sk7326
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Everything posted by sk7326
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I agree, MJ had better teammates.
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The idea that is freed up money is a bit of a red herring - imagining a salary cap which does not really exist. After all they ended up spending less to replace them. That it was a better trade than Slocumb for Lowe and Varitek (to name one) is a bit much.
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In September it makes sense to have to freeze a 25-man active roster for each series. You can make injury substitutions, but the injured player has to go on the DL.
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Trout could (should?) have won 5 straight MVPs at this point. Seriously - he's almost like Michael Jordan in the mid-90s. It's not fun to vote him MVP every year - but really he is. Betts was the only other remotely justifiable choice - and that is an achievement in itself.
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In 1995 Mo Vaughn won the MVP and Tim Wakefield finished 3rd in the Cy Young (obviously one of the worst MVP selections in history - although it made me happy)
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Gonzalez has continued to be a good player. He was not the anchor bat the Nation was looking for - and his end in SD portended. The shoulder injury sapped a lot of that - and as it turned out, a lot of his OBP was driven by being the only good hitter in a terrible lineup in SD. But he is still above average.
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The K-rate problem at AA came with him, and was there at the AFL cameo also ... the field bit - he needs reps, no matter where. Describing the position choice as a zero sum thing is a little weird - the Sox will get him instruction wherever. Just because Hanley had such a comically bad adjustment to going to the outfield means that is typical - it's not.
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That is very reasonable. I've always thought that his future was RF (because of having a shortstop's arm) - while allowing the Sox to use Bradley to fill some other gaps. (because he is a bit lower ceiling of their outfielders, and it's not like they don't have star caliber replacements in house)
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His ability to make contact has been an issue - and there is a legitimate argument that the org sees Devers as the 3B future. There is clearly a lot of craft which needs to catch up - although the physical talent is remarkable. His body has always made more sense for an outfield corner.
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Porcello is a keeper right now. Now - nobody is untradeable. The Angels offered Mike Trout for Rick Porcello, that's a no-brainer. But - obviously failing something like that. The funny thing to consider is that it's a reasonable possibility that the Cy Young award winner might end up the team's #3 pitcher by the end of next season. (same applies for Price)
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Roger Clemens 1986 for the former, Pedro 1999 for the latter
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#3 if I had to choose. Frazier kind of sucked last year - but he is probably not that bad. I am much too bullish on Rodriguez to deal him - so absolutely not given the choice.
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Terrific news. As I noted, while you could certainly argue for others - Porcello was absolutely a worthy choice in a pretty crowded field.
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The problem with doing the Miller thing is that then you have to plan for your relievers to pitch 40-50 times a season instead of the 60 or 70 you actually see. Also, part of the mission in the regular season is to cultivate some of these folks anyway. Figure out who the pitchers you trust are, etc
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There is not a ton of evidence Vasquez is ahead of Swihart by any large margin to begin with. Vasquez is definitely a big league, but his range of outcomes is much smaller in both directions than Swihart.
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The thing is - the scouting sorts who rate Swihart highly is because he should end up being a plus defender at the position ... right sort of build, outstanding athlete. Now he probably won't get to where Vasquez is defensively - especially in terms of framing and such. But his arm is fine and Vasquez was not some sort of game calling savant. There is real reason to believe Vasquez can't really hit - and even if catcher is a defensive position, you need a little.
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My understanding is that teams use (in a lot of cases) their own recipe for WAR ... a sum of measured baseball accomplishments compared to a replacement level baseline. Of course they also have this massive amount of Statcast data that the public doesn't get ... so I am sure they use measures that differ from what we get and what other teams do. All I am saying is that the general principle is sound - this is not something like RBIs which don't mean anything to an org in terms of performance measurement. WAR after all is just a normalized sum of all of a player's measured accomplishments on the diamond ...
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Well Espinoza is somewhere else, so there's that Moncada would be tough to lose - especially given the giant bonus ... but with his 40% AFL strikeout register, there are fair questions as to whether he actually is the best 3B option in the org on a longer term.
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I think the Sox had a division to win - and the alarming state of their pitching early meant someone had to take the fall. Plus Vasquez was there as a viable option. With the offseason they can now try to see what they have. Will Vasquez hit? Can Vasquez work with pitchers? Is essentially six weeks of great baseball enough to overlook Sandy Leon's career overall?
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Possibly - franchise might prefer to put Moncada in instead of Devers
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That rise from 7 HRs to 21 HRs and being a 4-5 win player doesn't reflect ascending to upside - of course, he's 24 so his prime is over. Bradley is almost three years older than Bogaerts. Similar WAR, premium position, significantly younger, higher probability it will stick - decision is easy. Since WAR (or a wins-above-replacement computation of baseball accomplishments) is how teams evaluate players (though they have their own ingredients to put in the soup), that seems fair.
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You're not wrong. But I will counter with a couple of small items: 1. Last year was a tiny sample, but a .365 OBP from that position is encouraging. There was a lot of evidence to me (warning: eye test comment) that he could actually hit. Of course he got hurt before he could lean into a good stretch. 2. Defensively struggled, and clearly needs work. At the same time just a better athlete than Salty to a degree that you could see him figuring it out. He needs reps - he never got them. His trade value is low now - because he is hurt. And I do think the Red Sox hurt his value some by abandoning the catching thing. I don't think he is the centerpiece of a trade anymore - but if healthy he is considerably higher value than the sack of potatoes value of Salty. After all (tiny sample from a time when players do still get better) his 2016 OBP was higher than any year Salty ever had.
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Clay Buchholz - Is he worth the 2016 option?
sk7326 replied to Slasher9's topic in Boston Red Sox Talk
Cost has nothing to do with it ... Consistent relief requires attrition and luck - throw "stuff guys" at the wall until you get paydirt. It's why the years are so hard to reconcile. Virtually every good reliever was a starter who couldn't cut it - couldn't turn a lineup over, couldn't find a third pitch worth a damn. Line em up and see where it takes you - and if any stink, line up some more. -
Cora has a good gig - and probably doesn't need an apprenticeship.
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On some basic level, Swihart is the best chance to emerge into something special at the position. Vasquez might be limited by his bat (a limitation which could still be quite good) and Leon (though I like him) is essentially betting on about 6 weeks of MVP caliber work. (against a far larger body of work as Sandy Leon - including September and beyond this year) The Sox really ought to let Swihart catch - and let it ride. Either way, coming off of an injury - you'd be selling low on him.