moonslav59

I heard he got hurt his Freshman year at college and missed a few games here and there on the farm with little injuries. I can't find anything on google, but I seem to remember reading he had a couple minor injuries in his short time on the Sox farm. I know he was on the inactive list with Portland for 4 or 5 days in July. Maybe "fragile" was too harsh a word.

Obvious.

LOL. If they'd take Pablo for Abreu and Frazier... LMAO!

Speaking of the CWS, word is they're looking to trade Abreu. If they do, maybe they'd want Sam Travis. Would you trade ERod, Pomernaz (who I assume they'd trade to another team for prospects), Travis and Dalbec for Quintana?

Pablo is owed $58M for the next 3 years (counting the buyout for the 4th year). His luxury tax hit is $19M a year. There were early rumors, that were later denied, that the SFG were asking about him. They apparently ares till looking for a 3Bman. What if we traded him to SF and paid 30M or his contract? They'd owe him just under $10M a year x 3 years. I'm not expecting anything in return, except maybe a prospect like we got for Buchholz. With the $9M a year we save on the luxury tax budget, we could then trade for Todd Frazier. His contract may be about $12M, so we'd still have some good wiggle room at the deadline. The big plus comes from when Frazier becomes a free agent next winter. We'll have $9M more to spend, and hopefully Devers will be ready to take over 3B. I'm not what the CWS would want for Frazier, but at $12M, I know they want to trade him. Would anyone here, under the above circumstances above, offer Hernandez and Hembree (maybe throw in TBall) for Frazier?

Fluctuated from what 320 to 330?

I get that. My question was not assuming he would not be on the next team's 40 man. My point was that trading a non 40 man roster player might not mean we have to count any money that goes along with the trade. It's a unique situation. If we traded a minor league player that was not on the 40 man roster and sent money with him, would that count, even if the player went to the next team's 40 man roster a year later?

ERA is a horrible stat for RP'ers. It's not great for starters either, but RP'ers often come in with 1 or 2 outs. Our RP'er WHIP was 14th at 1.28 (0.02 from being below average). We were 12th in xFIP- at 95 (just 2 away from below average). IMO, being 4th in ERA- is not a true indicator of value. Besides, we had an ERA- of 71 the second half- fueled mainly by Ziegler, Uehara, Taz and a resurgent Kelly.

Because he'd be on another team's 40 man roster, of just because we paid to have another team take him off our minor league roster? I'm not so sure how it would work. There's probably no or little precedent. It seems like since he doesn't count now, why would trading a non 40 man roster player suddenly make his contract count?

I'm not so sure. He's always been fat.

True enough. The poor 2015 season was what started the whole think, but until then, I don't think Pablo viewed his weight as a major issue. By the looks of the shape he came into camp in 2016, I think he didn't even think "it started" yet. From the fans point of view, the 2015 season should have been the "wake-up call". He should have done what he has been doing this winter last winter (or even before). I've battled with weight issues much of my life, but if I knew I could be playing a major sport, I'd be in the gym every day. It's hard for us to fathom the recklessness of someone who has had the dream in his hands and pissed it away by over-eating.

Was he really all that fatter than the spring before, or was it more a frustration over reports that he had lost a lot of weight, but really hadn't? By the time Pablo knew his job was on the line, the damage had already been done to the point that expecting him to get in shape to win the job in a few short weeks was unrealistic. I'm not defending Pablo. I hated the signing day one. My point was that I think Pablo never felt his weight was a big issue, because he had always done pretty well at a heavy weight before. He never "needed" to work to get into shape to be a starter until ST'ing 2016. I think he knows now. I think he has enough pride to want to end all the negative talk he's heard over the last year or more. I had a feeling he'd get himself into the best shape he's been in for years. I'm hopeful he's still working to lose even more weight.

Just barely, with no wiggle room for anything else. Not worth it.

Hernandez was actually red hot before this past week. Castillo will really have to impress to be added to the 40 man roster and luxury tax budget. My guess is that if he does well, we'll trade him and maybe pay some of his contract. A question: if we trade him and pay $5M a year of his salary, and he's on someone else's 40 man roster, does that $5M count against our luxury tax number? If so, we shouldn't trade him.

Especially Sox players, so bad slumps don't bother me. I know the hot streaks will come along at some point.

