moonslav59

soxprospects.com has Swihart with one option left. I say give him a few months in AAA to show if he deserves a look, then trade him or Leon. (I thought I read somewhere he was going to be out of options next year. Maybe soxprospects.com has not been updated yet.

Depends on the rule 5 roster crunch. I doubt we get much for Swihart in trade as he is at his lowest point in value. I like Blake, and I still think he may become a very good hitter. I'd try to keep him. I'd deal or non tender Holt and Rutledge. I'd DFA Owens now. I might trade Hembree, since he is out of options and we have a deep pen, but maybe waiting until spring is best for that move, unless a great rule 5 player is in danger of being snatched (unlikely). Elias is on the bubble. My roster keepers (listed by 40 man roster seniority): 27: Pedey, Wright, Vaz, JBJ, Workman, Bogey, Betts, Kelly, Barnes, ERod, HRam, Porcello, Ross, Johnson, Kimbrel, Hernandez, Price, Smith, Leon, Pom, Beni, Scott, Thornburg, Sale, Travis, Maddox, Devers Almost certain 8: Holt, Swihart, Hembree, Marrero, Elias, Taylor, Velazquez, Lin 2 Gone: Owens & Rutledge Rule 5 List (unless added by DEC): Victor Acosta Yoan Aybar Trey Ball Jeremy Barfield Jalen Beeks Danny Bethea Jordan Betts Ty Buttrey Rusney Castillo Harrison Cooney Jake Cosart Enmanuel De Jesus Jhonathan Diaz Willis Figueroa Pat Goetze Daniel Gonzalez Justin Haley Juan Hernandez Bryan Hudson Dedgar Jimenez Raiwinson Lameda Deiner Lopez Isaias Lucena Danny Mars Kyle Martin Algenis Martinez Kevin McAvoy Daniel McGrath Ritzi Mendoza Mike Meyers Mike Miller Samuel Miranda Joseph Monge Jhon Nunez Justin Pacchioli Yankory Pimentel Jordan Procyshen Hildemaro Requena Jeremy Rivera Fernando Rodriguez Jake Romanski Chandler Shepherd Josh Smith Teddy Stankiewicz Cole Sturgeon Aneury Tavarez Carlos Tovar Jordan Weems Jantzen Witte Minor League FA (unless signed by NOV) Brian Bogusevic Bryce Brentz Dan Butler Ryan Court Jacob Dahlstrand Matt Dominguez Conrad Gregor Shawn Haviland Williams Jerez Kyle Kendrick Heiker Meneses Edgar Olmos Mike Olt Mitchell Osnowitz Tim Roberson Steve Selsky Jose Sermo Aneury Tavarez Herny Urrutia Elih Villaneuva Marcus Walden

Gammons reports that Blake Swihart’s surgically repaired ankle bothered him as late into the season as Labor Day, which would in part explain a disappointing .190/.246/.292 batting line in 53 games at the Triple-A level this year. Swihart, who received just seven MLB plate appearances in 2017, was once one of baseball’s most untouchable prospects but has seen his star fade in the wake of repeated injuries and defensive concerns behind the dish. Nonetheless, one Red Sox exec tells Gammons that with his ability to play catcher, first base, third base and the corner outfield, “Swihart can be a huge part of this team.”

So, Farrell was fired, in part, because of poor communication: now this... The Red Sox announced on Thursday that southpaw reliever Robby Scott underwent a “left elbow arthroscopy and debridement” procedure but is expected to be back to full strength by Spring Training 2018. As several have pointed out (including CSN New England’s Evan Drellich, on Twitter), it’s rather confounding that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told the media just yesterday that he wasn’t aware of any Sox players that required offseason surgery on the very day on which Scott was undergoing this procedure. Should DD fire himself?

Yes, CP nailed it. As a volunteer ESL teacher at a nearby school, I often notice how students that return to the school many years later to thank a teacher, almost always they say something like, "You were really tough on me, but I needed that."

Make room on the roster for a rule 5 player. So long, Henry!

There are always exceptions to every rule or trend/curve, and Papi was certainly one. His last year was one of his all time best! If you had told me the player was 34, I'd have projected a much steeper drop off. I do think a player's last 2-3 years are a better indicators than the career numbers. Of course, if the player was playing hurt for one of the years or had a seemingly outlier year, then adjustments can be included in future projections. No projection system is perfect, but career average is probably nt on of the best stats to use.

We could probably afford Stanton and Cozart and stay under the second tier limit.

Except for the hair.

If he's 28, the age curve numbers say he will decline immediately- maybe slowly at first. I might expect... 2018: .965 2019: .935 2020: .900 2021: .860 2022: .810 2023: .760 That's knowing nothing of injuries or sample sizes of the past 2-3 years. Who are we talking about?

