moonslav59

It's coming, probably tonight, but I'll leave the free agent lists and scuttle for later.

You beat me to it!

Technically, you make a lot of sense.

The great start to the season really set the tone. The chemistry clicked. Papi said he noticed it in the clubhouse during spring training. Kudos to DD and Cora and the whole coaching staff for pulling these guys together. There are so few players who didn't contribute something, at least at some point in the season or playoffs. It really was a team effort- and not just 25 guys either.

I'm not sure about appearances, but IP we probably have the record: Game 1: 1 Eovaldi, 0.1 ERod Game 2: 1 Eovaldi Game 3: 6 Eovaldi, 1 Price, 0.1 ERod Game 4: None Game 5: 1 Sale

Yes, you're right. I was thinking of the 25 man roster for the team who selects a rule 5 player. My bad.

I honestly hope the Yanks get 2 from Machado, Harper and Kershaw. They will drain the budget and under perform.

That's for sure! We may have different ways of showing the love, different areas of the game we love more, but we are all big Sox fans, through and through.

Let's assume we sign Eovaldi, and all our starters are healthy next year. Here's all the 19 pitchers who can be part of our pen next year, and it's a lot of arms- some marginal options (assuming no Kelly or Kimbrel): Barnes 2 options Brasier Hembree 0 options Workman 0 options Poyner 2 options Scott 1 option Thornburg 1 option Smith 2 options Walden 1 option Lakins (rule 5) Feltman (not rule 5) Starters to the pen or AAA? Wight 0 options Johnson 0 options Velazquez 2 options D Hernandez (rule 5) Shawaryn (not rule 5) Shepherd-2 Cuevas-0 options Haley -2

I have a tradition to uphold. Don't rain on my parade!

The good thing is, we can probably afford $44M/4, as long as we don't address the pen with much added money.

What award?

His sample size was small and spread out. I'm not sure we can read too much into his 2018 OPS or recent OPS. I think he can hit, but with Chavis and Ockimey being rule 5, I doubt Swihart stays with this club. We may trade Swihart and Ockimey for a RP'er or a prospect not needing to be on the 40 man roster next year.

Chavis is rule 5. He either starts the season on the 25 man roster or traded. He will not pass through the rule 5 draft untaken. Dalbec is NOT rule 5. He may make the 40 man roster mid season, but he will not on opening day, even with a stellar spring.

Okay, word it this way, even if he never puts a uniform on again or never makes the active roster again.

I'll start it tonight. Let this baby sink in!

Chavis is rule 5, so I think travis is toast. Ockimey is rule 5, so he or Chavis will likely be traded, especially if we keep Pearce. Lakins is rule 5, so he will squeeze the limited pen slots. D Hernandez is an interesting rule 5 guy. We can't let him go, so he either gets traded or we make room for him by dealing someone else. Feltman and Shawaryn are NOT rule 5, so I doubt they start the season on the 40 man roster.

I doubt Chavis and Ockimey both make the 25 man roster, even if we let Pearce walk. I suppose, if we trade Swihart, we could keep both, but my guess is we trade one or two from Chavis, Ockimey & Swihart. Maybe they will be part of a bigger package for a quality, low-cost closer, but who else can we trade without opening a big gap somewhere else. If we keep Eovaldi or sign another solid SP'er, we could maybe trade Johnson, Chavis and Swihart for a closer. I'd like to keep Pearce, and I said this before his WS MVP. He's shown he can hit righties pretty well, too, so he's a hedge against another Moreland injury. We could try to roll the dice and put off anything major until July, and go with this for our opening day 25 man roster: C: Vaz & Leon (Swihart traded) 1B: Moreland & Ockimey (rule 5) 2B: Holt & Nunez 3B: Devers & Chavis (rule 5) SS: Bogey LF: Beni CF: JBJ RF: Betts DH: JD SP: Sale, Price, Porcello, ERod, Wright, Johnson, Velazquez RP: Kelly, Brasier, Barnes, Hembree, Workman, Lakins (rule 5) Bubble: Swihart (no options) Travis (1 option) Marco Hernandez (2 options) Quiroz T-W Lin (1 option) Poyner Thornburg (1 option) & Smith (2 options) Scott (1 option) Walden Feltman (not rule 5) D Hernandez (rule 5) Shawaryn (not rule 5) Shepherd Haley

