moonslav59

On pins and needles about who goes to make room for Richards. (Not!)

Some will end up signing minor league deals. Maybe a few get no deals or retire.

I have to wonder what sort of great deals (for the teams) are going to be done, last minute. Maybe that is what Bloom is doing... waiting it out.

Wow! That's like 2 weeks!

It did seem like the accepted role for EHern was 2B with maybe a little time in CF, but the more I look at the defensive skillset of EHern and how having him play CF also improves the defense in LF and CF and maybe 2B, depending on who plays there, it makes sense to add a 2Bman not a CF'er. I'm not sure if Schoop will be cheaper than Pillar, but if they are close to equal, I'd take Schoop, easily.

Well, EHern is better in CF than 2B and is a plus defender in CF.

I don't think many Sox fans would tolerate his sub .675 OPS.

.985 home .793 away

That could end up happening, or he could help lead us to the playoffs.

Wong or Schoop is a better fit, but Wong might cost too much.

I think Moreland would come back. Pillar, too.

Good point, but the #27-#40 guys are often your top 26 guys, next year or the year after. I would also argue the bottom of our 26 man roster is weaker than usual, especially for a team spending in the top 5 in MLB.

I get it. The Braves might actually do that trade. They have such a deep and strong 40 man roster that freeing up 3 slots allows them some roster flexibility.

Also, we have options on Richards, Perez, Vaz & Andriese after this season. (You did not list Richards or Perez.) We may also lose Bogey after 2022. For the most part, only ERod and Vaz look to leave gaping holes. If Richards and Ottavino do well, they may be hard to replace at the dollars they cost us, this year. Lux Tax Dollars Off the Books: after 2021: 13.75 Pedey 10.00 Richards (option) 8.925 Ottavino 8.300 ERod 4.517 Vaz (option) 5.000 Perez (option) 4.500 Barnes 2.100 Andriese (option) after 2022 22.0 Martinez 20.0 Bogaerts (player opt out) 17.0 Eovaldi 10.0 Richards (if option taken) 7.00 EHern 6.00 Beni 5.00 Vaz (if option taken) 5.00 Perez (if option taken) 2.10 Andriese (if option taken) 1.60 Plawecki

In theory, with the Sox roster being so weak near the bottom 10-15 players on the 40 man roster, a one for four deal makes sense, especially if all 4 players have as much or more years of team control as Devers has, but it's always hard to agree to part with such a special talent as Devers. It was hard enough resigning myself to the loss of Betts, and we could be looking at a Bogey opt out pretty soon. I'm open to any trade ideas, but it doesn't mean I agree with all the value ratings the BTV site assigns. There are several Sox players I think are overvalued, like Chavis.

Devers was called up a year younger and had a shortened 2020 season to deal with. Of course, there is always a risk a player never lives up to the projected prime year bell chart curve, as Pablito never did. I'm putting my money of Devers to end up blowing Sandoval's career numbers sky-high.

Maybe a 1 year deal with a buy-out option year like Perez.

I'm not sure we'd even want to spread out his lux hit, even if we could have. Let's bite the bullet and spend away, next winter.

The BTV site would not approve this trade, because they think the Sox would be getting too much for Devers (55.3). It would approve a deal without Riley (19.5) or Muller (12.5). Waters is rated as 37.5. Add Beni (5.3) and Inciarte (-9.4) to the deal, and it is accepted. It's actually not a bad deal. I must admit, I don't know much about Riley, but if the Braves are really looking for a 3Bman, it makes me wonder why his rating is 19.5. I'd also be worried waters may not pan out like his rating suggests, but this trade would be interesting. (I'd try to get them to add Wright and maybe take back Pivetta.)

I can't see a team offering enough for me to be okay with trading Devers. I still think he is going to improve and maybe even vastly improve- both on O and D.

Every suggested Vaz trade I have made on the BTV site involves us getting back a catcher, most of whom I believe are better handling the pitching staff than Vaz, but I am no expert on other team's players. I would never trade Vaz while counting on Plawecki and Wong to be our only catchers of note.

