sk7326

Gomes' beard looks very sloppy. Napoli and Ross, really just crazy Santa-thick at this point. Birds have to be living in them.

Nomar *cough cough* ... so you get a veteran guy as a hedge. Good news is the team is pretty good - so it's not like he has to be their best player. He just has to be at least as good as Drew - which is not unreasonable.

I was starving for an answer for the additional pitcher after De La Rosa ... lot of choices, none amazing. In the playoffs, a team has to choose 25 players for a round, and if a guy is replaced during the round - he cannot come back for 2 rounds. So an ALDS injury = stay on roster or not eligible to return until WS. But the Red Sox have 32 playoff eligible players. Now to shift them from round to round - I believe- normal rules for options and such (like moving guys in the regular season) are still in place.

I'd have no problem giving Napoli a QO though ... his production is completely justifiable for the price and a 1-year hitch. Downside is that there might be a superior option on the open market - but no THAT many.

Well what does "get it done" mean? If we are talking about being their best player next season - yeah, that ain't happening. If you are talking about approximating Stephen Drew's production - that is pretty possible, although it might take a while. I agree there is the "good prospect who was effective in a small sample" pitfall. At the same time there is the "guy who has been good at levels he was very young for" thing - which almost never misses. If you are going to bet on a kid to pick stuff up quickly, it's a 20 going on 21 year old who already has a strong track record of figuring out how to play with grownups. Bogaerts is a long bet - but his track record is MUCH more favorable than Iglesias' was.

I am not sure if the new CBA allows sign and trades - I need to read more about that. That is the rub. That said, is $14M a risk worth taking for a sandwich pick? Boras is the game's best agent - he knows that the QO is Drew's best chance to maximize his income in the long term. $14M (and I just use that since last year's QO number was $13.3 so assume the average went up) for a part timer is a lot of money. I think Bogaerts has shown enough in his tour here that they should let him grow into the gig and give him regular ABs. (if anything that has been the disappointing thing about the decision to promote him - although I think Middlebrooks ended up screwing up everyone's plans on that front)

Considering the huge win at Tampa last night - the Red Sox took a large step towards clinching a postseason berth. As such - I feel better about looking towards the playoffs. The final playoff roster: Pitchers (13): Breslow, Britton, Dempster, Doubront, Lackey, Lester, Morales, Peavy, Tazawa, Thornton, Uehara, Workman, Buchholz Catchers (2): Ross, Saltalamacchia Infielders (6): Boegaerts, Drew, Middlebrooks, Napoli, Pedroia, Snyder Outfielders (5): Carp, Ellsbury, Gomes, Nava, Victorino DH (1): Ortiz Free Slots (5): Bailey, Hanrahan, Miller, Wilson, Kalish ========================================================================================= Some questions I'd be curious to discuss 1. Who do you think makes sense for the free slots? These are guys who were in the organization as of August 31 - they were not postseason eligible but because of the season ending injuries noted - they can be added on. This doesn't mean they make the 25 man roster for a given series - but they are among the pool of people that can be chosen. My guess: Lavarnway, Berry, Bradley, De La Rosa, Wright 2. How many pitchers do we carry for a series? 12 or 11. If 11, seems Buchholz, Peavy, Lester, Lackey, Breslow, Tazawa, Workman, Uehara are locks. What about the other positions?

Win was huge - basically clinches our position over Tampa. Even if we lose the next 2, Tampa is still 6.5 games back with 14 games to go. That two game swing earned last night should be enough (barring the usual) to win the division though the math won't shake down for a while.

Well, as far as who starts Game 1. For Detroit, Verlander-Scherzer is a legitimate argument ... Scherzer is the clear choice based on 2013 output, but Verlander has a much stronger track record for managing the workload. I'd go with Verlander myself though it's a 50-50 choice. For Boston it's much the same question - Lester's steady durability vs Buchholz actually being a lot better but with less certainty about pitching twice in an ALDS setting. It's a 50-50 call there too, but those are the only choices to me.

Magic Number formula 2nd place team has X losses ... suppose they win out, they have 162-X wins. 1st place team has to win 162-X+1 games to win the division (162-X+1) - (number of wins 1st place team currently has) = Magic Number. Obviously when 2nd place team loses, X goes up - and then a team wins their current wins goes up. So both drive the magic number down.

