moonslav59

I'm not a fan of having HRam as our FT 1Bman next year. I even worry about him as our FT DH. Signing Nunez and no other FA would mean HRam plays 1B and Nunez DH. I can't see moving Devers off 3B for a fielder like Nunez. Moustakas, yes: Nunez, no. We could sign Duda and just go with Holt/Hernandez/Lin/Marrero as our utility IF'ers. (Holt could be the 4th OF'er for short-term needs only.) Hosmer is an option, but I think Duda has higher upside offensive impact potential. I do not think DD will be looking for a long term 1B solution, unless it is inexpensive, which would mean a trade. I don't see any trade match-ups right now, but maybe this winter, something will come up. I'm not sure we can get Mostakas, Duda or Hosmer for under 3 years.

I'd hate to sit JBJ in a park with a big CF, but to me, it should be JBJ or Bogey who sit, so Nunez & Devers (and Young) can both play.

Verlander has done well lately. many teams would like to have him. To me, the only two thing keeping teams from acquiring him is the remainder of his contract (Tigers unwillingness to pay part of it) and how old Verlander will be as his contract goes forward. Maybe there are doubts about his decline, but I think it's the money.

The Yankees lose. The Guardians Lose. Brentz HRs again. Mata 5.2 IP 2 ER 6 H 2BB 6Ks

With a day off and nothing else to talk about, so let's look at next year's luxury tax budget (before signing or re-signing any players). 2018 Luxury Tax Dollars 31.0 Price 22.0 HRam 20.6 Porcello 19.0 Pablito 13.8 Pedey 12.0 Kimbrel (up $1.5M from 2017) 11.5 C Sale (up $5.0M from 2017) 117.4 for 7 Players (1 not on our roster) Estimated Arb costs ~8.0 Pom 3 of 3 ~7.5 Betts 1st of 3 ~7.0 Bogey 2nd arb of 3 ~7.0 JBJ 2 of 4 ~3.5 Kelly 3 of 3 ~2.5 Thornburg 2 of 3 ~1.6 Wright 1 of 3 ~1.5 ERod 1 of 4 ~1.0 C Smith 1 of 3 ~1.0 Vaz 1 of 3 40.6 for these 10 arb players Total:$158M for 16 players on next year's roster. Not mandatory arb-ready returnees: R Ross 3 of 3 ~$2.5M Holt 2 of 3 ~$2.5M Leon 2 of 4 ~$2.25M Rutledge 2 of 3 ~$1.0M Swihart 1 of 4 ~$0.75M Total: $9M optional for these 5 players combined. I'll assume we keep Ross and Leon for about $5M. New total: $163M for 18 players on the 40 man 2018 Roster. If we fill the rest of the roster with minimum salary players (not likely), the other 22 players would cost close to $13M. Total 2018 Luxury Tax Budget (before any signings): $176M + $14M player beneifit cost= $190M The luxury Tax threshold next year is $197M. With the tax res-set this year, we could easily go over the limit by about $19M without incurring draft pick penalties. That's a total of close to $26M to spend on upgrading the roster with an acquisition(s). That's probably enough for a solid 1Bman, or maybe we could sign Nunez, let Holt go, and maybe add another mid level player in the off season of during the 2018 season at a pro-rated salary cost (like Nunez and Reed this summer).

They don't, but... That's the reason Verlander is still in Detroit. The contract and his age.

With rule 5 players to join the roster, a FA or two to add, 60 day DL players coming back to the 40 man, we'll be losing 3-5 guys off the 40 man roster beyond the FA departees: Young, Moreland, Abad, Boyer, Fister, Nunez and Reed. My top candidates to be gone by next year (trade, non tender or DFA): Selsky N Ramirez R Elias H Owens K Martin We'll probably trade 1 or 2 from Holt, Lin and Marrero. With a healthy Smith and Thornburg maybe we'll trade out-of-options Hembree. Our pen could be deep: Kimbrel Smith Thornburg Kelly Barnes Workman Wright R Ross Hembree Scott Maddox Taylor Johnson/Velazquez/Beeks/Haley Martin/Cosart/others

62 runs in the last 10 games despite the "zombies".

Either way. He won't be back next year, anyways.

Now that we have Nunez, is there a need for Holt? With Marco Hernandez gone, Holt provides extended depth, but yeah, he's behing Nunez at every position. Next year, Nunez is likely gone though. Brentz should learn to play 1B. They gave Bogey 10 games to learn 3B. They gave Moncada 10 games to learn 3B. I can't remember the how many games Betts got before he was moved to CF (then RF). Heck, Brentz could be ready in 9 days! (Just kidding.) Brentz will likely be added to the 40 man roster (boot Selsky or Rutledge) and brought up in September.

