sk7326

An actual offseason pain free for him to get some of his swing back ... his was not the first season tanked by a hand injury

I think that Dombrowski promoted Benintendi and Devers from AA (essentially) while dealing Moncada says everything. I think something which became clear in retrospect was that Dombrowski looked at the gold mine in the Red Sox farm and quickly identified Devers and Benintendi as the absolute keepers.

He has not been great at providing games played.

only if I can stop giggling first

Small sample size - range factors were okay (again, small samples). The errors number doesn't mean much to me compared to him possibly being a potted plant. (which he isn't - he's clearly a pretty good athlete)

Hmmm ... one is 3 years younger, has a stronger history of being health, and is good-to-great at every single non-pitching baseball skill.

DD's been fine - he has moved aggressively and gotten some premium talent. Yeah he gave up a lot of kids - but he was empowered to, and he got premium talent for it. And he seems to have chosen to keep the right guys. Now will be the next level - making decisions on the kids here, and figuring out who can be dealt for more upgrades. The Bradley/Bogaerts decision in particular will be very interesting.

Why? He did not look like someone who needed to be moved.

I could see the Sox - not exactly shopping Bogaerts - but telling teams to make an offer. Now I am not sure how robust the market it is. I tend to chock up this year to injury ... nothing like a hand injury (regardless of what he says to people) to mess up your swing. It is not something which get better during the season. That said, if you save the brinks truck for Betts - then Bogaerts and Bradley are the swing guys here. Sox need another bat - but the trade market is probably where the best possibility is to get one ... and given that the Sox have used a lot of their best minor league pieces already, looking at one of their young guys has to be on the table. I am sure there will be chatter about trying to get Stanton - which I think for a bunch of reasons (payroll flexibility, cost in players, marginal value) is stupid. I could see kicking the tires on Andrew McCutchen - though again, you only get a year of him and I am not sure what sort of match there is with the Pirates given that. The free agent class looks horrid. That said, if last year's market is a barometer for the future - it could be a buyer's market for slow, power hitting non-defenders ... the sort of thing where a JD Martinez might be gettable for a surprisingly short hitch a la Encarnacion last year. Getting something like that makes sense. Same with Jay Bruce (less appetizing option) for a 1-year.

Also has done TV, which is very helpful given how important managing media is in this town.

Certainly possible. But I like guys who know the market - or similarly insane markets. I'd certainly pick this over exhuming Jim Leyland or John Boles etc etc

Farrell managed a terrific Game 3. The Red Sox were terrible in Games 1 and 2, although it was basically all about pitchers giving up homeruns - and not much Farrell could do there. Farrell basically had to get himself run yesterday - whatchagonnado. The Sox got greedy with Sale I think - it made sense to go to Kimbrel for 6 outs - or just to the set up guys in a bullpen which has been good all year. I can see both sides of keeping/not keeping Farrell. I can roll with Dombrowski's decision either way here ... although it is certainly possible to pick somebody worse.

All Star game rules today -

He hit the eject button on Fister yesterday ... Price probably not available to the rescue ... but yeah come on!

This is only a deficit the Red Sox have made up multiple times since 1999

fun weird stat ... Since 1999 Red Sox are 16-6 in elimination games Since 1986, the Red Sox are 4-6 in series where they had to win 3 straight elimination games

Tough town for a 93 win team which was really good in extra innings games.

Alex Cora for manager if Farrell leaves ... managerial experience, player personnel experience, knows the market and has a terrific reputation in the league

he should be mad - he is a competitor Farrell was right to get him - Farrell managed a terrific game yesterday somewhat amazingly

is it a separate attribute from being good? Not really. David Ortiz had more big hits than anybody I can remember. But he was a great hitter to begin with. And he had some hideously bad postseason series too - did he choke then? Who knows. Skill is skill.

Nunez is a bad fielder - but they will find a way to get his bat in the lineup

In terms of choosing players and such of course - but if Henry wants to spend money to keep an excellent young core together, that is his choice. Ilitch does not know more than Dombrowski did - but he knew the direction he wanted - play for the veteran club, damn the torpedoes. Ownership is setting that direction ...

There are a lot of options. Granderson had been better than Moreland this year too despite hitting .228. Bautista has been dreadful though his line drive stats and such are not really out of line with his career. And while I do not discount 1B defensively - it is still a place to put a bat if you don't have JT Snow out there. I am optimistic about getting one of the Duda/Hosmer group though - it is a buyer's market ...

My confidence is low in both - but all it costs is money, and probably not more than 1-year hitch. And at least unlike Moreland, you are actually betting on players who have actually been good before.

one is employed by the other - QED