moonslav59

Yes, we have to plan for zero innings from Wright. Pressure is on Johnson & Velazquez. Since Wright is out of options, putting him on the DL will give us a little roster wiggle room in the pen. I seriously doubt Wright is ready by May, let alone April.

We'd have Wade Miley and Travis Shaw. I'm not sure Henry opens the wallet all the way, but he could. I wouldn't be surprised if he only replaces 2 of the big 3 that are leaving (Eovaldi, Kimbrel & Kelly) Johnson, Velazquez or Wright might start the year in a key role (5th starter or key pen role). Barnes, Brasier or Hembree might be expected to move up a notch in the pen, and we could back fill with ... Poyner/Workman/Thornburg/Maddox/Walden/Scott/ others I think we'd be very strong replacing 2 slots and keeping some money for the summer. Look what DD dug up this summer!

Even if Quirox, Marco & Pedey never amount to squat, I'm happy with Holt, Nunez & Lin with maybe Chavis or Swihart as emergency depth. We will not address the 2B issue this winter. We have other priorities.

We don't have any Sheffields. The farm some said would be rebuilt has not happened.

Two arb years left (est $8.5M in 2019). Not bad at all.

I'd put Quiroz ahead of him, too. I'm not convinced Chavis or Swihart can play 2B, but both might have a better chance than Marco at this point.

Nathan certainly showed grit and determination. He was also very impressed by how he was treated by the club after that 18 inning loss. I'd love to have him back. He seems like a real "gamer", even though the sample size is smaller than Price's was when many were calling him a choker/loser. He turns 29 before the season starts and doesn't have a lot of innings on his arm, but two TJ surgeries are concerning, and he'll likely want and find an offer for over 2 years- more likely 4. Not knowing what Henry's tax re-set plans (if any) are, it's hard for me to be all in on bringing him back. I love the guy. I'll never forget what he did for us, when it counted. $60M/4 is a pretty big risk. I'm torn. I can see both sides of this choice. There's not much else out there, in terms of RH'd starters, but we do need pen help more, so it it's either/or, I'm leaning 2 solid pen arms instead.

I have Lin ahead of Hernandez, but If Marco hits like a pitcher, then Lin hits like a pitcher batting off-handed. Minors .716 Marco (.752 AAA) .657 Lin (.742 AAA) BTW, what's up with Lin's splits in the tiny sample size of his ML career? .797 vs RHPs (115 PAs) .401 vs LHPs (just 24 PAs) If the guy can hit just .750 vs RHPs consistently, he could start 100 games for us.

Marco has been a pipe dream for me. I'm not sure why I have clung onto any hope with him. Moreland is a plus defender and does okay vs RHPs. He's not a net negative with his salary, but I'm looking at our tight budget and where we might be able to free up some cash and where we have depth that may not be as big of a drop off as other positions. I'm worried that Pearce cannot play FT and give us over 600 PAs. His recent 4 year OPS vs RHPs is equal to Morekand's, so I dee a glimmer of hope. Let JD learn some 1B, use Swihart, Holt and maybe Chavis as depth, if needed. If DD has an unrestricted budget this year, I'm all for keeping Moreland.

Phew! Confidence restored!

I never said he was bad. People are talking about Eovaldi replacing Porcello and being under contract through the years we will be struggling to keep our stars. What was Porcello's fWAR? Sale? Betts? Bogey? JBJ? JD? I'm hopeful it won't come down to either/or, but I think it will.

I'm curious why you did not include his 10 games with the Rays. 5 good to very good starts 4 bad starts 1 so-so starts

I'm dead set against moving Betts. RF is very important in Boston. We are fine at 2B, for now. My point on Pearce vs RHPs is more about Moreland than anything else.

Syracuse was apparently a good team, so yes, it did look like their best win of the year. Their win over Michigan holds more weight, and if we can get by USC, we're in. I just hope we don't face Alabama in the first round. Alabama may have to lose for that to happen. They play Auburn and then Georgia in the SEC Championship game. If Georgia wins, they have to be a top 4 team. Does that leave Michigan out? It will be hard to leave Alabama out with one loss.

That's the "big if" though, isn't it? He's never done it before. He wasn't even all that great this year... before the playoffs. With Betts, Bogey, JD, JBJ, Porcello and Sale all becoming free agents next winter or the one after, we have to be extremely careful with any deals longer than 2 years.

I'm hoping we don't sign anyone to more than 2 years, unless it's Betts, Bogey or JBJ (or maybe Sale).

