moonslav59

So, he obviously was not just given away, as some here suggested was going on.

Holt "opposes" you?

I was really hoping Thornburg would give us something, but I agree that it probably best to expect nothing and hope to be pleasantly surprised. Even if it takes him until August, that could be the big push we need. I seriously doubt he'll be the "biggest boost". I'd put JDM first, Carson Smith second and a full year from Devers third.

I've always been big on splits and platoons, but I think the whole lefty-righty line up thing is way out of whack.

For a year or two, yeah, and even then, only righties. (I loved his grit.)

Well, for Beni, it's been way more than a month.

I wonder what he will get. If it's not much more than Moreland, I'd think twice about saying that.

Can I just say.... I'm so freakin' glad we did not sign Hosmer!

I'd trade Holt before he hurts more players.

Nunez will be Pedey's replacement. We have Hernandez & Quiroz in the wings.

I admitted I veered from my usual non in-game criticism on putting Holt 1-2 ten times.

Of course managers have more insights and information that the common fan, but they can and do make mistakes. One manager might choose a different thing to do than another under the exact same circumstances. That doesn't mean one was right and one was wrong, and sometimes the results don't necessarily confirm who was right or wrong. I try hard to avoid criticizing in game managerial decisions, and I try to preface most of my suggestions and philosophical differences with managers by saying things like, "I don't pretend to know more than ______." (On a side note, I was one of the last posters to call for Bobby V's neck, so I think I'm pretty accepting of managers doing things I would not suggest doing.) I'm very excited about having Cora as our manager. While I would not bat Beni 1st or second vs LH'd starters, I am fine with Cora doing so and will not think any less of him for making that choice.

He's only 24, and he's never really had a long stretch of brilliance, but he does have some nasty stuff. He's been pitching with knee issues for much of his career, so maybe this surgery is going to make the difference. He certainly has a lot of promise. A 5.0 WAR in just 365 IP is pretty good (97 ERA-). Only 12 pitchers have less IP and a higher WAR. His 1.29 WHIP in the last 3 years is as good as Pineda's and better than Lance Lynn's.

Id take Price over Gray any day of the week. I really like Gray, but Price is much better, and I think the health risk is not really in Gray's favor. I just think Boston has not done enough far as Rotation and Bullpen depth I think they are looking at it this way... We added starter depth by assuming Price and Wright will be healthy all year. We added pen depth by assuming Smith, Thornburg, Workman and Maddox will be available for 100-150 more innings this year over last, It remains to be seen, if the assumptions come true. I think we wait it out and make a move mid season, if needed. We might only have enough budget room for a partial season contract or two.

That's all I go by, too, and the AVV payroll is $216M not $230M. The tax number is $230 counting the player benefit payment, and that is what we get taxed on. That's the number that counts, but it's not our "AVV payroll". I'm not trying to be a semantic prick here. I'm just trying to make things clearer.

At the start of last year, I felt the pen was our weakest (not weak) link. JF managed the pen very well. We squeezed the best from some guys I had little hope in before the season started. With injuries to Smith, Thornburg, Ross and Workman, we ended up doing very well (4th best pen WAR). Remember, Ross has the 3rd most Sox RP'er IP from 2014-2016 and the 5th best pen WAR on the team. The 2018 pen looks like it might be much better, especially if those who seemingly over performed last year can keep it up this year. Assuming good health and taking the optimistic view via some cherry-picking, here's how our pen could look: Closer: Kimbrel has been one of baseball's best closers in MLB over a long period of time and arguably was the best last year. RP2: Carson Smith had a 0.91 WHIP from 2014-2015 (15th best out of 165). He had the 15th best K/9 rate at 11.8. His ERA- was 54. Yes, it was just 78 IP, but that's not a tiny sample size. RP3: Tyler Thornburg does not have a great history, but his 2016 season was pretty damn awesome. He had the 11th best RP'er WAR (2.0), 12th best WHIP (0.94), 7th best K/9 (12.1) and an ERA- of 56. Joe Kelly gets pushed from 2 to 4. Matt Barnes gets pushed from 3 to 5. Workman returns. Hembree may continue to improve. Maddox could repeat 2017 but over a longer time. Scott looked pretty good. I'm much more optimistic about this pen than I was this time last year.

ERod could have a great second half for us. If Price can stay healthy, I love our rotation- top to bottom.

Kelly and Barnes are moving from our 2-3 RP'ers (where they did pretty well) to our 4-5 RP'ers, where they will be favorably compared to other league pitchers in those roles.

I never claimed Price did not have issues. I just compared him to Sonny Gray who has had way more injury issues.

Me, too. Just because I might do something differently, does not mean I think Cora is making a mistake. Just about every time I criticized JF for his line-ups, I prefaced it with, "I don't pretend to be smarter than JF." I did think batting Holt 1st or 2nd 10 times was idiotic, and yes, I was smarter than JF on that one... LOL. (Holt did end up with a .327 OBP in those 10 games/.250 BA)

Our actual 2018 salary is $230.8M (counting Castillo). For tax purposes: Our AVV salary is $215.9M (not counting Castillo) Add $14M for player benefits. Our tax number is $229.9M... very close to the actual salary number counting Castillo. Nick's point is not really affected, since everybody pays $14M for benies Yes, we are $54M ahead of the Yanks on the AVV (including benies), but we are $69M ahead in actual payroll that includes Castillo (about $57M not counting Castillo).

Kimmi is running that show. I do think it matters. I'd also argue that even if it just matters a little, why not put the best one out there?

He said "AVV payroll." It's not $230 AVV for tax purposes; it's $216 payroll + $14M player benefit payment.

I said "Gloves as good as" not better. I'd probably say Marrero is slightly better on infield defense over Lin, but it's close enough that I'd go with the younger guy who can also play OF. BTW, I'd rather keep Marrero over Holt. I want to keep Marrero on the 25 man roster, until Pedey & Hernandez are healthy. I'm not a Devon basher.

If DD has to choose, I think he takes Pom over Kimbrel and hope Smith or Thornburg can close in 2019.