Obviously Buchholz needs to be stretched out more. At the same time, clearly he could have pitched another inning without much effort. I think he should be able to get to the normal output by October. Honestly, last night could not have gone any better.

Short answer on Drew: He would almost undoubtedly jump at a Qualifying Offer ... Which is the best reason for the Red Sox not to offer him one.

This is one of the cases where Ellsbury wants to get back on the field, both for his next contract as well as this season. If he misses time it's because it's a real problem. For a guy with a reputation of "not exactly indestructible", playing with some level of nicks and dents is something he'd want to show to keep his FA star shining.

About the best news possible all things considered ... Magic Number 12 for the division, 10 for a playoff spot. Better get his time off now - and Bradley and Victorino can cover it defensively.

With a four month hole at 3B for sure. To be fair, Pedroia has not had an MVP level year like 2008, 2011 but this year is right in line with a typical good Pedroia season (and more or less in line with what the various prediction services predicted). He is still a major plus - bit less power than 2012 but much more consistency.

The question to me is about simply a guy with a significant developed major league talent. Brian Daubach had at least that much going for him (hitting righties) - while Morgan Burkhardt did not. Daniel Nava has an advanced approach and can hit right handed pitching. The question was could he upgrade the rest of his game to "acceptable" to let the good stuff shine through. The catchers are an interesting place to go - and if one of them had some elite glove in them, that would go a long way to being one of those guys.

It's not quite as good an attack as 2003 (where the #8 hitter won the batting title and the #9 hitter hit 24 homeruns) ... but it has been it's equal for sheer depth and difficulty to negotiate.

Easy call - Lester is a clear $15-$16M a year guy in this baseball economy. One of the league's most reliable starters - it is nice to not have to worry about one spot in the rotation. I could quibble that he is not amazing - but quality bulk is still very hard to find.

With Middlebrooks coming back rejuvenated (yes he is not going to be an onbase machine but he should be able to be at least his 2012 self going forward) the lineup has 9 tough outs in it - where the lesser guys still have good approaches. The Sox will not have shortage of scoring chances - runs usually follow.

We weren't going to go unbeaten. We had no business almost winning yesterday - took a rally to do even THAT. We were bound to lose here and there.

The Red Sox have not flat run out of healthy pitchers this time around. Our rotation is healthy and the bullpen is in solid shape. I am not worried about the playoffs - just a seed.

I saw the Aaron Boone homerun - I saw the ball roll through Buckner's legs - and then lose Game 7 to boot! (as an 8 year old) There was Bucky Dent when I was too young to notice. When Boone hit the homerun it was the first time I thought they would NEVER win. That said, that was all before two titles in 5 years, one in literally the sweetest way possible. Honestly after 2007 - and hell, the courageous almost comeback in 2008, I stopped having my summahs ruined. The collapse in 2011 was bad (and thank God I don't live in Boston anymore for something like that) but it is hard to have any sort of moral authority to whine anymore. As Bob Ryan said, the last decade of sports in Boston is the good old days of the future for folks my age. It is hard to get that crushed or angered by the non-victories.

Scouts in the industry seem optimistic that there is a 50/50 or better shot he can stay at SS, so I am optimistic. It's not the height that inspires curiosity so much as the possibility he could add 30 pounds of muscle on a still-developing body and whether THAT could make him more 3B than SS material. But I am optimistic that it will be a non-issue for a while at least and that his bad could by that time play at whichever position no problemo.

The prize for a declined QO is nice but not amazing now (a sandwich pick) - of the guys mentioned I'd expect only Ellsbury to get a QO, though Napoli is possible. The others to me are offers that are begging to be accepted. Salty I think the Sox work out a longer term deal - he is a useful catcher who could use a platoon partner but otherwise not bad - and honestly Swihart is a ways away and Lavarnway is better off reinventing himself as a DH-1B. Napoli at 1/14 would not be bad - a mild overpay but not a long term hitch.

X is a 6'2, 190 lb 20 year old ... I think any considerations of moving him are in the longer term. The question is whether he will get too big for the position - considering his frame there is a chance to get a lot stronger. It will be a challenge for him potentially to maintain the agility to be able to play SS at a decent level as his body fills out.