a good power threat that could boost our offense, then I am all for it. Those numbers are impressive. If he could even hit .275 in the majors with 30+ homers on a consistent basis, then I would be happy. Supposedly there are mixed reviews among scouts because he has a double toe tap in his stride. He is also prone to swinging at sliders off of the plate. Scouts also think that he might have a tough time catching up to fastballs on the inner third of the plate. He is known to be an intelligent hitter, so he could probably adjust to those problems. I don't know much about his plate discipline other than chasing sliders out of the zone and scouts questioning his bat speed on the inner third of the plate. If he can hit for a decent average and supply us with 30 homers, then that will be a huge upgrade at 1B over Napoli. Napoli has hit 20+ homers in his past five seasons, but only has 14 this year. He hit 24 last year, and has already matched his games played mark that he reached last year. I know it is obviously a risk, but it could benefit this team in the long-run. Even if this guy is not able to play 1B for the remainder of his career because of problems defensively, he could fill-in as a DH when Big Papi retires. I am probably getting a little ahead of myself, but those numbers that he had in Cuba are impressive. During an 82 game stretch, he hit 30 homers and had a walk to strikeout ratio of around 3:2. If he can translate the walk to strikeout ratio over to the majors, then that will be a huge upgrade over Napoli's strikeouts. It will be interesting to see what happens with him over the offseason, but it is definitely something to keep an eye on. He is expected to get more than Puig's 7/42 contract, but if the price is right and he turns out to be legit, then I am all for a contract for a 26 year old power bat. He is 6 years younger than Napoli. It is too early to set realistic expectations for this guy for next season by not knowing if he can even be a FA this offseason, but it will be an interesting story to follow.

Obviously it blows to get shut out by the worst team in baseball. July 31st, the Astros beat the Orioles 11-0. The Astros also held the Rays to 1 run twice in July, with the Astros winning both times. The Astros are a horrible team, but we cannot win every game. There is no way to justify getting shut out by the Astros, but it is baseball, and it happens. It is a 162 game season. Even the Astros win games. As of right now, I just keep telling myself that we have to win the last two games of the series. I am not going to hit the panic button because of one game, although I completely understand everyone's frustration, because last night, I was extremely pissed off watching us swing the bat. We were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 8 on base. As of right now, there is no player more frustrating to watch than Napoli. He left 6 men on base last night. He has struck out 20 more times than Adam Dunn this year, and Adam Dunn has played in two more games.

I am hoping that McCarthy does not get hurt like that again physically, but I am completely fine if we destroy this guy mentally and psychologically today. I have a gut feeling, but I think we take this one 6-3 and wrap up the series with a win.

All I heard all offseason is that we overpaid for Gomes, who is a defensive liability and can only hit lefties. People kept saying he is more suited for a DH role. That might be true, but he has shown that he can more than hold his own in the OF. He had the unassisted double play on a great catch a couple nights ago, he had a great catch against the Green Monster, and then last night he showed off his arm strength gunning down the guy at home plate. He has made some great plays defensively recently. Not to mention he has had a few clutch hits this year. He isn't the best player in the league, but he sure as hell does contribute a lot to this team when he is given the opportunity. Also, his clubhouse presence is said to be a great one. Overall, I did not know if I like the signing at first, but he has definitely made me like the signing. He is a great team player, like mvp 78 stated.

I am not as active here as much as I would like to be because of working two jobs and being a full-time college student, but fortunately I do get to watch all of the games at work. Last night was a game that was huge for us. Not only did Peavy pitch great in his first start here, but we got 8 hits and scored three runs off of Corbin. He is one of the best lefties in the game right now (could be the NL Cy Young winner). We struggled against Moore and Price recently, who are also solid LH pitchers. To come out and win against Corbin like that is a good sign for us offensively. We were threats on the base paths against him. We should have scored more runs than we did against him, but we still came out with the W. Peavy pitching like that and our offense doing just enough to get the win are good signs for us going forward.

I like the logic behind that. Of course we cannot put the pressure and expect him to be able to perform as our 3B in the playoffs. If he proves that he can handle it, then, by all means, let the kid play. He will have his chance this year to show us what he can do. If the opportunity is right, then we have to go for it. I like the idea of letting him play against teams like Houston and Toronto. Kansas City is not a walk in the park, but it will be a good challenge for him.

My concern with Peavy, aside from his injury history, is his postseason numbers. He has only made two starts in the postseason, which were both against the Cardinals. He was horrendous. Two starts, 13 earned runs, in 9.2 innings. His last postseason start was in 2006, so that is a good thing in terms of it being a while ago. The bad thing is that he does not have much experience in the postseason, but when he pitched in the playoffs, it has not been pretty. The good thing is that it was seven years ago and it was when he started game one of both series, so, maybe it will be less pressure for him since he is a middle of the rotation starter here and not the ace.

That is bizarre. I was watching the game, then turned it off to run to grab some food in the 7th. By the time I got home, it was the bottom of the 9th and I turned the game back on and that is the first thing that I thought after we won. At times this year, it has reminded in little ways of both the '04 and '07 seasons. I knew this team was good, but after last night, I just get the sense that there is something special about this team. A lot of young pitchers are stepping up. A lot of role players are stepping up. The stars (Ells, Big Papi, and Pedey) are more than holding their own, but without some of the younger guys and role players stepping up, there is no way in hell we would be where we are right now without them.