More likely, we won't get much for Leon or Swihart, so we might keep all 3 again, but have Swihart work out at 1B and 3B in the off season. We also have rule 5 guys to trade or make room for on the 25 man roster: Victor Acosta Christopher Acosta Yoan Aybar Roldani Baldwin Trey Ball Juan Barriento Edilson Batista Eduard Bazardo Jordan Betts Marino Campana Rusney Castillo Michael Chavis Luis Colmenares Eduard Conde Harrison Cooney Jake Cosart Ricardo Cubillan Enmanuel De Jesus Chad De La Guerra Jhonathan Diaz Jerry Downs Nick Duron Junior Espinoza Willis Figueroa Devon Fisher Austin Glorius Daniel Gonzalez Juan Hernandez Darwinzon Hernandez Oscar Hernandez Tyler Hill Dedgar Jimenez Trevor Kelley Trenton Kemp Matt Kent Travis Lakins Marcos Lantigua Adam Lau Deiner Lopez Isaias Lucena Chris Madera Danny Mars Algenis Martinez Tate Matheny Kevin McAvoy Daniel McGrath Samuel Miranda Joseph Monge Mark Montgomery Jhon Nunez Josh Ockimey Angel Padron Yorvin Pantoja Yankory Pimentel Roniel Raudes Austin Rei Hildemaro Requena Denyi Reyes Eddy Reynoso Jeremy Rivera Jake Romanski Teddy Stankiewicz Kevin Steen Cole Sturgeon Josh Taylor Luke Tendler Josh Tobias Carlos Tovar Kyri Washington Jantzen Witte Kyle Wren .

Since we went over the luxury tax, I believe all we get for a QO offer denial (Kimbrel) is a 4th round pick. I think we bring back Pearce & Kelly. We try to replace Kimbrel with Kelly, Barnes or Brasier (Thornburg & Smith are long shots), but we also sign a cheaper closer to add to the mix. We give Wright, Johnson, Velazquez and Shawaryn a long look-see, and like this year, if we run short of starter depth, we'll look for the next gem like Eovaldi, in July. We also will wait out 2B to see if anyone jumps up to grab the job FT.

I hope you are right about beyond 2020, and for the record, I never said it would be impossible to avoid a cliff or deep valley. One good sign has been with DD's big signings. The going rate of MLB success with large and long contracts is 50%, at best. DD has done well with the Price & JD signings, at least so far. Everyone knows my feelings about the Chris Freakin' Sale deal I dreamed of doe several years. Most know I hated the Kimbrel trade and disliked the Pom trades, not because I disliked the players we got, but because we gave up too much. There's no caveat. We all know DD went all out to get us a ring, and it's been worth it to me. I don't think my concerns over 2021 and beyond are unfounded, misplaced or exaggerated, but that's a long way away from right now. I'm enjoying the moment and feel really good about 2019, as well.

Significant, in terms of how many innings pitched, but those two 1 inning outings were very significant. Both he and Price pitched in 3 games, and I get how Price worked two longer outings to E-O's one, but E-O's 0.500 WHIP to Price's 0.951 kinda evens it up to some extent. Also, ERA 1.13 (E-O) to 1.98 (Price). I'm okay with not thinking E-O deserved the MVP, but as I said, he deserves a strong runner-up award.

You forgot about Pearce (and Kelly & Kinsler).

Frankly the two greatest WS "performances" across the series came from Price and Eo. That is from a guy (me) that spent all of his time in baseball trying to beat pitchers, even dare I say completely consumed by the contest, the battle between pitcher and hitter at least within the game of baseball itself. I am simply realistic enough to understand that two "pitchers" would not be the recipients of so much heraldry given the direction MLB is trying to take this game. Price's effort and his contribution in this WS is almost beyond comprehension. He pitched so well and so much in this WS and to have been on the mound, the pitcher of record after all that in the very inning that the Dodgers threw up the surrender flag (after inning 5 of game 5) simply is all there is to say about that. Players know it's all about the pitcher. I do, because I could never hit well enough to do squat. You know why so many good ex-pitchers are alcoholics? It's because of all the free beers their teammates bought them after a win.

Yes. That scene in the dugout was very moving to me, as well. I hear the team gave him a standing ovation in the clubhouse afterwards. To me, that shows how tight this team was (is). It's too bad that a solo HR in the 18th inning kept him from consideration for MVP. In reality, Price and E-O should have been the co-MVPs, again, no slight on Pearce and his 12 WS ABs.