moonslav59

I was irate over the Masterson signing. If Young hits lefties well over the second half, as I expect he will, then signing him at $7.5M next year would not be terrible, but I'm against it. When we signed Young, he was expected to play LF vs LHPs and be our 4th OF'er vs RHPs. We don't need that next year. We lust need a capable LF'er who can maybe play 1B or 3B or both. IMO, that could be Holt. Maybe we even get Lin or Marrero to learn how to play LF. Maybe Swihart makes the 25 man roster as a 3rd catcher, 4th OF'er and deep depth at 1B or 3B. I just see too many better options than bringing back Young.

Even though Henry will still be paying Castillo next year whether he's on the 40 man roster or not might play into adding him to the roster and paying the tax, but I'm not sure they think he's "good enough" to take Young's slot or worthy of making the 25 man roster. If he's not going to be on the 25 man roster, he shouldn't be on the 40 man. The idea is probably under consideration, and how Castillo finishes 2017 might improve or lessen the chances it happens. If we trade for Prado or Harrison, we won't need a 4th OF'er, especially if Holt is expected to be on the 25 man roster next year. The option I think is most likely is where we sign someone to take Moreland and Young's roster slot in one person. A LF/corner IF type who does not need to be as good as either, since I feel we plan on giving Travis and Devers a strong chance to win the jobs. The money saved would allow us to pay all our arb and option raises and stay below the second tier penalty level of the luxury tax. We may want to keep a few million under the limit, so we could make a move at next year's deadline that involved adding salary, if needed.

If this was the Philippines we could just have the whole family taken out.

The one thing about option B is that 5 divisions would create a way for 3 wild card winners and none of that awful play-in game crap. I'd also seed the playoffs based on W-L records not division winners getting higher seeds than better WC teams.

I felt the same way. His K rate in the minors was a big warning sign. I'm not sure I have ever suggested more possible trade scenarios for any single player than Middy.

I seriously doubt Young gets $7.5M from anyone

That could very well be the direction we go, and I wouldn't disagree depending on what the cost would be for a RP'ers vs a 3Bman. DD has a pretty bad record with RP'er recently. He trades- they go on the DL. Kelly has done a very good job as our set up guy, but his K rate is so low, that it is hard to compare him to other top contenders' lights out middle men. Hembree and Barnes have also done well, but does anyone really have a lot of faith in either of them? Remember, the reason we traded for Thornburg in the first place was to help ease the loss of Koji, Ziegler & Tazawa plus the skeptical nature of Carson Smith's health status.

Chavis may end up at DH or LF or 1B. I wouldn't be so quick to trade him, just because he has struggled on defense at 3B.

I'd maybe consider Young next year, but I'd rather get a LF'er that can play 1B and/or 3B as well. If we trade for Prada, then we won't need Young. Harrison can play LF as well, but not very well. Young is getting older. He might want a chance to play more and make more than we are willing to pay.

I gave up on him long ago, but he has looked like he deserves another shot. I don't see it happening here, unless there's an injury to one of our 4 OF'ers.

Ooops. I'll edit.

I'd do it this way: OPTION A: 6 divisions of 5 teams EAST: BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, BAL SOUTH: WAS, ATL, TBR, MIA, KCR NORTH: TOR, PIT, DET, CLE, CIN CENTRAL: MN, MIL, CWS, CC, STL SouthWest: TEX, HOU, COL, AZ, SD WEST: LAD, LAA, OAK, SFG, SEA Schedule: vs own Div (4 teams) x 18 games= 72 games vs own conference (10 teams) x 6 games= 60 games vs other conference (15 teams) x 2 games= 30 games Option B: 5 divisions of 6 teams (no AL/NL or 2 conferences): East: TOR, BOS, NYY, NYM, PHI, BAL South: WAS, ATL, MIA, TBR, TEX, HOU North: PIT, DET, CIN, CLE, CWS, CC Central: MN, MIL, STL, KCR, COL, AZ West: SD, LAD, LAA, OAK, SFG, SEA Schedule: vs own div (5 teams) x 18 games= 90 games vs 3 other divisions (24 teams) x 3 games= 72 games

