FredLynn

Next year is a long way off. Although unlikely, its possible that in spring training Sandoval will tear the cover off the ball after showing up 30 pounds lighter. I am pretty sure the DD is not going to change: everyone on the opening day roster is going to earn their place there. With all the money he is due, Sandoval is going to get his chance to earn it too.

Complete games are a rarity nowadays...and we don't really need them. If he can go 7 high quality innings, thats fine by me. And it does look like he has come around.

Of the 55 pitchers in the AL who have pitched a minimum of 100 innings this year. Clay Buchholz is #50 in ERA. There is no way in hell he is worth $13M next year.

I think the HR he hit in Baltimore last night was too high

Since the All Star Break Pomeranz has an ERA of 3.70 and ERod an ERA of an outstanding 2.67. The pitching since the ASB is THIRD in the league. Compare that to what Kelly and Buchholz did before the ASB and its easy to see why the team is now winning. Bannister is in the dugout, but the pitchers still have to execute.

Farrell also said at the beginning of spring training that Pablo had lost 20 pounds during the offseason. Then he said recently that Pablo has lost 17 pounds. Given the fact that his first statement was a lie, I also do not believe his second statement.

Next year in spring training he will be on the roster. And as Dombrowski proved this year, if he is unable to earn the 3B job (or any other job), regardless of how much money he is earning, he will sit....somewhere. He will get a shot because he is untradeable.

And they are waiting to get the MRI because........? Is it too expensive? The Red Sox have a history of waiting too long to get indicated diagnostic tests, resulting in delayed diagnoses and treatment. He should be getting an MRI today if he is too sore to play. Its a harmless test and could be very informative.

Given the current mess in minor league SP (or lack thereof), I would add Groom to the off limits list. This is especially true now that Espinosa has been traded. We desperately need pitching in the minors. And there is this: Sandoval is still going to be on the roster for many years. That makes for a logjam at 3B. No one is going to take him off our hands, unfortunately.

Yes. He should not have been thrown a strike. But since Farrell made a mistake and decided to pitch to him, why did he position Mookie shallow enough for Miggy to be able to hit the ball over his head? Seems the correct tactic in that situation would have been to prevent extra base hits. This may have been mentioned earlier in this thread: I haven't read over all of it. Two mistakes by Farrell in one AB...is that a record?

Its pillow worthy

We won't come close to 97 wins more than likely. To do that we need a record of 43-25 (.632 ball) for the rest of the way. Given that a large majority of the remaining games are on the road, including two west coast swings, we will be lucky to make it to 90 wins. Unless Price begins to pitch like Price and Pomeranz is lights out.......and Price hasn't done that all year.

True. And its one of the reasons Theo Epstein has such a good club in Chicago right now. He didn't build that farm system. Someone else did, benefiting from some horrible finishes and good drafting of pick high in the pecking order.

Who knows why he was in the minors? Maybe its because he had options...maybe it was for rehab starts after his injuries. It obviously wasn't because of his performance. His numbers for the past 2 1/2 years are very good. As for Espinosa, I would have loved to keep him. I personally offered SD the combination of Buchholz, Craig, Castillo, Owens, and O'Sullivan, but they wouldn't listen. They weren't willing to hand over an all star for a bag of golf balls. Espinosa may or may not become a legit ML pitcher; he has promise, which is why the Padres wanted him. Whatever your opinion of this trade is, you have to give DD credit for not sitting on his hands. He actually went out and did something to hopefully improve the team. I am going to assume he got the best deal he could, though I will never know. Doing nothing was not an option if this team was to stand a good chance to make the playoffs. Not with our SPing. Here is what Bannister said about his turnaround as a SP: ""He went from being a two-pitch pitcher, which limits your viability as a starter," Bannister said before the Red Sox beat the Yankees on Friday night. "He added a third pitch, which got him over the hump and it's a quality third pitch." That pitch is a cutter, and Bannister believes it's not only the key to Pomeranz's emergence, but the key to sustaining it, especially when paired with a "top-20" curveball, as well as an effective fastball. "He's always had the ability to spin the ball, it's always been one of the better curveballs in the league from a lefty, he's a big body, he knows how to pitch," Bannister said. "He needed something that could balance out his fastball, especially when you get behind in the count, because you can't always just throw a curveball and he wasn't a changeup guy. Just having that ability to mix in that cutter like he has and have it be a power pitch, it's really just taken him to another level.""

