moonslav59

True, and so was Bagwell, whom they traded rather than move to 1B. I'm usually fine with giving young players a long rope on improving a singular weakness, but this team may have to greatly improve several weak spots to be highly competitive next season. I'm not sure we can afford to allow 45+ errors at 3B and beat the Yanks again to win the division.

How the heck can you save a starter a month for the end of the season...............? If you gave him an extra day off more times a year than he normally gets, he'd have one less start that year. That might not be enough. If you could do that plus maybe take him out an inning earlier 7 or 8 more times a year, that might, in a sense, be the same as having one less start over a full season. Would both of these things be enough to make a difference in October? Certainly, the answer could be "no". Certainly, it could cost us the division or playoff berth. Is it worth even considering? is it worth trying next year? I will say that late season 8 inning start was not needed. I'm not sure how many other starts could have been shortened, and how that might have taxed the pen and messed up their effectiveness. It's not an easy decision to make. Sox brass might not even think it's worth considering, let alone trying next year. I get that.

Certainly, nothing is "for sure". It's easy to postulate that resting Sale more from day one on might help him do better in September and beyond, but we could try it and he could do even worse late in the year. We could also not win the division by trying to limit his pitches over the full season. I get that. Can anyone think of another idea to try and reverse this data? Month ERA OPS against May 2.57/ .538 June 2.66/ .594 July 2.66/ .628 Aug 3.22/ .645 Sept 3.78/ .750 We're talking sample sizes all above 780 PAs and 199 IP. I'm not sure what can be done, of if anything can be done at all. I'm just thinking we could try to limit his pitches as much as possible while trying not to lessen our chances to win by too, too much. That might not be possible.

I think he can, too. He's so damn young, it's hard to imagine him not being able to improve to a significant extent. The issue may be how long it takes, and how much he may hurt us with his defense as he improves. Since we need a 1Bman next year, and no FA first basemen are jump out at me as "must have", one has to consider the idea of seeking a great 3Bman and moving Devers to 1B, perhaps prematurely. I'd be fine with getting Votto at a reasonable cost and letting Devers work hard on his D over the winter. It might be easier to get Donaldson or Beltre. A trade and extend for Machado could be something to look into. I'm not sure Moustakas is a much better choice than Santana, Duda or Morrison.

Sale has a long history of fading in September. he has had very little work in October. He pitched over 226 innings last year and led the league in IP this year. I have said that MAYBE he has issues with season-long endurance. I'm not sure endurance is the reason, but it could be. Price had had issues in the playoffs, so I mentioned maybe he has the same issues....MAYBE. I'm not one to make rash judgments based on a two game sample size, but Price has looked awesome this post season- one where he has not started 33 games and pitched over 200 innings. It could just be coincidence, since Price's monthly ERA has shown he looks better and better as the year goes on, then he falls off a cliff in October. I realize one could argue the opposite of what I am saying and make a lot of sense. I don't claim to know the causes. There might not even be any "cause" other than just bad luck late in the season. I do think that, in general, the more you can rest your big gun starters, the better chance they will be stronger at the end of the season. I do not think my position is radical.

Anyone else getting even more seriously concerned about the lack of defensive skills possessed by Devers? I know his offense makes up for most or all of it, but man-o-man....

Sometimes, you do, yes, but not before we see how he looks next spring. And, not when we may be able to prevent a $22M payment in 2019.

A team should always strive to improve on its weak areas, even weak areas of net plus players.

And, you see no problem that should be fixed, even if those 100 blunders led to 5 losses that could have been avoided? Well, he won 5 games with great plays, so the 5 losses don't matter at all, right? How about being +5 instead of net zero.

Apparently, both shoulders were hurt this year. Maybe it is a chronic thing, and we can't expect any better going forward. I've mentioned he might need surgery, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him get it this winter. That could help or hurt his 2018 numbers. JF said early this season that HRam would not play 1B the rest of the season, but then he did--a little. Who knows?

LOL. It just might work.

So, making 101 great plays and 100 bonehead ones would be okay with you? No problems at all. Just lessen the bonehead plays, Beni, and be a clear plus out there in LF. I actually think it's easier to correct boneheadedness than lack of speed or skill. I'm hopeful we see much less LF blunders next year.

No, but it's doubly dumb to make the first or third out at 3B, when it can be avoided.

