cp176

You might be talking about me I guess. I'm not whining and I'm not sanctifying anything though. He is a great prospect - no more no less. I wouldn't like to see him traded but if that happens - oh well. Bet he would provide a very good return.

Everybody always said that I could read pretty well. Do you think that it is some kind of big revelation that he made mistakes that didn't look very good at the time? My point is that he came up, he doesn't appear to be ready. Even the "typical" New England fan might consider that he is just a kid and probably doesn't deserve to be s*** on by you. Guess you are just into piling on the prospects.

Dave Roberts had just a little more experience methinks than Moncada. Putting someone with raw speed on the bases who has not learned how to play at the ml level is a recipe for disaster. Unfair to the kid. You obviously aren't very high on him. He is blessed with enormous talent. It is natural and needs to be refined. Most of us recognized that moving him up this year was an experiment. Listening to you criticize a prospect constantly for his lack of focus etc. is a little painful. You either give him time or you trade him. He is a prospect. Just a kid.

There is still plenty of work to be done with Moncada for sure but I don't think he is as far away as some of you seem to think. Give him time or trade him this winter.

Yes he would - i hope that we make a run at him.

never bet against a golden

i'm probably a little defensive simply because athletically he is a long way ahead of any other prospect plus it is a very good story. My take on him though is that from a work perspective, i have not seen nor have I heard one thing that tells me that he isn't just a very coachable hard working player. He bought a few toys with his new money. I don't blame him at all. I don't think that the fact that he has not gotten it done in his debut has anything to do with a lack of focus or a failure to work hard. I hate the not so subtle comparisons to Benintendi that people are trying to make. Beni is quite a ways ahead of Moncada evidently with respect to his hitting. They are two different types of players entirely. I'm glad. Moncada is very happy for him. When Benintendi was moved up and Moncada stayed in Portland the press as they so often do tried to make a story out of it. Non story. Moncada has been nothing but happy for Benintendi. My bet is that he will continue to work hard as he has and if the planets align we may see a powerful fast very good player some day in a Red Sox uniform. We are fortunate to have both of these kids at least for the time being.

It is what I love about the game. It is still rough and unpredictable based primarily on the people doing the work on the field. Most of them are still old school playing a beautifully old school game. My stat line would have indicated that I rarely made an error. The problem was the time they occurred. kind of luck putting- you seem to never miss until it matters. There are others who never seem to make one until it matters most.

a fish i think

I'm not spoiled by the play of Bogaerts, Betts or Shaw at all. i'm just happy that they play for us. I'm not quite ready yet to put Benintendi in with that group. I like Shaw a great deal. his power potential alone makes him very valuable. I don't know what to make of Moncada just yet. If and I mean if, he develops the potential that he has athletically, he could very easily move to the top of this list. I'm glad that you are not down on him. No one should be. Being upset I guess with management for putting him in the position that he is in I guess is a possibly.

That is management's problem not Moncada's. From everything that I have read, it sounds as though he is a hard working kid. you are suggesting that he suffers from a lack of focus and that he does not work hard enough. How do you know this? I think that you are wrong.

We haven't seen nor have we heard anything about Moncada having any negative attitude traits. Not a whisper. He likes twinkles that is about it. I hope he does have an ego but fear of bruising it I don't think needs to be any concern. He seems to be a really good kid and shining toward anything else is sad.

Hey - I won't be giving up on this kid. Just a kid. who knows, they may even wind up moving him. He still represents the best potential baseball talent that I have seen in a Red sox uniform. Normally I would say that I can remember but I really can't remember anybody like him. Kimi once used the word Hater in reference to those who made fun of Sandoval. Not sure I totally buy that but she had a point. Anyone nastily critical of a 21 year kid is a hater. Particularly one with this much talent. He may not be ready just yet but he will be some day. I hope for our sake it is in a Red Sox uniform.

He is 21 years old. He doesn't need anyone to defend him. Anyone who expected a finished product is a buffoon. I did't think that it would be too long before people would start comparing him to Benintendi as well. They both play baseball - that is it. They are both still prospects. How about just giving the kid a chance.

no - just for fun

Maybe I need to be corrected on this one but I grew up watching Clemente run around out there in right field but what I seem to remember most was that no pitched ball was a safe pitch to him. Seems to me that if it was anywhere near the plate , he took a whack at it.

Wow - the great and I mean great Roberto Clemente - one of my all time favorites. You could go so far as to say a young Hank Aaron! I'm not sure that they are fair comparisons just yet but I sure as heck would be trying to lock this kid up for a long time soon.

I tend to agree with you here. In defense of Shaw, he can get the job done defensively on both sides of the diamond. With respect to his hitting, I'm not ready to throw a guy with his power potential onto the heap of has beens at his age. I think that there is a lot of upside in him. I really think that this off season and next spring we could see some great competition just to be a part of this team going forward. Even though they have been injured, no one should doubt the talents of both Swihart and Travis. They both have great potential.

sports.yahoo.com/news/the-education-of-yoan-moncada-201005541.html A great story if you haven't already read it. A "poor man's" Mike Trout - I can live with that.

Maybe we need to go down there and find out who in the hell was blocking him down there. I think that they could play for me if they were that good!

Don't you start sounding off about player development here. LOL!!! I think that it really just tends to show that they really had no idea what positions he would be best at moving forward. The good news is that he just might be athlete enough to play wherever they wind up needing him. To his credit - very importantly - he seems to want to do whatever it is that people ask of him. I don't see any whining in the future coming from him.

I like this discussion. Really valid points of view coming from both sides. I have felt for a long time that the Red Sox were lukewarm about paying Lester to bring him back for whatever reasons. I think that we are glad that we have Moncada. IMO, The Red Sox have a "nearly" limitless budget. They have thrown around a lot of money that did not bring back dividends over the years. Maybe they got lucky this time around.

One thing that I would say here is that if Carson Smith had not been injured our bullpen status might look a lot different right now. I would hate to see Shaw traded but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he was a feature in a package to go after whatever they think that they need to go after.

Interesting that you would bring up Beltre here. I've been thinking for a long time that if Beltre had had his collision with Moncada and not Ellsbury, it might not have been quite as catastrophic for us as it was. I get the fact that he can still get injured but I like his size and strength. there is nothing that looks fragile about him.

I don't know if I agree with you, but I appreciate the feeling for sure. Might be time to just turn the page on this one.