sk7326

Maybe, maybe not. Shaw should not get too down - if Moncada is going to strike out 40% of the time going forward, it's not going to be that much of an improvement on Shaw.

He was very much up there in the "most valuable player conversation" in 2008-2011. There was no fluke - there was no David Eckstein level pity. He was legitimately outstanding. He is happy in Boston. Good. Agents work for players, not the other way around - and the salaries are not at all inflated.

When he's been healthy - he has been quite good. OF course that's the trick.

Should robots be allowed to wear elbow pads? Or do you spend extra to reinforce the bodies? For authenticity maybe they can power them via fuel coming from burning Dip or Chaw

The stats and the eyes complement each other. Now on TV, the eyes lie a lot - you don't see the route an outfielder takes, even if the catch and end is pretty good. It is good when the numbers fit what your eyes see - Ozzie Smith's stardom was entirely justified analytically. I think what WAR (which is a normalized sum of everything a player does that is measurable on the field) has advanced the conversation in some important ways. When I was a kid, you only thought in terms of pitchers and batters as far as getting down to runs. Yeah there were errors and wild pitches and such, but team defense as a meaningful contribution to run prevention was rarely talked about. We have a much better understanding (and it is still fuzzy granted) of the split between pitcher and fielder with regards to run prevention.

they trade them often ... and since we like major league baseball we often don't miss them ... and then in their draft positions pitchers are rarely the best guys available

it is restating the point I think we've covered ... because moncada could replace anybody on the 60 day DL - his playoff eligibility is basically assured.

doesn't matter when he was added - it matters for him to be able to play ... but with the DL positions, he is playoff eligible

If they are really hurt and have been out 15 days, yes

Under current rules, the 40-man and the DL are postseason eligible. Anybody on the DL can be substituted with anybody in the ORG as of August 31. Since every team has guys on the DL, this effectively means "being in the org" is the only real criteria that matters. The only trick is that the person on the DL has to have been on the DL the full numbers of days (at least 60 or 15 days depending on the DL).

Or Sandoval!!! Or Swihart!

For all intents and purposes - if a player is in the organization on August 31, he is eligible for the postseason. Every team puts injured players on the 40-man this time of year for that purpose. Essentially (and this goes for all 30 teams - and I am talking about in effect, not what is written as law), there is nothing which prevents a team from putting anybody they want on the postseason roster. This is how K-Rod got onto the Angels in 2002. Don't worry about it - if he deserves to play in the postseason, he will.

Radatz had a 95 mph fastball ... there are lots of 95 fastballs now. It cannot be separated from usage patterns - but between usage and modern training, guys throw harder now across the board.

This is the thing with "protocol" ... and one of the reasons I puke in my mouth a little when OPS' in AA (or any minor league stats really) are cited to talk about a kid (as tempting as it is). The team has an org plan with a kid - we want to see you do blah blah blah ... and if that happens, yay they are onto the next thing. It might show in the numbers, it might not. Now it sucks in an internet forum to have this be a black box - what fun is that? - but there you go. With Benintendi, perhaps the targets are different - they wanted to see if his approach went to seed, if he could keep constructing good at-bats. Maybe the OF thing had a low score on their Benintendi-O-Meter because they simply assumed he'd be fine (if a born CF can't play LF then what are we doing with our lives). I reckon Moncada was a slower roll for those sorts of reasons - maybe they wanted to see more craft at the plate (they weren't ignoring those wheelbarrows of Ks). The protocol is probably being followed, but the plan for every big prospect is its own snowflake. The plan for hitting is less obvious than for pitching of course - no innings limits to worry about etc.

If there were no coaches, no fielding instructors, and no such thing as practice, and the kid was not a "I'll figure this out" sort of dude - 10 games at 3B might be a bit short.

I was only looking at AA ... and 30% is extremely high. Now scouts and people smarter than me can suss out whether that is approach (see Napoli, Dunn) or flat not hitting certain kinds of pitches. This does not temper my excitement at the promotion - baseball is fun, and this is fun. I am grateful for things like Bogaerts joining the lineup in 2013, Benintendi this year, Clay throwing a no-no out of nowhere in 2007 ... makes the dog days pass easier.

I think the occasional leaks to the Globe (like when Francona left) are in poor taste. And in some cases they were cheap for no special purpose (all of that 2003 ARod crap). And the mewling about the Evil Empire was in poor taste. But any reading of the 15 years in total which was not seen as a major positive is just not being honest.

And people liked working for him - a lot of the guys who stayed under Epstein stayed with Cherington ... some left for bigger gigs, but a lot of guys (I read) turned down promotions to stay in Boston. I suspect if a team like the Twins hires him, they will be happy with the outcome.

i read the same concern that Benintendi did not have enough reps in LF. But he was getting reps in CF, the harder position. Between the coaching and the kid, the bet is that the esoteric stuff (like a 37 foot wall) takes care of itself.

struck out in nearly half of his trips to the plate on that side.

I don't think it matters either way - nobody is stupid enough to have him take this sort of exam cold. So I am not going to look at the games number as an indicator of a whole lot.

Pitchers did not throw as hard then.

Me neither ... even if I say that about the Cards ... if a team is going to win its first title (or first title in a billion years), 2004 is the way to do it

Yeah he has not hit much (or well) right handed - and he has not made a ton of contact ... but Farrell has shown some ability to bring these guys in without overwhelming them.

He came up as a SS - he was blocked there. So 2B was I think the first natural transition place. I think there are just so few middle infielders his size - a corner always seemed destined. But you might as well try - if he can play a middle spot well, he is even more valuable.