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sk7326

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Everything posted by sk7326

  1. sk7326
    Because Cashman got better deals ... he got homeruns for Chapman and Miller. (it still made sense for the Cubs to make the deal, flags flying forever and such) The Beckett/Crawford deal was actually fairly good for a salary dump ... neither De La Rosa nor Webster worked out ... but given the value of the assets at the time, that was a better return for a fire sale than you'd expect. The one undisputed homerun Cherington had in the selloffs was getting Eduardo Rodriguez for 2 months of Andrew Miller.
  2. sk7326
    Actually the Yankees did the same thing the Sox did to a degree. The difference is that the Yankees were in a position to sell off veterans - which the Red Sox under Dombrowski largely have not been able to. They've been too busy contending to be able to make Chapman and Miller deals (homeruns for Cashman on both). Cherington and the prior management were the ones who insisted on taking back major league players for Lester and Lackey - and thus not getting nearly enough back for deadline sales. I am all about not selling the farm - but you have to be fair here. Dombrowski identified the prospects he saw star potential with ... Benintendi and Devers ... and dealt the rest with the understanding that a team like Boston can buy worker bees. The only thing I am critical of ultimately is selling off blue chip minor league pitching - but EVEN THEN, pitcher health is so volatile that from a sheer risk management perspective I understand being more willing to deal arms than bats.
  3. sk7326
    Really the question when trading for Ozuna is whether Benintendi can be a good defensive CENTER or RIGHT FIELDER. Betts will be near league best wherever he plays ... Benintendi at least profiles as plus at Center Field. (his performance in left was not great - although there is a long history of Red Sox left fielders scoring poorly UZR-wise ... I do think Fenway's left field creates a problem for the measure) The total impact on the outfield might actually end up being small. The idea of dealing JBJ is simply because the Red Sox could actually improve CF internally.
  4. sk7326
    A highly recommended read about this is Jeff Passan's THE ARM. The short version - considering how valuable pitchers are to winning, the industry collectively knows almost nothing about optimizing performance and preservation.
  5. sk7326
    Pitchers throw a lot harder than in the olden days - some of that is evolutionary ... but I think some of it is industry thinking. Put another way, do you really need Old Hoss Radbourn when 3 pitchers can do the same job better?
  6. sk7326
    Let's see what an offseason of rest does. Pedroia and Bryce Harper's hand injury experiences are both solid examples of reserving judgment on Bogaerts here.
  7. sk7326
    I could see him as a roving instructor or "assistant to the GM" at some point ... but yeah, for the most part he has a good life.
  8. sk7326
    One thing to remember is - making the playoffs is good, and winning is good ... Sale allowed Farrell and the team to wallpaper over flaws with the rest of the rotation - and deploy the bullpen as effectively as they did all season. After all, Porcello was the only other pitcher who provided consistent bulk. Pomeranz provided consistent quality without depth. Rodriguez just did not pitch enough period - same with Price. Fister was decent for a #5. Sale's reliability allowed them to work around issues with the other 4 rotation spots. I mean yeah it'd be nice to manage Sale's workload a little bit more - but it is hard to say that they actually had that luxury.
  9. sk7326
    I know - it's as if the Red Sox don't have a Top 10 defensive CF playing to Bradley's left!
  10. sk7326
    It's easy to say I told-you-so's about Swihart, but hard to believe any of them ... but the Red Sox had to see what they had after last year's injury. Swihart was always the team's highest ceiling option at catcher - and trading him after his injury would be a straight dump. It is a shame that things did not work out, but unless the Red Sox wanted to turn him into a cyborg, it's hard to really blame them.
  11. sk7326
    The way it was managed was about lineup turnover - some starters you might not trust a third time through the order. MOST starters you can't trust fourth time through (that includes true aces). What would help is having a couple of arms who can actually pitch more than one inning. You saw teams do this the entire postseason - although some teams might be overdoing it, emptying their bullpen is a gamble too.
  12. sk7326
    I think it will be collaborative. After all - it's not like any manager knows every coach who is out there. I would imagine management will put together the coaches to be interviewed while Cora gets significant say in who makes the cut. Of course, managing his coaches is one of the biggest parts of his gig. The same hitting coach had a league leading offense last year - so it's probably not a plug and play thing.
  13. sk7326
    His FIP in August was still 2.43 - plenty good. (close to Klubers) ... the walks went up to 5.6% which is still fine. He was still striking out tons of guys. Lower line drive rate than April-June. September and October were bad - although I can't imagine a 41% homerun/FB rate is built to last.
  14. sk7326
    Maybe - but he had a great August, and the things you'd expect to reflect a fade (more frequent line drives, fewer strikeouts) never really came to pass. I think they will be a bit more careful - but I don't think they weren't careful ... they knew the merchandise when they bought it.
  15. sk7326
    Sale's fade was genuinely strange though 1. He kept sprinkling in great performances 2. His strikeout rate never dropped, and his walk rate never went up ... and he had a terrific August 3. The line drive rate until September stayed pretty still. It seemed the problems were all about getting his slider to bite ... the velocity was still easy and high The White Sox managed him carefully and had a similar performance curve ... it might just be something he has to iron out.
  16. sk7326
    So was Cory Kluber, and Jose Quintana, and Jon Lester ... I am not sure there is much to conclude here.
  17. sk7326
    Butterfield would make an obvious bench coach candidate as well ... although I would expect the Sox will push hard for an older hand for the bench coach position ... whether it be an actual former big league manager, or bringing DeMarlo Hale back
  18. sk7326
    Catcher is actually one of the places we need the least amount of help Vasquez is just fine. He takes good at-bats, seems capable of being a consistent .270 sort of hitter - and given his defense that is terrific. The power is limited, and offense will never be why you pay him ... but I am comfortable that he is a long term starter for any number of teams, including this one. We could possibly upgrade at backup catcher - but again, for a backup, Leon is about as good as you will probably get. Now in 2018 maybe try to get it to more like 120 starts for Vasquez and it'll be okay.
  19. sk7326
    Could Cora fall flat on his face? Sure. But - much like Francona in 2004 ... if you were to build a profile for a perfect managerial prospect for the Red Sox, he is as good a resume as it gets.
  20. sk7326
    No it doesn't - the Red Sox have not made any announcement. This is a report that the Sox WILL. And yeah - the Astros gave him permission to interview, it was a promotion. (the former is the key - note the Sox denied Lovullo permission to interview in 2015 iirc)
  21. sk7326
    Martinez can probably play 1B - probably can't do anything else well. Given that 1B/LF are your usual positions to put players who can't do anything else defensively (and DH is taken). Hosmer has had meh results, but is much younger than the cohort - so you can at least dream on him a little. Santana is the best of the other options (besides Hosmer and Martinez) ... good on base skills.
  22. sk7326
    He hit them to right field in 2015, he laid off of them in 2016 ... the impact of hand injuries to players is significant enough to give benefit of the doubt
  23. sk7326
    His future health is the question - and it is a fair one. The Red Sox certainly need to mitigate the risk. We know if he is healthy he is still really good ... if he only had 1-2 years left on his deal, there would probably still be a market just because he is a known good player. But that is not the world we are in.
  24. sk7326
    The one thing in the pro-hosmer column is ... he's the youngest of the major FAs. You can at least imagine that last year's results will stick. Also, if you look around the league, not many teams have true openings at 1B. Indeed Kansas City might be the stiffest competition here. I would not stick around for a big bidding war here - but I'd at least kick the tires.
  25. sk7326
    This is entirely due to contract length - and given how cheap it is, I am not fully convinced it's a dealbreaker.
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