You beat me to it. Signing Eovaldi might mean saying good bye to Sale.

I'd rather have Porcello. He's younger. He's durable. He might not be that much more expensive than $60M/4.

I think we reset after 2020. The roster is too good to say good bye that soon.

The Associated Press has UCF ranked 8th and Wash St 7th. 7. Wash St 8. UCF 9. LSU 10. Ohio St. 11. Texas 12. W Va The Coaches Poll... 7. Wash St 8. LSU 9. UCF 10. Ohio St 11. Texas 12. W Va

Now that we have Pearce, and even if we trade Swihart, I don't see where HRam gets any PAs.

Actually, he's faced righties more than lefties--not at the rate a FT'er would, but the numbers are not as skewed as one might think. Last year, Sox batters faced righties just under 75% of all their PAs. Pearce faced righties 98 times and lefties 67 times with the Sox. That's 59.4%. That's only about 15% less than the norm. He also had a decent .825 OPS vs righties with us. In 2017, Pearce actually hit righties better (.767 to .730) and faced RHPs 72% of the time. In 2016, he hit lefties way better (1.028), but he was pretty good vs RHPs (.795), too. He faced righties 69% of his PAs. In 2015, he hit RHPs better (.765 to .623), but he only faced RHPs 62% of the time. 2015-2018 .783 vs RHPs in 788 PAs (Moreland is at .782 in 1596) .826 vs LHPs in 438 PAs In 4 years, he faced RHPs 64% of the time, which is not all that far away from a FT player. The .043 differential is not as much as I expected, and sine he has hit RHPs about the same as Moreland, maybe playing him vs many RHPs makes sense, either at 1B or DH, when JD is resting or in the OF. Trading Moreland and freeing up his contract to sign another RP'er might make some sense. Let JD learn to play some 1B, and we have Holt, Swihart and maybe Chavis as 1B depth.

I realize that. It is not likely we sign him, unless nobody offers him 3+ years, and even then...

If Pedey doesn't play, I can see... 2B 90 Holt 60 Nunez 12 Lin/Quiroz/Hernandez 3B 132 Devers 30 Nunez 1B 100 Moreland 60 Pearce 2 JDM DH 145 JDM 15 Pearce 2 Nunez OF 155 Betts 155 Beni 145 JBJ 16 Holt 8 JDM 4 Nunez 3 Swihart

Here's what's left... 1. Alabama AUB 11/24 GA (5) 12/1 2. Clemson So. Car 11/24 Pitt 12/1 3. Notre Dame USC 11/24 4. Michigan Ohio St (10) 11/24 5. Georgia Ga Tech 11/24 ALA (1) 12/1 6. Oklahoma W VA (9) 11/23 7. LSU TX A&M 11/24 8. Wash St. Wash (18) 11/23 9. W VA OKL(6) 11/23 10. Ohio St Mich (4) 11/24 11. UCF So. Fla 11/23 UCF has no shot, even if everyone loses out. Ohio St has to beat Mich and hope everyone loses, and they still might not make the top 4, since everyone losing means someone ahead of them wins as some play each other. I'll say no chance. WVA needs to beat OKL and hope ND, Mich, LSU and GA all lose. Even then, they may end up #5. Wash ST has just one loss, and if they beat Wash, they could sneak to #4 if a bunch of top teams lose, but I don't think they deserve to make it. LSU has 2 loses, and even though they play a tough schedule, there will likely be too many one loss teams that should stay ahead of them. I'd put Alabama, Clemson & ND ahead of them, even if they lose. That means they'd have to catch Mich (lose to Ohio St), OKL (lose to WVA) and GA (lose to Ala) OKL plays #9 WVA, and if they win, they could get to the top 4, if someone loses. I'd still take a one loss ND, Clem & Ala over OKL, but late season wins and loses seem to matter more. GA plays Ala. If they win, it's a mess. They have to pass Mich, and one would think Ala has to be top 4, if they beat Aub and lose to GA. Mich could get squeezeed, even if they beat Ohio State and win the big 10 playoff game (NWestern?) Mich will likely go, if they win. If they lose to OSU, someone will pass them. ND has to beat USC to go. Clem plays So Carolina. They will go if they win and may go with a loss. Ala probably has to lose to Aub & GA to not go. If they beat Aub & lose to GA, and Clem, ND, Mich, and OK all win out, this might be the rankings: 1. Clem 2. ND 3. GA 4. Ala 5. Mich (close) 6. Okl (close)