moonslav59

Yes, and I can't see us striving to reset again next winter. Maybe after 2019, but if we haven't won a ring in these next two years, I think Henry will keep the big spending window open one more year at the maximum tax rate. A reset will likely take place after 2019 or 2020, which will coincide with the end of our window of top competitiveness.

I don't know about you all, but I can't wait until opening day!

Same as in the 60's.

He could be oh for 100 in ST'ing, and he'd still be my number 40.

He's "Ben" secretly taking orders from the coffee boy.

See now? That wasn't so hard to do, was it?

Will you talk badly about him, if he is unduly credited or praised?

By all accounts our staff (as a whole) over performed last year. I blame Leon and Vaz and JF for that success. (Note: it's one of the very few things I gave JF credit for.)

Maybe DD views the following things as "adding to our pitching depth:" 1) The eventual return of Wright 2) Finally fixing ERod's knee issue once and for all (hopefully) 3) A full season from Carson Smith 4) Something from Thornburg 5) A full season from Workman 6) Maddox more of a known and available all season 7) Velazquez viewed as a better option than he was last Spring. 8) Johnson healthy to start the season. 9) Beeks closer to ML ready. 10) Kelly, Barnes, Scott and Hembree all showing better projections than they did last March. Of course, nobody believes all of this will come out positive, but there is hope our staff will be better this year, even without any additions. Yes, one could argue our pen over performed last year and expecting it to do so again is nothing more than wishful thinking. I'm optimistic. I wish we'd add a cheap vet to a minor league deal, but we have about $4M to spend, and we might be better served waiting to the deadline, when we can trade for a higher priced pitcher with a pro-rated cost to us and our tight budget. Fister did a pretty good job for us last season, and he's gone now, but he was 5-9 with a 4.88 ERA. (We were 8-7 in his starts, though.) Is this, as a whole, addition by subtraction? IP Pitcher 90 Fister 58 Abad 41 Boyer 27 Reed 17 Taylor 9 R Ross 8 Kendrick 6 N Ramirez + Moreland If we replace these 250+ innings with.... 100+ more IP from Price 100+ more IP from Wright (or Workman/Scott) 50+ more IP from Smith and Thornburg

LOL That can be his day off.

OPS from 2016-2017 .985 JD Martinez .851 Betts .819 Devers .811 HRam .799 Pedey .785 Beni .784 JBJ .778 Nunez .776 Bogey .746 Moreland .741 Leon .683 Vazquez .653 B Holt Not bad having 9 guys over .775, but we have to start a catcher...

Yes, it was much better than I portrayed it to be, but if you want to count Swihart and Owens, then Betts wasn't even top 20 on soxprospects.com when Ben took over. I stand corrected. I was wrong. It was a very good farm, in hindsight and was 9th in BA rankings.

I've said numerous times, I have no problem with what DD has done. I'm not sure what more I can say to convince you I mean it. We will not reset the tax next winter, even if HRam does not vest. We may "get rid of Kimbrel and Pom", but we will need to replace them with somebody costly or close the window to another ring.

ErrR is, and that is part of UZR/150. I'm not sure about Edge, but I think DRS and EDGE include all plays made or that could be made.

I'm standing by my position. It was depleted. Middy, Ranaudo, Bogey, Iggy, Lava... The farm Ben left for DD: Moncada, Devers, Espi, Beni, Kopech... Night & Day.

There's no way Lin makes the 25 man roster. He's got options, while many others don't.

There are more built-in days off this year. I'm not for a 6 man rotation. I think our pen really stepped up last year, and by adding Smith and maybe Thornburg at some point, plus full seasons from Workman and Maddox, if needed, we should be even better with our pen this year. I'd like to see us add a vet SP'er, but we only have about $4M to spend. If we can wait until mid season, we'll only owe a pro-rated share of a better pitcher's contract than one we can afford to sign now.

There's a few major concerns going into this season, but IMO, there are far more positive things that could happen.

Couldn't agree any more.

I'm extremely thrilled we are going in this direction. I love the Cora signing, and even though he has no experience as a manager, I'm confident his learning curve will be short.

I'm sure nobody will let me forget my position, if Hosmer goes on to do well. I guess I'll never understand what so many people see in a 1Bman who sucks every other year and is barely decent the rest of the time, and whose one redeeming skill, defense, has now become a big negative. His clubhouse leadership must be off-the-charts great! I realize JD is a gamble, but it's a shorter gamble, and he's not had an off year for 4 years. Hosmer's had 2.

So, you'll take the guy who is decent half the seasons but stays healthy every season.

Well, we have 2 of our best 6 starters out to start the season and Pom has arm tightness. Price is questionable for 28+ starts. Porcello's value is largely an unknown going forward. I'd like some vet depth, but we can't spend much, so I', okay with giving Johnson, Velazquez, Elias and maybe Beeks a look before going out and trading for someone. The longer we wait, the less a good pitcher will count against our budget,

I value your opinion. I know you rely on WAR and projected WAR for much of your positions, but I was wondering about your opinion. Put it this way, if you were a Sox or Padre fan, would you be happier as a Sox fan signing JD to his deal or as a Padre fan signing Hosmer?

MLBTR... The hiring of new manager Alex Cora as gave the Red Sox some insight into how the Astros (Cora’s former team) used analytics to help with in-game strategy, and it made the Sox realize that they were falling behind in the advanced statistics arms race, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports. Boston’s analytics department is now up to 10 full-time employees (plus interns) after some offseason hirings, and the team has drastically overhauled its advance scouting and data-gathering methodology to better get information to Cora and the coaching staff.