Pedroia will still be paid his $12MM salary in the upcoming season, and his $13.3MM average annual value will count against the luxury tax for the Red Sox.

Here is a comp of the better of the two OPS (career or 2019-2020) of the Sox with or without Schoop at 2B: With Schoop: v R .830 Verdugo RF .821 Beni LF .754 Schoop 2B (.833 Arroyo) .687 EHern CF v L .912 Renfroe LF .873 Schoop 2B .821 Verdugo RF .820 EHern CF Without Schoop: v R (.833 Arroyo? 2B) .830 Verdugo CF .821 Beni LF .717 Renfroe RF .687 EHern CF/2B (see Arroyo) v L .912 Renfroe RF .821 Verdugo CF .820 EHern 2B .778 Beni LF with Pillar (no Schoop) v R .830 Verdugo RF .821 Beni LF .687 EHern 2B (.833 Arroyo?) .685 Pillar CF (.687 EHern?) v L .912 Renfroe LF .821 Verdugo RF .820 EHern 2B .784 Pillar CF .

Just sign Schoop and solve 4 problems at once: 1. Solidify the LF Beni-Renfroe platoon and improve the LF defense a little. 2. Keep Verdugo in RF near FT and improve RF defense over having Renfroe out there. 3. Improve CF defense by playing EHern there, instead of Verdugo. 4. Improve 2B offense while not hurting 2B defense. vs RHP .821 Beni (.740 from 2019-2020) .810 Verdugo (.830) .754 Schoop (.753) .740 Chavis (.740) .717 Renfroe (.699) .678 Pillar (.685) .678 Arroyo (.833) .673 EHern (.687) vs LHP .912 Renfroe (.879) .820 EHern (.739) .788 Verdugo (.821) .784 Pillar (.870) .726 Schoop (.873) .699 Chavis (.699) .691 Beni (.778) .597 Arroyo (.551) 2B: Schoop full time (EHern back-up) LF: Beni-Renfroe CF: EHern full time RF: Verdugo Better offense- better defense. One signing.

I'm thinking, if we sign Pillar and not a 2Bman, it would mean EHern would be the primary 2Bman. The OF would be like this: LF: Beni-Renfroe platoon CF: Pillar (EHern?) RF: Verdugo There may be days where Pillar is "rested" vs RHPs, and on those days, I suppose Verdugo would play CF, Renfroe RF and Beni LF, but they could also play EHern in CF vs most RHPs and essentially platoon Pillar and Arroyo/Chavis, although they all bat RH'd. (Note: Arroyo & Chavis both hit RHPs better than LHPs in limited ML sample sizes.) Here are the career splits: vs RHP .821 Beni (.740 from 2019-2020) .810 Verdugo (.830) .740 Chavis (.740) .717 Renfroe (.699) .678 Pillar (.685) .678 Arroyo (.833) .673 EHern (.687) vs LHP .912 Renfroe (.879) .820 EHern (.739) .788 Verdugo (.821) .784 Pillar (.870) .699 Chavis (.699) .691 Beni (.778) .597 Arroyo (.551) I think Pillar's defense outweighs the slightly better OPS by Renfroe vs RHPs to bench Pillar, but EHern's numbers and defense in CF might make a Pillar-EHern platoon in CF make some sense, while also having a EHern-Arroyo/Chavis platoon at 2B occur, at the same time. It looks like we want to avoid using Renfroe and Pillar vs RHPs. While EHern might have the lowest OPS v RHPs, his defense in CF outweighs the slight differential on offense vs Pillar/Renfroe. It looks like Arroyo should never start vs a LHP and Beni has done better vs LHPs in the last 2 seasons than earlier in his career. I might think this would be the best alignment, assuming we sign Pillar: vs RHP: 2B: Arroyo/Chavis LF: Beni CF: EHern RF: Verddugo vs LHP: 2B: EHern LF: Renfroe CF: Pillar RF: Verdugo