About 9th to 15th in most categories I care about, but as you get to the 10th through 16th slots, there's not much separating them from the middle of the pack pens. What I think is happening is that we remember the pen that ended the season doing very well. Kimbrel had returned from Injury. Uehara had too and was doing very well. Ziegler was acquired during the year and did great for us. Tazawa turned things around a little near the end. Kelly sucked in April as a starter, but gave us hope by doing well in a small end of season sample size. 3 of those guys are gone, and we're relying on guys like Kelly and barnes to pitch like Uehara and tazawa. A top 10-15 pen loses Uehara, Ziegler and Tazawa and adds Thornburg and maybe, eventually Smith, I'm thinking we should expect worse this year. Now, a team with great starters, a great defense and decent defense can probably absorb having a mediocre pen, but that doesn't mean we can't try to make one more adjustment before the season starts and we'll have to trade someone to get someone good.

Well, in Pablo's case, coming to camp out of shape was what he always had done, and it worked out okay. I'm sure some kind of laziness or personal care issues have always been part of who he is, but to him, it didn't matter until "it mattered".

Oh! I would, if I could. There's construction going on all around Houston, but there's this one light near my house where the wait time is like 3.5 minutes for the green. Cars sit and wait for 7 minutes, and it's finally their turn and they poke along. They just waited through 2 lights! And they get distracted? Yikes! (I guess I'm not letting go as easily and quickly as I thought. Let's change the subject!)

Now that I can relate to, but honestly, I don't get bothered by one of our players having a bad streak, unless he's always sucked.

You're probably right. I just expected more pen building than just Thornburg and hopes of a speedy Carson Smith recovery. Our pen was a weak point last year, and we lost 3 of our best pen arms to free agency.

soxprospects reports on.... ERod: The Red Sox are not concerned with the injury, though it is the same knee that Rodriguez injured during spring training last season. Hanley Ramirez was 3 for 12 with a double and two walks. Marco Hernandez was 0 for 9 with a walk. Roenis Elias made starts for the Aguilas last Tuesday and this Monday, throwing ten total innings and allowing three runs on nine hits and six walks, punching out eleven. Fernando Abad made two appearances, going 1 2/3 shutout innings with three strikeouts and a walk. Christian Vazquez took part in three games this week, going 2 for 10 with a double and bringing his slash line to .237/.333/.320 this winter. Rusney Castillo has had more offensive success in Puerto Rico and that continued into this week as he was 7 for 15 with a double, including back-to-back three-hit performances on Monday and Tuesday.

Not really...just certain areas of my life. I know it's stupid to let certain things get to me, especially if they are out of my control. I don't stay steamed very long, so I guess that's good. Most of my friends and family view me as very laid-back and relaxed.

I know I shouldn't let it bother me. It's like the slow driver when the light turns green. It's out of my control, but it still boils my blood.

I think I asked this earlier with little response: Are you all really content with our 3-7 RP'ers (at least until Carson Smith returns)? 1 Kimbrel 2 Thornburg 3 Kelly 4 Wright (assuming ERod is healthy) 5 Ross 6 Barnes 7 Hembree/Abad/Scott We keep taking about our 6-7 RP'er and some of their issues with options, but I see a big need and plenty of question marks on our 3-6 RP'ers. We want to hope Kelly continues how he left off last year, but we felt then same way last winter after his nice 2015 ending. We want to hope Carson Smith will return is as good shape as he was in 2015, but who knows? We want to hope Ross continues being one of our most consistent RP'ers over the last two years. We want to hope Barnes shows us more of the glimpses of promise he showed us last year. We want to hope all our starters stay healthy, so we can rely on having Wright or Pom in the pen. We want to hope Hembree comes through on some of that promise he's had for over 3 years. There's lots of hope here but little reliable confidence building RP'ers in this group. Maybe the sheer number of promising pitchers gives us good odds that 2-3 will do well all year, but I'd prefer to have a (more) solid guy in the 3 slot by opening day. I don't want to use up all of our flex spending account, but trading a prospect at the deadline for a quality RP'er is not comforting either.

His .461 OPS against by lefties led the team last year. I agree though, we don't need him. Ross and Scott did great vs lefties as well. Kimbrel kept lefties at a .514 OPS and Thronburg has a massive reverse split of over 200 points. He's much better vs LHB'ers. Abad is also expected to make close to $2M in arb. I'd trade him, but I'd try to get another RP'er almost as good but with options remaining. We'd save money and keep the pen depth.