sk7326

WAR is a counting stat, so this runs right into the health caveat ... even then he was a 2 win player this past year, which justifies his salary. He was a 5 win player in 2016, which put him as one of the league's best position players. Given his injury history - of course you want someone of Nunez' quality on the roster. When he has been healthy, Pedroia has still been extremely effective.

They struck out remarkably little for a team that did not recognize pitches.

I hope so. Obviously Cora could fall on his face. But from a "Red Sox managerial prospect" point of view - nobody else checks all the boxes.

This is all true. Of course, this is not school - this is a job. And unlike a lot of other jobs - baseball is a job where you fail all the time, even when you did everything correct. Look at when Betts lined into the double play in Game 4. Everybody did the right thing there. Benintendi made a secondary lead to 2nd base but had his head up ... Betts made as perfect contact as anybody could make. And they got 2 outs for it. And then the previous game, Devers muscled a ball he was fooled on into a double. From the stuff I've read - it seems with our kiddos in particular, the problem is not they weren't whipped enough. The problem is the kids whipped themselves when stuff was happening, and the coaching staff did not have the personalities who could come, crack and joke and tell them "just keep at it. it's nothing that a ball falling between two fielders can't fix." It is possible that the coaching staff was not very good at making the clubhouse a great office to go work at. Now this does not mean Farrell was without strengths. The team did take on his professionalism and intensity. He managed the pitching staff very well. But when the young guys collectively underperformed - then sure, the approach needs review.

If Henry wanted keeping the kids to be a priority for this aim, Dombrowski would have a different approach. (or not been hired) And - given that, Dombrowski has handled the farm kind of well. He was aggressive in identifying his keepers - Benintendi and Devers ... and used the rest as currency. His approach given Boston's market, payroll and priorities is entirely defensible. Now the farm system needs to be reloaded - but that was going to be the case anyway ... the kids were not going to be in AAA forever. Now could he have waited longer to see if Moncada was a thing? Maybe - but he was raw enough that he might not have fit the Red Sox timeline. Minor league pitching is always the trickiest thing. On one hand, having high quality young arms is what every team wants. On the other, the volatility of young pitchers, especially with regards to health, is so high that I can't blame any organization for trading low level arms.

i agree - it behooves them to resign Nunez for a reason like this. In the land of 13 man pitching staffs, we know the benches will be tiny - and you need multipositional skills. Nunez is a good fit for this.

sure. but again, a wheelbarrow approach to the bullpen is the right way to do it - so I think they should sign any reliever who can strike out hitters.

Fine is an extreme understatement ... if he's healthy he's still one of the league's best 2B. Unfortunately that is not an "if" we can take for granted. But he was a 5 win player as recently as 2016. His dropoff in performance has been from "Top 10 player" to "Top 10 2nd baseman"

When I said "that side of the ball", I meant overall - 3rd base/SS was not great ... actually, for fun ... going by position. (the Red Sox led the bigs in UZR) Catcher: 1st 1st Base: 10th 2nd Base: 3rd 3rd Base: 24th Shortstop: 17th Left Field: 20th Center Field: 5th Right Field: 1st (BY A LOT) I expect Benintendi to get better in LF. Bogaerts is probably what he is - an okay defensive shortstop who needs to hit to be the 4-win player he has shown in 2015-16. Third Base will be on Devers to improve.

trying being playing through the hand thing - wish he were a bit better defensively ... though on whole the team was excellent on that side

Stanton has also missed a lot of games for someone to sell the farm on ...

I commend Bogaerts for trying. And seriously - these sort of injuries have torpedoed Pedroia and Bryce Harper seasons. The alternative was Deven Merrero or Nunez - each who are half of an all-star shortstop. Given the team's offensive issues - the POSSIBILITY of Bogaerts (however slight) was better than Merrero's reality, even if he stepped in to a couple of homeruns.

DD is doing what John Henry wants. If Henry did not want Dombrowski to cash in the farm, then it would not be happening.

A 4-5 win under 26 shortstop does not have to apologize for anything aside from being a Top 3 prospect once. His swing is a little higher maintenance than I'd prefer - but that itself is not a crime. He's like the other kids on the team (the Speier piece about Farrell talked to it) ... care a lot, but can get down on themselves. Will be interesting if a manager chance can help with that at least.

Hitting is hard when you can't hold the bat

Learning curve to a degree ... hand/wrist/thumb injuries during the season are basically impossible to truly fix during the season

Benintendi would be a starting point ...

They still walked a lot and made a ton of contact - indeed, they probably needed to take more pitches and drive the pitches they got a bit more.

Considering the cost - it almost certainly does not need to happen. Bogaerts without some concrete proof that last year was injury related (my guess) ain't going to be a centerpiece for that deal. Betts is a better player than Stanton. Bradley is a good player but clearly not a match (and he's Stanton's age basically). Benintendi and Devers - you don't want to give up the production:cost control there.

I think they need some help from outside. But I do think some of the help comes from within - Bogaerts in particular (maybe not 30 HRs, but definitely more than 10) after a full offseason to be able to grip a bat comfortably again. It would obviously be foolish to ask Devers to be that bat - but clearly he is going to be (over a full season) a massive upgrade over the steaming pile that they fielded at 3B last season. I am more against a 5 year nine figure commitment to Martinez than against him on principle - I am absolutely about bringing him for 2-3 years, even if it cost more money to do that. Bringing Nunez back makes sense as a Brock Holt replacement - it's a solid bat. He is a terrible fielder - but you do need some reasonable depth with Pedey's status. Pedroia is still a 4-6 win player if healthy, but clearly the "if healthy" part of it cannot be bet on reasonably.

I think he's good for 2-3 years - for 5 is trickier. Also we are talking about a non-athlete who is a negative defensively ... now that is precisely the sort of player who the market squeezed last year (basically a younger Edwin Encarnacion).

The Red Sox had 1 bash brother when that happened ... that is part of the Papi legend. A lot of the power solution has to come from within to a degree.

The premium market for 1B/OF is pretty lousy - JD Martinez is good of course, but the years will be hard to handle. Same is true for Justin Upton (assuming he opts out). Carlos Santana is probably the best FA compromise - although I see nothing wrong with a Winter 2002-2003 approach, where you fill a wheelbarrow with types and see if you can get a Kevin Millar out of it. (obviously asking for that strategy to yield a David Ortiz is not something you should expect more than once or twice a millenium) That said, looking at last year's market - I expect there will be somebody (very likely Santana) who might have to settle for a short deal because the market does not want to pay 1B/DH/OF sorts.

It's the baseball playoffs. I could believe almost any of the hundreds of possible outcomes of the tournament.

Yes - although his recent success has been a little up and down. And certainly tough guys COULD work - and Showalter has dealt with young teams before too. IMO, a baseball manager is the closest equivalent of any sports coach to your own boss in the actual job you have (or the sort of boss you are depending on your profession). A guy can have clear boundaries, not be your friend per se ... but still a guy you should be able to discuss problems with, and someone who knows when to press a guy hard and when to provide some encouragement. That's the thing with a guy like Tito. He is a terrific manager yes, but he would also probably embody a lot of what would be the best boss you ever had regardless of whatever job you had. (assuming he was qualified for that job etc etc etc)