sk7326

Also, with the revised draft bonus rules, the international signing caps and the Japanese posting system - the sports created a giant incentive to go hog wild over Cuban players. It's the one cohort (so long as they remain free agents) which you could buy no strings attached.

About $2M per year above the expected bid range ... typical "winner's curse" stuff. IIRC there were four or five alleged suitors.

Tying homerun, 8th inning, Game 4 ... correct otherwise

I know there are some sort of "legit medical" reasons they have to nominally prove i guess if it came down to it (union would surely file a grievance if he is on the DL forever without merit) ... but you take the DL stink, add a 30 day rehab assignment. This probably gives them 1-2 months of cover without poking the (union) bear.

Sometimes you make a perfect pitch (2001 Game 7) and the guy puts in somewhere the fielders aren't ... there will always be blips.

He's been fine - most of the opportunities have been on the easier side.

You're right of course. SSS does prevail - after all they have a homerun/flyball rate which is almost double that of the worst team last season. But how can the internet subsist without SSS based hot takes? Come on in!

1. Starting Pitching 75% 2. Starting Pitching 20% 3. Starting Pitching 5% For all the hemming and hawing about Farrell (some deserved, and some I've done) they are on a 926 run pace, which would be 35 more runs than the Jays last year (and the Jays were the only team to score 770 runs). No starter has gotten through the 7th inning. The bullpen has not been good, yes - but they are being asked to lift way way too much right now. There have been struggles at catcher, but the defense has largely been pretty good - it would be hard to put much of the run prevention issues on them.

Soxprospects did say that - and it made sense given he was acquired to convert to catcher. That said, these places (and baseball america, espn etc) all thought he could stay behind the plate. Had good stolen base numbers and is a good athlete. (most of the guys who have to leave the positions are not) It's more likely a young Mauer-like athlete can figure out the stuff at the plate than a DH in waiting. I think at this point giving him some time to be comfortable is all you can do - and if that means doing so in Pawtucket, fine. Right now the pitching staff is giving up more line drives than anybody, is in the top 5 for fly balls, dead last in ground ball rate. The Sox also have the 3rd highest homerun/FB rate. So right now this has been target practice for opponents, and Jason Varitek coming from the heavens to call fastball after fastball ain't going to fix that.

Neither of our teams are good enough to worry about playoff rotations.

In order 1. Perhaps. He was clearly rushed up due to a pile of injuries. While his makeup portend to him figuring this out, giving him more reps is a totally reasonable position. Indeed, you don't want the defense to muck up his ability to develop offensively, which is supposed to be his special sauce. 2. No. He was performing well in the minors - this is not like Kyle Schwarber or Jesus Montero where it really looked like people were lying to themselves. Clearly reps would help. 3. Nothing currently justifies this. He's young, his bat has not been amazing - his success is built on being a catcher. It was known that he was raw in areas but has picked up a lot. But AAA makes sense as the next move to me. If Vasquez is ready to go, Swihart getting the demotion would make sense - some high profile non-performance clearly is helping nobody but sports talk ratings.

Well Papi and (hopefully) Ramirez have cracks at saving us

Power among the last things to develop. In any event, Machado is an MVP caliber talent (and would be more if he were playing SS, which he is capable). Also, "develop into" is a tough term relative to the two. While Bogaerts is still very young, Machado is only 3 months older. There is a lot of growth left for both.

Bat yes, Glove no

He's had 2 days off. I think sometimes Farrell thinks Tazawa is made of titanium ... so some time off was good.

Nice thing is Ross and Ramirez being able to give the bullpen some rest so Farrell can go to Tazawa-Uehara-Kimbrel now

Might have made more sense to hold Young for Swihart - but it's early.

At-least robot ball and strikes.

It probably helps. It's not a Fortune 100 company or a real job - but it is one of the most competitive industries on earth. Takes a certain drive, talent level and whatnot not to get to the top of the mountain, but to separate yourself from the Crash Davises. A lot of ego is tied into starting - and so not starting has to sting.

Four runs on two joey bats homers ... 1 walk, 7 strikeouts. Good strikeout and walk numbers. There is something to build on. Which neatly describes first time through the rotation.

He made 2 bad pitches to the best homerun hitter of the last five years. I'll take 30 of those outings.

I enjoyed that you are "reserving judgment" following offering a judgment.

If healthy the team can create a lot of 6-inning games. Now, Smith's arrival will be welcome so Tazawa does not drop dead from exhaustion. There is no meaningful conclusion - none - you can make from 26 innings of baseball. However, you can get a sense of whether guys look like they are overwhelmed or struggling or whatnot. - Already you can see Ramirez looks comfortable at 1B. 1984 Keith Hernandez he isn't, but he made a nice play last night, and it is clear he will not be the tsunami level disaster he was in LF - It is striking what a difference just some basic chops on the left side makes for the defensive shape as a whole. This team has the ability to be plus in 3 or 4 places and competent throughout. This team can provide the pitchers some run prevention help that was missing for large swaths of last season. I'm not sure if the LFs will get flummoxed by Fenway LF, but we can only wait and see there. - The lineup has the ability to hit their way through a lot of rough patches in the run prevention. This was I think what the vision was last season - that the team could win enough slo-pitch games while the other side of the ball was getting figured out. That did not come to fruition early enough and then when it did come it was too late. The loss to Cleveland was a bit of a bummer, but 161-1 is still a good season.

For the most part. Revenue sharing is key. Can't really have a salary cap given the gigantic gaps in local TV money. That said, salary caps are for assuring profits than balancing competition. (the sport of baseball itself kind of does that)

A 25 man roster needs a couple of extra outfielders - Castillo is not dead.