It is August 2nd right now. If Bogaerts is not called up within the month, then I am sure we will see him during September call-ups. I would not be surprised to see him here sometime soon, however, I do understand if they wait until September. Either way, he needs to make his debut in 2013. In my opinion, it will either have to be Middlebrooks or Bogaerts manning 3B for the playoffs. I don't think we will be able to play Holt or Snyder at 3B for all of the playoffs. Bogaerts is hitting .371 in his last 10 games. Middlebrooks is hitting .263 in his last 10 games. Holt is hitting .275 in 12 games in the majors this year. Snyder is hitting .235 in 16 games this year. It makes sense to give them both a shot during the September call-ups, but my gut instinct is telling me that Xander will be here to make a push to start as our 3B come the playoffs.

I was under the impression that Workman is getting optioned to AAA and Wright got called up to provide us with long-inning relief (like last night). It is 10 days until we can call a player back up after being optioned down, correct? Well, after the time that elapses for Workman being able to get called back up to pitch in relief, we were going to do so. It is a smart move to allow us to bring up Wright to pitch immediately because Workman was not available out of the pen until Saturday. When the time is right, he will be back up.

I do agree with you that OF depth in our system is not as deep as other areas. However, Brentz does have a ceiling to be an everyday RF and to hit 5th or 6th in the lineup. He is hitting .272 this year with 16 HR's and 53 RBI's. He is also already 24. Also, FWIW, we do have Kalish as well, but he cannot seem to stay healthy. Outside of Kalish, Bradley, and Brentz, there is not anyone who is really ready in terms of OF prospects who has the potential to be an everyday player. We have a couple of options. 1) We can resign Ells long-term after this offseason. He is not going to be the 32 HR hitter we saw in 2011, but he has proven, if he can stay healthy, that he is an effective leadoff hitter, who can hit for average, and can steal bases. If we can resign him, have Victorino in RF, and count on Bradley, then we have three good OF options. Nava is a 4th OF and Gomes is also under contract for next year. We will have Carp as well. Not to mention, who knows what will happen with Kalish and Brentz. I am not sure what kind of timetable is/will be set for him. This is completely optimistic, but we have Bradley, Gomes, Nava, Carp, and Kalish who can all play LF. We have Ellsbury, Victorino, and Bradley who can play CF, with Nava and Kalish with experience there as well. We have Victorino, Nava, Brentz, and Kalish who can play RF. This of course all depends on how injuries play out and if we can resign Ells. 2) We can trade to trade for Stanton. Remember, this will probably cost us Bradley, Bogaerts and more prospects. So if we do trade for Stanton and do not resign Ells, then that will limit the OF even more. If Stanton can stay healthy, then we have a great addition offensively with a player that adds a lot of power to the middle of the lineup. If we can trade for him, then we have to see how it plays out. I would love an OF of Victorino, Stanton, and Ells (if we can resign him). I personally love the homegrown prospects that we are developing and would love to see how Bogaerts and Bradley can do with us in the future, but it is hard to pass on someone like Stanton. It is just a matter of what needs to be done. The options are there. I think we need to aim to resign Ellsbury to make our OF that much better. I like his production from the leadoff role and ability to steal bases. With Stanton, we can probably move Victorino to LF. Our OF looks solid, but we will probably not have Bogaerts at SS. It is a tossup. My only real concern with Stanton is trading away Bogaerts. I am completely for the Stanton trade if we can keep Bogaerts. A package around Bradley would be ideal. We trade away a top prospect in the OF, but we get a young OF player in return. The question is, will a package involving SOME (not all) of Bradley, Cecchini, Owens, Webster, De La Rosa, Ranaudo, Barnes, Swihart, Workman, Britton, Marrero, etc. enough (without giving up Bogaerts) to land Stanton? I think we have the prospects and flexibility to do so.

Gordon Edes is reporting that Arizona is the frontrunner for Peavy. Hopefully this does not lead to an act of desperation on our part to get Lee.

IF we can get a deal done for Lee WITHOUT giving up Bradley or Bogaerts, then I cannot disagree with this move. However, it all depends on what the Phillies are willing to accept in return. I have read that they will not settle for anything less than Bogaerts, but I have also read that we have enough top prospects to get the deal done without including Bogaerts. It is going to be a crazy next 25 hours. The deadline is at 4 p.m. tomorrow, correct?

MLBTR is saying that executives and the Red Sox think that Young would accept a deal to the Red Sox, not just to the Rangers like previously reported. The Phillies just promoted Asche to play 3B, so Young might be forced to go to a bench role and it might be a strategy to incentivize Young to accept a trade elsewhere. Also, I have read reports that the Red Sox have good enough prospects to deal for Lee without giving up Bogaerts. That might mean that Bradley could possibly be in play. Lee was scratched from his start, whether it is because he might get traded or whether he has neck soreness is up for debate. A deal for Young and Lee still seems like a possibility, although it is hard to tell.

Does anyone know what it will take to land Norris? I know the Astros want a lot in return, but I am not sure what that consists of. He isn't a FA until 2016 and is only 28, but he does own a career 4.33 ERA and 1.404 WHIP. He is not an ace, and there is no way we should give up a return worth an ace for him.