I am having a hard time understanding your insistence that he has been very good for only half a season. The fact of the matter is, he has been above average to excellent for two and a half years running: ERA +: 159/108/161. Even if you think he is only an average pitcher, something these statistics show otherwise, its an upgrade over who our #4-5 SPs are now. And this team was sorely in need of an upgrade in that department. What Espinoza becomes or doesn't become is unknown. He is an 18 year old who isn't even pitching well in A ball right now.

Thats not true. His ERA+ in 2014 was 159; in 2015 it was 108; and this year it is 161. Admittedly, he seems injury prone. Thats my only concern about this deal.

So who goes now? SP now include Price, Wright, Porcello, Pomeranz, ERod, (Buchholz)....and in the pen, assuming Kelly comes back, there will be Kimbrel, Ziegler, Taz, Koji, Barnes, Ross, Layne, Kelly, Hembree, (Buchholz). Thats 5-6 SP (if you want to call Buchholz one) and 10 guys in the pen. Two too many I think. Rodriguez hasn't had enough starts to write him off just yet (6). Does Buchholz get released, finally?

Pablo put on 30

I kinda know a bit about this Hugh. People grow in height by extending the bony length towards the ends of their long bones' cartilaginous areas-the "growth plate". Bone itself cannot grow in length; only the cartilage can ossify, ie turn into bone, thereby increasing height. Fact is, by age 18 the vast majority of growth plates have disappeared and are all bone. There is no more growth in height after that. Thats just the way it works in humans. You may have been an exception; there are always exceptions. Again, I am less concerned about his height as his heart, talent, and work ethic. Now, in fact, am not concerned about him at all.

Read the article. Its not made up. He has put on "some size" where? Shoulders? Muscle? Fat? As the article says (and there are other articles that substantiate it) the body of a guy has generally grown to its fullest by age 18 with a FEW CASES where men continue to grow until 21. Its possible; its very unlikely that he will be one of those few cases. Espinoza is likely as big as he is ever going to be. That said, I don't think size is a huge factor; its heart and talent. Time will tell.

"When Do Men Stop Growing? Men grow the most from 12 to 16 with the increase in height being as high as 12 inches in normal cases. Boys actually gain the most weight during this period, too. The growth during this time period is mostly in the extremities with the legs, feet, arms and hands growing the fastest. It is for this reason that most teenage boys look very clumsy as they start getting accustomed to the changes in their body. Hair starts to appear all over the body during this period while change in the vocal cords occurs. The skin starts to get very oily during this period too and usually leads to acne. However, by 18, the body grows to its fullest with the shoulders getting broad and the body becoming more muscular. So, the most appropriate answer to questions like ‘what age do boys stop growing’ or ‘when do guys stop growing’ would be 18. However, there are a few cases where men continue to grow till 21 as well while there can be the odd exceptional case where a man might continue to grow till 25." http://www.newhealthguide.org/When-Do-Men-Stop-Growing.html Espinoza is as tall as he is ever going to be. Maybe he could put on some fat or muscle, but his frame now is likely as big as its ever going to be.

I believe Hugh's comment was cynical...at least I hope so. Ben is out of baseball for a reason: he is incompetent. We will not be seeing him as GM again, but if we do, I hope he becomes Cashman's replacement.

That would have worked too. Fact is, DD obtained an all star pitcher with good numbers for 2 1/2 years for an A player with *potential*. We weren't getting him for Clay Buchholz, Trey Ball, Joe Kelly etc etc. You have to give to receive. Its likely that DD explored getting a better pitcher and was not successful. I like the deal. Its a win today attitude.

Right. Espinoza, age 18 with a very mediocre record in A ball is the next coming of Pedro Martinez. Such comparisons are as absurd as they sound. I realize I might be eating my words in 3-4 years-as much as I realize that those who are ready to jump off a bridge right now might be eating theirs. This team needed more pitching THIS YEAR, right now, if they want to make the playoffs. Guess thats not important to some.

Drew Pomeranz ERA+ the past 2 1/2 years: 159/108/161. Half a season? Which half of those two and a half years were you referring to?