SoxFanForsyth

Think you'd get more value from him in a trade than you would as a platoon guy. A lot more. RH power is extremely rare right now.

You do realize that Mookie started in AA this year, no?

Everytime someone says this, I always ask this question, and nobody has even attempted to answer it. The Sox have $75mm to spend this offseason. Where do they spend all that money? Because mid-market starting pitching doesn't sniff that amount. They will have at least 1 player that makes $25mm on their team by March, 2015. And it will probably be Lester.

If the White Sox said "Henry Owens and Blake Swihart for Chris Sale", would you still say no? I'm with you - these guys look like studs. Absolute studs. Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline (and formerly of BA) says Swihart is the closest thing to Buster Posey since Buster Posey. All that guy does is put up MVP numbers annually from a the C slot. I would deal Swihart if and only if we got an absolute, unmitigated superstar. EDIT: I should mention - I also put Mookie Betts in this class.

Good deal. It'll just be a sig bet (sorry, no money bets allowed, I got a wife that is 37 weeks pregnant so I can't be dropping money on stuff like this). I'll bet that by next year he will be a top 5 SS by fangraphs WAR.

don't be box score analyst. you don't know what kind of things they're doing with him for development (cutting out some pitches, making him focus on throwing others so he can get a feel, etc). It's not all about results, particularly not for a kid his age.

Lots of pitching staff work to be done this offseason. Need 3 SP. Bullpen: Keep Koji & Taz. Workman to pen. Webster to pen (he was sick out of the pen in 2013 ST). His stuff could definitely play better out of the pen. See what Layne does as your LOOGY. Sign Miller. Sign Hochevar.

wow. Cespedes missed that one and it went a long, long way.

Yep. Catcher is the one position on the field that I could not care less about how much offense I get from it.

Yeah, with a guy like Ranaudo you understand, its the development process. But with Buch? It's pathetic. Especially when we know what he CAN be when he's focused and right.

Actually, that's exactly how he gets out of it. He works his way out of it by going up there everyday and making the adjustments. Some hitters take longer to adjust than others, and adjustment periods really suck, but he'll figure it out, and fortunately for him the Sox are in a position to let him work out his struggles all year. And if he doesn't work them out by the end of the year, then you go with Betts next year.

Koji is a FA, so he's going to be part of the $80mm. Nava and Taz are both arbitration eligible, and their projected salaries are included. http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/red-sox/content/20140803-a-breakdown-of-how-the-red-sox-stand-after-july-31.ece The Red Sox payroll for 2015, as it stands now: Mike Napoli, $16 million David Ortiz, $16 million Shane Victorino, $13 million Dustin Pedroia, $12.625 million Clay Buchholz, $12.25 million ($7.49 AAV) Yoenis Cespedes, $10.5 million ($9 million AAV) Allen Craig, $5.5 million ($6.2 million AAV) Edward Mujica, $4.75 million Junichi Tazawa, $2 million* Daniel Nava, $1 million* Rubby De La Rosa, $750,000* Mookie Betts, $550,000 Xander Bogaerts, $550,000** Jackie Bradley Jr., $550,000** Brock Holt, $550,000** Heath Hembree, $550,000** Joe Kelly, $550,000** Will Middlebrooks, $550,000** Christian Vazquez, $550,000** Allen Webster, $550,000** Brandon Workman, $550,000** *arbitration-eligible (estimate) **pre-arbitration (estimate) Total: approximately $100 million

No he's not. Give him a week to get back into the swing of things at SS. He'll be scorching hot

Wonder if he works the count unless he sees a first pitch that is middle middle and just swings out of his shoes. A lot of the Sox players (Pedroia, Nava, etc) won't swing at a first pitch even if its dead middle, which can be frustrating.

Yup. He lasted 2 innings.

Not sure I agree. He's getting older, he's injury prone, you can't count on him as an everyday player anymore.

Which is exactly what he should have done. If he went with prospect packages, this would have been a 3-5 year process. We're not the Astros. This is a team that needs to be competitive next season.

Gotta say - Cespedes doesn't have a great OBP but he works the count really well and has much better plate discipline than I anticipated. Kind of strange, his first few at bats has looked like he'd be a strong OBP guy.

Pedey!!!!

I'm so sick of freaking walks man. Just giving away runs.

why don't we go for a home to first DP there???

Would love to make any kind of bet with anyone about Bogaerts being the real deal, because he is.

Dammit Bogearts.

Bogaerts gonna get a rip here just for SBF bc there are RISP.

hey look at Cespedes, taking a lesson from the Sox and actually taking a walk! I'll take it!