moonslav59

No, but not significantly post-prime.

The Red Sox selected lefty Trey Ball seventh overall in 2013 with the hope that he’d make an impact in the majors as a starter. Five years later, they’ve moved him to the bullpen, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. The 23-year-old has taken to his new relief role thus far, having pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings at the Double-A level this season. Smith’s piece, which is worth checking out in full, contains several quotes from Red Sox vice president of pitching development and assistant pitching coach Brian Bannister regarding Ball’s transition.

The Red Sox have managed an American League-leading 12-2 record without left-hander Drew Pomeranz, who’s on the DL with a forearm flexor strain. But Pomeranz is nearing his 2018 debut, according to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. The 29-year-old made a Double-A rehab start Friday, and his next outing will be the Red Sox, according to manager Alex Cora. Pomeranz will take the hill either Thursday against the Angels or Friday versus the Athletics. This could be the last season in Boston for Pomeranz, who’s scheduled to hit free agency next winter.

In his prime.

His defense was getting worse before the concussion and was never very good to begin with. fangraphs had is defense listed as such: 2014: +0.8 2015: -2.4 2016: -4.1 2017: -2.4 So far in 2018, -0.1 (this is a cumulative number). His UZR/150 at 2B this year is -32.5, but it is a tiny sample size. Like I said, it's just my opinion, and it certainly is possible for Holt to repeat his 2014 or 2015 season as he nears age 30, but I don't see it happening. I don't think the weight gain will help improve his defense. He looks slower to me as well. His fangraphs base running numbers look like this: +4.8 2014 +5.2 2015 (He was a very good runner back then) +3.1 2016 -2.2 2017 -1.1 2018 (again, this is cumulative and looks like a horrible start) -

If you think Holt hitting .711 like 2014 and .727 like 2015 would be a 2+ WAR player this year (playing FT), with his defense the way it is now, then I'll have to disagree. I realize my opinion differs from others, and I'm not pretending to know more than anyone else here, but here's how I see Holt's position on any long term injury depth chart: (Note: if someone gets hurt long term the job might be shared, but the player I put ahead of Holt, should in my opinion, get more time.) 1B: HRam> Moreland> Swihart> Call up Travis, then Holt 2B: Pedroia> Nunez> Hernandez, Lin or Holt 3B: Devers> Nunez> Hernandez, Lin, Swihart or Holt SS: Bogaerts> Nunez> Lin> Hernandez or Holt LF: Beni> Nunez or JMart> Swihart or Moreland, then Holt CF & RF: Move Beni to CF and put in LF: Nunez or JMart> Swihart or Moreland, then Holt I see Holt no better than tied for 3rd slot at 2B and 3B and no better than the 4th slot at other positions. Paying $2.2M for that is not a very good idea, IMO.

To me, the worse part was that the foot was aimed almost 2 feet to the left of the base he was supposed to be sliding into. He was aiming for Holt's leg- not the base. 18inches plus of course was no accident.

On HRam having two big seasons in a row, assuming he has one this year and looking at 2019, I wouldn't bet on it. It is, however, certainly possible considering his shoulder looks fine, now.

The penalty for going $40M over the limit is pretty severe financially, and the dropping down 10 slots in the draft might not be all that bad, but in a system designed to make it harder for richer teams to (re)build their farm, it won't get any easier having the 38th pick instead of the 28th pick.

The nearly 2 feet to the side of the base that happened to be where Holt's foot and leg were was intentional. He was trying to break up the DP with his spikes hitting Holt's foot/leg. It was 100% intentional, and I don't think that's an opinion. It looks to me like an undisputable fact.

We're going to have a lot of choices to make once our players on the DL return. Here's a look at some possible decisions to be made: (Price is not on the DL, but when he returns, Velazquez to the pen.) Pomeranz: Walden to AAA & Johnson to the pen. Bogaerts: Holt to AAA & Lin to the bench (or swap roles) Wright: After as long of a rehab as possible, a tough choice will need to be made. Wright and Hembree are out of options, so if Wright is deemed better than Velazquez or Johnson, we might trade Wright (or Hembree), or just keep starter depth in AAA by demoting Johnson or Velazquez. Poyner: Will go to AAA. Thornburg: We'll have to trade Hembree or Wright or send down the remaining guy from Johnson/Velazquez. Pedroia: Lin (or Holt, if he remained after Bogey's return) to AAA. Hernandez: to AAA. The full and healthy Sox roster might look like this: SP'ers: Sale, Price, Pom, ERod, Porcello (AAA: Johnson/Velazquez) RP'ers: Kimbrel, Smith, Thornburg, Kelly, Barnes, Wright, Hembree (AAA: Poyner, Walden, Maddox, Scott, Workman, Elias) C: Vaz, Leon, Swihart 1B: HRam, Moreland (AAA: Travis) 2B: Pedroia (AAA: Hernandez, Quiroz AA) UT: Nunez (Lin) 3B: Devers SS: Bogaerts LF: Beni (AAA: Castillo/Barfield) CF: JBJ RF: Betts OF/DH: JMart

Even if he gets up to around.700, where he was before the concussion, his defense is not good enough to put him head of anybody on the depth chart at any position. Stash him in AAA for added depth or trade him to save over a million dollars (to be spent at the deadline).

Yes, I mentioned how it was a small sample size. BTW, yesterdays catch was as a RF'er, so it will not improve his CF -12.7 UZR/150 on the season.

Yes, "could" implies doubt about intent. There was no doubt both acts were with intent, and I'm not talking about "intent to break up a DP." It was intent to spike Holt's leg almost 2 feet from the base.

What you don't get is the intentionality of Austin's slide.

I said I was not defending Betts. You are defending Austin.

I loved them before the season started. I'm guessing I was not alone here.

I'd put Moreland in LF before Holt, too.

I never defended the Betts slide, although he did at least go towards the base. We're talking about the Austin play. Of course Sox players have done similar things in the past... and got rightfully plunked.

I lost some respect for Vaz. After Austin slammed his bat down, Vaz hesitated to get between him and Kelly. Once Austin started running, there was no way Vaz was going to catch him.

I like harmony, but have called him out when I think he's wrong.

YES! Today's catch was unreal!

He's looked great all (short) season.

Exactly, so when he acted like a punk after Holt had words with him, he actually deserved 2 plunks.

His foot went nearly 2 feet to the side of the base. It wasn't unintentional. There's no "probably" about it.