He's got to be added to the 40 man roster by September 1st, if I remember correctly.

Yes, and it's not like we're last in offense. Despite the power shortage, we're just 3 runs from 8th place in runs scored. We can get to the WS this year. AL Only Offense 5th in runs scored 3 runs from 4th SEA 11 runs from 3rd TEX 43 from 2nd NYY 119 from 1st HOU (Guardians are 7th.) Pitching 1st in ERA- 79 BOS 84 CLE 87 NYY 96 KCR 97 TBR Defense 1st in UZR/ 2nd in UZR/150 30.2 BOS 28.2 KCR 24.2 LAA 13.0 LAA 12.5 DET 5.3 CLE (way back) (Astros are 14th at -33.5) Weird how we have a better ERA- than CLE and a better D, but the Guardians have let up less runs. (We have played in 3 more games.) 438 CLE 458 BOS 467 NYY 501 HOU 502 LAA 513 TBR 516 KCR Base running (fangraphs) 20.0 TBR 13.7 TEX 3.2 KCR 1.7 NYY 1.1 BOS 10th CLE -4.1 12th HOU -14.7

True, but there are big differences between early Moreland, Bogey & JBJ vs late Moreland, Bogey & JBJ. My main beef is with how slowly it took JF to move these guys. That and the fact that Bogey should never bat 3rd with the weakest power out of our top 8 hitters. Bogey's ISO is .122 this year. 2015-2017 Sox Leaders in ISO (400+ PAs) .293 Ortiz .210 JBJ (JF likes him up 9th) .200 Young .199 Betts .195 HRam .191 T Shaw .180 Moreland .156 Beni .129 Pedey .127 Leon .126 Bogey .123 Pablo .103 Holt .095 Vaz Now, Bogey has the 3rd best OBP since 2014 (not counting Papi), so just bat the guy 1 or two, unless he's slumping so badly he doesn't belong there. HE SHOULD NEVER BAT 3rd, 4th or 5th. If it's not idiotic, it's imbelic. If it's not imbecilc, it's moronic. OBP from 2014-2017: .371 Pedey .359 Beni .351 Bogey .350 Betts .342 Young (BOS only) .340 JBJ .334 Holt .334 HRam .328 Swihart .328 Moreland .319 Leon

I understand the theory. I'm not one to argue with studies that show otherwise, but I tend to think line-ups matter more that the studies show they do. That being said, even if they don't matter much, a manager should do everything he can to eek out every small percentage advantage he can, and putting players in their best slots is one of the few tangible differences a manger can make. Maybe I do obsess over the line-ups too much, but JF's line-ups bug me more than any other manager in recent memory.

Half way through the AA game, and Chavis & Barfield only have a double each. These guys suck! Demote them to single A!

Brentz with his 26th tonight (THUR)! He's 2 for 2 so far (.282 BA). I've never been high on this guy, but how great can a guy do and not be called up?

Even if the Tigers offered to pay 1/3 of the deal, I doubt Sox brass even makes an offer.

Just because the 3rd slot doesn't matter as much as many of us have thought for year, and the 2 and 4 slots are more important, doesn't mean the 3 slot is where you put your weakest power hitter. For a long time Bogey was one of our top OBP guys and has always been low on SLG. That is the profile of a 1 or 2 slot hitter not 3 slot. Batting Moreland 4th and 5th for what seemed like for ever was imbecilic! (Is that better, Kimmi?)

Okay, maybe he's just an imbecile. LOL

No talks about this at all.

When you factor in handling the staff, I think our catching tandem leap-frogs several catchers in overall value. I know it's hard to prove, but IMO it is real.

CC was not a "re-signing". CC's contract was $142M/7 vs Pablo's $95M/5. Pablo's signing occurred years after CC's, so salary inflation should be a factor. They both sucked. Yeah, the trade bailed us out, but when just looking at who we got and their performance for what amount of money, Crawford was the worst. Maybe Price will be worse, but he already gave us one decent year- something CC never did.

Devers sat Tuesday, and everyone got today off. I want to keep Devers in the line-up. I also want Young in vs a lefty. That leaves JBJ, Bogey, Beni, HRam, Pedey or Nunez would have to sit. Maybe it's time to give Bogey 2 days off in a row. I know he's showing signs of life, but I think he need rest more than anyone else. Nunez to SS, HRam to 1B, and Young to DH. My second choice might be to rest the slumping JBJ, play Beni in CF and Young in LF.

Muchisimo!

Not at all.