sk7326

Right - while it is good to deal with tough pitches by going the other way ... the better way is laying off the pitches and forcing them to give you something to drive.

To get to 106, they have to go 8-10. I don't think it's an either/or. Really the question should be asked once the magic number is exhausted.

ARod is a giant dork - which works on the broadcast.

Unlike 2014 - the team has handled Devers exactly right ... bat him low in the lineup and let him learn. Now later in the season platoon him a bit with other guys ... it has been good they have not jerked around his playing time.

Yeah I can see that - though I never liked his stuff. Guys with that velo should miss more bats.

I think he's good athlete and it's harder to find good 3B than good 1B - so you stick it out and give him a chance. I agree there. And obviously Devers has a higher ceiling than their other 3B prospects ...

The best reason to move Devers to 1B is if a superior option shows up - and you have to project some improvement with Devers (not just because he is young, but because he has had a habit of conquering levels given time). Now 3B is the org's best position - and the most likely place for a legit stud to show up.

Moreland is a placeholder until a superior option announces itself - if he's a full time starter, we did it wrong. There was not a superior option this year so Dombrowski traded for a platoon partner to optimize the situation.

He's been one of the top 20-30 players this year. He's been the 3rd best Red Sox hitter overall, and their 2nd best baserunner. Now the season would look sexier with 25 HRs, but 79 RBIs and nearly 100 runs scored is nothing to sneeze at. I mean it's kind of a middle class version of Jose Altuve - who wouldn't want that?

I don't think it's 100%. But I think if this were a life and death struggle, Sale would have pitched more.

Devers is younger than the 3rd pick in the 2018 MLB draft. That he did not explode this year is not a surprise. His trajectory is still super encouraging. Defensively he needs to improve - but if he doesn't it's not a big deal. His bat plays at 1B and 3B is probably the org's biggest strength as far as position players go. Casas might be the org's #1 prospect generally Chavis profiles there Dalbec has shown he can defend the position well - question is whether he can make enough contact to play

Pomeranz - this is easy There were first rounders in this past draft younger than Devers. No reason for it to be a straight road.

i'm worried about every team that qualifies - all it takes is a slightly better or slightly worse run of pitching.

The Sox knew they were giving up a premium prospect. At the same time, I think Dombrowski - not unreasonably - decided that the high variability that comes with an 18 year old pitcher in Single A was enough reason to cash him in to help the major league club who had a division to win. I did not love the move - but my disagreement is more in the "I disagree, but I get where he's coming from, and his view is pretty reasonable" vs "What the heck is that guy doing?"

Top 20 fWAR 2014-2018 pitchers 1. Clayton Kershaw (High School) 2. Corey Kluber (College) 3. Chris Sale (College) 4. Max Scherzer (College) 5. Jacob DeGrom (College) 6. David Price (College) 7. Zack Greinke (High School) 8. Justin Verlander (College) 9. Jake Arrieta (College) 10. Carlos Carrasco (Intl) 11. Stephen Strasburg (College) 12. Jose Quintana (Intl) 13. Gerrit Cole (College) 14. Jon Lester (High School) 15. Chris Archer (High School) 16. Dallas Kuechel (College) 17. Madison Bumgarner (High School) 18. Johnny Cueto (Intl) 19. Cole Hamels (High School) 20. Trevor Bauer (College) 11 of the top 20 here were college players. Of the 6 high schoolers - only Lester and Archer were not drafted in the first round. So there seems to be a slight bias to college success here - much more stark trend at the top of the list. The physical maturity matters. College kids in general are safer, but the upside for college pitchers is still really high, especially compared to say college middle field prospects.

At this point the additional 20-30 innings of value is a lot to overcome. This is like the Beckett-Sabbathia race of 2007. Beckett in a lot of ways was better but Sabbathia pitched more than 40 more innings and you can't ignore that.

I think if the Red Sox needed Sale to start, he would have. It was one of the perks of being 50 games above .500

Booo!!! Scouting the stat line, boo!!!!! There are reasons to be skeptical of Espinoza - but the stat line ain't it. He struck out 100 guys in 108 innings as the league's youngest regular. He did not dominate the level you'd expect "the next pedro" to do - but he was very good and still very much profiled as a potential top of the rotation sort.

I think he is a very strong candidate for a 1-year prove it deal.

fWAR leaders among position players 2014-2018 1. Mike Trout (High School) 2. Mookie Betts (High School) 3. Jose Altuve (Intl) 4. Josh Donaldson (College) 5. Paul Goldschmidt (College) 6. Giancarlo Stanton (High School) 7. Manny Machado (High School) 8. Freddie Freeman (High School) 9. Anthony Rendon (College) 10. Kris Bryant (College) 11. Joey Votto (College) 12. Anthony Rizzo (High School) 13. Nolen Arenado (High School) 14. Lorenzo Cain (High School) 15. Francisco Lindor (High School) 16. Bryce Harper (High School) 17. Christian Yelich (High School) 18. Buster Posey (College) 19. Justin Turner (College) 20. Matt Carpenter (College) Some conclusions If you want a catcher or a corner infielder, largely who cares - 7 of the 11 guys on this list went to college. (Carpenter was drafted as a 3B - though he has played 2B in the majors) Anybody else, high school was very much dominated. Teams have definitely wanted to get elite athletes as young as possible - and it makes sense. Pitchers are much more college biased - the physical maturity just matters so much there.

I did not love the trade when it happened. At the same time, I get Dombrowski's calculation. He traded a very high variability player for a decent big leaguer. Now I don't think he predicted that Espinoza would basically lose 2 full seasons. But he was a prospect who was still at single-A, did not have a mature body, and largely had not created great results with his stuff. Would you make the deal now? The idea would be trading an albatross for a lottery ticket. I don't think Pomeranz is an albatross yet.

It's baseball - no need to overthink it. The Astros are PROBABLY the favorite because of the best starting rotation. But again, it's also who can get hot for 3 weeks ... and even a 70 win team can do that. As I've noted before there has never been a team which I'd take in a "bet vs the field".

Lindor is a better player than Bogaerts. Bogaerts has had an outstanding year, and if this is his level that is a darn good player. Not Lindor, but again almost nobody else is either.

it's nice when you can grip the bat properly ...

i think the bullpen is very much in the air. I think the bench is much more a function of how many job openings there really are. (put another way, if we carry 11 pitchers - there will be a position ... if we carry 12, it's moot)