I'd feel good, but I'd want to see his last 2 year numbers to judge better going forward.

Wow.

Youk was a hot head. Pedey's relationship with the current players might be too strained to be a hitting coach for the Sox in the next 5 years or so.

We had tons more deciding games than the Nats. You're just listing our losses in the WS. The Nats have never lost a WS deciding game. If you count all our playoff losses in deciding games, including 2003's heart-breaker, then we are way ahead of the Nats.

Pedey just doesn't seem like a DH type, but with his intensity, maybe he can make it work, if needed. If he could give us 80 games at 2B and 60 at DH, and we acquired a quality player who can play 2B, we should be okay. Problems can arise, such as these... 1) If we sign JD to DH, he'd have to play the OF those 60 games Pedey DHs, and HRam would be the FT 1Bman. 2) If Nunez is the guy we get to cover for Pedey, or IF D will look like this: Devers (3B), Bogey (SS), Nunez (2B) and HRam (1B). That's pretty sickly bad. 3) If Pedey DH's more than 60% of the games, our OF is further squeezed, assuming we sign JD or another OF'er to DH for us.

86 years for the pre-2004 Sox. Less than 50 for the Nats/Expos.

If the scouts think he can do it, it might be worth a look-see. This is who cots has for FA 2bmen: (* means team option) Second Basemen Jose Altuve * Alexi Amarista * Darwin Barney Andres Blanco Asdrubal Cabrera * Daniel Descalso * Stephen Drew Danny Espinosa Ryan Flaherty Logan Forsythe * Howie Kendrick Ian Kinsler * Brett Lawrie Jed Lowrie * Eduardo Nunez Cliff Pennington Brandon Phillips Adam Rosales Neil Walker

Of course, they want to unload it. They are a small market team. I just don't think they will hand him away. I also don't think it will take Beni & Devers. It might not take either one. It might not even take Bogey or JBJ. Maybe we can just offer any two or three from... Groome Mata Flores Chavis Houck Scherff Brannen Beeks Shawaryn Ockimey If we could get them to take HRam as a salary offset, then offer more.

I never thought of Chavis as 2B depth, but he's not good at 3B. I doubt he'd be any better at 2B. I'm thinking Nunez might be too expensive, but he can be used elsewhere and still get 550+ PAs total. Not sure what other FAs are out there. I guess we could pray for Holt's or marco's full recovery and improvement.

Long wait.

Yes you are!

We got a lot younger this year and kept the same record as last year. That's not even counting Devers for a full year. 25 and under: 2016: 1917 PA 2017: 2468 PA 26-30 2016: 1968 2017: 1959 31-35 2016: 1809 2017: 1873 36+ 2016: 626 2017: 38 Rajaj DAvis (36) will not be back. HRam (33) could have a dimished role next year and be gone by 2019. Pedey (33) is the only older guy locked up long term. Fister (33) FA Kendrick (32) FA Wright (32) 6th starter Moreland (31) FA Abad (31) FA Holt (29) Utility and on non-tender bubble Kimbrel and Kelly are 29. Everyone else is 28 or younger. I'm not too worried about signing one 32 year old guy to 4-5 years. I am worried about the budget and how it might affect us keeping our kids 3-4 years from now.

I think you're minimizing the scope of decline. By the quantity: our 8 highest returning players by 2016 PAs declined. ALL EIGHT! That's like flipping heads 8 times in a row. 9 of 10 declined. Only Vaz improved. By the quality: -201 Leon -157 Holt -141 Young -116 HRam -109 JBJ -94 Betts -65 Pedey -59 Beni -56 Bogey +150 Vaz Again, yes HRam, Pedey and Leon were expected to decline, but even with those three, it wouldn't have been unheard of for one out of 3 could have at least stayed even. 6 out of the top 8 declined by more 94 points! That's not "reasonable". Speaking of staying even, yes, maybe our expectations were too high, but even the expectation that all 8 stayed even would have come up way short. All 8 declined by over 55 points. That's a pretty significant number. Not one came even 55 points within staying even. I'm fine with blaming Papi's departure, poor coaching, injuries, and whatever, but the fact is, the decline was major and deep.

Oh, I get it. I was never for the plan of the 3-4 year window, but now that we're in it, we better win at least one freakin' championship to justify the sacrifice. I'd certainly prefer shorter term deals, but we only have a few openings on the roster, and signing mediocre 1 year guys isn't likely to help much.

I wouldn't be surprised if we go over the limit by $39.9M. Is that "drunken" in your opinion?