My guess is just enough to stay below the second penalty tier limit.

HRam's OPS .853 2010 .712 2011 (385 PAs) .759 2012 1.040 2013 (336 PAs) .817 2014 .717 2015 (430 PAs) .866 2016 .750 2017 Injuries have been plentiful. No doubt.

Is our roster so deep, we can't afford to see if he is healthy next year? Is him keeping Travis or Lin in AAA for a few more months really going to make a difference? Look, I'm for signing JD Martinez and Duda, so it's not like I'm planning on 650 PAs and an .850 OPS from HRam next year, but I just don't see cutting him and allowing him to vest next year with the A's or hit .900 with the Yanks. After all, his MO is to be healthy every other year.

The only time I saw Betts do it was when he had a big lead and the ball was hit very slowly to the SS. Getting thrown out at 3B by 4 or more feet is bonehead, especially with 0 or 2 outs.

Out of 29 LF'ers with 450+ innings in LF, Beni placed 15th in UZR/150 at +1.3. +1.3 RngR -0.8 ErrR +0.9 UZR He's 18th in UZR at -4.6. He's 6th in DRS at +9. Looks pretty close to average, despite all the gaffs.

I'd trade HRam and pay $7M of his deal. We'd save $15M year one and maybe $22M year two. I do NOT want to eat $22M from our top HR% player and then have to replace his 24 Hrs as well as find 40+ we need anyways. I guess, if we could get Stanton, we might get 64 right there.

You have no clue. My favorite stat is OPS and UZR/150. Always has been, even with it's flaws. I have used WAR often, but have never come close to proclaiming its sovereignty over other stats or metrics- never. WAR robs DH's of their value. Always has. Look at Papi's WAR. He may not make the HOF, like Edgar Martinez, because of WAR. That being said, I do think HRam was close to replacement player value this year as he played hurt. On HRam, I do not have a lot of confidence in HRam. I wanted him demoted from the 4-5 slot during the season. My point is, our biggest weakness is the clean-up slot and not having enough power. That does not usually mean you DFA your best power guy and find someone else. You usually replace a lower power guy. I've made my position clear. I want to bring HRam back in a more limited role, perhaps to prevent him from vesting his option, if he looks bad next year. If he looks good, we did the right thing. If he looks bad, we don't pay $22M in 2019. Don't try to paint me into some HRam apologist or super fan. I'm not. I hated the signing from the first second. I wish we could trade him for a bag of balls and have his $22M to spend on JD Martinez. I'm not for eating his $22M and then having to not only replace his power but then add 50+ more HRs elsewhere. I guess you want to replace HRam with a 5 HR guy like Travis and then sign a 30 HR guy. That's a net HR loss over HRam and Moreland.

No. I was thinking Sale and Price's late season drop-offs are probably related to endurance issues, and maybe we should limit their pitches more next year. I'm not sure about Pom. I think this might have been his most pitches thrown in a season, but he didn't seem to weaken as the season neared it's end- just this most recent start, really. ERod missed some time this year. Porcello looked weak all year.

Then, one would think he can start in 5 days, right?

How often does running from 2B to 3B work when the ball is hit to the SS or 3Bman (assuming no shift has put the 3Bman out of position)? I can never call that aggressive, even though I suppose the intention might have been so. It's blunder. Even little leaguers know that.

Again, I disagree. Forgetting how many outs there are is not overaggressiveness. Running to 3B with the play hit in front of you is boneheaded. Just because the guy has a 5% chance of making it, does not make it an justifiable aggressive play. It's a blunder- plain and simple. Being thrown out at home by 30 feet is a blunder by the 3B coach or the runner. Not looking at the runner ahead of you, who has stopped, as you run into an occupied base does show aggressiveness, but it is boneheaded nonetheless. These are just the base running blunders. The fielding ones are more numerous and rarely involved over aggressiveness. I love aggressive running. I'm happy we adopted that philosophy. The aggressive running helped more than it hurt. The boneheadness did not and actually prevented us from having an excellent base running ranking and score.

My point was obvious. A team can do more than just it's most pressing need. We can deal with 2, 3 or even 4 of our most pressing needs in one winter. Just because I do not think JF is our weakest link, does not mean he should not be replaced. (BTW, I would not say this is "jumping on him": "Seriously? Only the most pressing issue needs to be dealt with. Just one per winter is the limit?")