sk7326

It is always a question with prospects, isn't it? But, I've always leaned on the adage that was true since high school. The future studs aren't guys who dominate JV, but the freshman who can play starting minutes (even as a role player) with the varsity. Moncada, Guerra are young for a full season league, Devers is younger than that. That they have had success in a full season league is very encouraging. Remember, the three guys at Greenville are all nearly 2 years younger than Benintendi ... and already have a season or two of pro experience beyond. You draft a college guy you hope to start him higher on the ladder in order to make up for that gap. Think of it another way. Sam Travis was a college 1B in a not-particularly good league (Big Ten) and started his first full season of pro ball at Salem and is now in Portland. You draft college guys for the high floor. The hope is there is less hand holding early on.

The fear will be exhuming Jim Leyland's corpse. I also disagree that a lot of questions have been answered. A guy got hired. Who has say, what the front office will be like - all of that is very much open.

Moving Boston to the AL Central of the mid-2000s?

He was - the question in Boston was could he handle the workload ... and as it turned out, largely he could. His career of arm trouble was the risk. Allowed Cherington to get him for a song.

GM choice will be key. The initial whispers of Frank Wren are profoundly troubling. Now what Dombrowski did in Detroit and Miami are indicative that he can do it both ways. He stripped the Tiggers farm dry because the Little Caesar's guy told him to. The results were solid, but we see that they are behind the rebuild 8-ball. The NY times piece on it was funny talking about how Dombrowski might shift things to a scouting driven approach instead of an analytics one. Since the Red Sox farm talent has been a non-issue, one would say that scouting has been quite good. But Dombrowski is old, and so the GM choice is the more important one. If it's somebody promising, like a Jason McLeod or somebody from the Cardinals shop, that is one thing. If it is a warmed over mystery meat like Wren, that is another entirely.

Perhaps - although I suspect the injury might have miraculously healed if the standings were different.

If he could just produce league average OBP, he'd be an above average starting CF. I don't expect the guy we're seeing now to last - but he has the tools and approach to at least be acceptable given the D.

Oh I wouldn't worry about it - the guys who are down there have not played tough competition beyond high school (or the equivalent). Big time college baseball is a step up from big time high school baseball - that does not seem controversial. It's fine for guys out of high school for sure ... but the SEC is the best baseball league in the country. You hope the player of the year from that conference (especially a bat) is at a higher starting point. Orienting him at Greenville is fine of course.

Shaw has had a nice couple of weeks. Not sure he is a 1B solution, but he could be part of one.

If defending him publicly for the rest of this season is the best move for the team clubhousewise, then I do get it. We know that John Valentin was deemed the everyday shortstop right until he wasn't. If pulling Ramirez from LF hurts the manager's credibility with the guys for instance, then it makes sense not to. That's all. We know that position switches, as silly as they are, can sometimes require international diplomacy and whatnot. I am not going to necessarily fault however it gets handled. There is plenty of time to make the decision. Longer term I am pretty sure Bradley is going to play CF for somebody next season. There is still far more evidence he cannot hit big league pitching than otherwise, but obviously the past week and change has been encouraging. We've noted before, if Bradley can be a .310 OBP with that glove, that is a quality starter.

I don't disagree - and if there is a good college arm, I'd suspect they'd be game too. Until recently, the draft positions have not been that favorable to find that sort of arm talent (it tends to go pretty quickly) ... I don't know enough about the 2016 crop right now. Clearly the 2015 crop was weak, considering how many college bats (usually your least sexy of the cohorts) went early.

Indeed - but then so are arms drafted into the system (prep arms at least).

If he's putting up a .322 wOBA he is causing tremendous damage at either position. As far as playing 1B now - you can argue it either way. There is plenty of time for a position change, and if a guy is not comfortable taking the test cold, it is hard to blame him. That said, keeping him in LF is a good argument for rotating Betts between CF and RF based on when Bradley plays, to maximize the amount of help Ramirez can get. We know the Red Sox in days of yore shaded Damon or Crisp or Ellsbury and whomever towards Manny to help babysit him. So something like that is doable. Trick is the bat still has to play, and that is particularly concerning.

As well as he should ... SEC player of the year faced better competition in college than he saw at Lowell (and to a great extent will see at Greenville) ....

Right - and, fyi xFIP makes a leap about homerun luck which may or may not be true ... I tend to agree with Fangraphs that xFIP while useful might be a bridge too far right now.

Like this one ... http://soxprospects.com/players/espinoza-anderson.htm

The bat doesn't make up for the poor fielding - but it could (and that has been the bigger issue). It doesn't matter how it looks to us, it matters how it looks to the other guys. Whether the coaches are defending a fraud, or backing a guy who has put up with a lot of crap. (I don't know what the clubhouse answer is to that)

A lot of what has worked for Francona as a leader is that he is a good guy. Obviously not the entirety of what has made him among the very top of the list of managers, but a significant factor.

He also had several years more of practice as well as being an AL guy all the way (which matters a bit less since he was a RF in Cleveland) ... Hanley's first year in LF has been awful. The bat is what makes the whole package irredeemable. Also, watching the games doesn't exempt having seven years in the past clouded by the fact that he brought a lot to the total package.

He was also terrible on the road, and forced Ellsbury or Damon to effectively play two positions at the same time.

I think DiPoto is in to do self scouting - give an independent assessment of the roster.

It is amazing how the flaws turn into eccentricities when the guy, say, hit more than a measly 9 or 10 doubles

If he is this poor offensively, there aren't many places they can play him

I do enjoy the thread - it is hard not to think Doj wants the Red Sox to go through a Houston Astros rebuild and play Sean Coyle a lot while still charging fans the highest prices in baseball. But I digress. Some specific issues. 1. Pedroia was one of the Top 20 position players in baseball as recently as 2013. He was still a 4-win player last season. He has had some nagging injuries which have prevented him from being the MVP-level guy he was in 2008-2011. Even last year, with his physical issues he was the 8th best 2nd baseman in the majors. He has dropped off from being one of the league's top regulars - to merely being a very good one. This year, before the hamstring thing, his bat clearly looked to be back. 2. One surmises that the hamstring would have been miraculous cured if the Red Sox were in a more favorable position in the standings. 3. I defended Brock Holt's inclusion in the All-Star game - he was not the best choice for the Red Sox representative, but he was not a bad one. But Pedroia, five years older than Holt - is a better player right now, in virtually any level of health. 4. If you were to move Pedroia, you would not get equal value back. If your thread said trading Pedroia could be our Herschel Walker deal or whatever ... that would be coherent (I'd disagree, but it would be coherent). Trading Pedroia for the sake of it, or being afraid he won't last - does not make sense. Given the way the contract is structured, it is actually quite unlikely that Pedroia will become an albatross. But that is miles away from saying he could bring back a great prospect haul commesurate to what he means to the Sox. Plus, I like him. 5. If Pedroia got dealt, it wouldn't be to promote Holt. It would be to perhaps make room for Moncada, or to turn Betts into a Ben Zobrist Swiss-army knife. So, in summary - you would not get equal value for Pedroia. Pedroia is still really damn good (even when he has been hampered physically) and if you did deal him, it wouldn't be to free up space for Brock Holt. Aside from that, I agree with you.

I don't think so - that it was a ball put in play was sufficient to affect FIP