sk7326

This. I think some people don't appreciate the sheer difference in how much baseball Benintendi and Moncada have respectively played the last 2 years. Benintendi was in a high profile college program - Moncada defected. Add the cultural differences - and frankly, the Sox I think trying to take some pressure off (because of how big the bonus was). I expect Moncada will play the corners in the offseason.

My hot take guess is that the Red Sox and ChiSox revisit talks on either Sale or Quintana, and Bradley is in Chicago next year as a result.

Could be either. After all Devers (who is not that far behind Moncada) profiles to 3B ... and there is a significant school of thought that Moncada ends up in RF ... and Bradley is a very attractive guy (not as a centerpiece but as part of a deal) in a trade

Yes - our run differential will reflect positively in simulation exercises

Very simple - this team is in a title chase. The management are not dummies (and I pray to the spaghetti monster for forgiveness for using the "appeal to authority"). I have to assume they are comfortable that the infield work they have done with Moncada will stick. He has played some already - and it is an easier position than the ones he has played so far in his career. Always bet on the athlete.

To quote the poet Stone Cold Steve Austin, I guaran-damn-tee you at least one of those five will be gone within three years.

With Liverpool - there is such a crazy arms race in England that it is possible that they might just not be able to keep up - I mean they are not poor, but they might not be City-Arsenal-United rich. The Red Sox I think (relative to the peers) are positioned much better financially.

It is hard to make this theoretical because the Sox DID win it all. And besides, it is a bit of a false choice. But either way: 1. I like baseball. When the team I have cared about more than any other (across all sports) plays good baseball, I am happy. 2. There are not many other things to follow sports-wise during the summer. When the Sox stink, it's a real drag. (it infects my ability to give a crap about my roto team - or to even watch baseball) 3. The playoffs are a crapshoot - while you'd like to be able to invent a champ out of thin air, I can only remember that actually working out once (the 2009 Yankees). You need luck, the right bounces. The Red Sox three titles were sort of rare in that they were probably the best team in the league all three years. (and beat the 2nd best team in the league all three years) Get multiple bites of the apple and see what happens - after all one of the Cardinals titles came with the worst team to ever with a title. That the Red Sox whiffed on getting a bite of the apple so badly in 2012, 2014-15 is a real black mark on their record - you can't unsee that. This does not mean I am ungrateful for the three titles. But it does mean that within the context of whether I'd rather be the Sox or the Cards of the last decade, the Cards could be argued quite easily. Being a Red Sox fan from 1970 to 2003 was not difficult - the team was almost always good! There was heartbreak which stinks - and some years stunk even more. The reason it was so easy to yammer about a curse is that the Red Sox WERE good - the idea that they would get to Game 7 four different times and lose is mystifying. But I'd recommend that being an Expos fan was slightly harder during that time frame - the angst of the pre-curse Sox fan (let alone post) is why other fan bases hate us.

This is what he is ... a .270/.350 hitter with power and a lot of peakiness ... with the glove that is a fringe All-Star, so let's not sweat too much here

the Yankees won fewer titles, but were never bad ... which is the interesting contrast. It is what makes the Giants comp interesting - Giants have won 3 times, but have generally missed the playoffs otherwise ... Cards to me at the clear #1 - won twice (the edge over the Yankees) and have basically never been bad (the edge over us)

Who is concerned about him not getting enough reps playing 3rd. It's a pretty straightforward philosophy - moving from the middle to a corner is straightforward - so keep the guy in the middle until you are sure he can't do it. Moncada tried - but ultimately the odds are against a guy built like Dez Bryant to be a middle infielder. Now it can happen (see what Corey Seager is doing) and he came up at SS, so you ought to try it if you can - it makes him more valuable. The org is clearly trying to be more careful with Moncada either way. I don't think the position he played matter much either way.

I would not be against it - but if the bat is afraid of breaking pitches, then he is no threat

Hot take: Wright will be in the 'pen if/when elimination games start

it is why pitchers wins is stupid ... especially after the starter leaves. And honestly, he threw one bad pitch ... wish he had held it down, but that was a very tall ask.

Interesting first 6 games of the trip: Good: Opponents are terrible Bad: On the road out West in extreme pitcher's parks. A 5-1 or 6-0 would look really good ... hitting will be tough, because hitting is always tough in these places, but this is a great opportunity for them

had em all the way

with 8 relievers, the people are there - can't worry about tomorrow as much ... i mean in the postseason, third time through the order during an ERod start, the phone will be ringing

Hembree's splits are encouraging at least - I think the bullpen can work, but Farrell will have to be aggressive with quick hooks and such. The encouraging thing was that he did quite a bit of this in 2013.

i definitely am concerned that we lost our league lead in this category

Best in post-integration Red Sox history Now, big picture ... over the time frame, you probably have to put Cardinals #1. But the Sox are probably there with the Yankees and Giants and a step ahead of the Royals (whose recent success clearly is changing the trajectory) ... Giants have won 3 times, but have not qualified nearly as frequently.

A healthy Uehara will help a lot of this fall into place ... big if obviously

Move makes sense - I don't think there will some sort of weird Dwayne Hosey-ing going on here. (or Doug Flutie in 1986 if you are even older) A bat off the bench and pinch runner - and some spot duty. As noted previously, his minor league profile shows a record of physical domination with some spotty craft (extremely high strikeout rate which scouting would need to suss out for context and importance). But it'll be exciting to see him either way.

Of course this is where scouting complements the numbers - if he is closing his eyes and hitting mistakes (because he could very well be the Patriots starting RB), while being completely unable to handle junk ... that alone is enough to slow-roll him. He has been making outs at a little lower rate than Salem, but obviously plenty good. This is where the types of outs matter and how he is getting to his production and his failures. The data is very good - now the smart people have to look and make some conclusions.

at the major league level i tend to agree with you ... not making consistent contact against lower level guys is at least an indicator that he might not have been as "ready" as Benintendi to make a leap.

Another tweet said the White Sox put in a claim on him (Bob Nightengale reported) and lost - so an NL team or an even worse AL team get first crack. Still more likely deal goes down in offseason when there is a larger pool of trade partners.