Or, 4 divisions of 6 teams: TOR BOS NYY NYM PHI BAL WAS ATL HOU TEX STL KCR PIT DET CIN CWS CC COL AZ SD LAD LAA SFG SEA Schedule: vs own DIV (5 teams) x 18 games= 90 vs others (18 teams) x 4 games= 72 Here's how I would do 6 divisions of 4 teams: TOR BOS NYY NYM PHI BAL WAS ATL DET PIT CIN CWS ______ CC STL KCR COL TEX HOU AZ SD LAD LAA SFG SEA

It was a pretty small sample size, so we'll also never know if he really had anything to even have a chance to "get it back". He sure had a nice stretch. I remember trying to give him a nickname to stick: "Will-da-beast". I had the T-shirt printing presses all lined up. Then again, I also suggested we trade him for several different players- one was Gavin Floyd. LOL

I wouldn't either, but I'd like to have a better 3bman and a lights out set-up man. This won't be cheap, so maybe we'll have little choice but to stand pat or grossly overpay by further depleting our extended future's chances.

...and the Rays and A's.

I corrected this for you. '10s > '00s ' But, Betts shouldn't be in the '00's range.

He had a .373 OBP and 82 RBIs in 2004. We currently have a .625 3B OPS (.287 OBP).

No need to do it until we want to or need to call Brentz up.

Can't argue with this.

Bellhorn had an .817 OPS in 2004. I'd be thrilled to get a .717 OPS from 3B this year. Mark also had 3 HRs and 8 RBI in 14 playoff games.

We can "prevail" with a weak link or two, but teams in the hunt often try to improve their odds of winning, even if slightly, at the deadline. We're not the favorites right now. We're not even the favorites to win the AL, and you can bet your bottom dollar the Astros, Guardians and the top NL teams will all be in the hunt for usable talent at the deadline. Most teams strive to improve their weakest links, even if their weakest link is near league average. 3B is clearly a weakness for us- not just our weakest link. We can hope and pray that Lin/Marrero keep up their recent pace, but I feel like the odds are greatly against that happening. I was one of the last to give up on Pablo, and I hope he's not part of any plan at 3B for the second half of 2017. We might see Rutledge or Holt back to help out at 3B, but none of these guys appear to be enough to bring us near average at 3B. I'd love to see Devers get a chance, but I really think that if he hasn't been given a chance so far this year, with all the great need we've had there, why would a few more weeks suddenly make him ML ready. If Sox management does plan on bringing Devers up to get a legitimate shot to win the 3B job, I hope they do it before the deadline or at least before the waiver wire deadline, so we have a chance to pick someone up before it's too late. I'm fine with standing pat, if Devers is in the 2017 plan, but if not, I'd try hard to find a deal where we do not have to overpay for a 3B rental. If none are out there, then doing nothing is not going to crush me. I DO NOT want to overpay for anyone this deadline, so maybe doing nothing is the best choice. Let's see what offers are out there and go from there.

All time Red Sox Rushmores... Pitching: Young, Pedro, Clemens, Grove (Tiant, Lester) Batting: Williams, Yaz, Ortiz, Boggs (Evans, Speaker) Overall: Williams, Young, Yaz, Pedro (Clemens, Ortiz)

Speaking of Mount Rusmore, here are some arbitrarily picked 10 year spans in Sox history and my choices for rock faces: 1963-1972: Yaz, Petrocelli, Tony C, Lonborg (Smith, Scott?) 1973-1982: Tiant, Lynn, Rice, Evans (Bill Lee, Eckersley?) 1983-1992: Boggs, Clemens, Rice, Hurst (Stanley?) 1993-2002: Clemens, Pedro, Nomar, Vaughn (Valantin?) 2003-2012: Manny, Ortiz, Pedro, VTek (Lester, Schilling, Pedey, Beckett, Paplebon, Wakefield, DeLowe?) 2013-2022 (projected): Betts, Bogey, JBJ, Sale (Pedey, Price, Kimbrel?)

I agree. VTek was very important in getting the best out of those pitching staffs. Pedey has been solid for a long time, but VTek was a huge part of those two rings.