moonslav59

He might end up back (with another team) as a pitching coach. He's great at that job!

We have had issues with our medical staff over the years, haven't we?

Final OPS numbers of Sox players (with the Sox only)... 400+ PAs, unless listed: .892 Nunez (173)-- .801 overall .819 Devers (240)-- 30 HRs in Sox system this year .803 Betts -- the only full season guy over .800 .776 Beni --nice first full season on offense .776 Moreland-- did better than I expected on offense, but worse on D .760 Pedey-- injuries did him in in the end .750 HRam-- 2nd on team in HRs .746 Bogey-- late surge kept him form worse .735 Vaz (345)-- should get more PAs next year .726 JBJ -- two long slumps surrounding a short hot streak (again) .709 Young (276)-- big drop from 2016 .644 Leon (301)-- Sal'es personal caddy .593 Marrero (188)-- may be DFA'd for a rule 5 guy .558 Rutledge-- should be let go .548 Holt (164)-- maybe his last year with the Sox OPS Against (150 + PAs against unless noted): .444 Kimbrel .485 Maddox (67) .573 Kelly .603 Sale .652 Price .655 Barnes .660 Scott (141) .672 Abad .707 Velazquez (96) .712 Pomeranz .726 Fister .736 ERod .782 Workman .803 Hembree .808 Boyer .817 Johnson (113) .826 Porcello .841 Taylor (80) 1.148 Wright (114)

I wonder if Max is weeping.

I no longer live in New England; that's why I asked. Thanks.

Otani is getting ankle surgery. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/10/shohei-otani-to-undergo-ankle-surgery.html

Agreed, and his luxury tax cost is just $25M-- a huge plus to teams near or over the limit--like the Sox.

Would Pedey retire like Dempster did? Getting us off the hook for the remaining salary owed?

Hallelujah!

Of course. An extended physical would be done before signing him. I usually like to have great defense on the bench and with a weak left side IF defense, you'd think we'd need it even more, but with Pedey's future so unsure, I'd like a guy like Nunez on the roster. We could also have Lin or Marrero on the 25 as defensive help.

Were they too chicken to call out JF during the season?

I'm never happy about anyone losing their job, but JF did nothing, except handle the pitching staff well, to deserve a return. Who is out there?

Under the second tier penalty limit, if that's all we do.

All the JF bashing going on, and nobody even knew about this. Makes sense though, in hindsight. Obviously the message to stop making bonehead plays never got through to this crew.

It's not "hanky panky". It's a side result of improving our team. Duda blows HRam away vs RHPs. Now, if Duda or JD gets hurt and we still sit HRam (assuming he's hitting well), then it would be unethical or hanky panky.

We don't have to sit him at the end of the season- just platoon him ve LH'd starters only with some PH duty. We can even give him some starts vs righties and easily come in below 497.

I thought we should have put him at 3B and signed a pitcher, instead of Pablo.

2016: Price 2017: Sale 2018: Stanton 2019: Machado 2019 1. Bogey SS 2. Betts RF 3. Stanton DH 4. Machado 3B 5. Devers 1B 6. Beni LF 7. Pedey-Nunez 2B 8. JBJ CF 9. Vaz C

Stanton's health is also a concern. I'd try to avoid trading an OF'er for him, and let him DH, if possible.

An .850 OPS at 1b with a Duda-Hram platoon and 40+ HRs from JD at DH would go a long way towards boosting our offense and saving us $22M in 2019. Add Devers for a full year at 3B and maybe Nunez for a full year, and the chances that our other returning players will not all decline again, and maybe we could be top 5 in offense again.

If we are truly going to look to platoon HRam, and I'm only suggesting it, here's a look at 1Bmen vs RHPs: 2017: .938 Hosmer (but he will want multiple years) .905 Morrison .900 Alonso .869 Reynolds .867 Duda .866 Abreu (not a FA and not a platoon) .844 Santana (probably will not take a 1 yr deal) .784 Moreland Last 4 Years: .875 Abreu .861 Duda .855 Lind .845 Hosmer .794 Reynolds .788 Morrison .775 HRam .772 Moreland .771 Alonso FYI- 4 Years vs LHPs: .909 Abreu .850 Valencia .849 HRam .785 Santana .708 Hosmer (don't sign a platoon guy to FT money) .697 Reynolds .691 Moreland .689 Morrison .672 Duda .647 Alonso

I think it's too early to hear any "links". We didn't need a 1Bman at the past deadline. I'll take .830 streaky. I guess he sucks on D, so if we get JD to DH, Duda can only DH when JD plays in the OF, which would weaken that D.

If HRam sucks, how is it unethical to sign a guy like Duda to cover your ass? Plus, HRam barely got 497 PAs this year, so it's not like we'd have to change what we did this year by too much to save the $22M.

Compare Morrison's last 4-5 seasons with Duda's. It's not even close. 2014: 30 in 596 (.830 OPS) 2015: 27 in 554 (.838) 2016: 7 in 152 (.714) 2017: 30 in 491 (.818) If that is inconsistent, I'll take it, especially at the low cost he might be. Morrison 2014: 11 HRs in 365 (.735 OPS) 2015: 17 in 511 (.685) 2016: 14 in 398 (.733) 2017: 38 in 601 (.868) Even Morrison's career year in 2017 only beat Duda's 2017 by 50 points and 8 HRs. (and it took him 110 more PAs to get those 8.)

My point about the contact injury was that it is not really a sign his body is breaking down--not that there haven't been several other signs that he is. I don't have a lot of faith in Pedey staying healthy. I think my suggestion we pay Nunez about $27M/3 shows my angst.