sk7326

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.

The org had a distinct surplus of Luis A Basabes.

Moncada has struck out in 30% of his PAs in Portland. If they don't think he can hit big league pitching in a PH role, then if he comes up it's as a PR specialist (which I think is possible).

Hedge against Benintendi - and if they can get him for a relative sack of potatoes, worth a look.

I think they can do both without much difficulty. The Price signing was solid - you pay a bit more to win an auction (it is why almost all UFA deals are losers), and the contract is written in a way that the commitment is much less than the headline number (especially if Price pitches well). And Price has had a tricky transition year which while uneven has not done anything to reasonably lower optimism that he will perform well in 2017 or 2018 (at least). The Kimbrel trade was not one I liked, but one I got. The prospects were blocked to a degree, and Kimbrel was best in class with some team control. Now personally, I don't think the marginal difference between Kimbrel and somebody average was all that much (a commentary on the job, not the pitchers) - but they got a good pitcher back. The Pomeranz trade is one I thought was expensive, but again - low level (on the farm) pitching is so volatile compared to crackerjack position players that if you can help get young quality controlled talent to the major league level, you have to listen. San Diego had to love the deal because you just don't get Espinoza's sort of ceiling every day, and that is fine when you are as far from being good as they are. There is a chance this ends up like the Beckett deal where Espinoza ends up an elite guy by 2020, and people on forums this will whine about how we can't develop quality pitching and let good guys go - although the major league value Pomeranz could deliver might end up being quite good. I've mellowed on this deal some for sure.

Budgets are budgets - money allocated on the Red Sox (as opposed to media properties, or Six Flags Fenway or whatever). And like any business, the Sox operate with a budget in mind - the number that corresponds to the amount of money the owners want to spend on the team. Now in their business evaluation, Lester was just not worth the money, and Scherzer was not either (now these evals were made before Dombrowski took the wheel). Now if they wanted those pitchers, they could have looked to raise the budget. The revenue streams that a team with a low debt ballpark and a TV channel that is available anywhere someone has cable - are vast and can support a budget increase. If the Red Sox make decisions not to sign someone - or not to pay luxury tax - it is a choice. It is not because it would put the ownership to the felt or anything even close.

Moncada has also struck out in 30% of his plate appearances in Portland. I suspect if you want a stat that is what is keeping him from being a serious option for the rest of this season (and maybe not even opening day 2017). I think there is a good chance he gets added as a Quintin Berry-Dave Roberts pinch runner though. His numbers at AA were better than Benintendi - but the other indicators are that a lot of that has been done with athletic superiority and not necessarily craft.

Best era in Red Sox history that involved non-white players being eligible. Anything else?

You are right - I misread. I was still thinking about whether it "lost the game", which (technically) it didn't.

August has been rough - but the other months have been fine - I would bet against a .237 BABIP persisting

I think Dombrowski had enough clout that he would not have arrived without some significant assurances in that direction. I suspect Cherington had far less of a mandate ... and obviously Epstein had his own turf wars

Inning ended tied. And the Sox left runners at 2nd in the 9th and 10th. It is a micro version of the 1986 thing - despite the horror, there was still another chance to save the season. (and as 1975 showed, it's certainly possible to recover from such a stomach punch)

I agree with your argument (I was pro firing Grady for it). But even with that, the Red Sox never lost the lead ... and stranded runners in scoring position in each of the next 2 innings.

He has done it both ways (raising kids, doing big money things) - ultimately he will use the levers ownership gives him access to. He will trade anything he does not see as a star - which is exactly how a big market team should act. Now, I have individual quibbles with his judgment calls on prospects and what they got in return, but his larger philosophy is sound. And - unlike the previous regime, we know exactly who is making the final call.

if you pick up his option - it is not to be a trade chip, you have to hope he can help us. And I do think he can largely.