jonnylongfella

Not saying they will, but it would make sense in the fact that maybe he’s got value to a team (or teams) for players that fill our needs outside of pitching. If his name was coming up often in trade discussions but the weren’t willing to move him, signing Suarez may open that door.

Team friendly deal for a young and durable pitcher has to be worth something. My gut says they signed Suarez bc they had players (maybe someone like Bello) that teams wanted but they weren’t willing to trade. Maybe this makes them more flexible or even have a specific deal in place.

when we brought Kimbrel in in the 8th, I actually thought he was being demoted to set up, with Price (for this game at least since Barnes had already pitched) closing it out

He's actually back. Came back from the Rockies in the Rule 5 draft.

It may be a case of him shying away from the changeup b/c the majority of his starts he only featured fastball/changeup the entire way. That's simply not enough to get MLB hitters out. Only the past couple of times out has he really started to throw his slider, and it seems like he's starting to trust it. Now if he starts mixing in a few more changeups, we might see him take another step in the right direction. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing he worked on his slider while he was working out the other kinks down at Pawtucket.

Yep. I definitely remembered it being historical, though. First ever 40/40 season will do that.

I don't remember, either. As a kid at the time, I was probably more focused on what was or wasn't happening on the field, and very little thought went into the reasoning behind it like I do as an adult now. Greenwell was a really good player though. Made a couple of all star appearances if my memory serves me well, and was even in the running for a MVP one year. Can't remember who won it that year, but whoever it was, I remember him having a monster/historic type of season.

Now that I think about it (and I can't believe it didn't dawn on me before now), Benintendi reminds me very much of Mike Greenwell, both in stature and skillset. If he turns out to be anything close to poor man's Greenwell, I will be pleased, as he was one heck of a player for us in the 80's and 90's.

I absolutely wouldn't complain about that one bit, and it seems reasonable. I was just trying to provide some objective insight and good old fashion intuition. I just think people need to temper expectations. I get the excitement, but I just don't think he's going to be anything close to a MVP type talent.

He has certainly not "dominated" the minors as some have suggested. He's done a nice job of making adjustments and that's what you hope for. Having seen him play in person, and I definitely hope I'm wrong about this, he just doesn't seem like an elite level/phenom type of player based on the eye test. Guess we will see. Now Moncada.....he has the look and feel of a superstar. He just separates himself from everyone else on the field when you see him. It's pretty amazing. Look at the challenges Alex Bregman has had since being called up by the Astros. He's 1 for his first 28 with only 2 walks, but he was mashing at a much higher clip in the minors at both AA and AAA. Granted, every player is different, but they do have similar pedigrees.

worth a shot. Ramirez is garbage. As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't necessarily advocating for Pat Light (i was just thinking about who was on the 40 man), I was more advocating for someone other than Noe.

Quite frankly, your logic is skewed. Yes, Light pitched poorly, but it was an extremely small sample size. Ramirez, while still relatively small in sample size (but still 5x more innings than Light in the majors), has pitched poorly and is simply a AAAA pitcher. Light has better stuff. And yes, it would be the Pat Light that, despite the walks at Pawtucket you reference, still owns a lower WHIP than Ramirez at the AAA level this year and a lower ERA to boot. FYI, if you are going to use stats to make an argument, try using all of them, not just the few that attempt to prove your point. I would tend to argue that Ramirez has had more of a chance to show that he is NOT MLB quality than Light has.

It baffles me that Noe Ramirez keeps getting called up when injuries occur. There's no way you can convince me he's our best option for the pen. Pat Light is already on the 40 man, and I'm sure exposing Ramirez to waivers to remove him the 40 man roster to give someone else a crack at it would be a risk worth taking.

This is likely the reason why we didn't wait until closer to the deadline to acquire Pomeranz. With so many road games in the 2nd half, taking advantage of a homestand early out of the break is crucial.

Obviously, we all have concerns as to how he will hold up, how many innings, etc, but what really sticks out to me in this analysis is the fact that he allows a obscenely low .328 OPS the 3rd time through the order. Which is best in the league by 100 points. By the time our back end starters have been getting through the order for a 3rd time, there are runs-o-plenty being allowed.

Well, considering we just got Jason Groome signed, it makes losing Espinoza that much easier. DD likely made the offer knowing this was about to get done.

Got out on Father's Day with my oldest son (who is 11) to see Portland play vs. the Flying Squirrels since I live in Richmond. It was my first chance to see Benintendi live. Relatively uneventful day for him. Sac fly RBI and not too many defensive chances and those were routine. On this day, he wasn't very patient at the plate, jumping on pitches very early in the count, and flied out to center on 3 occasions. He does seem to have some pop in that bat since one of them got to the warning track in a hurry. On a side note, my son was super excited to get an autograph from him, but on two separate instances (one before the game, one after) Benintendi completely ignored him. There was no mob and no one else around, and he definitely heard him. The time after the game he was standing 3 feet from him with only one other person asking for his autograph. Maybe he's not big on doing autographs, but my son was very disappointed. He would've understood if he was having to do a ton of them and he just didn't get around to him, but that definitely wasn't the case. Everything I've heard about Moncada is the exact the opposite of this, as he spends a ton of time after games giving autographs to anyone that asks for one.

I concur.

I love Vasquez's passion and enthusiasm behind the plate. Pitchers have to love that. He fist pumped strike 3 to Aybar before the ump even punched him out!!

Let's hope Dr. Jekyll shows up and gives us 7 strong innings tonight!

Shaw is starting to make me think that his success at the end of last season/spring training this year isn't a fluke. The idea of him getting near-daily AB's is growing on me b/c I feel like he could be a force in the lineup.

Ummmm.....what?!?!?! Someone get me what this guy is having..... Hope it's just a strain for Smith.

MRI was clean and he's already experiencing better range of motion. Not expected to need a DL stint and considered day-to-day. Much needed good news.

Morning, all! Long time visitor, decided to get posting. A bit of foreshadowing here that we were all afraid of.... http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/03/red-sox-to-acquire-sandy-leon-from-nationals.html This likely confirms that Vasquez is at least out for a signficant period of time, but I like the move since Leon has always had a good track record of being a very good defensive catcher. A similar type of replacement, and will allow us to get Swihart some more seasoning in the minors and not rush him up. I am pretty sure Leon is out of options, so unless we try to sneak him through waivers to place in AAA, it's likely he breaks camp as the backup for Hannigan.

Or it could've been about Ryan Sweeney....fresh off of being removed late in the game last night because he punched a door.