moonslav59

So what now? A Rutledge-Hernandez platoon at 3B? (Devers has an .813 OPS at Portland.)

Yeah, since 2013.

There were a few on the old BDC board who thought it was necessary despite the extra year and money. I remember talk of signing Headley instead. He's been a failure, too, but not as spectacular, and at least he provided defense. I liked the idea of signing Scherzer, instead of Pablo & Masterson, and then going after Valbuena or the like. With HRam hurt and starting slowly, now that signing is back to looking questionable, at best.

soxprospects.com's take on our upper level pitching on the farm... http://news.soxprospects.com/2017/04/system-restart-17-upper-level-pitching.html

Our killer Bs now hold 4 of the top 5 slots in OPS (29+ PAS): .938 Moreland .859 Beni .858 Betts .825 Bradley .729 Bogey .646 Pablo .639 Marco .627 Young .603 Pedey .575 HRam .540 Leon Team OPS by position: .938 1B .870 CF .806 RF .791 C (6th in MLB catcher OPS) .733 SS .649 LF .616 3B .604 2B .576 DH

As much as I hated the signing from minute one, I never expected him to be this bad, especially on defense. My point about the SFG's being upset losing him was meant to show how hard it is for GMs to gauge future expectation. It's easy to blame Ben "for not seeing the writing on the wall", but the team that knew the most about Pablo missed it too. I get why we chose going after offense that winter and saving the pitching push for the big starter market the following season, but signing just HRam would have been fine with me. Other than the extra 1-2 years given to Pablo, I was actually more upset with the one year deal with Masterson as the "solution" to our pitching woes.

We'll never know for sure, if Barnes was aiming at his head. He might have missed by a foot or more. It's a dangerous road to take, and the league did well with their punishment, but I do think Barnes was expected to do something. Maybe the O's will be less likely to make slides that that against us going forward.

The one strange thing about the signing was how badly SF was hurt when he left, or it was a spectacular show of false sadness. You'd think they knew more about him than anybody, yet they wanted him back badly. Obviously, they frowned on the 5th year, but I think I remember they surprisingly offered 4 years. When we signed HRam, I was sure it was as a 3Bman, until they announced the Pablo signings right afterwards. I wish we had take Pablo's money plus Masterson's and signed Scherzer (about the same money for year 1).

Getting someone for just the playoffs is a seriously flawed plan. Plus, how many Super Bowl MVPs have gotten big contracts and flopped? We may have gotten Pablo for the playoffs, but I think Sox management expected decent to plus play during the year.

My biggest worry going into this season was the pen. It's not that I didn't have high hopes in Barnes, Kelly & Hembree to take up some slack from the departing Uehara, Ziegler and Taz, but it was hard for me to imagine all 3 doing well and nobody else doing surprisingly poorly. So far -so good. Adding Taylor and Workman to the mix of options is also a very big boost, but nothing compared to the potential Smith and Thornburg's returns could mean to our pen. I'd love nothing more than to be proven totally wrong about my pen expectations, but remember, I said it was not "weak but was the just the weakest link."

Looking good for Workman. I hope he gets a shot.

If Pablo ends up facing a lefty RP'er, that's one thing, but starting him vs a lefty is criminal.

Seriously? Put all the names in a hat, and you can't do worse. Pablo's OPS vs LHPs recently: .423 2017 .465 2015 .563 2014 Out of 250 MLB players with 250+ PAs vs LHPs since 2014, Pablo is the worst at .516. 250th out of 250, and you ask who can platoon with him? I'm not even talking about his defense either! Although Hernandez bats LH'd, he has had decent splits in the minors vs LHPs. When Holt is healthy, he has slightly better splits vs LHPs, even though he bats LH'd. Rutledge is near ready. He can't be worse, and is a better defender than Pablo. Marrero can even hit lefties better. Matt freakin Domingues has a career .653 OPS vs LHPs and is a better defender at 3B. I could probably go down to AA and find someone better. We can't do worse than the worst batter vs LHPs and the worst defenser at 3B since 2014.

Good, then put a slower guy with a worse OBP up first. Sounds logical... NOT!

This goes back to my not understanding why they signed Sandoval in the first place. IMHO the guy manning 3B for a contending team should be able to carry at a dWAR (there I go using WAR. Ugh) of at least 0.0 - something he hasn't done since 2011 and has done only three times in his career. He was decent in 2014. He had a +3.5 UZR/150 and a +4 DRS. 2015 was night and day: -21.9 UZR/150 -11 DRS (So far this year, he's at -16.3 UZR/150 and -4 DRS.)

Well, at least hitting against RHPs is the larger split. It was over 67% of the games last year. Plus, he might PH and play in the games where a lefty starts but is replaced. I'm far from happy with this reality, but it seems like the Sox refuse to look at Pablo as nothing but a platoon player. I will not be too happy, if Pablo plays 1B or DH and hits .732 as a platoon hitter vs RHPs either. (That's his split vs RHPs since joining the Sox back in 2015. However, that is not a number that screams out for replacement either. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the guys sucks vs LHPs and has no business starting vs one, unless we have nobody else who can play 3B. There was much talk about Pablo's decline before coming to the Sox, but on offense, that was almost entirely fueled by his numbers vs LHP, which all but fell off a cliff. His .805 OPS vs RHPs from 2013-2014 placed him 6th out of 41 3Bmen with 400+ PAs vs RHPs in that two year period. If the guy could just hit somewhere between .732 and .805 AND was used exclusively as a platoon player (preferably at DH or 1B), then maybe he could actually be a slight plus to the team.

MLBTR... Red Sox left-hander David Price will throw a 45- to 50-pitch bullpen session Monday as he tries to work back from forearm trouble, per Ben Standing of MLB.com. Price still seems a ways off from making his 2017 debut, but a positive showing Monday would put him in position to face live hitters sometime soon. “Once we get through [Monday’s] work session and kind of begin to map out a little more of a structure on a calendar, I think we’re at that point [of facing batters],” said manager John Farrell. “Anytime you get to the number of pitches thrown that will be tomorrow, you can start to foresee a progression to hitters and ultimately to games, but we don’t have that in place right now.”

Yes, missing 17% of games is significant.

We've averaged 1.5 regulars out per daily line-up. While injuries are a part of every team's season, we've had a revolving door of sorts. I'm not making excuses. Injuries are only part of the story, but I do fully expect this team to still finish in the top 5 in runs scored.

True, but the fact is his stock was as high as ever.

Plus, his value as a starter to another team was much higher than his value here as a sub. With Marco, Travis, Rutledge and Young in the fold, there was no compelling reason to keep him.

Yes, getting Moreland has worked like a charm, so far, especially with HRam's injury forcing him to DH only. However, 3B is still our biggest question mark in the field and line-up combined.

Me too. That's one reason I was puzzled we went after a 1Bman (Moreland) this past winter, instead of a 3Bman. I thought we'd be better off with Pablo at 1B or DH starting this year- not next.

Now, do people agree he should lead off? (Even when Pedey returns.)

Shaw for Thornburg looks bad so far, but it's early.