Emp9

I realize that. I only mean that if he finishes strong... he could go from lower-bottom garbage to top-tier garbage. I meant Rich Hill on the other. I think some team offers him at least a 2 year contract. He'll also have to finish strong (may start this Wed. for LA). Could we see a $24M/2yr contract for Rich Hill? too much? Too little?

6'-6" Lefties take time to develop mostly because of their frame. Pomeranz at age 23 was pretty bad too. 2-9, 4.93, 14 HR in 22 games. His age 24 season was worse. Started showing signs of life (age 25 season) in 2014. Only now, at age 27, he's showing a nice return and even an all-star. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pomerdr01.shtml I know Owens has been in our system forever, but he's still only 23. There's time yet for him. It still might take years for him to put it all together, but I wouldn't totally write him off.

I think it's a no-go regardless at this point, but yeah I'd have looked for him to be our 7th inning guy.

I didn't mean Pap would take Kimbrel's spot as closer.... I meant take Taz's spot or if Koji doesn't come back strong. It looks unlikely that we'll pick him up now anyways so.

Is that $5M or 10M total?

Considering the pitching market this off-season, if Buchholz pitches well from here on out (big if), there could be a possibility picking up his option then using him as a trade piece later next year. Even at his lowest point this season teams were still interested in him. We'll see how things unfold. I'm also fine with his buyout and we could use all the money on hand to start giving guys like Betts and XB contract extensions.

"You can see the Matt Carpenter-esque sort of offensive profile ..." I hope steals more bases than that tho:)

What do you think Hill will sign for this off-season?

I saw him @Tri-City Aug. 1st. Got some video. He went 1-4 w/ 2rbi. I'm pretty sure he DH'd that game. His # was 44, now it's #37.

Despite Paps recent performances, I'm still curious to see what he could give us.

I'm sure I already mentioned my point(s) about his possible value & other scenarios above.

ok. my bad. $6.75M. It's just a number. Maybe a team pays all of it. I'm being conservative here.

I know... I'm not ecstatic about it either. I bet that whole FA SP list gets way more than they deserve. We won't be the only team that gets suckered. Here's a what if.... what if a team could pick up Buchholz for no more than $6.5M on that FA list? How many teams would be interested you think? That's where I think we may have some room for optimism concerning Buch's option.

As far as this season goes, that's really not saying much. You like that list? I sure don't. Rich Hill is the best one on there, and still a huge injury risk. Not of huge fan of Colby Lewis.... he's had a lucky year. Who do you like over Buch on that list?

I feel that Beni is holding his own. I'm fully aware he's a rookie.

If picking-up Buch's option seems like the smart play for management to make I'll go along with it. I would prefer picking up his option, depending on if his trade value continues to rise, then trade him as part of a package to upgrade our rotation. A team that likes Buch, (and they do exist btw even as bad as he's been this season we had talk of takers), take on half his salary, plus the usual suspects as far as our prospects go ( Swihart, Devers, etc..) for a totr sp. SO, if it would help us upgrade our rotation in a round about way, I'd be all for it. Another thing to consider is the continued horrible FA SP market. There's not even a Marco Estrada in the bunch this upcoming off-season. If there are any FA SPs that fellow posters here would rather take a chance on instead of picking up Buchholz's remaining option, I'm all ears. Seriously. Then of course, the Sox, like every team, have to consider next season's injuries. It's almost impossible to go through a whole season with out injuries to your starting rotation. Would it be worth having Buchholz around in case of the inevitable? These are the same questions I had last time the Sox went with Buchholz's option. I've never been a huge fanboy of his, it's just that outside circumstances are relevant in deciding such things. It does seem like we're stuck in the same situation we were in last year on this topic, unfortunately.

Shiiit, I'm pretty happy right now. Plus, we already reached our Panic Move Quota for the season anyhow (Pomeranz) to some extent (I personally would've held pat two more weeks). Let's see what this winter brings when the clock isn't ticking.

I'm half curious who was in that trade that never happened... the other half is too scared to ask. lol

I'm of the opinion that "Plan A" would've been the Panic Move. Trading your '15 Top Ten pick plus two others for 2 months of Beltran... yikes.

But hold on a minute.... height & weight aren't considered tools? /s/

Moncada's basic fielding stats:

The older the dog, the harder it is to teach new tricks. What's easier for one may not be that easy for another in every case. I don't hold it against him.

I can't speak to what he's done this year, but last year Moncada's actual Range was great, but he had trouble completing plays after great stops on hard or difficult balls to get to. I'm not sure how much I would count those early errors towards his ... Permanent Record for lack of a better term. How has he fared on errors this season? I'd have to look it up. Been paying attention to the draft, Beni, the trades, & the Sox as a whole, & my fantasy team... Hard to keep track of everybody. And I agree, errors aren't everything, alot of things factor into an error and it can be subjective to the scorer, besides being the lowest common denominator when judging a fielder's abilities. Not to mention one of the only/few things that stand out.

Have a hunch our 2017 DH will be a mixture of HanRam/Shaw(if not traded)/Panda. Moncada has prior 3B experience, & I read this morning Sox Org may not feel it neccessary for Moncada to play 3B in a game before being promoted. His pregame work at 3B may be enough. Working on things he knows, but also on things he's never actually worked on and they're fine-tuning his footwork. Exciting times... not because I think either Beni or Moncada will be the next Trout, but just on the basis that the caliber of homegrown position players we'll be putting on the field for years to come is just amazing. Even HanRam is technically homegrown. Longterm, if we find away to drop some payroll from some bad FA/International signings & work on our pitching staff, we cld be a great team for a long time.

Unless that's something new or some new rule change, he doesn't instantly lose a year of team control. A year of service time is 172 days on the 25 man. It's August. I think it also depends on how much service time is accrued over the first 3 years in the situation that say he gets sent back down for whatever reason. Dec. 1st 2016 is the next CBA and the rules may change then. Unless I'm missing something...