Elktonnick

Derek Jeter winner of 5 gold gloves the worst defensive SS in your lifetime!! You have got to be kidding!!!!!

Given the turmoil in Pittsburgh last year, coaches and players fighting in the clubhouse, no one respected the manager which is the reason both he and the GM are now gone, it is easy to see why ownership is high on Ben. For all the criticism, he did help the Sox overcome the debacle of Bob V's time as manager.

Ken Rosenthal is reporting that Ben Cherrington is the leading candidate to be the new Chief of Baseball Operations for the Pirates. Good news to all you Ben Cherrington fans

Moving Devers to first is not a new idea it has been around for the last two years at least. There were articles written making this same proposal in Dec 2017 when Devers was far less effective defensively then he has been the last two years. What is significant there has been no recent chatter in the professional sports press that I could find. I think Mr Bloom has more important fish to fry than fixing something that ain't broke. But hey Cora likes to juggle lineups may be he will put Sales at third and have Devers start.

Fans screaming on this board to shift JDM to 1b. LMFAO!!! WOW that sure is a convincing argument. I am sure Bloom and Company will jump right on it.

I will see you in two years when you are eating crow. Do you prefer it with bbq sauce?

I agree totally. In fact I believe he has an excellent chance for the gold glove and silver slugger.

First of all my argument is over changing positions at the major League level which isn't the same as changing positions at lower levels. Secondly Devers has worked really hard to get his footwork right playing third. If one listens to Jerry Remy and others they point out that the vast majority of Devers errors are bad throws largely because of poor footwork. Now while at first this won't be a problem throwing that is the footwork playing 1st is different. So there would be adjustment issues. NAll that being said you raise an excellent point height. Those 4 inches are very significant. With instant replay I wonder what the analytics dept would say that translates into in terms of increased number of outs. I am sure the Red Sox have data on that.

Changing positions after a player reaches the major leagues is an entirely different animal which is why Brock Holt is such an exceptional player.

We are talking about changing a young player who.is being successful in the majors at a.position. I think the example of what happened to the Xman when he made that move to third and what it did to his confidence is an excellent cautionary reminder. But hey this is only a sports forum where we can propose anything and suffer no consequences for any idea if it does not work.

And part of the human element is not to assume that everyone readily accepts change. Industrial psychologists and change consultants make small fortunes trying to get recalcitrant employees adapt to change. I know because I spent a small fortune from my agency's budget hiring such consultants.

I think it is perfectly fair to say but you are welcome to your opinion. And Betts was a 2nd baseman. There was no way he was going to make the club at that position so he he was going to have change to another one.

I won't ask him since I don't know him. I am sure this has come up. Nothing ever proposed on any of these forums is that original. There are smart people in front offices and I am sure someone in the red sox organization has a pretty good idea on how Devers would react or thinks about such a suggestion.

Pedroia blocked Betts at 2nd so Betts was motivated to make the change as his ticket to the bigs. Devers has already won the 3rd base job. By moving him to 1st you are sending him the wrong msg and is a blow to his confidence. Since none of us knows him personally no one posting here has any idea how he would react including me. In any case, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I am with you since I have not seen Dalbec play 3rd but Devers defense has improved immensely. His weakness has always been throwing not catching the ball. His improvement is such I think if he continues to work as hard as he has he could be a gold glove candidate in the very near future. It is also quite obvious that the Sox think highly of him. I just do not think they would risk endangering his progress by moving his position at this point in his career.

Ken Rosenthal writing in the Athletic quotes rival executives who think it will tough for Boston to trade Betts.

This is Ken Rosenthal's take as published in the Athletic: " Rival executives express doubt that any suitor will want to take on that salary and part with quality prospects to keep Betts for only one season before he reaches free agency. [/u]Some team, though, might be wise to make such a move. Betts, over his five full seasons, has averaged $56.7 million in value, according to FanGraphs’ dollars metric, which converts Wins Above Replacement to a dollar scale based upon what a player would make in free agency. In other words, he’s walking surplus value, even at a salary approaching $30 million. Still, clubs dread trading prospects, and perhaps the only way a team would make such a deal would be if the Red Sox granted a negotiating window to sign Betts to a long-term extension. Most clubs in the Red Sox’s position are loath to agree to such a condition, knowing their leverage will be compromised if news of the proposed trade becomes public and the deal falls apart. Besides, Betts has refused numerous long-term offers from the Red Sox and seems intent on hitting the open market. So, the Sox are in a pickle. Trading Betts would be not only unpopular but also counter-productive for a team that intends to rebound in 2020. Trading Martinez, meanwhile, would be difficult for the reasons that persuaded him not to opt out — a market that is limited to AL clubs, and the fact he is owed $62.5 million over three years entering his age-32 season." Comments

That also

Henry is lowering expectations with whomever the team will be negotiating with in the near term. Like I said it is my opinion others may disagree but that is my view of what he is doing. If any has a better guess than go for it.

In the guessing and speculating dept, I I now am guessing Henry encouraged this whole speculation as part of a negotiating strategy.

Sox pres said yesterday getting below 208 million isn't a hard and fast rule. If this is an accurate reflection of Henry's thinking and there is no reason to think it isn't then a lot assumptions made in this thread need to be reevaluated.

I think we are all a bit too sensitive. Fan is short for fanatic so we all little nuts about our team. I think you and I are in the same place on Betts that is wait until July.

Actually that was what I said about JBJ and Cashner if you check back over the posts. Like I said you do not need to trade Betts so what are you arguing with me about anyway?

The site lists the Sox budget for 2020 as 226M and change. It lists the sox projected budget as being 18m and change over the LT if you subtract 18 from 226 you get 208. The site isn't messed up at all. It lists every Sox players salary. It doesn't include Porcello's salary in the 226 million. You aren't quibbling with me. You are now challenging Spotracs budgets figures. I don't know where you get your data but all anyone has to do is Google Red Sox 2020 Payroll Go to the Spotrac website and read the columns and look up the salaries and do the math. http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/boston-red-sox/payroll/ Ignore me if you want but you can not argue with the math. I showed you where I got my figures which anyone can go to the website and see for themselves. I still haven't seen the source for your data.

Sporttrac lists the Sox 2020 budget as follows: Proj. Comp. Balance Payroll $226,783,333 Comp. Balance Tax Space -18,783,333 Those figures already exclude Porcello. Trading JBJ and Cushner(the latter's salary is included in the Sporttrac figures) save 11m and 8m putting the club below the LT level. DFA Leon and Hembree save another 4.4 million. The Sportstrac data projects Betts at 27.7mafter arb so that is included in the above figures. I don't know where you got you budget numbers but those are the ones published in Sporttrac which I take as more authentic than anything you cited. What was your source anyway. $