SoxFanForsyth

I don't care about RISP in the post season. I care about all PS at bats. And the kid raked in the postseason, period. Hitting in the playoffs as a 20 year old takes a lot more "clutch" attributes than hitting w RISP in a meaningless season.

I am not saying the Sox will get Lester back, but Lester isn't the kind of guy who is just going to go to the highest bidder. He's going to figure out which city is best for his family and go there. And that's exactly why he will not go to LA or NYC. He'll either be in Seattle, Chicago, or Boston.

Yeah I think we've reached the point where, if we did move Swihart, it's not going to be for some role player or above average player. If he gets moved, it's going to be for a superstar (Tulo, Stanton, Sale). Like you said - bittersweet, but to get someone like those guys I mentioned, it's gotta hurt you to give up those prospects.

Bogaerts also hit 2 balls in this series that are gone at Fenway, turned into doubles. He's certainly making harder contact right now.

You're going to be eating so much crow on this, I wouldn't be surprised if you stopped coming around. It's going to be bad man. If he was such the choker like you seem to say he is, why did he have such a huge post season as a 20 year old?? It makes no sense. Fred, I love ya, but you're looking for narratives here. Where where you yesterday when he drove in the only 2 runs of the game?

Not a whole lot of shame K'ing on a Waino curveball a couple times but I wish he would have come through.

Come on XB. I got confidence in you!!

Bogaerts is turning a corner, mark my words. He absolutely crushed that double (that should have been caught). He is about to get really, really hot.

Brock holt does not need to continue to take playing time from Betts, JBJ, and Middlebrooks.

Good contact by Betts there. I really like having Vaz and Betts as the 8/9 hitters in an AL lineup. Two kids who have excellent plate discipline. Work counts, take walks, don't strike out. Table setters at the bottom of the order.

Another strong AB by Vazquez. Kid controls the strike zone better as good as anyone on this team. Just will not chase. Love this kid.

a rip down the 3B line didn't get snagged somehow?? well I never...

Can we get a flyout to LF so Cespedes can gun down Carpenter trying to tag??

Right - An elite player. I was saying in the above example, the only way you would trade him is if he was in the deal for Tulo. You wouldn't trade for Tulo then dish Bogaerts because he doesn't have the stick for 3B. He does have the bat for 3B.

Looking forward to seeing Kelly and Betts tonight.

wut? He projects as a middle of the order bat. the only way you trade him is if it is in the deal for Tulo.

I'm using this as my sig so that next year, you can have a chuckle at yourself.

Disagree. 100 times disagree. The Phillies are going to have a fire sale this winter, count on it. And Hamels will be the first piece to go. If the Phillies eat some money, I'll send over some prospects.

All I keep hearing is how much Amaro loves Middlebrooks, so I think he's going to be in that deal.

No team is going to pay for Hamels twice. They'll either pay in prospects and get a lot of money in return, or pay in money and send over lower level prospects. That's how it works. And look at what Price brought back. Pretty much garbage.

They're not going to get much for a guy who is making $24mm a year, I'll tell you that. Amaro is in love with Middlebrooks, so I can see him being in the deal. Eduardo, Middlebrooks, and JBJ could seal it.

Yeah it's going to be Cole Hamels and Jon Lester. That's going to be a very strong rotation, too. Lester - Hamels - Buch - Kelley - RDLR. With the offense we now have (assuming Allen Craig's foot gets better), this team will be a contender in the AL East next year.

Rookie Years: Carlos Gonzalez: .242/.273/.361 Jean Segura: .258/.315/.325 Josh Donaldson: .232/.280/.386 Alex Gordon: .247/.314/.411 Rookies go through adjustment periods. That's just what they do. As far as hitting with RISP - That's such an insanely volatile stat because of the extremely small sample size. Jose Reyes this year is hitting .202 w RISP. Last year - .383 Napoli is hitting .185 w RISP. Last year - .257 Zobrist is hitting .169 w RISP. Last year - .297 Hell, Allen Craig hit .454 w RISP last year. This year he's hitting .250 Last year, Bryce Harper hit .230 w RISP. This year he's hitting .205 with RISP. Are you wanting to bail on him as a player?? Judging a player by how they hit with RISP is absolutely ridiculous. You can complain about how a player has hit with RISP, that's fine, I understand it's frustrating. But to put any kind of predictive value to it is just flat out incorrect. Situational hitting has zero predictive value, at all, whatsoever. Otherwise, players wouldn't have their numbers fluctuate from year to year so much. If you want to build a team around hitting with RISP, your top 5 names are David Murphy (.388), Adam Eaton (.377), Russell Martin (.371), Rajai Davis (.370), and Derek Norris (.370). If you want to build a team around those guys as your core, you're going to have a lot, and I mean a LOT of last place finishes.

If it's a move for Stephen Drew, it's a move on the fly mid-season, and the future is up in the air, that's one thing. If it's a move for Tulo, where that's permanent, and you can go into the offseason working on playing 3B, I think you see much better results.

Don't understand how you can possibly call him a choker after the post season he put up at the age of 20 last season. All while switching positions. Last postseason, he hit .296/.412/.496. How would a chronic choker put up those numbers? When he was playing SS, before they moved him for Drew, he really, really started to find his stroke. Drew came over on 6/2. On 6/1, Bogaerts was hitting .296/.389/.427. Took him about a week to lose his confidence in the field which translated to the plate. On 6/7, after 5 games at 3B, he had already bumped his numbers up to .299/.387/.452. Then he lost all confidence in himself as a fielder and it filtered into his hitting. Sensitive? Sure, but there are a ton of other shortstops that say moving off your position is a gut punch (I believe Tulo said that recently). Like I said, lets give him about a week at SS to get his feet back underneath him, get his confidence back, and get his swing back. He'll come out of this slump, I can promise you that.