moonslav59

I think 3 AL teams look pretty strong on paper: Boston Cleveland Houston

I never liked ice cream as a kid, but now I do. Coffee ice cream is about the only way I like coffee. I absolutely love the smell of roasting coffee.

They're probably hoping Devers is ready by 2018, but I think you're right. Pablo is about all we have until Devers is ready.

Edwin Escobar was DFA's as the Guardians added EE to their roster. Minor league deal with us? The Jays just signed Gavin Floyd to a minor league deal.

We ended up going with Nomar then OCab at SS over the season and Nixon-Roberts-Millar in RF, but everyone else basically stayed the same.

VTek, Millar, Bellhorn, Mueller, Reese, Manny, Damon, Kapler, Papi and Pedro

Until 2016, HanRam had missed more games than Pablo over the previous 3-6 years. Other than a great half season in 2013, he hadn't gotten above .817 in 5 years! His decline was not as steady or pronounced as Pablo's before 2015, but it was pretty massive. He had a .906 OPS from 2006 to 2010. (It was .925 from 2007-2010.) He fell to .797 from 2011 to 2015. Pablo had an OPS of .833 from 2009-2012. (It was .857 from 2009-2011 as HR's was .860.) He fell to .719 from 2013-2016. (It was .700 from 2014-2016.) Both dropped about the same amount, but HR started higher. Yes, HR did not come to camp obese, but many questioned how hard he really tried to become a decent fielding LF'er (not me). I remember many a poster saying we should trade HR, because at least we wouldn't have to pay as much as Pablo's deal, and maybe someone would want him. Now, after one good year, all that is forgotten.

Me too! I even went so far as to suggest that even if he hit .900 in 2016, I'd look to trade him before he could get another chance to let us down again. (Now that Papi has retired, I no longer feel that way about HR.)

Agreed, but you know what? Many felt the same about HanRam after 2015.

Nobody 6-3 and that big is anywhere near 230.

I admitted that "fragile" was "too harsh". Our OF depth is a concern. Young is not really that bad vs RHPs, and I'd really like to keep Holt out of the OF. Brentz, Castillo and Craig are frightening. If we have to add Castillo half way through the season, only half his salary would count against the luxury budget. It's a possibility, but not the best. More likely, we'd go out and try to find the next de Aza, DMac, Podsednik, etc...

Abreu is not a good fielder, so his future would be at DH. With HanRam and Pablo looking more and more like DH candidates, I don't see Abreu as a good plus, unless we trade one of those two big contracts. I think Moreland might respond well to playing in Fenway. I do like Travis though, and I could see him winning a space on the 25 man roster by season's end.

Some Sox questions to ponder.... Pablo Sandoval: Lots of questions on this guy. Here are some: Is his weight loss going to be something that we continuously have to worry about? Even if he gets in top shape, can we expect the numbers he put up several years ago with SF? Can his fielding return to slight plus or just average? Leon- Vazquez-Swihart: All have shown promise in either offense or defense. Can two of these guys step up their weaker side and become all around solid catchers? Carson Smith: He's really had just one full season in MLB- a very good one (1.01 WHIP/11.8 K/9). He is coming back from major surgery and may not be "ready" until May or June. Can we expect the 2015 Smith to return to form by mid season and into the playoffs? Tyler Thornburg: After his rookie year's 1.185 WHIP, he had two years over 1.25 before posting last year's excellent 0.940 number. His K rate was never above 9 until jumping to 12/1 in 2016. Can we trust these 2016 numbers as legitimate indicator of who he now is and will continue to be? Kelly, Ross & Barnes: Can these guy continue to show the growth they experienced, at least in flashes, in 2016? Can they make up for the loss of Ziegler, Uehara & Tazawa? ERod, Pomeranz & Wright: All 3 had a very good to great half season last year but also had bad halves as well. Can the rotation stay healthy enough for one of these guys to give a big boost to our pen? Can the two that start go long enough into games to lessen the need to have a good pen (or deep pen)? Sale, Porcello, Price: Sale has been a rock, and so has Price until 2016's shaky start and finish. Porcello blossomed. Can the big 3 live up to their hype? Mitch Moreland: His fielding has always been GG quality. Can we get decent numbers from him, at least vs RHPs? Can his playing many games at 1B help keep HanRam fresh and healthy? Chris Young: He's been one of MLB's best hitters vs LHPs in recent years. Can he produce vs LHPs as a DH? Can he get enough playing time in the OF to keep him "in the game"? Holt, Rutledge, Hernandez, Travis, Marrero... Is this bench good enough? Abad, Hembree, Scott, Workman, N Ramirez, Martin, Ysla: Hopefully, we don't have to count on any of these guys too much... Are they good enough? HanRam: He's been up0 and down for much of his recent career. Age 27 .712, age 28 .759, age 29 1.040, age 30 .817, age 31 .717 and age 32 .866. He's also had under 430 PAs in 3 of the last 6 years (under 512 in 4 of 6). Is HanRam due for an off year? Can he help pick up the slack with Papi's retirement? Pedroia: He had his first .800+ OPS since 2011. He had his first season with over 135 games played since 2013. Can we count on a healthy and productive Pedey this year? Bogaerts: He has shown steady growth at the plate, despite his late season swoon. His OPS jump was due almost exclusively to a gain in power. His fielding is another matter. Can we hope for a turn around on defense? Can we expect a further increase in his offense, especially in the OBP area? JBJ: He has had two straight seasons over .830. There were a few big ups and big downs in those two seasons and one big long down in 2014. Can we expect more consistency in 2017? Can we expect a jump in OPS? Betts The only question here is how high is this kids ceiling?

I know, right? The Sox made all their moves in one day. They should have spread them out for our benefit!

Love the smell of coffee- hate the taste. I'm just bored. Nothing happening in baseball.

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.